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Did you know that your gut bacteria has a profound affect on your overall well-being? Well it does, which is why looking after it, is an essential attribute of what you chew.
The billions of bacteria (about 1.5kg) that live inside our bodies are called the microbiome – we all develop different microbial communities depending upon our genes, diets and any other bacteria we come into contact with. Over 95% of our bacteria live in our gut, mainly in our large intestine. Together they help regulate our immune system, our weight, and can also affect our mood.
Unfortunately, many of us do not have a healthy gut microbiome. In the short term, the implications of this are not too much really, mainly because it leads to things like food intolerances, but doesn’t kill you.
However over the long term, the implications of generalised inflammation are more serious and can lead to an increased risk of developing a host of chronic diseases including; type II diabetes, obesity, asthma, and so forth. It also leads to the not so obvious inflammatory bowel diseases including colitis, chrone’s and different types of cancer. And we see this reflected in the explosion of chronic disease rates the world over.
So why do many of us have such unhealthy guts? There are lots of reasons, but much of it has to do with what you eat…
The problem with processed foods:
To look after our gut microbiome, we really need to do two main things:
a) Maintain a diverse array of bacteria in our gut. Tasty, interesting, varied food is the way to go.
b) Eat foods which end up in our large intestine – You need to have the fibre to feed the bacteria.
Unfortunately, in today’s fast paced and ever time poor way of living, processed foods seem to have replaced a healthy and balanced diet. Here’s the problem; if we are eating processed foods, then;
a) We are not feeding our microbes, so our gut ecosystem becomes less diverse. This is because most processed foods are all the same – high in sugar, salt, artificial colours, flavours, preservatives and contain no beneficial bacteria. It’s essentially dead food. And,
b) Processed or sugary foods are usually absorbed into the body before they even make it to the large intestine, meaning they starve our healthy gut bacteria whilst feeding the bad bacteria.
How to look after your gut:
Your microbiome somewhat settled within the first 3 years of life, and broadly speaking you inherent it from your mum. The good news is that you can change what lives in your gut and you do this by changing what you eat. There are lots of foods which provide the nutrients which those little microbes need.
If you would like to drastically improve the health of your gut, including understanding the difference between Pre-biotics and Pro-biotics, the best foods/diet to improve your gut bacteria and much more, then join my 3 keys holistic health and fitness program at www.h360.online
6 comments
Hi Rob, What is that drink and where do I get it.
Liz
Hi Liz,
There are lots of probiotic foods which are excellent for your gut and I only mentioned some of the more popular ones in this post. But some others include pickles, vinegar and cheese. I think the drink you mean is kombucha. You can buy this from most supermarkets now, otherwise health food shops stock it. Use caution though, because more than fifty percent all shop bought kombucha tested, has been shown to have almost zero good bacteria. It’s also pretty expensive too – about $10 per litre. The good news is that you can make it easily at home, which has much more beneficial bacteria. It’s also a fraction of the price at about 10 cents per litre. I will share my komucha recipe in the next few days if you want to try and make it which I strongly encourage. There are lots of recipes out there, but this one is much better than the many I have tried making/tasted. I hope that helps, Rob
Thank-you Rob for sharing this information, and for introducing me to Komucha. hope to see better results through this drink in my future.Monica Martin. Ps a special thanks to Anna for sharing this drink with me till i grow my own.
Your welcome Monica… It along with all of the other foods you saw in this post can and will make a massive difference to your gut health, and therefore your immune system/over all health. Just give it a chance to work and see how you go. Rob 🙂
Thank you Rob speaking to me today and sharing your information kind regards Anna Gatt 🙂
No worries Anna you are more than welcome. If you need any other advice just yell out, Rob