Gut Healing
CULTURING THE GUT in order to MAXIMIZE HEALTH
Rebalancing the Microbiome:
Gut health is comprised of the harmony of a person’s emotional, spiritual and physical composition. The gut is often referred to as the "second brain" and also holds the key to overall vitality. Some important gut insight:
Food affects moods and the happy hormone, serotonin, is produced in the gut and is responsible for regulating the function of the intestines. A whole foods diet is crucial for emotional wellness and the proper production of this hormone.
2. Prebiotics/Probiotics- Prebiotics such as burdock and chicory root can strengthen the gut and are powerful prebiotic herbs. Consuming fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi and miso will provide beneficial bacteria to colonize the gut.
3. Broths- nourishing broths are well known for gut health, from bone broths to vegetable and herbal broths that provide essential nutrients and help heal inflammation in the gut.
4. Herbs- some gut healing herbal remedies that consist of licorice, burdock, chicory, slippery elm, marshmallow root and cinnamon provide relief the intestinal tract and assist in the repair of the intestinal lining.
5. Reduction of Stress and promotion of relaxation- giving the body the proper rest to allow the body to heal and restore to balance the gut is crucial.
The Microbiome
A microbe, also referred to as a microscopic organism, is a living thing that is not visible to the naked eye. This is the general term that is used to describe bacteria, fungi, yeast, and viruses. A microbiome is a collection of the microbes living in a community, such as in the intestines of the human body. We also refer to these communities as “flora” or “microbiota”.
We establish our microbiome from the moment we are born. How and where we are born play an important role in the types of microbes we acquire. Babies first pick up microbes through a vaginal birth, then from every person or thing they come in contact with, and they continue to pick up microbes throughout their lives. The microbiome isn’t fixed; it develops over time and changes in response to its environment.
What Does The Microbiome Do?
Gut bacteria affect the entire body, even the brain through the vagus nerve. Beneficial bacteria in the gut have many important functions, including:
To synthesize particular vitamins
Aid in digestion
Balance hormones, moods and reduce anxiety
Boost the immune system, protecting against infections and some types of cancer.
Strains of good bacteria in the gut are also associated with lower rates of obesity, diabetes, and digestive tract diseases. If there are too many harmful or ‘bad’ bacteria or too few beneficial bacteria in the microbiome, serious health problems can arise.
The population of good bacteria in your body can be diminished or killed off by stress, surgery, antibiotics, illness, trauma, or unhealthy eating habits.
We can ensure that our microbiomes are healthy by eating beneficial foods that feed the good bacteria, and avoiding foods that encourage the growth of harmful bacteria.
Once you heal your gut and make your digestive system healthy and working properly, you will notice many troubling symptoms disappear because to be truly healthy originates in your digestive system. It can be surprising to see how many various symptoms in your body originated from your imbalanced and leaky gut.
3 steps to heal the gut:-Dietary intervention, including prebiotics which are designed to feed the cell regeneration process and allow your gut to rebuild itself.
-Probiotic supplements, to reseed your gut with healthy, beneficial bacteria
-Detoxification that will remove toxins, impurities and unwanted organisms.
Feeding the Microbiome
The foods we consume play an important role in balancing our microbiome. Many beneficial microbes in our guts help us extract nutrients from food we wouldn’t otherwise be able to digest. Different microbes thrive on different types of food. You can promote the growth of good bacteria by use of probiotics and essentially feed the beneficial bacteria in your gut by eating foods the bacteria are known to thrive on, known as prebiotics. Prebiotics consist of a variety of fiber-rich foods (vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds).
Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Microbiome
Eat a varied spectrum of fiber-rich plant foods, including legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs, whole grains, fruits, and most importantly vegetables. The more variety of different colored vegetables and fruits the better.
Limit or avoid processed foods and foods high in added sugar and artificial sweeteners.
Stay well hydrated. Drink plenty of water and other non-caffeinated, unsweetened beverages like herbal teas and coconut water. If you are using a water filter, it would be helpful to add a trace mineral to restore the electrolyte balance.
Limit or avoid any foods to which you test sensitive, intolerant, or allergic to. Some common problematic foods are dairy, corn, eggs, shellfish, peanuts, soy, tree nuts, and wheat (gluten).
Avoid the use of antibiotics. Take only when absolutely medically necessary. During and after completing a course of antibiotics, eat raw probiotic foods and take a probiotic supplement. This can help to rebuild the population of healthy bacteria in your gut.
Probiotics & Prebiotics
Probiotics are sometimes referred to as the good bugs, and they can be constantly replenished with the right diet. Probiotics need nourishing and supportive food to help them grow and proliferate. Prebiotics are the fiber-rich foods that probiotics feed and grow on.
As a bonus, a compound called butyric acid is produced when the probiotics break down prebiotics in the colon. Butyric acid is the preferred form of fuel for the cells that line the colon. It also acidifies the gut, making it harder for harmful bacteria to survive.
Two of the main probiotic bacteria that reside in the digestive tract are Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria. These can be taken in the form of supplements or included in the diet in the form of fermented probiotic rich foods.
Probiotic and Prebiotic Food Sources:
Here are some examples of common probiotic and prebiotic foods:
Dairy probiotic foods (preferably grass-fed and raw): acidophilus milk, buttermilk, cheese (aged), cottage cheese, kefir, sour cream, yogurt (plain, no added sugar, active cultures).
Non-dairy probiotic foods: fermented vegetables, fermented meats, kimchi,sauerkraut, kombucha, kvass, miso, natto, pickled vegetables (raw - beets, carrots, radish, cucumber), olives, apple cider vinegar, tempeh, sourdough, non-dairy “yogurt” and kefir (plain, no added sugar, active cultures).
Prebiotic foods: apple, asparagus, banana, burdock, chicory, cocoa, dandelion greens, eggplant, endive, flaxseed, garlic, raw honey, Jerusalem artichoke (sunchoke), jicama, konjac, leek, legumes, onion, peas, radicchio, apple cider vinegar, yacon.
Tips for Getting Probiotics
To maintain colonization in the digestive tract, probiotics must be taken or eaten regularly. General recommendations call for ingesting 1 to 25 billion colony-forming units (CFUs) daily. To put these guidelines into perspective, most store-bought probiotic yogurts contain about 1 billion CFUs per serving.
To get the maximum benefit from fermented foods, it’s important to read product labels and choose only those that contain “active, live cultures” and preferably raw, unpasteurized, perishable ingredients.
Organic brands are always the best choices, as they are not typically heat-treated after fermentation, so more of the good bacteria are present. Fermented foods can also be made at home. Though the probiotic content will vary by batch, home fermenting is a safe way to ensure that you are ingesting beneficial bacteria, as various cultures around the world have done for centuries. Remember, 1 tbsp of sauerkraut alone can give you 10 million to 10 billion CFUs.
A happy gut = a happy and robust immune system and happy brain
