Is the Microbiome Just GROSS or Helpful?

Nov 12 4 min read

What is the Microbiome?

I don't know much about gut bacteria, so maybe this video with molecular biology expert Colleen Cutcliffe will yield some answers to my questions: what lives inside our guts? And why does Colleen Cutliffe cringe at the terms "good bacteria" and "bad bacteria?"

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The Microbiome is all of the microbes that live in and on us, including bacteria, fungi, virus', yeast. They are on our skin, nasal passages, lungs, and in our guts.

Can I Boost My Mood With Better Gut Health?

Is it really possible to improve mental health by optimizing your microbiome?

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Our gut microbiome can shape our mood and personality. Eating the same things every day can be a problem in not building up a diverse microbiome, so one of the keys is to eat a diverse diet especially vegetables.

Why is Your Microbiome Messed Up?

I know chips and candy aren't great for me, but apparently the average American diet is truly terrible for your gut. What effect is our bad diet really having on us?

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When your microbiome is messed up it's because you don't have a huge amount of diverse microbes, and you get that diversity from different types of food. The microbiome also wants to be fed insoluble fiber, all of the processed foods are stripped of fiber, and we are starving our microbiome.

What Foods Should You Be Eating for a Healthy Microbiome?

People say a good diet is the key to getting a healthy gut. But it's complicated to figure out a good diet. How do I keep it simple - while eating well?

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There are 3 main food groups that are great for our gut:

Fiber - undigestible carbohydrates that reach the colon and feed our bacteria
Fermented Foods or Probiotic rich foods - is a way to introduce healthy micro-organisms into the gut as they have been shown to increase the bacterial load into the bacteria, ie. building up the army
Polyphenal rich foods - plant based anti-oxidants have been shown to be great for the microbiome

We want to always be trying to eat organic as well having a diverse number of vegetables and fermented foods, we want to suggest trying out Thrive Market for organic food delivery. They are nationwide and have a ton of variety for you to choose from.

Can You Test Your Body to See What Kind of Shape Your Microbiome is In?

I wish there was a way around it, but you'll have to send in a poop sample.

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We get into some DNA tests in our health monitoring week that explain how you can figure out exactly the foods that are causing you issues. For now let's learn more about the Microbiome.

Can Sweat Cleanse the Microbiome?

It seems too good to be true: can you actually improve your gut health just by sweating?

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There are 7 easy ways to fix our microbiome and Sweating is the easiest way to cleanse the system.

What Are the 4 Things You Can Ingest to Improve Your Micro Biome?

Besides food, are there are more medicinal things we can ingest - like oils and bitters - to help our microbiome?

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So Remy Kay the Holistic doctoral student gives these 4 things you can try:

Oregano Oil
Aloe Vera Juice
Bitters - like cruciferous vegetables including broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, radishes and arugula. We recommend trying out our friends at Imperfect Foods that offer up cheaper organic vegetables because they buy the 'less than perfectly shaped veg that groceries normally toss out. Who cares how it looks when it's just chopped up anyway?
Prebiotic Fiber Smoothie Mix is a smoothie especially designe to feed your microbiome a diverse diet. Here's the recipe from @SammieMancine

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We go deep into Fiber tomorrow, it's kind of confusing, what are the different types? Why is it so important? Hopefully all of our questions will be answered.

BTW, if you're curious about figuring out what foods you should and shouldn't be eating doing some testing with a Naturopath is a great way to learn. You can find one in your area by checking out the Zocdoc directory.