What is the Microbiome?

The microbiome is the collection of bacteria in a person's gut that process the food people eat. There are good bacteria and bad bacteria. When the bad bacteria overtake the system, illness happens. Hippocrates, a Greek doctor known as the Father of Medicine, taught that all forms of illness had a natural cause and said 'All disease begins in the gut'. Almost 80% of the immune system lives in the gut and 90% of serotonin is produced there. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that carries messages between the brain and the whole body. It regulates things like mood and digestion. The lining of your gut protects the bloodstream from bad particles. When the lining is damaged by alcohol, sugar, gluten, poor diet, environmental toxins, etc. the bad particles enter the bloodstream and cause inflammation and disease. The immune system responds to the foreign particles by causing autoimmune diseases, allergies, sensitivities and inflammation. This is a condition called leaky gut. I was having issues with hives for about 6 months. Pretty sure it was caused by a leaky gut issue. Once I changed my diet to be gluten free, they went away. Removing top allergen foods and toxins can help repair leaky gut. Adding prebiotics, probiotics, fiber and vegetables to the diet will help promote the growth of good bacteria in the gut. Prebiotics include foods like artichoke, garlic, onions, leeks, dandelion greens, jicama, chicory root, and asparagus. Probiotics include foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, fermented soy, unsweetened yogurt or kefir, miso, and natto. In a health summit I watched, Dr. Tom O'Bryan recommends eating 1 root vegetable per day if gluten free to replace nutrients from wheat and 2 prebiotic vegetables such as onion, 1 tbs fermented vegetables per day, 1tbs homemade applesauce and/or 1 cup bone broth per day. A family member recently had a colonoscopy. In preparation for it, they had to take 5 pills twice, instead of the drink, to 'clean' them out. That person said it caused them to be very moody and emotional. A side effect on the label was depression. What it probably does is mess up a person's gut health by wiping out all of the gut bacteria, including good bacteria. It also probably greatly decreased the production of serotonin, since the majority of it is produced in the gut and a deficiency is linked to mood/depression issues. Most people don't have strong gut health to begin with and are moody and depressed enough on their own. They don't need pills to worsen the condition in order to have a test. Doctors should be teaching people how to improve their gut health, not giving them pills to destroy it in order to prepare for a test whose condition is probably caused by poor gut health to begin with. That's not likely to happen, which is why it's important to take control of your own health. Challenge: Try eating a good quality unsweetened, organic yogurt at least a couple of times per week. I like to add some blueberries, walnuts and a dash of cinnamon to it. For a dairy free option, coconut yogurt is a good alternative that won't impact the blood sugar like other dairy free alternatives such as cashew and oat. Resources: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/microbiome/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8001875/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4838018/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7919680/ #ads More Microbiome Resources