Feed My Microbiome

Feeding your microbiome

  • “Leaky” gut?
  • Brain challenges like ADD/ADHD, cognitive, memory and behavioral disruptions?
  • Autoimmune conditions like Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, Multiple Sclerosis and Hashimoto’s?
  • Obesity?
  • Chronic inflammation?

Why are these conditions on the rise?


The current health epidemic and the rise of chronic health diseases can be tied back to the combined result of the rapid changes in our modern diet & cultural practices, hyper-sanitization, increasing rates of C-section births, immunizations and antibiotic excesses, decreases in plant food intake, carbohydrate heavy diets, and the increase in GMO foods. All these factors have created a recipe for microbiota disruption, dysbiosis and the loss of ecological diversity. Let’s stop the madness and feed your microbiome. Let’s create a recipe for your ecological success and health victories.

Below you will find a number of recipes for you already!

Please join me in Feeding Your Microbiome, helping to populate your good bacteria with delicious ferments, “breads” made with resistant starch, and our favorite polyphenol-rich goodies (and gummies).

Feeding Your Microbiome with Ferments

From birth onwards, the human gut microbiota swiftly increases in diversity. It reaches an adult-like stage at about three years of age. After this age, the composition may fluctuate in response to external factors such as the

environment, antibiotics, and the foods we consume.

Eating fermented or probiotic-rich foods is an age-old secret to protecting health as well as preserving foods. The traditional process of fermentation allows airborne bacteria to grow on food to prevent it from spoiling. Once consumed, that bacteria, which is known as lactic acid bacteria, supports the growth of the healthy population of bacteria in your intestines. The benefits of eating fermented foods was first discovered at the turn of the last century by Dr. Elie Metchnikoff. He received a Nobel Prize for his work

on probiotics.

His research led to the understanding that ferments can:

  • prevent chronic and degenerative diseases
  • improve digestion
  • possess anti-cancer and immune boosting properties
  • control inflammation

When it comes to feeding your microbiome with ferments, remember that a little goes a long way. Think of kraut more as a condiment not a side dish. Have one to three forkfuls with each meal to boost digestion and give yourself a steady, daily dose of the good guys your gut needs. (Start slow and see how you feel!)

Feeding Your Microbiome with Resistant Starch

Resistant starch is like nutrition for the probiotic bacteria in your colon. This type of starch resists digestion. What this means is that it travels through the gastrointestinal tract – the mouth, the esophagus, the stomach and the small intestine – without breaking down and becoming fuel for the cells throughout your system, like other foods do. Once resistant starch reaches the colon it is ready to do its job.

In the colon or large intestine, much resistant starch is converted to short-chain fatty acids, one of which is called butyrate. Butyrate not only helps the colon to rebuild, repair and replenish, but it helps to lower cancer risk and increase the population of good colon bacteria to ward off disease. Butyrate is like a superfood for your colon and resistant starch is how you deliver that

superfood!

The benefits of consuming resistant starch include:

  • the reduction of inflammation in the colon by helping to lower the colon pH
  • supporting the repair of digestive dysfunctions including symptoms related to both IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and IBD (irritable bowel diseases such as Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis)
  • the potential increase in the absorption of minerals
  • improved insulin sensitivity for blood sugar management and control

Foods that contain resistant starch include:

  • cooked and cooled potatoes (potato flour and/or starch)
  • green bananas
  • green plantains (and their flour)
  • legumes such as lentils and chickpeas
  • cashews
  • raw oats

If you have gas or bloating, watch how you feel adding these foods that contain

resistant starch. You may have to go slow and build your way up.

Feeding your microbiome with polyphenol-rich foods

Polyphenol may be a crazy sounding word, but polyphenol-rich foods are easy to include in your diet, and your belly (and your immune system) will love them.

  • blueberries
  • flaxseed meal (I like it freshly ground and always refrigerate my seeds and meal)
  • raw cacao
  • plums
  • cherries
  • hazelnuts
  • red wine (if you can tolerate it)
  • resveratrol
  • pomegranate
  • curcumin
  • green tea (be mindful of caffeine

Chemical constituents in this class of food also travel through your small intestine largely undigested. The portion of the polyphenol-rich foods that make it to the colon are broken down by your gut bacteria into metabolites that increase the good guys and decrease the bad guys, helping you with your healthy inner ecology. Several of these foods, including green tea, also have anti-microbial and anti-biofilm activity, supporting the inhibition of yeast overgrowth like

Candida albicans and the formation of bacteria like e.coli, from disrupting the balanced microbiota population. The polyphenols essentially act as prebiotics for your gut bacteria. Prebiotics

are like food for your good bacteria – they are PRE biotics. The relationship between the polyphenol-rich foods and your gut bacteria is symbiotic. The bacteria work to break down the chemical bonds in the polyphenols to their biologically active components and the polyphenols feed and shape shift the

make-up of the bacterial population. A win-win! Green tea anyone?

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