It’s a little disconcerting to think that the 100 trillion cells in our microbiome, the term for the collection of microbes living both in and upon us, out number our human cells 10 to 1. The genes of our microbiome outnumber human genes 100 to 1. Craziest yet, our microbiome plays a huge role influencing how we feel and perhaps even how we act.
Surreal landscape, or the bacteria crawling all over your face?
Do you have intense sugar cravings that you just can’t seem to overcome? It’s quite possible that certain bacteria within your gut, which feed off of sugar, are influencing you to consume more for their own survival. Is chocolate a must have every single day? It might not be just because it’s loaded with feel-good chemicals and may have more to do with the fact it feeds certain bacteria in your gut.
As usual, the modern world has interfered with our good health. While I don’t advocate a Paleo diet per se, they do hit the nail on the head in terms of the fact that our bodies have evolved to require certain things, one of which is a profusion of mixed bacteria in the gut – prior to a few hundred years ago, nothing was very sanitary. And for hundreds of thousands of years, the food we were able to consume had various levels of bacteria upon it, through which we’ve evolved to thrive. We later learned to use fermentation as a means to preserving our food, which further increased our exposure to bacteria in the form of probiotics.
But it’s not all bad news, far from it. We’re just starting to learn how critical these little guys are to our health, especially the good bacteria, or probiotics, in our intestinal tract. Probiotics (pro=for or towards, bio= life) mean literally for life.
First we need a little background on our digestive system, and one thing I’ll be touching on in the future is that you are a reflection of your intestinal health. It’s not the most poetic sentiment, sure, but it’s true, and if you’re trying to lose weight, have more energy and a clear mind, you need to pay more attention to intestinal health.
The human digestive system, a 30 foot long tangle of mass, is a huge player in our wellbeing, but the focus of this post is centers around probiotics and their interaction with us, and to understand that we need to understand a simple fact : your gut is your second brain. This second brain is in constant communication with the one in your head and the two are always influencing each other, which is one reason why food affects your mood, and why your mental state affects your digestion.
Technically know as the enteric nervous system, this “second brain” contains over a 100 million neurons, more than in the spinal cord or in the peripheral nervous system. And how do neurons communicate with one another? Through neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters have a profound affect on your mood, energy levels, behavior and outlook on life in general, and are largely a “missing link” when attempting to improve one’s health. For example, lets say you don’t produce enough dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in motivation, pleasure, increased mood, focus, and energy, as well as goal-seeking behavior. So if something’s going on that is disrupting the proper functioning of dopamine, you will experience less pleasure, less energy, have poor focus, little motivation and won’t be motivated to accomplish goals and tasks at hand. Other neurotransmitters include serotonin, a key player in mood and the target of most anti-depressants; GABA, a calming and relaxing neurotransmitter, our body’s natural Xanax; and quite a few more.
This all relates to your digestive system and probiotics in a large way. If your intestinal flora isn’t flourishing, not only is your digestion going to be wonky, but so will your mood, energy levels and outlook on life. Probiotics, those lovely little critters that call your digestive system home, produce the whole gamut of neurotransmitters, which your body then absorbs and responds to.
For example, Lactobacillus helveticus and Bifidobacterium longum, two strains of probiotics, have been found to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Lactobacillus rhamnosis produces GABA which we then are able to utilize, keeping us feeling calm and collected throughout the day; you know that wonderful relaxed feeling you get after a long yoga session, or from a glass of wine at the end of the day? GABA at work. Bifidobacterium infantis helps produce serotonin, the same neurotransmitter targeted by most anti-depressants, as well as reduces inflammation and helps send “I’m full” signals to the brain. Lactobacillus reuteri stimulates the production of oxytocin, the hormone used to promote social bonding and which is released when we relax with loved ones.
Help them help you
So if you want to be depressed, stressed, anxious, hungry, on edge, less motivated, and experience less pleasure, don’t consume any probiotics or fermented foods.
“Say, how might I improve my intestinal flora?” So glad you asked. First, start by avoiding things that kill off the good bugs in your digestive system. The worst offender is by far antibiotics – these are a nuclear bomb to probiotics, killing off the bad bugs as well as the good. If you have a thriving microbiome you likely won’t ever need antibiotics, but if you are prescribed them make sure to take some very strong probiotics along with them and afterwards. Limit consumption of coffee, alcohol, cigarettes and drugs as well, as all damage your intestinal flora. Avoid consuming too many refined carbs, junk food and sugar, as these feed the bad bugs and promote their overgrowth, while starving off our little bacterial friends. Many pesticides and herbicides do damage to probiotics as well, so go for organic as much as possible.
Promote a healthy intestinal flora by consuming a wide variety of fermented foods. Things like unpasteurized yogurt, unpasteurized sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, kvass, kimchi, lassi, organic dark chocolate, and even high quality, unfiltered and unpasteurized beer and wine, though be careful not to overindulge. These are all fermented foods, teeming with a wide variety of bacterial good guys.
Consume plenty of high fiber foods, as fiber, while undigested by humans, is actually the food for our microbial friends, and is thus termed prebiotics. Berries, especially raspberries, apples, dark leafy greens, avocados, beans, certain whole grains, oatmeal and celery are all good choices. Onions, leeks, garlic and beets are high in inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS), which are basically crack for probiotics. You can also buy some potato starch, which feeds certain bacteria in the gut that then produce butyrate, a fat-burning, hunger suppressing compound. If you wish to supplement inulin and FOS, I’d go with this product, as it’s high quality and the price can’t be beat.
There are two high quality probiotic supplements I’d like to recommend as well. Renew Life’s Ultimate Flora Super Critical is a high quality probiotic, with a full 200 billion living organisms of 10 different strains. This would be my suggestion for anyone who has multiple courses of antibiotics in the past and is looking to boost their intestinal flora up to healthy levels, or for anyone who has to go on a course of antibiotics. My second recommendation would be Lee Swanson’s Ultimate Probiotic Formula, which has a very respectable 66 billion organisms and even comes with it’s own prebiotics. These are good supplements to have on hand in case you get sick, or to use in addition to a diet high in a variety of fresh fermented foods.
Just as a side note, I personally get my probiotics from fermented foods and from Vitamineral Green and Green Vibrance, two greens powders that I gave a detailed description of here.
To recap, if you want to avoid digestive issues along with depression, anxiety and a lack of motivation, be sure to pay attention to consuming fermented foods. Developing a healthy intestinal flora really is critical to maintaining not only proper digestive health, but emotional, physical and mental wellbeing as well.