Your Microbiome: You Are What THEY Eat (& 5 Ways You’re Sabotaging Them!)

Let’s talk gut bugs.

Your microbiome is a small world, filled with TRILLIONS of microscopic bacteria, viruses and fungi (collectively called microbes, or microorganisms) that play important roles in the body.

1. Digest your food

2. Govern appetite

3. Orchestrate your immune system

4. Influence your mood

5. Regulate your weight

6. Plays a role in regulating blood sugar

7. Influences heart health

8. Influences whether your brain feels sharp and clear, or filled with fog

9. Produce crucial vitamins and other nutrients

These are all pretty important roles in the body, would you agree? Now, let’s talk about what you may experience when your microbiome is showing signs of imbalance.

We are what THEY eat.

Our microbiome that is.

Are you eating in a way that is supporting your microbiome (and therefore your body and brain)?

Think of your gut microbiome like an ecosystem, a diverse and lush rainforest with plentiful bacterial species, and a terrain that supports this life.

1. Not Enough Fiber

   The Standard North American Diet is rich in processed, refined foods that tend to be high in sugar and lacking in fiber. These are all damaging to our gut microbiome. Focusing on foods that are natural, of good quality and alive will go a long way in supporting the integrity of our microbiome. Fiber that we get from fruits and veggies is prebiotic in nature, meaning that it feeds those good gut bugs to help them thrive! So, if we aren’t giving our bugs the fuel they need for survival, they die and the bad gut bugs can take over.

2. Lack of Diversity

   Could it be possible that incorporating fruits and veggies alone may not be enough? To ensure that your diet is optimal for gut health, in addition to quantity, it is the amount of diversity in fruits and vegetables in your diet that is an important factor. In fact, diets that contain 30 or more DIFFERENT types of plant foods (fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds etc) in a week were associated with a much higher diversity in gut microbiota when compared to a diet more limited in plant matter (10 or less plant foods).

3. Unfiltered Water

   Believe it or not, chlorinated water can have a negative impact on our good gut bugs! Filter that water for better gut health.

4. Artificial Sweeteners

   These synthetic sugar substitutes might seem like a good idea if you’re trying to cut calories, BUT they may disrupt the balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut, contributing to dysbiosis (this is a good reason why I am not into calorie counting).

5. Lacking Probiotic Rich Foods

   Do you include fermented foods in your diet? These include sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, miso, kefir and yogurt. Most important in this category of foods, is making sure that they have been naturally fermented. For example- sauerkraut and kimchi should never include vinegar on the ingredient list, but rather cabbage, salt and spices! This ensures that it has been naturally fermented and those beneficial bacteria (and the lactic acid they produce) are responsible for that familiar tang! When it comes to yogurt, it is very important to pay attention to sugar content as those added sugars can feed our “bad” bacteria (which is NOT our goal when introducing probiotic element to the diet).