The Brain-Gut Connection: Tips for Supporting a Healthy Microbiome


The Brain-Gut Connection



Source: kimberleywilson.co

Do you ever get butterflies in your stomach when you're nervous? That's because the connection between the gut and mind is real. Just think, when you're sick in the stomach your brain is not working right. The same is true when your gut goes into dysbiosis from taking a course of antibiotics. If you can't tell from previous posts, I'm kind of anti-antibiotic at the moment!


Tips for Gut Homeostasis

Diet

  • High fiber such as vegetables and fresh fruit.

  • Reduction in the intake of animal protein, limit to one portion per day and try and make it organic / grass fed.

  • Fermented foods such as: Yogurt, Kefir, Sauerkraut, Kimchi and Kombucha.

  • Prebiotics and Probiotic supplementation.

  • Avoid artificial sweeteners; although Stevia can be a good alternative.

  • Avoid processed foods - I know this is an obvious one!

  • Unsaturated fats like an Avocado, get on the hipster train!


I researched whether a ketogenic diet is good for recovery because I was writing this post and want it to be accurate, but after investigation I found mixed results. I believe this has to do with the fact that in the research, the people in the study did not complete food sensitivity tests. The positive results from people going on the Ketogenic diet were likely due to their genetics and their ancestors having a high fat diet. If you're from Eskimo descent, high fat is really good for you most likely because that's about all they ever ate in the ancient past! Here is the study


Exercise

Exercise has shown nothing but positive results in helping to restore the gut. In addition to that, taking probiotics helps support energy production, so I think it's an obvious supplement of choice to incorporate into your exercise regime.


Source: Google Search

Exercising has proven results in creating and sustaining a quality gut microbial composition. Another benefit is that if you have any type of chronic fatigue it helps for that as well. Here is the study


Supplementation

Supplements also play an important role, especially if you feel like you have poor gut health or leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut syndrome can contribute to an array of other problems because it means you have holes in your gut, as the name states it's leaking! When there are holes in your gut food that isn't digested properly is able to find its way to other parts of your body and is the likely cause of many auto-immune disorders. That's because when food is outside of the gut, the body attacks it which is the auto-immune response.

Some supplements to help restore leaky gut can be found and there are several comprehensive ones you can find on Amazon but here is what you want to focus on:


  • Colostrum - Take at the same time as probiotics, they make probiotics more powerful; see the research here on this

  • L-Glutamine - Amino Acid, also helps with muscle recovery

  • Butyrate - good for taking during or after consuming antibiotics


I'd like to call out Butyrate because in this NIH study it's concluded that it inhibits inflammation and pathogenic bacterial overgrowth. To be honest with you, I didn't know this before reading this study in detail so I think it's absolutely necessary for taking if you're ever in need of taking an antibiotic. It's worth noting that taking probiotics help to produce this naturally in the body, so to keep it simple just take some probiotics and you'll probably be ok.


Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov


DYOR

Don't take my word for it, I recommend anyone reading any article when it comes to what others recommend when it comes to health to do their own research. That's why I've included all the NIH citations and articles I've found to help improve the quality of this post.


Sources

Image Thumbnail - https://logomakr.com/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6678592/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5357536/#:~:text=Recent%20studies%20suggest%20that%20exercise,host%2C%20improving%20its%20health%20status.








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