|
- Brain / Gut connection. We all know that our brain affects our gut…e.g. if you see something disturbing, it may make you nauseated; you might get a stomachache worrying about an important interview or public speaking; does the sight of your sweety pie give you butterflies, does a long stretch of stress slow down your elimination? The list goes on. The reverse is much less well known—how dramatically our gut affects our brain. There is a nerve highway going between gut and brain in both directions. We now know that the type and quantity of certain friendly bacteria in our digestive tract communicate along that information highway and the gut “bugs” also create neurotransmitters that circulate in the blood.. New research shows that one assortment of bacteria was associated with greater emotional resilience, as well as lowered depression and anxiety symptoms. Prior research showed that a higher gut population of the species Lactobacillus is associated with better memory in animals and people. There are a vast number of reasons to pay attention to the care and feeding of your gut critters. I found the study of those associations absolutely fascinating when I researched and wrote my second book, The Probiotic Cure: Harnessing the Power of Good Bacteria for Better Health.
- What do you feed them? Although virtually everything we eat, drink, think and even do has either a positive or negative effect on our gut microbe populations (aside from avoiding antibiotics) diet is the big one. In Geoff Bond’s May Briefing, he reported research suggesting that “Paleo beats Med Diet for Gut Health.” He explained that the modern Paleo (MPD) diet features the consumption of vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish and lean meat, while excluding grains, pulses [legumes], dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed foods. Needless to say, neither diet contains fake foods and synthetic chemicals.
- Fast food mystery? The Associated Press reported: “Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, an Oscar nominee whose most famous works skewered America’s food industry and who notably ate only at McDonald’s for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast-food diet, has died [May 2024]. He was 53.” His documentary was called Supersize me. Before readers conclude “ahah, fast food killed him“…Note that while he did indeed document a number of bad health changes, his fascinating, creative and entertaining but crazy experiment was 20 years ago. Most of the unpleasant changes we would assume were only temporary. Back at the time, I wondered if the most significant risk was not the ADDITION of hamburgers and calories per se but the OMISSION of fruits, vegetables and fiber. As noted in the previous item, those are foods which provide the food needed by our friendly bacteria. We would assume that when he stopped the all-McDonalds-all-the-time plan, he reverted to a healthy diet and reversed the damage. I am sorry for his family’s loss.
- One of my favorite guests on Healthy by Nature was Kim Bright, founder of Brightcore Nutrition. She now has her own show on SiriusXM radio. She is on the Family Talk Christian channel on Saturday afternoons. Check it out.
|
July 12, 2024 
Healthy By Nature Show