Boost Your System This Fall With Good Gut Bacteria
By Dr. Mona Fahoum, ND
It’s all over the news and interwebs–the gut microbiome is the new “in” thing.
It cracks us up at Essential Wellness and Meridian Medicine that we Naturopaths used to be called crazy for all our talk of the gut and probiotics, but now that the research world has caught up. They’re suddenly all on board and call it the “new frontier of medicine”. We have to toot our own horn here as we’ve been talking about its importance to gut health, the immune system, skin health, etc. for 50 years!
Ok, I got that out of my system—now onto the health info.
About The Gut Microbiome
The gut microbiome is incredibly important to our bodies. The microbiome is a community of microorganisms that live within our bodies—bugs for short. These bugs have evolved with us over thousands of years to create a symbiotic relationship for their survival. In return, they help produce innumerable vitamins, help us detoxify different chemicals, support our immune and hormone systems, and help us fight infections. Bacteria even help us with regular bowel movements, digestion, and aid in mood regulation!
We need them and they need us.
While we get our first introduction to the future 100 trillion bacteria in our gut by passing through the birth canal, the first 3-5 years of life are paramount in setting the stage. Whole foods, like those from grains, fruits, veggies, and meat all impact the flora that gets established.
In addition to this, infections and immune stimulation also can aid in building a strong flora. Think about the idea of kids eating dirt that our modern society tries to avoid. This avoided issue can instead be helpful – it actually improves the child’s flora and immune system.
To be clear, we mean dirt exposure within reason of course. Avoiding germs shouldn’t necessarily mean living in a sterile environment, which can also be unhealthy.
How Do We Support A Good Gut Microbiome?
Fortunately, you can get started on supporting good gut health at any age, whether you made mud pies as a child or not. We know that gut bacteria imbalances are seen in a number of health conditions. Working with a practitioner can help identify the things that shouldn’t be there and encouraging growth of the ‘good bugs’ can add to your health.
Just a few conditions we know there are flora imbalances:
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)
Diarrhea
Allergies
Asthma
Diabetes
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
How Do We Fix A Flora Imbalance?
Many times we simply need to support the system in doing its own work through nutrition, including pre and probiotic foods. Other times, we need to identify bugs we need to remove, repair the gut, and then replace the good bugs. There is some great testing we can do to identify the good, neutral, and ‘bad’ bugs (including fungus) via DNA testing from a stool sample. Testing can be very helpful for some patients. We can modify the diet or supplement the gut to encourage the good flora to push out the bugs that are less helpful.
Things you can do to improve your flora include eating more whole foods from a wide variety of sources that literally feed the good bugs. The term for the fibers and foods that feed the good bugs is prebiotic. Prebiotics include things like:
Oatmeal, other whole grains
Avocado
Cabbage/cruciferous veggies
Asparagus
Ground Flaxseed
Apples/pears
Onions/garlic
There are some exceptions to this rule. If you have SIBO, these foods may aggravate the gas/bloating that you already experience. If eating these makes your gut symptoms worse, that is a clear sign you need to come in for an evaluation and treatment.
How To Add Good Bacteria To Your Diet
The other thing you can do to improve your gut microbiome is to eat foods that are rich in good bacteria, or probiotic foods. Some of these “good bacteria” foods include:
Kefir/yogurt
Kombucha
Sauerkraut
Miso/natto/tempeh
Kimchi
Sourdough bread
It All Begins With The Gut
The foundation of Naturopathic Medicine is gut health. Whether you experience hormonal concerns like PMS or PCOS, acne and eczema, asthma, depression, anxiety or digestive issues alone—it often starts in the gut.
Our trillions of bacteria, both on our skin and in our gut are our interface with the external world. If they are out of balance, so are we! Work to incorporate these nutritional tips into your routine. If you need more guidance, schedule with one of our providers.
Gut health is our domain of expertise, and has been long before it was ‘cool’!