What is the Microbiome and Why is it So Important?

The microbiome. It has become one of my favorite words in health because I specialize in gut/ digestive health. The microbiome is a word that I first heard about 3 years ago. I was sitting in a seminar all about the microbiome and gut health in Utah and my mind was blown. I knew that my own gut health would be transformed by this knowledge but also that my own ability to help my clients and how I thought of the gut would be forever changed. It has been and it’s been changed for the good.

I believe we all need to know about the microbiome and that it should and could be a household word. Maybe it’s just the nerd in me that thinks the microbiome should be a household word, I don’t know. But the knowledge of how our body works and how our gut works is something we all need to know and understand. For that understanding will allow for our gut health to be on our mind and will determine how we eat, how we supplement and how we can keep our bodies healthy. So if nothing else, humor me and keep reading and say the word microbiome about 4x so you can begin to learn this powerful word.

What is the microbiome?

The microbiome is your body’s microbial make up. Your unique make up of good and bad bacteria that make up your entire body, including your digestive system. The microbiome is found in your digestive system (stomach and intestines) but also found in your mouth, esophagus and skin. It is your entire microbial make up and there are unique bacteria found in every part of the microbiome. You are made up of 100 trillion microbes. As humans we have 10 trillion cells. A trillion is a huge number. The number of cells alone blows my mind. But we have 10x the amount of microbes in our body to cells. Our cellular health is incredibly important and I will teach on cellular health more as these lessons continue. It’s to be debated if digestive health and working on our digestive systems can be more important and potentially trump the importance of working on our cells. I believe if we combine cell health and gut health than we can have a winning combo. Now it’s back to the micobiome. With 10x microbes vs cells we know that the types and amounts of bacteria in our digestive systems are so important to our overall health.

What does a healthy microbiome do?

• Increases our satiety (signal of the brain)
• Keeps a healthy functioning digestive system
• Increases muscle mass
• Decreases fat storage
• The microbes that make up your microbiome directly talk to the DNA of you cells
• Promotes thyroid health
• Promotes liver detoxification and health
• Decreases inflammation of the body
• Promotes healthy skin

Digestive Health and Microbiome Facts

• Gluten. In Latin, gluten means glue.
  • It literally sticks to your Gastrointestinal tract.
  • I will make a bold statement and state that all of us to some degree are allergic to gluten. The more allergic you are the more of an autoimmune reaction eating it will cause in your body
  • Gliaden is one of the proteins in gluten. You can have an autoimmune response from this protein. The protein will mimic cell membrane of the brain and that is why gluten can start and attack the brain and cause brain symptoms such as brain fog, forgetfulness, sleep issues, fatigue and more. You have what is called a grain brain (read the book here)
  • Read more about gluten and wheat here

• The health of the gut microbiome affects obesity. A bad microbiome will decrease satiety in the brain (so you feel hungry all the time and don’t burn fat like your body should), increasies inflammation of the liver, increases adipose tissue (fat storage), increases permeability of the GI tract (aka leaky gut)
• Gut barrier dysfunction may lead to inflammation, toxicity and chronic conditions
• GI Inflammation and leaky gut initiate a cascade of signaling events that can increase inflammation
• 75% of the toxins from the gut can get to the liver via the portal vein. Gut toxicity and liver toxicity are very related
• Our gut microbiome weighs three pounds (that’s a lot of microbes)
• The gut is the body’s second brain and it has it’s own nervous system called the enteric nervous system. Once again, a gut on fire is a brain on fire and there’s not getting around that. Our gut and brain have no pain fibers so they won’t feel pain. We tend so associate a problem or disfunction with pain, like my back hurts. Our brain and digestive system have to give us different signals instead of pain to tell you about a problem. Symptoms are bloating, gas, heartburn, constipation, diarrhea, brain fog, forgetfulness, fatigue, poor sleep, decreased energy levels
• A healthy gut bacteria (microbiome) may be obesity weapon
  • The bacteria living in our guts affect our waistlines. By supporting the good bacteria could lead to new ways of shedding pounds. This shedding of pounds would be the correct way to lose weight (from the inside out) versus believing the lie of calories in vs calories out.
  • New studies show that transplanting the gut bacteria from obese people into mice led to the animals gaining weight and bacteria transplanted from lean people to the mice kept them slim. This means a healthy gut and a healthy weight is dependent on our digestive health and a synergistic microbiome.
• Each of us are born with a specific microbiome. But did you know that you can actually change your microbiome? Diet can alter the activity of the microbiome
• In improving the microbiome diet changes are often times not enough. Supplementation, detox and nutritional support is key. Learn more about my digestive coaching program here

“Over 95 million Americans experience some kind of digestive problem… total health care costs exceed $40 billion annually”

-American College of Gastroenterology

How time and much money could you save by healing your digestive system and microbiome naturally before it leads to more and more potential medical costs?

And how amazing would it feel to have a healthy digestive system?

Contact Me to Learn More about Healing your Gut and getting your digestive system back on track 

 

Videos about the Microbiome

Microbiome Video

Mind-altering microbes: how the microbiome affects brain and behavior: Elaine Hsiao at TEDxCaltech

Elaine Hsiao is a postdoctoral fellow in chemistry and biology at Caltech. She received her undergraduate degree in microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics from UCLA and her doctoral degree in neurobiology from Caltech with Professor Paul Patterson. She studied neuroimmune mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders and uncovered a role for the commensal microbiota in regulating autism-related behaviors, metabolism, and intestinal physiology.

How Gut Microbes Change Your Mind

Food for thought: How gut microbes change your mind

John Cryan, a neuropharmacologist and microbiome expert from the University College Cork, shares surprising facts and insights about how our thoughts and emotions are connected to our guts.