You are what you eat.
Nutrition is so important! Not only what you eat, but HOW you eat. Food is a way to nourish your body cells so it can have optimal function, including your mood, your brain, your gut, and sleep.
If you are struggling with:
Constipation
Bloating
Nausea
Abdominal discomfort
Poor sleep
Low energy and fatigue
Energy crashes
Low mood
Brain fog
I highly recommend looking at what you are fueling your body with.
What you eat also affects your gut microbiome. Your gut microbiome consists of microbes that are both helpful and harmful. In other words, your microbiome consists of good and bacteria. A healthy microbiome consists of a variety of good and bad bacteria, and of high quantity.
The gut microbiome functions to:
Strengthen the intestinal barrier
Optimize nutrient absorption and utilization
Defend against pathogens and improve your immune system
Produce B-vitamins and vitamin K
Regulate appetite and food intake, metabolism, digestion
A disturbance in that microbiota balance, which can be brought on my infectious illnesses, poor diets, and prolonged use of antibiotics, can cause a dysbiosis or imbalance in the gut microbiome.
Now, let's dive into each of the 5 strategies of how you can use food to optimize your gut microbiome.
Food Timing: Coordinate your meal timing with the light/dark cycle of day to night. Those who start with an early breakfast and incorporate an earlier time restricted feeding (i.e. last meal around sunset) have greater positive changes in the composition of their gut microbiome. Aim for 10 hour window of not eating.
Eating Environment: Chew your food 30-40 times/bite. Put down your fork between bites. Sit at table, remove any distractions and electronics/television
Vitamin D (i.e. sunlight 10 minutes/day, salmon, dairy, egg yolks) optimizes gut microbiome in the upper GI tract, resulting in reduction of pathogens and increased bacterial richness.
Culinary spices to foods: Oregano, black pepper, cayenne pepper, ginger, cinnamon, rosemary, turmeric possess prebiotic like effects that promote growth of good bacteria.
Snacking: Go for protein focused snacks (i.e. hardboiled eggs, nuts). Any sugary snacks/sweets should be consumed after a meal (not by itself), to prevent glucose spikes and energy crashes after meals, reduce inflammation, less insulin resistance and happier organs.
Be sure to watch my 30-minute masterclass on how you can optimize your nutrition to have a healthy and diverse gut microbiome! Here is the link!
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