If you’re like me, you’ve probably heard the statement “you are what you eat” and simply rolled your eyes. But, is there any merit to this statement? In short, no – we do not literally become food we eat. However, it is true that what we eat can impact our overall health and emotional state. How does it do this? One way is through the impact on our microbiome.
Microbiome
In our intestines reside many microscopic communities. These communities keep us healthy by helping us digest our food, combating illness, and producing certain vitamins. They are commonly referred to as our gut microbiota, gut flora, or microbiome. They exist in our intestinal system where they flourish and grow from our birth until death. At any single point, there can be ten times the number of bacteria in our microbiome than the number of cells (minus reproductive cells like sperm and eggs) in our entire body!
Our microbiome consists of thousands of different types of bacteria that all reside in harmony. However, just like anything, our gut flora can become imbalanced. When this happens, we can experience things such as constipation, diarrhea, upset stomach, inability to digest certain foods (such as lactose intolerance), and diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease. An imbalanced gut flora can even impact our production of vitamins such as vitamin K or our ability to break down foods to release minerals like calcium, magnesium, and phosphate.
Brain-Gut Connection
Along with our intestinal health, our microbiome has become largely studied for its role in mood regulation. This concept has been coined the brain-gut connection. Our microbiome has been found to aid in regulation of neurotransmitter release. Serotonin is an example. It is important in regulation of our mood, appetite, sleep, and memory. Our microbiome has also been found to impact the HPA axis. The HPA axis activation plays a role in mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. So, does what we eat impact this connection?
Altering our Microbiome
It is important to maintain our microbiome health not only for the health of our intestines but for the benefit of our mental function. Things such as stress, smoking, or exercise (and lack thereof) can all impact our microbiome content and diversity. The foods we eat can also influence our microbiome. Fiber is one such example.
Plant sources of food such as grains, fruits, and vegetables all contain fiber. Fiber cannot be broken down like other things we consume but is instead fermented by bacteria in our gut which helps to keep them happy and healthy. Consuming the daily recommendation of fiber helps keep our bowel movements regular, promotes the feeling of satiety are eating, and can even lower cholesterol.
Other foods that can impact our gut flora are the type of protein and fat sources we consume. Artificial sweeteners can also negatively impact our microbiome. It has been shown to decrease our good flora and potentially induce glucose intolerance (an inability to metabolize sugar) when consumed in excess.
Fermented foods can also cause changes in our gut flora. Things such as kimchi, kombucha, water kefir, fermented pickles, and milk products like kefir and yogurt all contain probiotics. These probiotics help increase the good bacteria in our gut and have been linked to reducing cholesterol and improving insulin sensitivity in those who consume them.
Keeping our Microbiome Healthy
Here are a few small things we can do to encourage beneficial microbiota growth:
- Increase consumption of high fiber foods. Some good examples are berries, avocado, apples, bananas, broccoli, artichoke, lentils, beans, oatmeal, quinoa, chia seeds, and popcorn. Click here for a high fiber recipe.
- Adding probiotic foods/drink into our diet. Even if it’s just once a week, consuming a fermented food or beverage can have a beneficial impact on our gut flora.
- Moving for 30 minutes daily, even if it’s just going on a walk, cleaning the house, or stretching.
- Decrease consumption of artificial sweeteners (such as saccharin i.e. Sweet N’ Low, sucralose i.e. Splenda, and aspartame i.e. NutraSweet and Equal). If you are a daily consumer of artificial sweeteners such as “sugar free” candies or beverages, even moving to having one day a week where you opt for something else like an unsweetened tea can help encourage your gut flora.
-Rachel
- Chassaing, B., Vijay-Kumar, M., & Gewirtz, A. T. (2017). How diet can impact gut microbiota to promote or endanger health. Current opinion in gastroenterology, 33(6), 417–421. doi:10.1097/MOG.0000000000000401
- Conlon, M.A. & Bird, A.R. (2014). The impact of diet and lifestyle on gut microbiota and human health. Nutrients, 7(1), 17-44. Doi: 10.3390/nu7010017.
- Singh, R.K., Change, H.W., Yan, D., Lee, K.M., Ucmak, D., Wong, K., … Liao, W. (2017). Influence of diet on the gut, microbiome, and implications for human health. Journal of Translational Medicine, 15(1), 73. Doi: 10.1186/s12967-017-1175-y.
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