What Influences and Impacts Gut Health
The important of gut health to overall wellbeing, and how that's been impacted by a monocropping farming culture.
Hello again + welcome to my updated platform, The Mind Platter.
I previously ran a climate change-centric newsletter called Beyond Your Metal Straw alongside my podcast, The Singing Sweet Potato. The old posts from the newsletter are still live on this platform, and most of my episodes are still live on my new podcast channel. However, this is a fresh space — I wanted a new title that felt more all-encompassing and could explain my mission with both formats.
I feel as though The Mind Platter does just that. A special shoutout to my friend, Lauren Hodgen of The Citrus Diaries for doing this rebranding for me!
Anyway… so what is this new platform going to look like?
Every two weeks, you’ll see a fresh newsletter in your inboxes alongside a podcast episode. These two mediums will cover the same topic, but through a slightly different lens. The podcast will feel more casual and conversation-like, whereas the newsletter will feel more educational. I will also be posting graphics to social media for the visual learners out there.
While my previous newsletter was almost purely environmentally-focused, this new platform will focus on a broader range of intersections — wellness, climate, food, lifestyle and nutrition.
So, welcome! And let’s get into this week’s topic…
The Importance of Gut Health
What is the gut microbiome + why is it important?
The gut microbiome refers to a complex system of over three billion bacteria in your intestinal tract. These essentially serve as another bodily organ that regulates immune function, mood, and digestion. These microbes cumulatively can weigh between 2 and 5 pounds, which is roughly equivalent to the size of your brain.
The more diverse these bacteria are, the better. These affect your body’s response to disease, either for the better or worse. Over 80% of our body’s immune system actually lives in the gut, and if it does not have a diverse set of bacterium, it won’t know what to do with foreign bodies. Diversity in the gut trains the body to react with foreign bacteria quickly and efficiently.
There is even evidence to suggest that having a healthy gut can help ward off more serious diseases — and in incredibly stressed medical and pharmaceutical industries, lessening the risk for developing these diseases should be a priority.
How did we get here?
Hundreds of years ago, the human species ate a much wider variety of plants and animals. However, monocropping took precedent during the 20th century and a result, we lost 75% of our crop diversity. Over 90% of the modern global diet comes from a mere 30 crops. Eating a monolithic diet causes our gut microbiomes to suffer, since they thrive off of diversity. However, this doesn’t have to be permanent — the microbiome is highly adaptive and can be influenced by external and internal stimuli, certain foods, and lifestyle habits.
The Bacteria and their Food
Probiotics refer to the “good” bacteria that live in your gut. These live in a variety of fermented foods, including yogurts, kombucha, and kimchi. They help the body to digest food and ward off harmful pathogens. These can also be obtained by probiotic supplements -- however, these can be pricier and less effective, since supplements are not regulated by the FDA.
Additionally, since probiotics are alive, they can be fed by prebiotics — small, nondigesible carbohydrates. These are found a wide range of foods, including avocado, oats, onions, and asparagus.
However, probiotics are not the only bacteria that lives in your gut. Pathogenic bacteria (the “bad” guys) rely on sugar and refined carbohydrates as a food source. Thus, when we consume disproportionate amounts of sugars compared to fibers, we can throw off this balance. Since the gut is highly a
daptive, these changes can be noticed relatively quickly.
Digestive Enzymes and other Influences
Then, you have digestive enzymes — essentially, the tiny pair of scissors that help break down your food to its lowest common denominator with your cells. What this means is that once the enzymes are done with their job, a slice of bread and a handful of walnuts will look the same in our bodies. These are completely broken down and are what allow our cells to function to their optimum degree.
But when these enzymes are disrupted or compromised, our body’s ability to function to its optimal capacity is halted. Aside from food and beverage intake, other disruptors that can alter the gut are stress and depression.
When the body produces elevated levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) the gut’s bacteria composition is altered and releases metabolites, toxins, and neurohormones that can alter the body’s reaction to food. An example would be stress and a lack of hunger cues, or nervousness and “butterflies” in your stomach. These are all examples of stress-induced gut alterations.
This week’s podcast
In this week’s podcast episode, I’ll be discussing this at greater lengths and breaking down how some “buzzy” gut health foods interact with the body.