Did you know that there are bacteria in your gut that can improve your energy levels, lift your mood and even help you maintain a healthy weight? In fact, in an average human being, there are as many bacteria as there are cells in your body, and that together they usually weigh as much as 2 lb’s (1 kg)? They consist of up to 1400 or more types, some good and some not so good.
The good ones can:
- Help maintain the health of your gut wall
- Control sugar absorption which helps avoid weight gain and acts to prevent diabetes
- Keep hunger at bay
- Improve your mood
- Help you sleep
In contrast, the not so friendly ones can:
- Cause inflammation of the gut wall, leading to abdominal pain, IBS type problems and even more sinister conditions like Crohn\’s disease
- Increase your appetite for unhealthy foods which harm you, but feeds them
- Cause low moods and depleted energy levels
Gut bacteria feature in all animals with a digestive system and have evolved alongside them to coexist in harmony. The ideal mix of bacteria in the human gut have developed over thousands of generations to assist in making us great hunters, strong and mentally alert survivors and attractive and healthy looking to prospective mates. Their diet is what we put in our mouths, and our ideal bacteria thrive on the simple and varied diet of our ancient ancestors which assisted in making us our best. These ancient strains are potentially the best friends we could have and the ones we should be looking after the most.
A modern diet is quite different from a prehistoric one and there are many things which we eat that not only starve the good guys but encourage the growth of some very unfriendly critters. One of the easiest ways to rebalance things is to put back lots of the major missing foods that the friendly bacteria love so that they can get on with running the show, keeping the bad guys at bay. One of the most important foods that your best friends love most is fibre, the kind that you get in most fruit and vegetables, wholemeal bread, steel-cut porridge oats and (perhaps surprisingly) onions and garlic.
One word of warning, suddenly switching to a high fibre diet can be a bit much for a gut that is already suffering from a condition like IBS or inflammatory bowel disease. So approach with care, but for most people, it can be a wonderful help.
By Jonathan Boxall – Registered Osteopath, Ottery St Mary, Tel 01404 597144
