14. Nutrition (part 2)
The microbiome!
Many writers have looked at why some people around the world appear to live longer than others. Amongst other things, there seems to be a link with what kind of bacteria are growing in our gut. There are literally trillions of different bacteria in our bowel and (very simply) they all release different chemicals that can help with our appetite (increasing or decreasing it), weight gain/loss, reduce bowel inflammation and bowel cancer, alter how sugars enter our body and even alter our mood. They also boost our immune system…the list goes on so maybe we are more controlled by our bowel bacteria than we think!
Keeping it simple
Our bodies seem to like lots of different types of bacteria. We call that bacterial diversity. Bacteria help us to digest fibre and the more different types of fibre we eat, the more types of bacteria we grow in our bowels. We get fibre from plant-based produce and so this is a key to how we improve our bowel bacteria. Bacteria love fibre and the more diverse our diet of fibre, the more diverse our bacteria.
A healthy /diverse gut microbiome generally means a healthy individual. Amongst other medics, Dr. Michael Greger (an American Physician who specialises in this) says, “We should all be eating fruits and vegetables as if our lives depend on it – because they do.”
An easy concept that has been developed is to simply EAT A RAINBOW A DAY. Others have said EAT 30 DIFFERENT TYPES OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES PER WEEK. So peppers, greens, berries and other fruits all help us to achieve this. We’ve been shopping recently and seen vegetables I never even heard of that look completely non-inviting to be told by my wife, “it’s all diversity”. So I’m trying lots of new things and have not disliked anything so far!
What about live bacteria?
Well the evidence is a little thin for this. However, some people (especially those with IBS) seem to benefit. I personally prefer to look at it from a fermented perspective and the four main products you can use are Kefir, Kombucha, Sauerkraut and Kimchi.
What I am doing?
Eating the rainbow most days!
Having Kefir for my breakfast
Having Kombucha with every evening meal
I have bailed out of sauerkraut and didn’t like Kimchi! Maybe I’ll try it another time
I’m eating a whole food, plant based diet (WFPB). Not fully as I am eating some meat by more in that next week. I am WFPB predominant.
What is a WFPB diet? Essentially, one which contains fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, legumes, nuts and seeds. We’ll talk more about this over the coming weeks.