The Gut-Health Connection to a More Energetic You

Ever wondered why that slice of pizza might leave you feeling sluggish or why a plateful of greens sets you up for a day full of energy? Let's unlock these mysteries together as I, Damaris Maria Grossman, take you on a journey through the microscopic world inside our gut in the latest Mindfully Integrative podcast. We dive not into the depths of the ocean, but into the fascinating ecosystem of our microbiome, where a cosmic dance of bacteria, fungi, yeast, and viruses plays out, impacting our health in profound ways.

Grasp the tools for fostering a resilient microbiome as we discuss how to avoid the perils of dysbiosis and why a diet bursting with phytonutrients can be your ticket to a vibrant life. Learn about the power of prebiotics and probiotics in creating a symphony of wellness within, and why your gut deserves the same attention and care as the rest of your body. With practical advice and insightful commentary, this episode transforms the complex science of gut health into actionable knowledge that can lead to a happier, healthier you. Join us for an enlightening chat that might just change the way you think about your next meal.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:54

so, um, hi, how are you? This is Damaris Maria Grossman and we are Mindfully Integrative and we're talking today kind of like about gut health, microbiome and how it is helpful in the body and why is it even important. So, um, microscopically, we have good and bad bacteria. Um, and in a collection of bacteria, there is actually a microbiome which it. In a collection of bacteria, there is actually a microbiome which it is a collection of, actually fungi, yeast and viruses and overall, um, it's a community that lives within the GI tract, which actually starts from your mouth all the way to your anus, and it's a microbiome collection that it's a community of. You hope to be living in a very symbiotic, beneficial use for our immune system and for our body, and we want that flora to be in balance of good and bad flora to help break down the good quality foods and good breakdown all of the things that we digest and help us with our immune support and help us with inflammation, help us with infection, help us with you know repair or anything additional. And when that is in balance and not modulated, we have a dysbiosis or an irregularity that our microbiome is really affected. So why is our microbiome so important? It's like our gut bacteria, it's in the entire body. It benefits our body, our brain, our immune system. Our gut is our second immune system and it has an abundance amount of vitamins. Digestion helps with their balance, helps with their mood.

Speaker 1: 2:37

You'll notice that most individuals that don't have a quality gut health or balanced diet or balanced microbiota or a dysbiosis or leaky gut within their body, they do have severe illness that has come up. Now that doesn't mean all illnesses are in the gut. It just means that a good component of illness healing happens in the gut or is helped, facilitated within. So when the body is full of good bacteria, we flourish, we do well and there's lower rates of obesity, diabetes. But when we have high rates of the poor bacteria or an imbalance or a breakage in the brush borders within the intestines or in regularity with the circulatory system and the metabolic health, you find that there's an abundance of bad bacteria and the microbiome is completely off. And when that happens, or even in the entire community between the either fungi, yeast or viruses and the bacteria, the microbiome, when all of that in some manner have some sort of imbalance, you'll notice that will alter our body's health system and we will become less inclined to be doing well. So it is so paramount and so important for us to make sure that we're avoiding those foods and stressors and applying more positive, smart thinking and just get ourselves on the right track.

Speaker 1: 4:17

Now, how do we do that? Each and every day, we feed our microbiome, we give it the nourishment that it deserves by placing in one aspect we would call it phytonutrient, or very colorful, beautiful foods within the body to help heal it. Beautiful foods within the body to help heal it, help it grow, give it pre and probiotics and pre and probiotics are known to be more fibrous. You know, give you more. The prebiotics gives you more of the fibrous foods vegetables and such and probiotics are those that feed the body, feed the gut. Now tips on maintaining that.

Speaker 1: 4:57

And how do you get there? Really, just fibrous, rich foods, plant-based mostly, a little bit of good quality meats, less of the anti-inflammatory foods that I've spoken about in another podcast. Modifying, you know, think more veggies and some protein, and if you're a vegetarian, you know your proteins. Where you get greens? You know high quality vegetables or just any sort of vegetables, if you can get into your diet. And really modifying the amount of processed foods. You know, processed, highly processed foods, highly added sugars, artificial sweeteners, all those things that, like, you may think of as being quick. You know the high sugary cereals, the donuts, the bagels, the you know the nighttime high doses of carbs, plus you know the pizzas that are. You know all the things that you might want as a quick or the chips or what have you. Those things on a daily basis should be avoided and you know you're going to be eliminating that.

Speaker 1: 6:00

And then if you have any sort of intolerance, everyone is different. For myself, I'm lactose, I have definitely a bread intolerance and that becomes a problem, and I have an exposure of some metals and detergent. So for me, I have to avoid those things. When you avoid some of those inflammatory processes whether it's a toxic exposure outside or to the microbiome or an actual internal eating you then lower the inflammation so that your bucket like I talk about in your inflammatory bucket has been lowered and that's what you're benefiting. You try to lower that inflammation each and every day.

Speaker 1: 6:39

Now ways to get those probiotic foods there's plenty of foods available for you. So if you ever have questions, reach out to me or my team and we'll be glad to tell you, and then I also have plenty of resources, but ways and great foods for the, the microbiome, any sort of vegetables or fruits, in think about the rainbow. So red would be apples, cherries, you know. Then you'd have oranges, oh oranges, you know.

Speaker 1: 7:12

Maybe squash, and then Y would be yellow squash and um lima beans I think yellow squash and um lima beans, I think maybe that's yellow and or um spaghetti squash, and then green would be any sort of Christmas vegetables, avocado peppers, um broccoli, and then think eggplant purple, um. So if you, the more you make it a variety of that within your plate. I do a lot of soups and like, maybe like veggie pastas to help bring in some more of that, and sometimes I will do a quality smoothie or protein shake to get my greens in there. So if you have any quick questions or any things that you'd like to do, let us know what you like to put in your gut to get yourself back to balance. Make sure you find yourself a mindful way each and every day, and this is just a quick tip on getting your gut back in shape.