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What’s “bugging” you

Miscellaneous 07/02/2017 6 min read

What You Need To Know About Optimising Your Gut Microbiome.

It is not exactly a secret anymore that we harbour, in and on our bodies, a veritable ecosystem of microbes. We host about 100 trillion (!) of different micro organisms in our digestive tract that literally drive our biology.

The microbiome, which is another word for the collective genetic material of all these different bugs, has been receiving a lot of attention as one of the most exciting fields of study and we are only at the beginning stages of understanding the true impact that it has on our health.

Here is some of what we do know about the microbiome:

We are outnumbered by our bugs: the original estimates were that we have 10 times more bacteria than we have human cells, recent studies have lowered this estimate a bit but we remain outnumbered.
The combined genes of all these different microbes is estimated to be approximately 4.5 million versus 25,000 human genes.
The total weight of this “organ” is somewhere between 2 to 3 pounds.
Your microbiome is as unique as your fingerprint.
These gut microbes have a direct impact on the health of our immune system, our digestion and nutrient absorption, our weight, metabolism and our brain chemistry.
There are various factors that negatively impact our microbiome: things such as toxins, infections, antibiotics, medications such as NSAIDs and birth control pill, stress and a poor diet.
Many chronic diseases such as obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, depression and anxiety can be linked back to imbalances or disturbances in the microbiome.

Good health begins in the gut

The buzz around this topic and the attention it has been receiving in the world of health and wellness is truly justified. Good health begins in the gut and in order to keep our digestion functioning optimally you need to make sure that you are optimising your gut microbiome and keep it balanced and healthy.

Digestive health has become my main focus in working with clients as I have seen real transformations by addressing this root cause. What many people don’t understand is that a compromised digestive system may, but does not necessarily, show up as typical digestive symptoms and that focusing on digestive health always results in positive changes.

What I want to share in this article is one of the ways through which you can positively boost the microbial population in your gut by providing the good bacteria with the right kind of food. I have seen this work wonders in my own health and the health of my clients as part of a gut repair and healing program.

Feed those buggers!

One way of repopulating our gut with beneficial bacteria is by consuming probiotics. Probiotics are the actual beneficial gut bacteria that we can introduce into our digestive tract by way of eating fermented foods such as yoghurt, sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, kombucha or by taking probiotic supplements. These probiotic rich foods, however, boost the microbial population only temporarily.

Prebiotics is a term used to describe the food that these beneficial bacteria feed on. They are a form of carbohydrate that we cannot digest but that travels through the digestive tract intact until it reaches our colon where it selectively feeds many different types of bacteria. Eating prebiotic rich foods is a wonderful way to boost the growth of the beneficial bacteria that are already in our digestive tract.

Resistant Starch

There are different types of prebiotics and the one that I am going to focus on today is resistant starch (RS). Resistant starch is a type of starch that “resists” digestion and therefore doesn’t cause any blood sugar fluctuations. Instead it reaches the large intestine where bacteria digest it, by way of fermentation.

Not only does this help colonize the gut with more good bacteria, during this process of fermentation Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs) are produced, one of which is butyrate, which is the preferred energy source of the cells lining the colon. Short Chain Fatty Acids have been shown to reduce intestinal permeability (or leaky gut), improve gut motility, insulin sensitivity, immune function, and metabolism.

Sources of Resistant Starch

the best sources of resistant starch

It is fairly easy to increase resistant starch in our diets. Some great sources are legumes (beans, lentils, peas, etc.), unripe (green) bananas, plantains, or well-known carbohydrate foods such as potatoes or white rice, which have been boiled and cooled overnight. This process of boiling and cooling converts the starch in these foods into resistant starch. I personally really enjoy snacking on tiger nuts, a tiny tuber with a high RS content that goes back as far as our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

Some of these foods may come as a surprise as they have been touted as high-carbohydrate food that many people avoid while trying to lose weight or manage blood sugar levels. The trick is to prepare them in the right way and eat them cold, like in a cold potato salad or cold rice salad and in moderate quantities.

Another way of incorporating RS in your diet is by adding a small amount of raw potato starch into your smoothies.

Start low, go slow

Everyone is unique and so as always, it is important to tune in and see how you respond to dietary changes. Start low and slowly build up foods that are high in resistant starch. Although they are generally beneficial to everyone, if your digestion is compromised and particularly if there is bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine (a condition known as SIBO – Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth), you might find that these foods cause bloating and gas and discomfort even at low doses.

If this is the case you will need to look into resolving these underlying digestive issues first.

I have listed some more interesting reading material on Resistant Starch below and on the blog you will find a yummy recipe for cold potato salad. Enjoy!

Be Well,