By Dr. Stacie Stephenson
It’s that time of year again, when we all start looking around our homes and properties with an eye for sprucing up and beautifying. Something about the return of a warmer brand of sunshine and the sprouting of new growth all around us compels us to refresh our external environments. But what about our internal environments? Could those use a refresh as well? You bet they can!
The natural instinct to eat more and put on weight during the winter months plagues many of us. Central heating makes that extra fat, once so important for survival, irrelevant in our modern world. Shedding that winter weight may be on your mind this spring, but I don’t want to talk about dieting or calorie restriction because there is a better way to reset your system, and that is by “spring-cleaning” your internal environment.
The process I’m going to walk you through targets your microbiome health. This can lead to the loss of unwanted fat stores that weigh you down, while also improving your digestive health, waking your immune system, giving you more energy and boosting your mood, so you feel sunnier, right along with the weather. This isn’t “cleansing,” so much as a collection of practices that will support the beneficial microbes in your digestive tract for maximum benefit.
What Is the Microbiome?
Before we start sprucing up the microbiome, let’s be sure we understand exactly what that is. The microbiome refers to the trillions of microorganisms that live primarily inside your digestive tract (but also in your mouth, on your skin and elsewhere). These microbes are not technically part of you. They have their own DNA and their own circadian rhythms. Yet, we have coevolved with them. In return for living space, they assist us with digestion and nutrient absorption, immune function and protection, metabolism, and mood. They communicate with our brains via the gut-brain connection (your gut and your brain are physically connected by the vagus nerve). While some of our gut microbes are less friendly and can cause problems if allowed to overgrow, a well-balanced microbiome will keep these species under control. We would not be able to thrive without them, and if you want to be healthy now and well into your vibrant golden years, microbiome care is essential.
This spring, I propose that rather than putting yourself on a diet, put your microbiome on a nutrition program. Here are some simple things you can do to give your beneficial microbes everything they need this spring:
Drink More Water
It sounds like common sense, and we know that dehydration is associated with metabolic disorders like obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes. However, staying hydrated is just as important for your microbial health. Recent research looking into the impact of dehydration on the gut microbiome revealed that dehydration disrupts the delicate microbial balance, decreases immune cells in the colon and impairs the ability to eliminate pathogens in the gut, putting you at greater risk of digestive infections and disorders. Plus, being fully hydrated will help you stay regular, which can give a boost to your body’s natural cleansing mechanisms. Your first new habit this spring, if it isn’t your habit already? Be sure to drink enough water every day.
So, how much is enough? Your ideal intake depends on your age, gender, size, and activity level, and can range anywhere from 4 cups per day to a gallon. If you are petite and don’t exercise much, 32 ounces is probably enough. The taller, larger, older and more active you are, the more you need, especially if you sweat a lot. If you aren’t sure, default to the old advice to drink 64 ounces of purified water per day, adding another cup or two in very hot weather or if you have exercised intensely and sweated a lot.
Eat What Your Microbiome Thrives On
The beneficial microbes in your gut microbiome thrive on certain kinds of foods that you can prioritize in your diet. These foods are good for you in multiple ways, but one of the most powerful benefits is what they do for your microbiome:
Prebiotics: Prebiotics are substances that you don’t digest, but your microbiome does. These are primarily fiber and resistant starch. Fiber helps you stay regular by adding roughage to the contents of your digestive tract, but it is also particularly beneficial because it is food for microbes. Resistant starch has less roughage but you also don’t digest it, leaving it for your microbiome to enjoy. When fiber and resistant starch reach your large intestine, your gut microbes feast on it, digest it and then produce beneficial substances like butyrate, an important energy source for cells. Butyrate helps keep your gut lining strong and healthy. It is also linked to lower colon cancer rates, better metabolic health and better mood. The best sources of fiber to help your microbes make more butyrate are vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and whole grains. Good sources of resistant starch are green bananas and plantains, legumes, oats and whole grains. Keep in mind that you can increase the resistant starch in certain foods by cooking, cooling and then reheating them, especially potatoes and rice. This process changes the structure of these starches so you pass them along to your microbiome undigested.
Probiotics: Probiotics contain some of the same microbes that you want in your gut. When you eat fermented foods, like yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, miso, kefir and sauerkraut, all containing live bacteria, these pass through your digestive tract, strengthening and supporting the microbes you already have. This can help replenish and reinvigorate your microbiome so it can crowd out the more pathogenic microbes, to keep them from overgrowing. Probiotic supplements can also help.
Polyphenol-rich foods: Polyphenols are naturally occurring compounds found in deeply colored plant-based foods like berries, cocoa, green tea, coffee, olives, and the most vibrantly colored fruits and vegetables. Polyphenols are antioxidants with anti-inflammatory effects. Your gut bacteria break down these compounds and use them to increase the growth of the good bacteria and inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria. Research also shows they protect against metabolic diseases, digestive diseases, heart disease and dementia.
Avoid What Your Harmful Microbes Love
The more pathogenic microbes in your large intestine prefer sugar, fat and salt, all of which help the pathogenic microbes overgrow, causing inflammation, digestive troubles and immune issues. It’s no coincidence that ultra-processed foods, fast foods and junk foods have a reputation for being unhealthful: Their negative influence on your microbiome balance is one of the primary reasons why these foods are best avoided. It’s fine to use natural sea salt or other natural salts in moderation, and you need healthful fats like those in salmon, mackerel and sardines, as well as cold-pressed fats like extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil and cold-pressed nut oils. However, stay away from ultra-processed food as much as possible. If you cut out just one thing from your diet and have a meaningful positive impact on your microbiome health, eliminate all sources of refined sugars, which have been shown to cause chronic inflammation and to compromise the integrity of the gut lining (this can lead to harmful “leaky gut”).
Lead a Gut-Friendly Lifestyle
Even though they don’t seem like they would have a direct effect on gut health, other lifestyle factors can indeed impact your microbiome health:
Exercise stimulates digestion and helps to keep you regular. Research also shows that people who engage in moderate exercise typically have lower inflammation, greater diversity of microbes in their microbiome (generally associated with better health), healthier intestinal linings, fewer digestive issues and better hormone balance.
Sufficient sleep—approximately seven to nine hours of good slumber per night on average—is also linked to better microbiome balance. The relationship seems to be bidirectional: A healthier microbiome leads to better sleep, and better sleep leads to a healthier microbiome.
Stress management in the form of deep breathing, spending time in nature, meditating, praying, or just taking some time in the morning and/or evening to spend in peaceful contemplation and relaxation can significantly reduce stress and break the cycle of chronic stress. This is important because there is a complex relationship between stress and microbiome health related to the gut-brain axis. Stress impacts mental health, digestive function and immune function, both through the microbiome and in response to signals from the microbiome. You know stress is bad for you in a million ways, so let this spring be a time to intervene in the stress cycle.
Each one of these practices can significantly impact the health of your microbiome. As you integrate new habits over time, the impact will be even greater. Fostering microbiome health isn’t just a practice for springtime, but this spring can be your springboard for a lifetime of microbiome care and nurturing that will pay off in good health far into your vibrant future. drstaciestephenson.com