When you eat like this, you’re helping to increase the abundance of beneficial bacteria like Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Prevotella in your gut—bacteria that have been linked to health benefits like lower obesity, a better lipid profile, lower inflammation, and more. At the same time, you’re decreasing the “bad” bacteria that scientists are beginning to associate with immune and metabolic disorders. On the flip side, eating a typical American diet full of saturated fat, meats, and processed foods encourages the wrong types of bacteria to propagate in your gut—and can lead to increased risk of immune and metabolic disorders. On top of that, limiting your diet to junk food and fast food may even result in your gut microbiome becoming less diverse—and in the process, leave you more prone to obesity. 10 What’s the bottom line? Making smarter, healthier food choices does indeed affect both your immune health and your metabolic health for the better. And more and more scientific evidence is emerging to support this fact!
[ You are what you eat. ] Good news—you’ve got real power to bring your gut microbiome into better balance just by what you eat. While there are no silver bullets, what we now know about the gut backs up what Melaleuca has said for many years about good nutrition and overall wellness. A scientific report published in 2017 suggests that changing how you eat can produce changes to the microbial composition inside your gut—and that these changes really do have broad implications for your wellness. 9 You may think of food primarily in terms of calorie count, but knowing how the food you eat affects your gut microbiome— and ultimately your overall health—may prompt you to make needed changes in your diet. [ Eating for a better biome. ] For example, sticking to a healthy Mediterranean diet is a great way to control calories and manage your weight. What you may not realise is how such a diet is affecting your gut microbiome. The Mediterranean diet is distinguished by “good” fats, high levels of polyphenols and other antioxidants, and plenty of fibre. To eat this diet, focus on foods like olive oil, fruits, veggies, cereals, and nuts; consume fish and poultry in moderation; and limit your consumption of dairy products, red meat, and sugary treats.
What are you hungry for? Ever been accused of thinking with your stomach? There might be some truth in that saying. Scientific American reports on a study that shows how an animal’s gut microbiome can actually tell the brain what kinds of nutrition the animal needs, and what kinds it has enough of. Then the brain, of course, directs the animal to seek out the nutrition it needs. Researchers fed some fruit flies a sucrose solution containing all the necessary amino acids. They fed other fruit flies a solution missing some amino acids that the flies couldn’t make for themselves. Later, those flies were introduced to two foods—sugar and yeast. The flies that had not been fed enough amino acids were attracted to the yeast. However, when the researchers increased certain bacteria normally found in the flies’ digestive tracts, the flies who hadn’t been fed the amino acids lost the desire to eat more protein—even though they still hadn’t been fed enough of those necessary amino acids.
“Our study shows that the microbiome plays a key role in telling the animal what to do,” Carlos Ribeiro, senior author of the study, tells Scientific American. 11
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JULY 2018 | MELALEUCA.COM
JULY 2018 | MELALEUCA.COM
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