We've been told to wash our hands with anti-bacterial soaps and sanitize our hands with anti-bacterial hand sanitizers. But did you know you were harming your body by using such products?
Let me start by explaining what our microbiome (bacteria in our body) are and what they do for our body.
In human body, there are
10 trillion human cells
23,000 human DNA
vs.
100 trillion microbiome
800,000 microbiome DNA
and there are ~1000 different variety of species
This shows that our own body cells are only 1 out of 10 bacterial cells!
Well you might be thinking "OMG I need to bleach my body to get rid of all the germs!", but no! you can't do that, otherwise, you'll only left with 1/10th of your body.
I will explain to you why we need so many bacteria in our system.
In human body, majority of bacteria lives in our gut, more specifically in our small and large intestines.
Microbiomes controls:
Digestion, of course
Metabolism & appetite
Hormone production & secretion
Immune system
Well... that sounds like about everything our body is supposed to do! Our stomach digest, gut absorbs and metabolize all the food we eat, thyroid glands secrete hormones, and lymph nodes protect us from illness. But remember, there's 10x more bacterial cells in our body and they help us accomplish all the functions our body needs to do.
What affects our microbiome balance?
Adults older than 40 years old, microbiome diversity declines with age
Diet -if you're eating same food everyday, you won't see much diversity in your gut. In the caveman age, humans ate 600 different variety of foods! Compared to 18-20 in Standard American Diet.
Environment - if you like to bleach everything and make your house squeaky clean, you've got to take it easy. Those harsh chemicals not only kills bad bacteria, but also good ones too. Instead of anti-bacterial liquid soap, use old fashioned block soap.
Antibiotics and other drugs -antibiotics similar to bleaching your toilet bowl, it will kill the bad bacteria as well as good bacteria. If you were prescribed with antibiotics as part of your treatment, talk to your doctor about taking probiotic supplement to replenish good bacteria during and/or after your treatment. If possible, avoid use of antibiotic. Study shows after use of antibiotic, your gut takes about 2 years to fully recover!
The optimum Lifestyle for Healthy Gut Microbiome
Eat less fat, sugar, & refined/processed carbohydrate
Add foods with prebiotic: fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
avoid chemically processed foods and foods with additives
Reduce alcohol consumption
Eat foods containing probiotic: yogurt, sauerkraut, pickles, and other fermented products
Avoid foods that are inflammatory: fried foods, fats, sugar, processed foods
Focus foods with beneficial nutrients like Vitamin C and E -anti-inflammatory nutrients
Stress management
Balancing your emotions
Control weight gain/loss
If you have any questions, or want to know more about how to cultivate healthy gut, feel free to contact me here.
And now I am in a process of creating a Free Mindful Eating E-mail course! If you'd like to learn more about how to eat Mindfully, please subscribe below.
