Mitochondria: Meet your home health team (probiotic bacteria)
TRUST YOUR GUT!
- The connection between our brains and our guts is REAL.
- Our gut (or enteric nervous system) is our “Second Brain.”
- Although it’s not responsible for conscious thought, it plays in integral role in both our mental and physical health.
"The three pounds of microbes that you carry around with you might be more important than every single gene you carry around in your genome.”
- Professor Rob Knight in his TED talk How Microbes Make Us Who We Are
Probiotics: beneficial, living bacteria or yeast that colonize the gut with microorganisms that influence our overall health. They are taken as a dietary supplement or found in fermented foods.
THE PROBIOTIC PLAYERS IN YOUR GUT!
- Anti-Anxiety: produces gamma-aminobutyric acid and serotonin which positively affect the brain-gut axis. They help to improve mood, reduce stress and anxiety
- Anti-Depressant: reduces negative thinking and decreases depression
- Anti-Inflammatory: reduces systemic inflammation by counteracting the source of pro-inflammatory stimuli associated with low-grade endotoxemia.
- Dementia Aid: increases brain functioning, especially cognition
- Obesity Reducer: reduces the number of calories you absorb from food.
- IBS Fix: reduces gas, bloating and constipation associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Cholesterol lowering: decreases LDL and blood pressure through interactions with bile salts.
- Pain reliever: helps balance anxious pain symptoms of chronic fatigue
- Colic Soother: lowers the crying frequency and severity for infantile colic
PROBIOTIC-RICH FOODS:
- Kefir
- Kombucha
- Yogurt
- Beet Kvass
- Cultured Vegetables such as Sauerkraut and Kimchi
Fermented foods have a distinct taste- a blend of savory and sour. Some people love the taste, while others need a few servings to adjust before they start to enjoy and crave these probiotic rich foods.