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Welcome back to 1UP,
my weekly newsletter where I share all things health and mindsets to help you get stronger, feel younger and live longer.
Thriving gut bacteria = Thriving health
Fermented foods are a must-have in your plate.
Fermented foods are the best tool we have available to bring the type of gut bacteria that is life-giving.
It's called dysbiosis when there are imbalances in the bacteria populations and some less beneficial populations tend to overgrow. It is linked to a multitude of health issues, even higher risk of STDs in women (because of the vaginal microbiome - not getting into this today but I did a deep-dive in this in 2017.
We still don't know the full extent of the impact of our gut microbiome on overall health, but we have a clue:
- Gut-brain connection:
Dysbiosis is linked to mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and autism. Gut bacteria produce important neurotransmitters, including 95% of our serotonin (the happy neurotransmitter).
- Gut-immune system connection:
80% of our immune system resides in our gut and leaky gut, caused by dysbiosis, causes the immune system to be chronically on high alert and this could be a trigger for auto-immune conditions.
- Gut-fat connection:
For this week's episode of the 40s Fitness Reset podcast, I gathered 4 proven links between our gut bacteria and our body composition, especially how much fat we carry.
Did you even know there was a link?
Not only do the bacteria in our gut influence fat burning or accumulation, it is also incredible to see that nurturing a healthy gut bacteria is like taking GLP-1,...
Andso much better, because we don't really know the full extent of the benefits. Because healthy bacteria does release the naturally occuring peptide GLP-1, and so much more!
Because of these benefits, supplement companies, and labs will try to sell you some probiotics to fix all of that.
Studies show that they're efficient, especially at reducing visceral fat aka belly fat. Sometimes in combination with prebiotics (prebiotics are what probiotics feed on), sometimes by itself.
But can I tell you something bold?
We have something far superior to probiotics - which only contains a limited number of species, and barely get passed the stomach acid -
We have something that is the real deal.
We have something that has been standing the test of time:
Fermented foods.
Listen now:
Fermented foods are a must-have in your arsenal to reduce visceral belly fat.
Fermented foods are a must-have when wanting a well-rounded diet.
Fermented foods are the best way to eat real foods and turning our gut into a life-giving community.
I hope and pray that you bring some more into your plate this coming week.
And, make sure you tune in the 40s Fitness Reset this Monday, September 29th, to learn how to put your gut health on autopilot.
I had a great conversation with my friend Holly Howe of Makersauerkraut.com and she shared so much wisdom on home-made fermented foods that I felt so inspired, I hope you do too, so make sure to check out episode 18, this Monday.
Talk soon!
Jihane