Fiber Fueled

That’s just serotonin. Your gut produces more than thirty neurotransmitters. In Chapter 3 we will discuss one of the major ways that your gut can improve brain health—through short-chain fatty acids. A healthy gut microbiome is able to extend its influence across the blood–brain barrier to keep our mind sharp, our energy level high, and our mood re

At the crossroads of our gut microbiota and food lies fermentation. What happens inside a jar of fermenting sauerkraut is a microcosm of what’s happening inside our guts.

We need a little help from our friends. You can give the exact same food to two different people and the differences in their microbiota will determine what they ultimately get out of that food. Mind blowing, isn’t it?

The single greatest predictor of a healthy gut microbiome is the diversity of plants in one’s diet.

Celiac is a genetically motivated disease. This means that you must carry the gene for celiac to get it. If you don’t have the gene, you can’t have the disease. About 35 percent of Americans carry the gene for celiac but only 1 percent manifest the disease. In the last fifty years we’ve seen a 500 percent increase in celiac disease. So what explain

And while we’re on the topic, have you ever wondered why we kiss? It’s actually an expression of love to share your microbiome with another person. Every time we kiss we exchange eighty million microbes with our partner, and vice versa.

In short, probiotics are living bacteria that have been demonstrated to have beneficial qualities to us humans. Prebiotics induce the growth or beneficial qualities of the probiotics. They’re essentially food for the good bugs. Postbiotics are the healthy compounds produced by bacterial metabolism.

It’s all about the cruciferous veggies, specifically broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale. But there is one food that dominates all others in terms of offering more sulforaphane: broccoli sprouts. These are essentially immature broccoli, where the seed has just recently hatched and we have the earliest thing beyond a seed. The

But you don’t need to have diabetes to show an influence from your gut microbiota! In another study, researchers discovered that foods had a very different blood sugar response in each person. The gut microbiome was responsible for this unique response. Using solely an individual’s gut microbial profile, they were able to predict which foods would