Did you know that you have 39 trillion microbes on your body, and that 38 trillion of them are in your gut? These microbes contribute to digestion, produce vitamins and most importantly – build your immune system.
The rise of auto-immune diseases during the last 50 years is astounding and there are two potential reasons, according to Dr Will Bulsiewicz: Stress & Diet.
Our diet has shifted markedly in the last 50 years, most importantly most humans have massively reduced their fiber intake – an incredible 97% of Americans are fiber deficient!
Also, most people have markedly limited their plant intake in quantity (8% of calories come from plants), but also massively reduced the diversity of plants they consume: potatoes and tomatoes and onions are the most consumed.
If you are new to me, then listen up – I use Ayurveda – the “science of life” into my coaching and my life! Ayurveda is often called the “kitchen medicine” because a lot of the approaches to wellbeing and health are centered around your diet. For 6000 years, Ayurvedic doctors and practitioners have been prescribing changes in food as a way to heal both physical and psychological or emotional issues (70-90% of your serotonin – the feel good hormone – is in your gut, not your brain – which is where zoloft and prozac do their thing).
So – how can you boost your microbiome, which will improve your body & your mind?
- Manage your stress and trauma: meditate, exercise, eat well, sleep, seek out coaches, healers, therapists who can support your healing
- Make 90% of your diet WHOLE plants and vary it – aim to get 30 different plants into your diet EVERY WEEK!
Here is a list of the key groups to dive into, and thanks to Dr B, it’s a handy little acronym:
FGOALS
- F = fruits and fermented foods (sauerkraut, kim chi)
- G = greens and grains (whole grains – not those white bagels my darling!)
- O = omega 3 seeds: hemp, chia and flax
- A = aromatics (garlic, onions, ginger)
- L = legumes (beans)
- S = ‘shrooms, seaweed & sulforaphane (broccoli sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts etc)
If you start the day with a green smoothie, you can get 5 of those groups into your gut, e.g.:
Banana (F), Oats (G), Chia (O), Ginger (A), Kale (S)
Love,
Tamsin