Food, Mood and Your Microbes and intricately connected. The community of microbes living in your gut is called your microbiota. It is like any other organ of your body. It’s composition changes with every meal!
Your microbiota communicates directly with your second brain! The “second brain” is a phrase coined by Michael Gershon in 1998 to refer to the network of nerves surrounding your gut. For good health, including mental health, the food you eat needs to be good for YOU and good for your microbes.
This blog series will help you make better choices by learning about the foods that feed your microbes best, including what we now call psychobiotics!! CLICK HERE for my Gut Matters eBook that is filled with great information about the gut.
In 2013 a psychobiotic was defined as a class of probiotic that, when ingested in adequate amounts, produces a health benefit in patients suffering from psychiatric illness. Recently, there has been a move to broaden the psychobiotic concept to include prebiotics – the fiber that acts as food for the psychobiotics.
Gut issues like IBS are highly associated with depression and anxiety, but the connection is often missed. If you go to a psychiatrist for anxiety or depression, the doctor rarely asks you about your gut issues – but that is likely to change as the connection between the gut and brain becomes better understood.
It’s hard to overstate the importance friendly microbes are to your health. They cover every inch of your skin and are very abundant in your colon. We have pounds of bacteria, tens of trillions of these tiny creatures.
There are two major species of bacteria: Bifidobacteria (nicknames Bifido) and Lactobacillus (Lacto).
