Gut Microbiome 101 – What it is & How it shapes our lives

You are more microbe than you are human. Right now trillions of microbes thrive in harmony, collectively forming what we call the microbiome. This complex network of microorganisms, primarily in our gut, extends its influence throughout our body. As a Gut Health Coaching Team, we’ve dedicated our careers to the transformative power of healing the gut microbiome. Today, we go back to the root of it all with understanding – what is the gut microbiome? Why has the health world been in such a craze over it since 2007? What can we do now that we do know how important the microbiome is?

Welcome to Gut Microbiome 101, where I’ll explain what the gut microbiome is, what it influences, and why you shouldn’t go for a day (or even a single meal) without considering it.

What is the Microbiome?

The Gut Microbiome can sound quite scary, what is this system that seems to be ruling all systems? Let’s simplify it:

The microbiome refers to the diverse array of microorganisms that inhabit the human body. The gut microbiome is the most extensively studied complex community of bacteria, viruses, and fungi living in our gastrointestinal tract. The Human Microbiome Project in 2007 thrust the Microbiome into mainstream health news. Research on the gut microbiome remains popular and convincing due to its control over everything from our immune system to our moods and cravings.

What can the Gut Microbiome influence?

Mood and Behavior

Gut microbes can communicate with the brain through the gut-brain axis, impacting mood, stress responses, and even behavior. This is still one of the most surprising ones to students and clients of The Gut Health Agency.

Food Cravings

That’s right. While factors like upbringing influence our food preferences, the microbiome can equally and often more powerfully shape our food preferences and cravings. Specifically, the microbiome produces neurotransmitters and metabolites that affect appetite and our reward pathways. I imagine little guys in our gut celebrating when they get their preferred food and fuel, like fiber, variety, and prebiotics. Their idea of a party involves microbes working hard to keep us healthy by maintaining a robust immune system, regulating our mood, and ensuring longevity through disease prevention.

Immune System Function

Did you know that up to 80% of your immune system resides in your gut? This means your gut health directly impacts your immune system’s function. Specifically, your microbes play a crucial role in training and modulating the immune system, influencing responses to pathogens and autoimmune conditions. In today’s stressed-out world, higher levels of stress lead to more inflammation. Consequently, chronic inflammation can result in autoimmune diseases such as lupus, Hashimoto’s, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and ulcers. If you’ve experienced any of these or know of someone who has, you’ll know that this directly impacts the quality of your life. The atlas of the microbiome shows us just how interconnected and holistic our microbiome works with the rest of our body. The reminder here is the control we get to have over our health and well-being.

Metabolism and Weight Regulation

This is a tale of nature (genes), nurture (food and lifestyle), and the gut microbiome. We mentioned it briefly when discussing food cravings, but it’s so important that it deserves its own spotlight. Metabolism, energy balance, and the likelihood of being or becoming obese—all linked to a variety of lifestyle-related diseases—are significantly influenced by your gut microbiome. The correlation between gut health and weight is undeniable. In fact, it’s so strong that labs and doctors have started using fecal transplants. This procedure involves taking the feces of a healthy, slim person and transplanting it into the gut of an obese individual. The real power lies not in the feces itself, but in the microbes transported from the donor’s gut.

Not only is this working but people are getting paid to poop! This is because our poop is actually a roadmap to your gut health and thus overall health. Holistic health means that health is not just physical but also emotional as well. If you’d like to see what your poop has to say about you – we even have a Poop Horoscope Quiz at the top of our page (because learning should be fun ;).

Inflammation, ADHD, and Chronic Disease

Research now shows that dysbiosis, (imbalance in the gut microbiome), has been linked to chronic inflammation and various diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease. Studies have even been linked to disturbances in gut flora and the development of ADHD and/or Autism. This made us at The Gut Health Agency really sit up as women (some being mothers). The microbiome really can’t be overlooked anymore. Certain gut microbes can metabolize medications when treating disease, affecting drug efficacy and toxicity and potentially contributing how different people respond to different drugs used.

Skin Health

Much like poop, the skin is an outer representation of the inner lining of the gut. Even the term “gut-skin axis” refers to the communication between the gut and the skin, similar to the gut-brain axis, which describes the communication between the gut and the brain. Many clients we work with don’t realize there is a direct connection. They might come to us with a more serious health concern, and the happy outcome of healing their gut is improved skin health. Imbalances in gut flora potentially contribute to skin conditions such as acne, eczema, and psoriasis. These can all be directly impacted by improving skin health.

Sleep Patterns

Yip, your gut buddies are even affecting your sleep at night! A dysregulated microbiome has been linked to dysregulated sleep, sleep patterns (circadian rhythm), and even sleep quality. Falling short of even one night of rest shows you how vital quality sleep is to your overall health and happiness. Creating a healthy microbiome is another way you can directly impact the quality of your life by improving the quality of your sleep.

Neurological Disorders, Asthma & Allergies

Research suggests a link between gut dysbiosis and neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, underscoring the power of the microbiome in brain health. The health of the microbiome starts from the days inside your mother’s womb and what she chooses to eat. Your microbiome health is then intensely impacted by the birthing process. Vaginal birth allows for early exposure to diverse microbes, which in turn may help equip you with a strong immune system and regulate inflammatory responses (ie: histamine response responsible for allergies).

Picking a partner

It’s true that we become who we hang out with. Not just in nature but because we share a microbiome with those closest to us. Considering the list of factors your gut influences and that people go as far as poop transplants to improve their gut, it should be no surprise that it comes into play when choosing a partner. More so than an accumulation of your 5 closest friends, your partner’s gut microbiome will become yours. Choose wisely.

Some are more serious, and some are more fun, but these points show the multifaceted impact of the gut microbiome on various aspects of health and well-being, highlighting the interconnectedness of the body’s systems. We can no longer deny that the body needs to be treated holistically—i.e., as a whole. The next question to address is what can WE do to ensure we have the happiest and healthiest microbiome possible?

Controlling our fate – ways we can influence the Gut Microbiome

The name of the game for the microbiome is diversity. We want as many different types of the good microbes in there as possible. We also want a lot of each kind, enough to tip the balance in favour of the good microbes reigning over the harmful ones. The great news for us is that we have so much power in the health and composition of our microbiome. Several factors can shape the composition and diversity of the microbiome, including:

Diet

The most powerful one for us personally is at The Gut Health Agency because what we eat directly impacts the health and diversity of our microbiome. Each time we open our mouths to eat we get a chance to heal or harm our gut microbiome. Our dietary choices profoundly influence the types of microbes that thrive in our gut. As I alluded to earlier in our article on The Magic Plate Method. Diets rich in fiber, fruits, vegetables, and fermented foods tend to promote a more diverse and balanced microbiome. On the other side diets high in processed foods and saturated fats disrupt the balance.

Lifestyle

Factors such as stress, sleep patterns, exercise, and exposure to environmental toxins can impact the microbiome’s composition and function. When choosing what to eat it tuns out that HOW we eat might be just as important as what we eat. We broke down some of the evidence-based habits to improve gut health, and tip number one dove into HOW you eat and the power it has over our gut health. Environment and having a clean home and space can be just as important as a clean gut for this holistic approach to gut health.

Medications

Antibiotics, proton pump inhibitors, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), pain killers, and other medications can alter the microbiome by selectively killing off certain microbes or disrupting microbial communities. Taking a look at the ingredients of your medications and taking the functional approach of asking why you might be feeling something before just popping a pill is a vital step here. Medications can be life-saving; the answer isn’t always avoiding medications but looking at probiotics while taking those medications and continuing to treat root causes.

Genetics

Genetics partly determine disease susceptibility and influence the microbiome. Gene testing revolutionizes treatment, but lifestyle factors like diet play a larger role. Being informed helps mitigate genetic risks through lifestyle and diet interventions.

Now that you know you daily choices yield more power than your genetics – lets end of with 5 actionable ways to nurture a healthy gut.

Nurturing a Healthy Microbiome

1. Eat a Balanced Diet

Prioritize whole, unprocessed foods rich in fiber, prebiotics, and probiotics. Incorporate a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and fermented foods into your diet. We want to empower you and not overwhelm you. We originally released this for the holiday season but The Magic Plate Method can be used at every meal and snack to make it more Microbiome supportive.

2. Stay Active

Regular physical activity positively influences the microbiome, so aim to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Just 10 minutes in the morning can change your state, get your lymphatic system flowing, and offer exercise benefits.

3. Manage Stress

Chronic stress can disrupt the balance of the microbiome, so practice stress-reduction techniques such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, yoga, or spending time in nature. While we recommend this, people don’t often put it into practice. Schedule it and prioritize this time as much as you do your actual job.

4. Limit Antibiotic Use

While antibiotics are sometimes necessary to treat bacterial infections, they can also have unintended consequences on the microbiome. Use antibiotics cautiously and only when prescribed by a healthcare professional. Your healthcare practitioner is your partner in health. Don’t be afraid to ask for alternatives, and if you do, take an antibiotic. Take extra care to repopulate the gut with good microbes during and after use. This looks like steps 1, 2, 3, and 5 with a high-quality probiotic thrown in the mix.

5. Get Plenty of Sleep

Prioritize good sleep hygiene (consistent bed times, no phones before bed type of hygiene) to support overall health and microbial balance.

I know these “simple” aren’t easy or simple with the pace at which life moves. I recently created a guide specifically for High Performers that might help this feel just a little more accessible. We get to see the little guys that live inside us as allies or enemies. Know that if you nurture and support these microbes you’ll be setting yourself up for optimized health, performance, and longevity. We can no longer ignore the research. Now it’s time for us to use that potential power and put some of these steps into action!