Coloring Your Microbiome
Written by Dr. Nich Pertuit, PhD
You’ve probably heard the advice “eat a rainbow” of food colors every day… but do you know why?
One of the reasons is that this variety is good for the bugs that live in our gut, and their associated genes, collectively known as our microbiome. Think of your microbiome as like a micro-bug staff that are made up of different experts for different jobs, but all working together. To maintain optimal health, we need to ensure that all departments are adequately staffed, and that all teams are appropriately proportionate. A healthy microbiome has all departments busily working on different functions, while an unhealthy microbiome has departments that have been shut down or are understaffed, so not working properly.
So how do you fix your microbiome to become a healthy, fully staffed factory helping us in all areas of our health?
Good news: Our gut bugs love plant-based fiber! For example, when the fiber in broccoli gets as far as your large intestine, it finds itself in the place where a vast majority of your microbiome lives, and the gut bugs feast on it. When we feed these little guys different colors of vegetables, our microbiome will start changing within two to three days!
Different colors = feeding a variety of beneficial bacteria!
Getting 5 different vegetables (and some fruit and nuts) into your diet will accelerate the process of optimizing your microbiome!
Scientists have been diving deeper into understanding our microbiome, and now know that without a doubt they are extremely important to both our physical and mental health:
According to a 2014 research study, the incredible complexity of the microbiome means that in healthy individuals there are more “non-human” cells in our body than actual human cells.
These non-human “bugs” have evolved over millions of years and live off the food that we take in, and in return they provide services like making serotonin (the hormone linked to your mood); manufacturing vitamins; regulating allergies; and improving our immune system.
Heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s are just a few of the diseases that can be prevented and reversed by properly feeding the diversity of our microbiome.
Challenge yourself to keep track of your veggies for 2 weeks:
These charts come from Chatterjee, Dr. Rangan. How to Make Disease Disappear. HarperOne, 2018.
To find out more about Dr. Chatterjee’s book and his methods, check out his website: https://drchatterjee.com/how-to-make-disease-disappear/
Color Your Microbiome
Print out this PDF version and post on your fridge!
