Since this article is coming out Thanksgiving weekend – a weekend commonly spent eating more than usual – a food article seemed appropriate. But lets turn this story around. Let’s consider what is eating us, rather than simply what we are eating.
By now we have all heard about how there are ten times as many bacteria cells in our gut than there are total cells in our whole body. We are outnumbered ten to one. How does that work for us?
To begin with, all those bacteria are almost all in our gut and covering our skin. Yes, I know we want to believe that we wash our hands and use our soaps so that we will be germ free. This is a big marketing lie. We are never germ free. We are covered in germs from head to toe, and it’s good thing we are. Skin germs are our first line of defense against a hostile world. They keep us safe from all the bad germs around us all the time. That is why studies on the effectiveness of anti-microbial soaps and hand cleansers used in hospitals and regular households all show greater incidence of colds, flu, and skin infections in those people that use such products. In fact the powers that be now recommend banning the common anti-bacterial agent triclosan used in soaps and cleansers. The whole “wash away the bacteria” hysteria has been proven to be a bad idea. All you end up washing off is the good guy protective bacteria when you use anti-bacterial soaps. The new recommendation is to simply use plain soap and water when needed. Even the use of soap is discouraged for showers over most of the body because of the removal of the protective bacteria.
So what about all the trillions of bacteria in our guts?
There are thousands of kinds of bacteria in our guts. The exact mix of bacteria in each of us is extremely individual – so much so that some researchers feel that the mix could be as effective as fingerprints in identifying people. Having lots of the good guy bacteria protects us from harmful bacteria. They form a lining and shield for our gut to keep us safe. They live on and in the protective mucus layer our gut cells secrete to lubricate and protect the gut lining.
This is where things get interesting. These good guy bacteria live on probiotic fibers. They eat the types of fiber we are not able to digest, for example the soft soluble fibers found in pectin and oat fiber and resistant starch, like green bananas, and various tubers like jicama. Insoluble fibers, such as you’ll find in wheat bran, pass right through us and do not feed the bacteria.
Now here is the big point of this article. If you do not feed the good guy bacteria enough good soluble fiber, they get so hungry that they start eating the protective mucus lining of the gut, thus allowing the gut lining to be damaged. The average American diet is seriously lacking in the good soluble fibers we need to have a healthy inner micro biome. Nutritionists recommend 25 to 38 grams of fiber in our diets every day. The average American gets only 15 grams a day, and most of that is the insoluble type from eating bread products. We are starving our protective bacteria.
To be healthy we must feed them better than we feed ourselves. They like greens, fruits, nuts, vegetables, legumes, and seeds. They do not like processed foods, flours, sugars, vegetable oils, fried foods, grilled meats, or all the weird chemicals we use to preserve the texture and color of our processed junk foods. All the crap foods do, however, feed the bad bacteria and fungus in the gut that make us sick and fat. In fact those evil bacteria actually hijack our brains and make us crave the foods they want to eat – the ones bad for our good guy bacteria and us.
So if you don’t want to turn your good guy bacteria into bad guys that eat the gut lining and make us prone to gut infections, then we need to feed them the right fibers and resistant starches. Funny how the same foods that are good for us are also the same foods that are good for the healthy bacteria. It is almost like it is all part of a plan for what works and what does not.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend and feed the good guys this weekend.