Prebiotics - have you heard of them?

Studying gut health has become increasingly hard for me now i'm a mumma, soon to be of two beautiful babes. But years of focussing on this interest has landed me some pretty amazing resources and subscriptions to pages that i know and trust to keep me in the loop when i have the time.

I recently made the time to watch another documentary (i am growing to really love these, peacefully sitting down with a book or article is a thing of the past!). Whilst i have known about prebiotics for many years, they weren't and haven't been a main focus of mine. Whilst chasing down any way to create the most optimal 'microbiome' possible, i stubbled over these guys again and let me tell you they are worth a second look!

Let me start off briefly explaining to you what your microbiome is...whilst i've done a lot of reading on this i still feel i don't do it justice when explaining it to others so please if you are looking at expanding your knowledge on gut health and the source of some of your issues i highly recommend reading "Gut" by Giulia Enders. But let me say this- without the trillions of GOOD gut bacteria that lie in your small and large intestines, you wouldn't be here today. You certainly wouldn't be able to digest your food and product energy for your body, you would struggle with weight gain; and no doubt you would have succumb to some kind of illness or disease without this network of bacteria helping build your immune system.

So most people have heard about good bacteria that reside in our gut by now. Yakult, Inner Health Plus; these are a few of the products that have introduced us to the idea that we need to replace some of our lost bacteria after taking things like antibiotics, or using certain medications such as the Oral Contraceptive or Blood pressure drugs. What you might not have considered is why and how these little bugs live and survive inside of you.. and thats a topic that is just way too big for me to cover. But i will introduce you to a superfood group (for your little bugs) called PREBIOTICS.

These are the food source for your bacteria, and it is especially important that you feed your good bacteria with the nutrients they need to survive or the bad guys will take over and wreak havoc. See the good guys keep the bad guys at bay, and you could probably guess some of the foods that make the bad guys stronger- Sugar, Processed Food, Junk Food, Saturated Fats.. All the bad stuff

It all seems a little confusing and how do we know what we can eat right? I mean the more i tell myself i CANT have sugar and junk the more i want it, and im sure you are all the same. The beauty of prebiotic's are that they predominately feed your good bacteria, and if you are feeding these guys, theyll keep your bad bacteria at bay even if you are indulging every once in a while. The other FANTASTIC thing i loved learning was that its not our fault that we crave bad foods and have zero willpower against them... its those god damn BAD BACTERIA!! (Cue blaming them for everything from here on in)

The bacteria in our gut - or as its commonly known our "second brain" - communicates. It sends messages to our brain to tell us things like if we are full and satisfied, what types of things we should be putting in, and it effects our emotions and whether we feel happy or not to! So naturally, if the bad guys have taken over the reins in there, they are going to be shouting "GIVE ME MORE SUGAR!!". And of course your brain will listen.

So heres the key points for you... firstly your bacteria are your friends and you need to take care of them to take care of you. Secondly, you don't have to start cutting out everything under the sun to start losing weight and getting control of your hormones and gut health- you just need to eat more prebiotics. Thirdly, its not your fault that you have no self control over your food choices at times- its those stupid bad bacteria.

For a list of some prebiotic foods head here:

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/best-prebiotic-foods-for-optimal-digestive-health/