Mood and Your Microbiome

Mood & Microbiome

This 📸 was taken by my lovely friend @maureen.shannon. No clue what she said to make me 😂, but she has an amazing sense of humor. We were clearly in a great mood.

Speaking of mood, did you know food and mood are connected? You may be thinking “Wtf is a microbiome and why should I care?” It’s your gut. It’s the bacteria and other little organisms like fungus, that reside in the body to help with things like immunity, mood and overall health. Your happy chemical, serotonin, has receptors in the microbiome, which thrive in a nutrient rich environment. Gut feelings anyone?

The microbiome is set up early in life and changes based on certain environmental, stress, chemical and food factors. What we eat affects the gut, the gen pop of millions of bacteria and fungi, which need quality nutrients to function and make you feel great.

How do you feel after you’ve eaten a nutrient rich meal? Probably pretty good. What about when you eat something processed, heavy and devoid of nutrients. Maybe you felt great in the moment, but long term wasn’t fun. I ♥️ french fries and tots too, but not regularly. They have no nutrients, but you get to feel bloated & lethargic. FUN!
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If you’ve never paid attention to how u feel after eating, pay attention. Treat your body like a trusted data source. So many of us work and live in “data driven environments”. We wear fitness trackers, plot things on spreadsheets and pivot table the 💩 out of it. We glean insights, make inferences to make the next move and provide guidance to our peers/bosses. Our bodies give us plenty of data. Many of us don’t notice or don’t know what to do with it. Collect the data. Write it down, put it in a spreadsheet. Take it to a doctor, nutritionist or health coach to help you make sense of it. You’ll gain immense insight into your health.

Some tips to improve your mood and microbiome:

🤗Choose whole foods & eat more fiber like fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains & legumes. Seriously peeps, eat the rainbow

🤗Avoid packaged/processed foods

🤗Probiotics: Fermented foods like Kefir, kimchi & sauerkraut or a high quality supplement

🤗Reduce sugar and dairy

Go with your gut.