24
Nov 2013
“Gut Feeling”
Could the microbes that inhabit our guts help explain that old idea of “gut feelings?” There’s growing evidence that gut bacteria really might influence our minds.
Here is a neat new health tidbit for you. Check out the full article here. It has an awesome video!!
Microbes- Probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about improving your health. But in fact, you are made up mostly of bacteria, viruses and mold…LITERALLY! In fact there are 10x more microbial cells than human cells inside of you.
In nature, different species adapt to live in different ecosystems. Microbes work the same way. Some live on your skin (dry area) … some live in your mouth and nose (wet area) …but most importantly (according to the guys in lab coats) are the microbes that live in your gut. Microbes in your gut (digestive system) can change profoundly throughout your life, and you can change them for better or worse through diet, medications, and hygiene.
Some strategies to help improve your gut flora include (via Mercola.com):
- AVOID ANTIBIOTICS It’s a familiar story by now: overzealous use of antibiotics are driving antibiotic resistance among microbes at an alarming rate. But it gets worse: the average child in the developed world will likely receive 10-20 courses of antibiotics before his or her 18th birthday. This, coupled with the low therapeutic doses in animal feed and ipso facto food, may be shifting our gut microbes into an unhealthy state and possibly contributing to the metabolic disease of obesity.
- OPEN A WINDOW For 99.99 percent of human history the outside was always part of the inside, and at no moment during our day were we ever really separated from nature. Today, a National Activity Survey7 found that between enclosed buildings and vehicles, modern humans spend a whopping 90 percent of their lives indoors. Though keeping the outside out does have its advantages – protection from the elements and decreasing your chances of being eaten by a zombie – it has also changed the microbiome of your home. Studies show that opening a window and increasing natural airflow can improve the diversity and health of the microbes in your home, which in turn benefit the inhabitants. In the not-so-distant future, building codes will likely reflect the biological benefits of rewilding our living and workspaces. Never hurts to get a head start.
- EAT MORE PLANTS This is not a hard one. I don’t mean to give up meat, but I mean to eat a greater diversity and quantity of whole plants. This is the single most important (in my opinion) dietary strategy for improving the diversity and health of your gut microbiome. In short, your gut microbes thrive on a diversity of fermentable substrates (aka dietary fiber). But not all fiber is the same (physically or chemically), so consuming a diversity of whole plants will assure as steady flow of substrates for your resident microbes.
- GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY Getting your hands dirty and covering more of your body (and food) with mother nature’s blanket will help you not only connect with the natural world we have tried so hard to remove ourselves, but will reacquaint your immune system with the trillions of microorganisms on the plants and in the soil. The loss of this interface with the terra firma of our evolutionary past – body to soil, body to nature – is where the wheels came off the wagon. As people of the world move from poverty to middle class, they also move from the gritty reality of our ancestral life to the promise of modern development and its triple-washed produce and squeaky-clean surroundings. Reconnecting with ecosystems, through gardening or some other ‘outside’ means, will allow you to understand and manage your inner-ecosystem. There is no better way.
NOVEMBER 25, 2013 WOD
Strength
1) pull up- 5 minutes to establish as many dead hang pullups as possible
(**same set up as you did on 11/5 WOD**)
2) In 10 minutes establish a heavy power snatch
3) EMOTM for 6 minutes- 2 power snatch with weight established @ #2
Conditioning
Complete 5 rounds for total time of:
6 bar facing burpee
10 overhead squat
30 double under
Rest 60 seconds between each round
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