How to feed your microbiome
2019 Dec 2nd
2019 Dec 2nd
When you read about the benefits of consuming probiotic-rich food, you’re sure to encounter the word microbiome describing the community of organisms living in your gut. To understand what a microbiome truly is, we can look at larger examples in the world around us.
There are five kinds of major biomes in the world: aquatic, desert, forest, grassland, and tundra.
Within those terrestrial biomes, are the flora and fauna that naturally occur there. In an aquatic biome off the coast of California, for example, you might find seaweed, dolphins, tuna, sea lions, and crabs. In northern tundra biomes, you might find bears, owls, foxes, and wolves living amongst the lichens, mosses, and shrubs.
The residents of a biome function in ecosystems — balanced and sustainable relationships living, reproducing, and nourishing each other and the land.
When you think about the microbiome in your gastrointestinal tract, imagine that the same relationships exist. Instead of owls or dolphins, the residents of your inner biome are close to 100 trillion live microorganisms. They aren’t all good for you, which is why promoting the ongoing presence and health of the good ones is important.
Consuming a variety of fermentables will replenish the population of your microbiome, keeping it as healthy and beneficial to your body as a thriving forest is beneficial to the planet. You can heal and maintain your microbiome by eating prebiotics — the raw fruits and vegetables your probiotics need to survive and thrive.
