It’s November, and that means the holidays are just around the corner. Pretty soon you’ll be celebrating with family, friends, and food! For many people, that means healthy eating goes out the window until January. Our digestive systems are about to be tested repeatedly. Is yours ready? It is time to prepare! Let’s start with the health of our digestive systems and our gut microbiome.

I recently attended a natural health conference, and one of the speakers was a young medical doctor who talked about how important your gut biome is. Your gut biome, also known as your microbiome, is the community of bacteria, viruses, etc. that lives in your intestines and does all sorts of wonderful things. How well you treat your microbiome has a big effect on how well it treats you. It is definitely a two-way relationship, and the more you know about how to treat it, the better you will feel and the healthier you will be.

The first amazing thing to know is that there are ten times as many bacteria in your gut as there are cells in your body! So taking care of them is a huge thing that most of us never think about. Some of this involves eating healthily. Processed and ultra-processed foods lead to a weakening of your gut biome. Chronic stress does the same, as do many medications, taking anti-inflammatories, a lack of sleep — you get the picture. The better you treat yourself in general, the better you are treating your gut biome.

Another cool thing is that while you are feeding yourself, you are feeding the microbiome! It doesn’t eat all the same things you do, and some things it really likes. One of its favorites? Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, and pickles. It also likes fiber. These types of foods are called prebiotics. One thing to be aware of: a lot of foods have the word “probiotic” or “prebiotic” on the label, but are very low quality. For example, don’t be deceived into thinking a super-sweet sugar-filled yogurt is good for you. Many of the food processing techniques to make those kinds of yogurts kill a lot of the good bacteria, to the point that there is basically nothing left.

On the other hand, probiotics are actually pills or drinks that have these bacteria in them. There are a lot of low-quality ones out there, so beware of these as well. In fact, some of them are actually bad for you, and some are good in the right dose but bad if you take too much. A good example of this is Akkermansia — good at the right dose, unhealthy if you take too much. Another important thing to remember when taking probiotics is diversity. If you take the same one all the time, is actually detrimental to your gut health. The best way to take probiotics is to take a different one each month for a few months, then stop for a month altogether. This gives your normal bacteria a chance to restore.

One of the most important times to take probiotics is after a course of antibiotics. Antibiotics kill off bad and beneficial bacteria alike. I wish I could show you how negative this effect is. I really can’t stress this one enough. You should start a probiotic before the end of your antibiotics, so that the bad bacteria can’t come in and make you worse than before!

The young doctor at the conference I mentioned earlier shared how a certain strain of probiotic called Bifidobacteria can do a number of wonderful things, including improve brain health, mental health, and help with long Covid. But there are a number of other strains that are beneficial as well; Lactobacillus is one that many people have heard of.

So, I hope you now know a little more about bacteria and the probiotics and prebiotics that will help your microbiome stay strong and healthy. I’m sure you’re already looking forward to the holidays, but be prepared where your health is concerned. Build up the health of your gut and you will feel great throughout the holiday season.

Dr. Burtis, D.C., M.S., CFMP, DACBN, has been providing natural healthcare to the Fairmont area at Burtis Chiropractic Center for over 35 years. He uses a combination of chiropractic, nutrition, and functional medicine to help individuals restore and maintain health and healing through individualized care plans. The mission of Burtis Chiropractic Center is to provide transformational healthcare that takes an individual’s life to the next level. We strive to be a solution for families to experience transformational healthcare and help create vibrant and resilient lifestyles that can be passed to future generations.