Brain Health Starts Inside Your Gut

https://youtu.be/w3dTmyZq4Qk?si=Ew7xbEB79ZsRRwhV

“Diary of a CEO” is one of the most engaging podcasts I’ve listened to. Maybe it’s just my fascination with the subject being discussed, but this channel really highlights what it means to stay curious and be a life long learner.

In this episode, Professor Tim Spector discussed several striking features of the linkage between the gut and brain health. One of the statistics I found quite shocking was that flossing can cut your risk for dementia almost in half. This is because the bacteria in your mouth can travel to your brain causing inflammation and play a role in a dementia diagnosis.

It truly is a perspective shift when thinking about health when you come to know that mood, energy levels, and even depression is linked to the gut. The longest nerve in our body (the vagus nerve) is tasked with delivering 80% of signals to the brain while a mere 20% is sent from the brain to the gut. It is a large contrast and emphasizes just how much influence and control our gut has. Investigation of the gut-brain axis is something I’m really curious about and would like to dissect further.

For some background information, the misfolding of proteins damages a specific part of the brain that leads to dementia. Professor Spector mentioned that these misfolded proteins may start in the gut and be transported to the brain through the vagus nerve over the span of 10 years until it becomes an issue. The misfolding of these proteins is related to an inflammatory diet that inflames the gut.

While this podcast discusses gut health with an emphasis on brain health, it has the power to improve many domains of life: energy, neurodegenerative diseases, serotonin production, hunger cravings, and blood sugar levels.

So how do you take control of your gut? How do you slow down the inflammation? Professor Spector gives the listeners a list of 8 rules to live by.

1. The first is to be mindful of what you are eating, especially if it is ultra processed food.

2. Secondly, you should aim for a diversity of plants in your diet to get an array of chemicals that may perform as fertilizers in our body. Prebiotics are better than post biotics in this area for the 40-100 trillion gut microbes.

3. Third, 3 servings of fermented foods each day will significantly improve health. Blood inflammation may reduce in levels by 25% through fermented foods like yogurt from milk, kefir, krauts, and kombucha (I have linked a list of supportive fermented foods for our body).

4. Fourth, eat a sufficient amount of protein. This varies from person to person, but a good rule of thumb is 0.8 g of protein per pound of body weight.

5. Fifth, pay close attention to quality over calories. Restrictive diets that consist of low calorie and highly processed foods will elevate hunger signals whereas a balanced whole food diet will curb cravings, keep you satiated, and balance blood sugar levels.

6. Sixth, avoid foods that are highly processed as they have the ability to make you overeat by 25%.

7. Seventh, fill your plate with a variety of colors because they consist of chemicals from the family of polyphenols that microbes use to fuel. Typically, the healthier ones are more bitter such as arugula.

8. Lastly, participate in time restricted eating. This one may not be for everyone, but your gut needs time to rest in order to self regulate back in its proper circadian rhythm. Resting your gut for 12-14 hours and having an eating time span of 10 hours has some metabolic benefits and may improve the gut lining. It allows the ‘cleaning team’ to come out as Professor Spector puts it.

In my own daily life, I definitely plan to incorporate these rules into my routine. I’m excited to try fermented foods that I enjoy that will simultaneously keep my gut happy. I challenge you all to integrate at least 2 rules in your week and 2 more rules for the following week until you have successfully compounded them all into your daily routine. Feel free to refer back here for your progress and share what you learned or how different you feel. This year is about becoming the healthiest version of yourself, and it starts from the inside out.

Have fun, and Voice It Louder!

Written by Aayna Bhatheja