A Diet for the Microbes
The takeaway:
1. Gut microbiota perform many essential functions that keep us healthy 2. Unbalanced gut microbiota are associated with a number of diseases and disorders 3. The Microbiome Diet aims to remove harmful microbiota and restore beneficial microbiota 4. I am following the Microbiome Diet to align my health goals with the needs of “my ‘crobes”
Read on for more!
I have battled food sensitivities and weight fluctuations for years. Although my experiences are relatively minor, they are enough for me to question, “How healthy is my gut?” quite often. I could restrict foods for a period of time, lose and/or maintain weight, have more energy and avoid stomach aches, but it was always followed by a predictable “overcorrection” during which I overindulged and shattered any progress I may have made.
Sounds like a typical yo-yo diet, right? This constant feeling of imbalance and wanting to reset indicated to me that I was overlooking an underlying issue. I finally decided to shift my focus away from food restriction and towards improving gut health. After all, as I have learned, gut health is intricately linked to our overall well-being.
Many systems in our body originate in our gut, specifically with the microbes that colonize it. Before we delve deeper, let’s define a few terms. The microbiota comprises the collection of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea and protozoa. The microbiome encompasses the microorganisms and the environmental conditions of their ecosystem, like the gut, skin, or mouth [1]. These terms are often used interchangeably.
A well-functioning gut microbiota performs many functions:
helps digest food [2]
helps regulates metabolism [3]
supplies necessary vitamins, hormones and neurotransmitters [4, 5]
produces short chain fatty acids, which supply energy and may prevent or treat disease [6]
educates our immune system [7]
prevents inflammation and disease
Unbalanced gut microbiota, or dysbiosis, has been implicated in many diseases and disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease [8], asthma [9], autism [10], anxiety [11], depression [12], mood disorders [13], allergies [14], obesity [15], rheumatoid arthritis [16], multiple sclerosis [17], and certain types of cancer [18], many of which are inflammatory or autoimmune in nature. Bear in mind that in many of these cases, although associations have been made, causality remains to be determined. In some cases it is unclear if dysbiosis is a cause or effect of the disease. Even further still, we can only compare subjects with disease and subjects without; determining an “ideal” gut microbiome is tricky, if not altogether impossible.
When I read (or rather, listened to; audiobooks are a major multitasking mom win!) The Microbiome Diet by Raphael Kellman, MD, I was inspired to really take charge of my gut health. Dr. Kellman recommends a 7-week program to restore gut health, balance the gut microbiome and begin a lifelong journey of eating properly to maintain gut health. The recommendations made in the book are summarized in blog posts (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) on his website. He uses a whole-food plant and meat-based diet, along with supplements, to treat patients suffering from a variety of ailments, including unexplained weight gain, mental fogginess, insatiable hunger, rampant cravings, headaches, and chronic illnesses. His patients report mental clarity, increased energy, reduced cravings and weight loss.
The diet is structured as follows:
First 3 weeks: eliminate reactive foods, including gluten, soy, eggs, dairy, sugar, grains, legumes and processed/packaged foods
Focus on eating whole, nourishing, high fiber, and fermented foods
Use supplements to remove unwanted bacteria, improve digestion and heal intestinal epithelium
Take probiotics to restore beneficial bacteria
Next 4 weeks: add back some gluten-free grains, goat and sheep’s milk dairy, and eggs; follow diet with 90% compliance
Lifetime: continue following diet with 70% compliance
The four cornerstones of The Microbiome Diet
Dr. Kellman references many studies to provide scientific basis for his recommendations, particularly how a high-fat, high carb diet of processed food cause inflammation and how the gut microbiota affect weight gain. I will discuss these studies in further detail in later posts but they are summarized here.
A high-fat, high-carb (HFHC) meal induces an inflammatory response and releases endotoxin into the blood [19]
Consuming a high fiber meal does not cause inflammation [20]; adding fiber to the (HFHC) meal prevents the inflammatory response [21]
Mice treated with endotoxin alone became obese and insulin resistant [22]
Gut microbiota can control the high-fat diet-induced inflammation that contributes to obesity and Type II diabetes [23]
Mice treated with antibiotics in early life gained weight on a high-fat diet, but lost weight after receiving gut microbiota from a healthy mouse [24]
Germ-free mice transplanted with fecal material (which contains gut microbiota) from an obese twin become obese, whereas genetically identical mice transplanted with fecal material from a lean twin remain lean. [25]
A hypothesis for bacteria-induced inflammatory cascade leading to metabolic disease. Excessive high-fat, high carbohydrate feeding encourages the growth of detrimental bacteria, which is associated with increased intestinal permeability, or leaky gut. Endotoxin release causes endotoxemia, which triggers inflammation and ultimately leads to metabolic disorders.
Although I am not overweight and my overall health is good, I am always looking for ways to improve my well-being, which for me would be to:
have more energy
increase mental sharpness
recover faster after tough workouts and have fewer aches and pains
reduce cravings and feel more satisfied after meals
decrease incidence of stomachaches
prevent or reduce risk of gestational diabetes during subsequent pregnancies
eliminate persistent allergy symptoms (post-nasal drip)
maintain ideal weight more easily, especially after pregnancy and during motherhood
stabilize mood, mainly in regard to patience, especially as a new mom
Moreover, I want to heal my gut from years of stress and eating like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Yes, friends, I admit it: I am a weekday dieter/weekend binger.
I am working to break this vicious cycle. I’ve spent years trying to improve my relationship with food and to consistently make better choices about what and how much I eat. My diet is fairly healthy, but too many indulgences have become regular occurrences, like the Ice Cream Summer of ’16 or the Endless Micro Brew tour that is my 30s. The Microbiome Diet offers fairly detailed reasoning behind food restriction, it provides thought out meal plans and recipes, and sets you up for a lifetime of success by allowing 30% indulgence.
Furthermore, with ailments like allergies, asthma, autism, obesity and Type II diabetes on the rise, I really want to protect my little girl as much as possible. I will discuss microbiome development in later post(s), but as we’ve seen, diet plays an important role in establishing and maintaining healthy gut microbiota. My hope is that providing a good example and introducing healthy eating habits at an early age will help solidify them as second nature in her life.
After listening to The Microbiome Diet, I feel like a healthier view on food is not “what do I want?” but “what do my ‘crobes need?”
Do you think about gut health? Have you altered your diet to promote gut health? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences! Leave me a comment or shoot me a note at williams.julia@gmail.com.
References
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Jumpertz, R., et al., Energy-balance studies reveal associations between gut microbes, caloric load, and nutrient absorption in humans. Am J Clin Nutr, 2011. 94(1): p. 58-65.
Hooper, L.V., T. Midtvedt, and J.I. Gordon, How host-microbial interactions shape the nutrient environment of the mammalian intestine. Annu Rev Nutr, 2002. 22: p. 283-307.
LeBlanc, J.G., et al., Bacteria as vitamin suppliers to their host: a gut microbiota perspective. Curr Opin Biotechnol, 2013. 24(2): p. 160-8.
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Morgan, X.C., et al., Dysfunction of the intestinal microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease and treatment. Genome Biol, 2012. 13(9): p. R79.
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Fujimura, K.E., et al., Neonatal gut microbiota associates with childhood multisensitized atopy and T cell differentiation. Nat Med, 2016. 22(10): p. 1187-1191.
Turnbaugh, P.J., et al., An obesity-associated gut microbiome with increased capacity for energy harvest. Nature, 2006. 444(7122): p. 1027-31.
Wu, X., et al., Molecular Insight into Gut Microbiota and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Int J Mol Sci, 2016. 17(3): p. 431.
Miyake, S., et al., Dysbiosis in the Gut Microbiota of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis, with a Striking Depletion of Species Belonging to Clostridia XIVa and IV Clusters. PLoS One, 2015. 10(9): p. e0137429.
Rajagopala, S.V., et al., The Human Microbiome and Cancer. Cancer Prev Res (Phila), 2017. 10(4): p. 226-234.
Aljada, A., et al., Increase in intranuclear nuclear factor kappaB and decrease in inhibitor kappaB in mononuclear cells after a mixed meal: evidence for a proinflammatory effect. Am J Clin Nutr, 2004. 79(4): p. 682-90.
Dandona, P., et al., Decreased insulin secretion and incretin concentrations and increased glucagon concentrations after a high-fat meal when compared with a high-fruit and -fiber meal. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 2015. 308(3): p. E185-91.
Ghanim, H., et al., Antiinflammatory and ROS Suppressive Effects of the Addition of Fiber to a High-Fat High-Calorie Meal. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2017. 102(3): p. 858-869.
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