On Improving Your Mental Health and Gut- Mood Connections. Continuation: Natural Ways to Improve Gut Health” By Elizabeth Jane Hall and Poliana V. Vale, MD
Salt-Gut Connection
Go easy on the salt! Excessive salt decimates a certain type of beneficial bacterium in the gut (lactobacilli). It also increases the number of certain immune cells (helper T-17 lymphocytes). These particular immune cells play a role in the development of high blood pressure and autoimmune conditions in which the immune system attacks tissues and organs of the body.
(Please note: The problem is ingestion of too much salt and the excessive number of T-lymphocytes. A little salt is essential to health.) When probiotic lactobacilli were added to a high-salt diet, the elevated T-17 cells and blood return to normal—at least in rodent studies.
Eat Organic!
Pesticide residues on food have the potential to harm friendly gut bacteria over time. To help remove pesticides from produce, soak the produce briefly in a 10% salt rinse. (Use 1 part salt to 9 parts water). There is no way you can reduce pesticides from meat, dairy, and fish.
Downside of Artificial Sweetners
Because they potentially reduce the number of good bacteria in your gut and encourage insulin resistance, avoid artificial sweeteners. Saccharin and sucralose, for sure, and possibly stevia, adversely affect gut bacteria. Insulin resistance and high blood sugar themselves can disrupt the gut barrier and increase its permeability so that inflammatory compounds and toxins enter the blood.
Meal Frequency
Limit the number of meals and skip snacking. If you are sedentary, or have a chronic inflammatory condition, you might want to consider skipping supper and eliminating snacks. In other words, time restricted eating. Why? Time restricted eating changes the gut microflora in positive ways to discourage obesity, disruption of blood glucose regulation, and bowel diseases.
Do Not Relapse!
The composition of gut bacteria can change quickly!— within ten days. For better or worse. In other words, even a short-term consumption of diets composed mostly of animal or plant products rapidly alters and deteriorates the community of gut microbes. Just eating an animal-based diet or consuming fast foods for several days, for example, reduces useful byproducts from fermentation of carbohydrates. This diet consequently lowers the potential for diarrhea and other intestinal infections and inflammatory bowel diseases. The good news is that a proper diet can favorably shift the gut bacteria to a friendlier status within a few days!