The secret to improving your mood and brain health is in your gut as unhealthy gut flora can impact your mental health leading to issues like anxiety, depression, autism, and more. Your gut bacteria are heavily dependent on your diet and are vulnerable to your lifestyle choices including poor diet and taking antibiotics. There is a close connection between abnormal gut flora and abnormal brain development. Limiting sugar, eating fermented foods, taking a probiotics supplement, and breastfeeding your baby are among the best ways to optimize gut flora and subsequently support brain health. Certain probiotics are significantly involved in regulating many physiological and psychological processes which can reduce anxiety and depression while others reveal an association with the development of lymphoma- a cancer of the white blood cells. This is not the first link to cancer and gut health! Just as you have neurons in the brain, you also have neurons in your gut - including neurons that produce neurotransmitters like serotonin, which is involved in mood control,depression and aggression. Antidepressant meds increase serotonin levels in the brain, but the greatest concentration of serotonin is in your intestines! Therefore dietary changes may be more effective in treating depression than meds. Better stated, perhaps with a better eating strategy there would be less depression! Compelling research has shown that lowering your caloric intake has been scientifically shown to slow down aging, reduce age-related chronic diseases and extend lifespan by promoting positive changes in the microorganisms in your gut. Eat less, eat healthier, reduce sugar and artificial sweeteners, and live longer and better lives. I AM IN !!
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 23:01:18 +0000