Let's get bac🦠 to basics and discuss ways to support your microbiome health.

Recently, I shared about the importance of our microbiome and why it matters - especially in the climate we are in as a society.

Hopefully you are already using some probiotics to support your microbiome.

Today, Dr. Brannick Riggs is helping us break down the lifestyle habits that can either help or harm your microbiome, plus give you actionable strategies you can use immediately.

Small decisions we make on the daily have a large impact on our microbiome - either positively or negatively. Let's dive in!

NUTRITION & DIGESTION

This is a tricky topic because there are some areas that experts disagree on. However, there are a few things that are known.

• A variety in your diet actually improves your microbiome.

• Processed foods change your microbiome and the process starts in as little as one hour! For example, if you take a vacation and eat processed foods for 10 days, studies show you lose up to 40% of the diversity in your microbiome.1400 species that die off because you are eating highly processed foods.

There are over 5000 species in our microbiome that live in our gut. What we do and what we eat changes the balances in those species by our choices. They emit certain chemicals that give our body information. For example, some bacteria will tell your body to crave more carbs or will make the gut more permeable and others will seal the gut from toxins that harm the body.

MOVEMENT & METABOLISM

You already know that daily movement is important to your health, but it also affects your microbiome - protects or supports the bacteria in your gut and can also affect gut permeability (aka leaky gut). Too little movement as well as too intense movement can create a stress response, but the body adapts to the stressors - either positivity or negatively.

When we replace the microbiome with a healthier microbiome, it actually improves your metabolism!

The microbiome is not only an invisible organ, but because of the communication it sends and receives - it's an invisible endocrine organ - so think in terms of thyroid, adrenals, pancreas - which leads us to talk about ....

REST & MANAGING STRESS

You may be familiar with the gut-brain axis - the link between our gut health and our mental health. Cortisol - which is what we emit when we are under stress - our microbiome is affected dramatically. That "sick feeling you get in your gut" is a real thing and it changes the diversity in your microbiome.

When it comes to sleep, the diversity in your microbiome in your gut affects the efficiency of your sleep, the quality of the sleep and how long you stay asleep. Certain bacteria help us with serotonin productions and that serotonin is metabolized into melatonin - affecting the quality of our sleep.

REDUCING TOXICITIES

There are things in your household that are affecting your microbiome. Many cleaners out there on the market contain chemicals that are harmful to your microbiome. You may want to "kill all the things" when it comes to germs, but moms - let your kids play outside in the dirt! This increases the diversity of your children's microbiome. Sterilizing everything around us can affect our skin microbiome, our respiratory microbiome, etc. However, if we are using the restroom in public and are exposed to those germs - this you want to cleanse! Use your On Guard soap or hand sanitizer.

Alcohol-based mouthwashes also affect the oral microbiome. On Guard mouthwash is water-based and will not impact your microbiome negatively.

INFORMED SELF CARE

Use the right tools at the right time!

Just because dōTERRA or your favorite supplement company makes it, doesn't mean you have to take it. Take what your body needs, when you need it.

Want a foundational daily recommendation? Lifelong Vitality supplements, MetaPWR Advantage, and PB Assist. Take Terrazyme digestive enzymes, Deep Blue soothing blend, Lavender, etc. only when you need it.

This is when your AO scan mobile comes in handy to help pinpoint with great accuracy what your body is telling you it needs, when it needs it.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Daily decisions that you make will impact your microbiome either positively or negatively.

📌If you are a dōTERRA member and you already have PB Assist or PB Assist Jr. probiotics on your Loyalty Rewards template, you will automatically be able to purchase dōTERRA's brand new microbiome products at a discounted rate when they are released in September. So go ahead and add those now if you don't already have them to your LRP order.

UP NEXT:

• How To Choose A Quality Microbiome Supplement

Tuesday, Aug 15, 2023 2pm CST/3pm EST

References:

Bolte LA, Vila AV, Osborn FI, et al. Long-term dietary patterns are associated with [inflammatory response] features of the gut microbiome. Gut. 2021 Jul;70(7):1287-1298.

Osborn LJ, Orbai D, Goudzari M, et al. A Single Human-Relevant Fast Food Meal Rapidly Reorganizes Metabolomic and Transcriptomic Signatures in a Gut Microbiota-Dependent Manner. Immunometabolism. 2021; 3(4): e210029.

Sifferlin A. Here's What Eating Nothing But McDonalds for 10 Days Does to Your Gut Bacteria. Time.com. May 11, 2015.

Monda V, Villano I, Messina A, et al. Exercise Modifies the Gut Microbiota with Positive Health Effects. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2017;2017:3831972.

Clauss M, Gérard P, Mosca A, et al. Interplay Between Exercise and Gut Microbiome in the Context of Human Health and Performance. Front Nutr. 2021 Jun 10;8:637010.

Tu P, Chi L, Bodnar W, et al. Gut Microbiome Toxicity: Connecting the Environment and Gut [Microbiome]. Toxics. 2020 Mar;8(1): 19.

Bailey MT, Dowd SE, Galley JD, et al. Exposure to a social stressor alters the structure of the intestinal microbiota: implications for stressor-induced immunomodulation.  Brain BehavImmun. 2011;25:397–407.

Galley JD, Nelson MC, Yu Z, et al. Exposure to a social stressor disrupts the community structure of the colonic mucosa-associated microbiota. BMC Microbiol. 2014 Jul 15;14:189.

Galley JD, Yu Z, Kumar P, et al. The structures of the colonic mucosa-associated and luminal microbial communities are distinct and differentially affected by a prolonged murine stressor. Front Nutr. 2021 Jun 10;8:637010.

Clauss M, Gérard P, Moscamunities A, et al. Interplay Between Exercise and Gut Microbiome in the Context of Human Health and Performance. Gut Microbes. 2014;5:748–760.