Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later)

⏰ IN A RUSH?

Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

• Intermittent fasting is, for most people, something that gives a lot of health benefits

  • The benefits really begin around 12 hours after eating

    • Bonus extra benefits occur around 20 hours after eating

• Your gut microbiome contains trillions of tiny friends that keep you alive, and it really really pays to return the favor. Great options include:

  • Probiotics and fermented vegetables

  • Prebiotic fiber (we list some foods below)

  • Skip the sugar and sweeteners (there’s a huge reason why; see today’s main feature)

  • Consider a plant-based diet (a slow shift will avoid your meat-accustomed gut objecting)

• Depression and anxiety are linked to accelerated biological aging in adults

• The COVID-19 vaccine appears more effective if received around midday

Read on to learn about these things and more…

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

Fasting Benefits: 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours Explained

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Key moments:

• 0:38 - Disclaimer

• 0:56 - What happens when insulin is released

• 1:05 - 6–8 hours after eating

• 1:19 - 12 hours after eating (fasted state begins)

• 2:09 - 20 hours after eating (extra health benefits)

🦠 MAIN FEATURE

Gut Health 101

We have so many microorganisms inside us, that by cell count, their cells outnumber ours more than ten-to-one. By gene count, we have 23,000 and they have more than 3,000,000. In effect, we are more microbe than we are human. And, importantly: they form a critical part of what keeps our overall organism ticking on.

Read all about it: The role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health

Our trillions of tiny friends keep us alive, so it really really pays to return the favor.

But how?

Probiotics and fermented foods

You probably guessed this one, but it'd be remiss not to mention it first. It's no surprise that probiotics help; the clue is in the name. In short, they help add diversity to your microbiome (that's a good thing).

Read from the NIH: Probiotics: What You Need To Know

As for fermented foods, not every fermented food will boost your microbiota, but great options include...

• Fermented vegetables (sauerkraut, pickles, etc)

  • You'll often hear kimchi mentioned; that is also pickled vegetables, usually mostly cabbage. It's just the culinary experience that differs. Unlike sauerkraut, kimchi is usually spiced, for example.

• Kombucha (a fermented sweet tea)

• Miso & tempeh (different preparations of fermented soy)

The health benefits vary based on the individual strains of bacteria involved in the fermentation, so don't get too caught up on which is best.

The best one is the one you enjoy, because then you'll have it regularly!

Feed them plenty of prebiotic fibers

Those probiotics you took? The bacteria in them eat the fiber that you can't digest without them. So, feed them those sorts of fibers.

Great options include:

• Bananas

• Garlic

• Onions

• Whole grains

Read more: Effects of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics on Human Health

Don't feed them sugar and sweeteners

Sugar and (and, counterintuitively, aspartame) can cause unfortunate gut microbe imbalances. Put simply, they kill some of your friends and feed some of your enemies. For example...

Don't believe us? Read: Candida albicans-Induced Epithelial Damage Mediates Translocation through Intestinal Barriers

(That's scientist-speak for "Candida puts holes in your intestines, and stuff can then go through those holes")

And as for how that comes about, it's like we said:

Source: Candida albicans as a commensal and opportunistic pathogen in the intestine

The usual five things

1. Good diet (Mediterranean Diet is good; plant-based version of it is by far the best for this)

2. Good exercise (yes, really)

3. Good sleep (helps them, and they'll help you get better sleep in return)

4. Limit or eliminate alcohol consumption (what a shocker)

5. Don't smoke (it's bad for everything, including gut health)

One last thing you should know:

If you're used to having animal products in your diet, and make a sudden change to all plants, your gut will object very strongly. This is because your gut microbiome is used to animal products, and a plant-based diet will cause many helpful microbes to flourish in great abundance, and many less helpful microbes will starve and die. And they will make it officially Not Fun™ for you.

So, you have two options to consider:

1. Do it anyway, and sit it out (and believe us, you'll be sitting), get the change over with quickly, and enjoy the benefits and much happier gut that follows.

2. Make the change gradual. Reduce portions of animal products slowly, have "Meatless Mondays" etc, and slowly make the change over. This—for most people—is pretty comfortable, easy, and effective.

And remember: the effects of these things we've talked about today compound when you do more than one of them, but if you don't want to take probiotics or really hate kombucha or absolutely won't consider a plant-based diet or struggle to give up sugar or alcohol, etc... Just do what you can do, and you'll still have a net improvement!

🌎 AROUND THE WEB

What’s happening in the health world…

• Depression and anxiety linked to accelerated biological aging in adults

• COVID-19 vaccine appears more effective if received around midday

• Memory in sync: how rhythmic brain activity supports short-term recall

• Cucumber-derived ingredient Q-actin supports joint function and mobility in clinical study

• This simple memory test may predict your dementia risk

• Melatonin gummies in the US contain far more of hormone than listed

• Leashed dog walking linked to increased risk of fractures and TBIs

More to come tomorrow!

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Ready to Run: Unlocking Your Potential to Run Naturally - by Kelly Starrett

If you'd like to get into running, and think that maybe the barriers are too great, this is the book for you.

Kelly Starrett approaches running less from an "eye of the tiger" motivational approach, and more from a physiotherapy angle.

The first couple of chapters of the book are explanatory of his philosophy, the key component of which being:

Routine maintenance on your personal running machine (i.e., your body) can be and should be performed by you.

The second (and largest) part of the book is given to his "12 Standards of Maintenance for Running". These range from neutral feet and flat shoes, to ankle, knee, and hip mobilization exercises, to good squatting technique, and more.

After that, we have photographs and explanations of maintenance exercises that are functional for running.

The fourth and final part of the book is about dealing with injuries or medical issues that you might have.

And if you think you're too old for it? In Starrett's own words:

In short: this is the book that can get you back out doing what you perhaps thought you'd left behind you, and/or open a whole new chapter in your life.

Get your copy of Ready to Run from Amazon today!

May your gut be trustworthy,

The 10almonds Team