The Way to Better Mental Health May Go Through Your Stomach
https://bcmp.hms.harvard.edu/news/getting-how-gut-bacterias-connection-depression
https://magazine.publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/gut-microbiome-and-brain
The Way to Better Mental Health May Go Through Your Stomach
https://bcmp.hms.harvard.edu/news/getting-how-gut-bacterias-connection-depression
https://magazine.publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/gut-microbiome-and-brain
How do you make happy guts?
You want healthy gut flora. So probably probiotic stuff like yogurt (though who knows how many of those bacteria actually make it through the gauntlet of stomach acids).
Antibiotics can do the opposite and really fuck up your guy flora.
Yogurt is interesting because it’s already acidic, and dairy contains proteins, salts, and acids that buffer pH. So the microbes that thrive in that environment are already able to handle more acidic environments generally, and then might not experience as acidic of an environment in the human stomach compared to some other foods.
A lot of probiotic foods don’t actually have more microbes in them, but have certain microbes that tend to be found in human guts. I wonder if there’s some kind of filter effect where only certain types of microbes are more likely to survive the stomach, and therefore our guts tend to consist of microbes that are hardy against those conditions.
Two years ago I started fermenting vegetables from my garden and eating them several times a week. The difference has been striking.
In what sense has the difference been striking?
And how do you safely ferment vegetables?
And fermenting is the safest preserving method I know! Clean jar, water+salt (look up how much), you’re good.
As for the difference it made… Hard to explain. I feel fuller after eating fermented veggies instead of raw or cooked. More energetic.
When I don’t for a while (vacation…), my poop is less regular and more crappy-looking. I never feel like I’ve pooped it all.
As for fermented drinks (home-made kombucha), they hit the spot the way soda or store-bought drinks never do.
I’d say there’s the same difference between a regular diet and a fermentation-heavy diet than between a Happy Meal and a hamburger from a nice restaurant. At least for me.
Of course, it might all be in my head just because I enjoy the process and the taste so much, and because all those jars of goodness add so much depth to any meal I cook. But hey.
There are known food safety principles in fermentation, and it’s not an “anything goes” kind of practice.
It’s not just about the cleanliness of the jar, especially when you’re putting in vegetables that will carry their own microbes and spores on their surface or in the accompanying soil/dirt.
Most lacto fermented pickle recipes will follow guidelines for keeping things safe and for keeping things tasty (some bad ferments aren’t actually dangerous but just don’t taste as good), and there are a lot of helpful guidelines out there that depend a bit on the vegetable itself (which might have different water content, pH, commonly associated microbes or pathogens).
You don’t need to be able to submit a certified HACCP plan for your process, but for anyone who isn’t already familiar with the risks and best practices should stick with established recipes from reputable sources.
Some people talk about botulism risk, but the reality is that almost no botulism cases come from home pickling, and very few come from home canning. C. botulinum cells and spores don’t like acid and don’t like salt, so most pickling recipes will easily prevent that problem in almost any home environment.
All that is to say: it’s not exactly a high risk activity, but stick with established recipes from reputable sources unless and until you know what you’re doing with pathogenic risks.
Submerge them in brine for a few weeks. This creates an environment favouring lactic acid bacteria which will create pickling acid from the veggies that prevents mould.
You need to keep them submerged which you can do by putting a freezer bag full of brine on top.
It’ll release CO2 so if you don’t have airlocks you’ll need to seal the jars only loosely or burb them occasionally.
Couldn’t we just as easily say that you have to fart them occasionally
Wow, fantastic explanation and instructions, thanks!
Don’t know about the “striking” part, but fermentation of veg has been done safely for a long time.
Think Kimchi, pickles, Sauerkraut or even things like soy sauce or chocolate. All fermented or have fermentation in the process. I had some fermented pickles this summer from a “picklefest”. They were awesome.
There are plenty of online sources, you’d need to look up what you want to try to make and follow the instructions.
Thank you! Very enlightening.
Avoiding processed food, like that high in sugars. Having probiotics and probiotics, which is things like yoghurts and fermented foods like kimchi, kombucha and sauerkraut.
Happy guts also like exercise to help move things along and most people have too little fibre from fruits vegetables and nuts. So increase fibre and get your 7 a day.
Alcohol is a general irritant and should be limited or avoided. For more complex answers, look into FODMAPs as well, which can be a problem for some people.
So, overall, less stodgy complex carbs, more fresh fruit and veg. Mostly the same as what is better for heart health, but with added probiotics!
Growing up, I learned that five a day was the magic rule (more is ok, less is uncool).
Have the guidelines changed? Damned inflation…
Do probiotics actually help?
I remember reading that once you shoot your gut, the only way to bring it back is fecal transplant.
Yes, but different probiotics seem to help different people and research is inconclusive a out which would help to be a supplement. Instead, a probiotic environment seems to be best. So, fermented foods and pickled foods can be beneficial.
The real “probiotics” are fermented foods and yes they do. The supplements you can buy… are not evaluated or regulated in any way, corpos can and do try to charge as much as they can for as little as possible. Even with the best intentions supplements are a kinda silly approach vs just eating living food. Yogurt gets recommended the most cause it doesn’t have the salt/sugar a lot of fermentation calls for, kimchi and kombucha also great imo
Separate take but I think just being a little dirtier is good for ya too. Eat stuff you dropped/left out on the counter, get a little queasy, emerge victorious. Every time you conquer a little stomach bug without antibiotics your power will grow until you are strong enough to wander the city picking at strangers leftovers
Its less about developing immunity and more about promoting the beneficial bacteria and having less harmful bacteria.
Poor diets promote bad bacteria. Probiotic and probiotic containing diets promote the good. Certainly having good immunity is beneficial, but having the beneficial bacteria promote better immunity before any toxins or infections are introduced.
The ones that you need to refrigerate are better than the ones that you store at room temp, in general, at least.
“Dietary fiber” is carbohydrates that you can’t digest for food but which your gut bacteria can live on happily. Take psyllium husk capsules or eat foods with lots of dietary fiber.
toum
I just bought this for the first time last week. It’s now done. Toum is like a spiritual awakening
i have been eating it for breakfast, but like i have a dental appointment today. it has been hard.
Wine, bread and cheese, personally.
Personally?
Anal sex.
diy fecal transplant
Only works if your sexual partner is non exclusive.
no I’m sure this counts as a professional medical procedure so I’ll let it slide. especially since it will improve my health or something idk…
Wait…how about a probiotic condom or lube or both!
This way you and your partner can be happierest! I know I would try it if my partner wasn’t a psycho non sexual antimaniac. (Dull as fuck).
If you can eat whatever you want, be glad. Once gut microbiome is damaged, it’s pretty much irreparable without fecal transplants (and even that sounds like it only helps the intestines, not the stomach).
That said, kefir helps a lot, but only short-term.
I’m not sure that’s true. How would it get there originally, other than through what you eat?
If you seriously don’t understand how bacteria get in your innards, you should probably spend a couple hours reading about how your own body works, what with it being your sole manifestation in this finite life.
Firstly, indeed you’re likely to ingest some bacteria with crappy food from a shitty food place. Now guess which regions and social stratums are likely to buy prepared food more than others, instead of cooking at home, while you’re registered on feddit.uk.
Secondly, people occupying the same space have been shown to exchange gut bacteria pretty quickly. Unless you’re exclusively working from your own home, get ready to catch some helicobacter pylori or escherichia coli now and then.
P.S. It’s also possible for bacteria or parasites to re-infect you by being around your ass, mainly by remaining on your fingers after your scratch your bum. For which the cure is, don’t scratch your ass with your fucking fingers.
You’re confusing biome with parasites.
Nonsense. The microbiome can be repaired, it just needs the right foods, right sleep, right amount of time.