New Year, New Gut

 

Starting off the new year can be exciting or intimidating if you decide that your new year's resolution is to lose weight or improve your overall health. A great step toward your weight loss goals is to look into your gut health. By checking your gut microbiome, you have the opportunity to analyze the bacteria in your gut that may cause certain symptoms such as; gas, constipation, continence, or even inflammation. You will be surprised to find that not only is your gut microbiome impacted by your diet, but your daily lifestyle choices as well.

WHAT DEFINES A HEALTHY GUT?

How do you know if your gut microbiome is healthy? It all comes down to the diversity of your gut bacteria. Studies have shown that generally healthy people have a greater diversity of microorganisms in their gut than those who aren’t as healthy. However, further research is needed to determine whether low bacterial diversity increases the risk of disease, or if a disease may decrease bacterial diversity.

Microbial diversity in your microbiome is impacted by age, genes, diet, environment, and medications. Even though you can’t control your age or your genes, you can take charge of your diet, environment, and medications to avoid gut issues and increase the number of good strains in your system.

Another defining characteristic of a healthy microbiome is balance. For instance, your gut contains bacteria that cause inflammation as well as bacteria that fight inflammation. Your gut can function properly in its ability to keep these good and bad bacteria well-balanced.

WHICH LIFESTYLE FACTORS can IMPACT your GUT HEALTH?

Research on gut health is still in its infancy, but many studies confirm that diet, behavior, and certain environmental factors can help or harm your microbiome.

• Diet: The food you consume directly affects your microbial diversity. If your diet is consistently high in sugar and processed foods, you are reducing the number of good bacteria in your microbiome and allowing harmful bacteria to take over.
• Birth and breastfeeding: The bacterial exposure people experience before age three can determine lifelong health. That’s why those who were born vaginally and breastfed as infants have higher bacterial diversity. They had more exposure to good bacteria in the birth canal and in breastmilk.
• Environment: If you grew up in an environment where you were regularly exposed to bacteria, you’re likely to have a more diverse microbiome.
• Stress: Recent evidence suggests that the microbiome and the brain influence each other; the gut emits signals that affect neurotransmitters, which makes mental and emotional stress harmful to your gut.
• Antibiotics: While short-term antibiotics are helpful in fighting off harmful bacterial infections, long-term antibiotics can do more harm than good by killing off good bacteria along with harmful bacteria.

How WILL I KNOW if my lifestyle changes are making an impact on my gut?

Take a gut health test. By testing your stool, the results can show you which bacteria (whether helpful or harmful) are present in your gut. These tests also provide recommendations for your diet and lifestyle tips to improve overall gut health. Although the process may seem a bit intrusive, at Psomagen, we have developed products to conduct these tests from the comfort of your own home. 

• Our Gene & Gutbiome combo product explores both your DNA and gut microbial DNA
• You can learn how your genes and gut biome influence your nutrition
• Discover how your DNA may impact your weight loss and health goals
• Our GutBiome+ product is an in-depth analysis of your gut microbial DNA
• Discover what class of bacteria dominates your microbiome
• Obtain a full profile of your probiotic organisms in your gut

If you're ready to start your journey to a healthier you, visit mypsomagen.com to learn more about our at-home testing kits.