There is an easy way to build and strengthen your personal army and you might be doing this without knowing it. Our parents and grandparents told us to do this a million times! Eat whole fruits and vegetables, but here’s why.
Adding whole foods to our diets not only add the vitamins and minerals we need daily but they also do something even more spectacular! They feed our good bacteria! Also known as prebiotics, the better the food, the better the bacteria. But it’s not just numbers that are important. Diversity in the different kinds of beneficial microbes is equally important. So eating a diverse color set of foods helps you feed different species. (I love that!)
You’ve heard the saying “You are what you eat?” Well actually, I like to rephrase that into “You are what your microbes eat”. So if you feed them high-octane foods you will get a revved up performance in return.
A word of caution, if you are not used to eating a lot of whole fruits and vegetables then add them into your diet slowly. Changing your diet too rapidly could be a little uncomfortable but this will be temporary. If you think about it as we get older, most of us tend to stick to the same foods, we just rotate them. Changing them, will change your microbiome. When bad bacteria strains start to die off, they don’t go quietly. I have heard this referred to as a “healing crisis” by the health community. When I was changing my diet, I experienced this and it can seem scary because in some severe cases you can feel like you have the flu. Knowing what was going on helped me to continue eating a diverse variety of whole foods. It doesn’t last long, just a couple of days, but when you get on the other side of it is where the true healing and rebuilding begins!
Prebiotics are the fibers that we eat in our diets (although not all fiber is prebiotic). These are considered indigestible… by us, but become food that our good bacteria love. Prebiotics are special because they starve the bad guys while helping the good guys grow and thrive. They are fuel for your personal army and will increase their size in numbers. They are really powerful. A fiber is considered to be prebiotic if it is fermented in the intestines by microbes which in turn feeds bacteria. This type is soluble fiber. The benefits ultimately can lead to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, weight loss and can help with all types of digestive disorders. It is great to start laying this foundation if you would like to start making and eating cultured foods that have a lot of probiotics in them.
Where to find soluble fiber in foods: Foods like Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, asparagus, raw onions, garlic, apples, raw honey, green bananas, sweet potatoes, oats, quinoa, nuts and seeds to name a few. You can also get soluble fiber in supplements that contain things like inulin but I like to get this from my food so I can get other benefits fruits and vegetables have to offer with virtually no calories. I have tried many prebiotic supplements on the market but as of this writing I haven't found anything yet that makes me feel as good as eating whole foods.
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