Stop Sabotaging Your Gut

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This is Dr. Robynne Chutkan. She’s an integrative gastroenterologist, and founder of the Digestive Center for Wellness, in Washington DC, which for the past 20 years has been dedicated to uncovering the root causes of gastrointestinal disorders, while the therapeutic side of things has been focused on microbial optimization, nutritional therapy, mind-body techniques, and lifestyle changes.

In other words, maximal health for minimal medicalization.

So… What does she want us to know?

Live dirty

While attentive handwashing is important to avoid the spread of communicable diseases*, excessive cleanliness in general can result in an immune system that has no idea how to deal with pathogens when exposure does finally occur.

*See also: The Truth About Handwashing

This goes doubly for babies: especially those who were born by c-section and thus missed out on getting colonized by vaginal bacteria, and especially those who are not breast-fed, and thus miss out on nutrients given in breast milk that are made solely for the benefit of certain symbiotic bacteria (humans can’t even digest those particular nutrients, we literally evolved to produce some nutrients solely for the bacteria).

See also: Breast Milk’s Benefits That Are (So Far) Not Replicable

However, it still goes for the rest of us who are not babies, too. We could, Dr. Chutkan tells us, stand to wash less in general, and definitely ease up on antibacterial soaps and so forth.

See also: Should You Shower Daily?

Take antibiotics only if absolutely necessary (and avoid taking them by proxy)

Dr. Chutkan describes antibiotics as the single biggest threat to our microbiome, not just because of overprescription, but also the antibiotics that are used in animal agriculture and thus enter the food chain (and thus, enter us, if we eat animal products).

Still, while the antibiotics meat/dairy-enjoyers will get from food are better avoided, antibiotics actually taken directly are even worse, and are absolutely a “scorched earth” tactic against whatever they’re being prescribed for.

See also: Antibiotics? Think Thrice ← which also brings up “Four Ways Antibiotics Can Kill You”; seriously, the risks of antibiotics are not to be underestimated, including the risks associated only with them working exactly as intended—let alone if something goes wrong.

Probiotics won’t save you

While like any gastroenterologist (or really, almost any person in general), she notes that probiotics can give a boost to health. However, she wants us to know about two shortcomings that are little-discussed:

1) Your body has a collection of microbiomes each with their own needs, and while it is possible to take “generally good” bacteria in probiotics and assume they’ll do good, taking Lactobacillus sp. will do nothing for a shortage of Bifidobacteria sp, and even taking the correct genus can have similar shortcomings if a different species of that genus is needed, e.g. taking L. acidophilus will do nothing for a shortage of L. reuteri.

It’d be like a person with a vitamin D deficiency taking vitamin B12 supplements and wondering why they’re not getting better.

2) Probiotics are often wasted if not taken mindfully of their recipient environment. For example, most gut bacteria only live for about 20 minutes in the gut. They’re usually inactive in the supplement form, they’re activated in the presence of heat and moisture and appropriate pH etc, and then the clock is ticking for them to thrive or die.

This means that if you take a supplement offering two billion strains of good gut bacteria, and you take it on an empty stomach, then congratulations, 20 minutes later, they’re mostly dead, because they had nothing to eat. Or if you take it after drinking a soda, congratulations, they’re mostly dead because not only were they starved, but also their competing “bad” microbes weren’t starved and changed the environment to make it worse for the “good” ones.

For this reason, taking probiotics with (or immediately after) plenty of fiber is best.

This is all accentuated if you’re recovering from using antibiotics, by the way.

Imagine: a nuclear war devastates the population of the Earth. Some astronauts manage to safely return, finding a mostly-dead world covered in nuclear winter. Is the addition of a few astronauts going to quickly repopulate the world? No, of course not. They are few, the death toll is many, and the environment is very hostile to life. A hundred years later, the population will be pretty much the same—a few straggling survivors.

It’s the same after taking antibiotics, just, generations pass in minutes instead of decades. You can’t wipe out almost everything beneficial in the gut, create a hostile environment there, throw in a couple of probiotic gummies, and expect the population to bounce back.

That said, although “probiotics will not save you”, they can help provided you give them a nice soft bed of fiber to land on, some is better than none, and guessing at what strains are needed is better than giving nothing.

See also: How Much Difference Do Probiotic Supplements Make, Really?

What she recommends

So to recap, we’ve had:

  • Wash less, and/or with less harsh chemicals
  • Avoid antibiotics like the plague, unless you literally have The Plague, for which the treatment is indeed antibiotics
  • Avoid antibiotic-contaminated foods, which in the US is pretty much all animal products unless it’s, for example, your own back-yard hens whom you did not give antibiotics. Do not fall for greenwashing aesthetics in the packaging of “happy cows” and their beef, milk, etc, “happy hens” and their meat, eggs, etc… If it doesn’t explicitly claim to be free from the use of antibiotics, then antibiotics were almost certainly used.
    • Dr. Chutkan herself is not even vegan, by the way, but very much wants us to be able to make informed choices about this, and does recommend at least a “plants-forward” diet, for the avoiding-antibiotics reason and for the plenty-of-fiber reason, amongst others.
  • Consider probiotics, but don’t expect them to work miracles by themselves; you’ve got to help them to help you.
    • Dr. Chutkan also recommends getting microbiome tests done if you think something might be amiss, and then you can supplement with probiotics in a more targetted fashion instead of guessing at what species is needed where.

She also recommends, of course, a good gut-healthy diet in general, especially “leafy green things that were recently alive; not powders”, beans, and nuts, while avoiding gut-unhealthy things such as sugars-without-fiber, alcohol, or some gut-harmful additives (such as most artificial sweeteners, although stevia is a gut-healthy exception, and sucralose is ok in moderation).

For more on gut-healthy eating, check out:

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

Want to know more from Dr. Chutkan?

We recently reviewed an excellent book of hers:

The Anti-Viral Gut: Tackling Pathogens From The Inside Out – by Dr. Robynne Chutkan

Enjoy!

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  • Workout Advice For Busy People

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Hampton at Hybrid Calisthenics always has very sound advice in his uplifting videos, and this one’s no exception:

    Key tips for optimizing workouts without burning out

    “We all have the same 24 hours” is a folly when in fact, some of us have more responsibilities and/or other impediments to getting things done (e.g. disabilities).

    A quick word on disabilities first: sometimes people are quick to point out Paralympian athletes, and “if they can do it, so can you!” and forget that these people are in the top percentile of the top percentile of the top percentile of human performance. If you wouldn’t disparagingly say “if Simone Biles/Hussein Bolt/Michael Phelps can do it, so can you”, then don’t for Paralympians either 😉

    Now, as for Hampton’s advice, he recommends:

    Enjoy short, intense workouts:

    • You can get effective results in under 30 minutes (or even just a few minutes per day) with compound exercises (e.g., squats, pull-ups).
    • Focus on full-body movements also saves time!
    • Push closer to failure when possible to maximize efficiency. It’s the last rep where most of the strength gains are made! Same deal with cardiovascular fitness, too. Nevertheless, do take safety into account in both cases, of course.

    Time your rest periods:

    • Resting for 2–3 minutes between sets ensures optimal recovery.
    • Avoid getting distracted during rest by setting a timer to stay focused.
    • 10almonds tip: use this time to practice a mindfulness meditation. That will greatly reduce the chance of you becoming distracted.

    Remember holistic fitness:

    • Fitness isn’t just about exercise; diet, sleep, and stress management are equally important for your fitness as much as for the rest of your health.
    • Better sleep and reduced stress will help you exercise more consistently and avoid junk food.

    Address burnout:

    • If feeling too exhausted to apply these tips, focus on getting better rest and reducing stress first.
    • Taking a short break to reset can help in the long run.

    For more on all of this, enjoy:

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

    Want to learn more?

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    Take care!

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  • Becoming a Supple Leopard – by Dr. Kelly Starrett and Glen Cordoza

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    We’ve previously reviewed Dr. Starrett’s other book, “Built To Move“, and now today we’ll review his more famous book!

    Why is this one so famous? It’s popularly considered “the Bible of Cross-Fit”, even though it’s not at all marketed as such, and nor does it talk about Cross Fit directly. But: people who are interested in being fit, fast, strong, mobile, stable, and so forth, tend to invest in this book at some point if they are serious.

    The book is big, heavy, and textbook-like. This isn’t a quick light read. This is a “study over the course of a year or more while doing your physiotherapy degree” book. And yet, it’s written for the widest audience, and as such, everything is explained from the ground up, so no prior knowledge is expected.

    It does have pictures, which are clear and helpful, though the print version is better for this than the Kindle edition.

    The subtitle of the book is no lie; it does indeed cover all those things, deeply and at length, for everything musculoskeletal.

    Bottom line: this book will seriously improve your knowledge and understanding of all things body mechanics and related body maintenance. If you care to get/remain fit/strong/mobile/etc, this book is a fine cornerstone for such endeavors.

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  • The Dopamine Precursor And More

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    What Is This Supplement “NALT”?

    N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine (NALT) is a form of tyrosine, an amino acid that the body uses to build other things. What other things, you ask?

    Well, like most amino acids, it can be used to make proteins. But most importantly and excitingly, the body uses it to make a collection of neurotransmitters—including dopamine and norepinephrine!

    • Dopamine you’ll probably remember as “the reward chemical” or perhaps “the motivation molecule”
    • Norepinephrine, also called noradrenaline, is what powers us up when we need a burst of energy.

    Both of these things tend to get depleted under stressful conditions, and sometimes the body can need a bit of help replenishing them.

    What does the science say?

    This is Research Review Monday, after all, so let’s review some research! We’re going to dive into what we think is a very illustrative study:

    A 2015 team of researchers wanted to know whether tyrosine (in the form of NALT) could be used as a cognitive enhancer to give a boost in adverse situations (times of stress, for example).

    They noted:

    ❝The potential of using tyrosine supplementation to treat clinical disorders seems limited and its benefits are likely determined by the presence and extent of impaired neurotransmitter function and synthesis.❞

    More on this later, but first, the positive that they also found:

    ❝In contrast, tyrosine does seem to effectively enhance cognitive performance, particularly in short-term stressful and/or cognitively demanding situations. We conclude that tyrosine is an effective enhancer of cognition, but only when neurotransmitter function is intact and dopamine and/or norepinephrine is temporarily depleted❞

    That “but only”, is actually good too, by the way!

    You do not want too much dopamine (that could cause addiction and/or psychosis) or too much norepinephrine (that could cause hypertension and/or heart attacks). You want just the right amount!

    So it’s good that NALT says “hey, if you need some more, it’s here, if not, no worries, I’m not going to overload you with this”.

    Read the study: Effect of tyrosine supplementation on clinical and healthy populations under stress or cognitive demands

    About that limitation…

    Remember they said that it seemed unlikely to help in treating clinical disorders with impaired neurotransmitter function and/or synthesis?

    Imagine that you employ a chef in a restaurant, and they can’t keep up with the demand, and consequently some of the diners aren’t getting fed. Can you fix this by supplying the chef with more ingredients?

    Well, yes, if and only if the problem is “the chef wasn’t given enough ingredients”. If the problem is that the oven (or the chef’s wrist) is broken, more ingredients aren’t going to help at all—something different is needed in those cases.

    So it is with, for example, many cases of depression.

    See for example: Tyrosine for depression: a double-blind trial

    About blood pressure…

    You may be wondering, “if NALT is a precursor of norepinephrine, a vasoconstrictor, will this increase my blood pressure adversely?”

    Well, check with your doctor as your own situation may vary, but under normal circumstances, no. The effect of NALT is adaptogenic, meaning that it can help keep its relevant neurotransmitters at healthy levels—not too low or high.

    See what we mean, for example in this study where it actually helped keep blood pressure down while improving cognitive performance under stress:

    Effect of tyrosine on cognitive function and blood pressure under stress

    Bottom line:

    For most people, NALT is a safe and helpful way to help keep healthy levels of dopamine and norepinephrine during times of stress, giving cognitive benefits along the way.

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    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

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    When comparing tempeh to tofu, we picked the tempeh.

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    Per 100g, tempeh has about 1.5x as many calories, about 2x as much protein, about 3x as much fiber, and about 4x the carbohydrates.

    Which latter sounds like a lot, but really, the amounts here are small—tempeh is under 12% carbohydrates, and most of that is treated by the body as fiber (e.g. it’s a resistant starch).

    Both have no sugar, and both have more or less the same (tiny) amount of fat.

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  • Carrots vs Broccoli – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing carrots to broccoli, we picked the broccoli.

    Why?

    These are both excellent candidates that should be in everyone’s diet, but there’s a clear winner:

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    In the category of vitamins, carrots have more of vitamins A and B3, while broccoli has more of vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, B7, B9, C, E, K, and choline. An easy win for broccoli. We’d like to emphasize, though, that this doesn’t mean carrots don’t have lots of vitamins—they do—it’s just that broccoli has even more!

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    Enjoy!

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