Let’s face it, we all want to feel healthier, but sometimes it’s tough to make big changesto our routines with only so many hours in the day. For me, I used to primarily focus on things like 1) how can I carve out extra time in my week for working out? and 2) simply put, I need to eat healthier. Whenever I felt my healthy habits were slipping, it was obvious to me that being more diligent about exercising was important, but I started to realize that I didn’t have a great way to know how my food choices were affecting my health.

With my workouts, it’s always been easy to obtain feedback - lifting heavier weights, running faster times, and performing more advanced yoga routines all provide clear feedback of a forward progression. But with my meals, I was never quite sure. Even when eating “healthy” foods, sometimes I’d feel great and other times, not so much. I knew that it was important to consider the nutrients that we put into our bodies, because hey, food is the fuel that we rely on to keep our bodies moving. Why would I expect to feel good and perform at a high level without supplying my body with quality fuel? Although this is true, it was brought to my attention that we can’t simply think about our traditional “selves” if we want to really understand how our bodies work and how our health is influenced.

Listen to your gut! This sounded weird to me at first, but stay with me - it will all make sense. Our bodies aren’t an island, instead, inside of us there are tons of microorganisms just hanging out. Don’t freak though. We collaborate with them because they have several important functions in the body. Who are they? Well, you may have heard of them - they make up our gut microbiome. If you’re like me, sure, I had heard of the gut microbiome, but if you asked me to give you the textbook definition, my answer would’ve been shaky at best.

So let me break it down for you without all the technical details. The gut microbiome simply refers to the microorganisms that live in your gut. That’s it. And these microorganisms are important. Like, super important. In fact, they have several functions in our body. Think of things like: how we process nutrients, as well as defending against harmful bacteria. But don’t worry, we have the power to influence our gut microbiome! Specifically, diet is one of the most critical factors that influences the composition of our gut microbiota. A diverse diet and microbiota diversity go hand in hand. And the cool thing is, you can get started on this right away! Diet induced changes to the microbiome are detectable within a few days, which is super cool! So, where to get started? Which foods can help get your gut microbiome rolling in the right direction? Fermented foods with “live active cultures” like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi are diet components that modulate the microbiota in a beneficial way.

All this information is really insightful, but I was left thinking to myself, “How can I know where I currently stand, and how can I use these facts to make healthy food choices that support my gut health and my overall health?” The first thing I did was take a test to discover the unique composition of the microbiota that were currently hanging out in my gut. This was a good first step for me because finding out what my baseline traits were allowed me to understand where I was starting from, and then take on the challenging but fun process of working toward my health goals.

So, what did my test results tell me? Each of us possess a unique gut microbiome, which helps transform the food we eat into substances and metabolites that will be utilized by our body. The makeup of our unique gut microbiome will influence how we respond to certain foods because different bacteria have the potential of producing different metabolites - and these metabolites can be either beneficial or harmful. Each of us is unique, and the same food can lead to a different response depending on the composition of our microbiome. That’s pretty amazing!

All these results were so insightful for me. It feels amazing to know more about my microbiome profile! I also learned that there are a couple other things I can do to beneficially affect my gut microbiota. Eating fermented foods with live active cultures like kimchi and yogurt are two of my favorite ways to benefit my gut microbiome. When choosing yogurt, I personally love the variety of flavors and styles that I’ve tasted from Activia. But more importantly, I choose Activia yogurt because its probiotics contribute to the health of my gut flora. I can also feel the positive effects Activia has on my digestion, like less bloating, less gas, and less abdominal discomfort. Even though digestion sounds so simple, for me this has a domino effect that goes far beyond my gut, and really positively influences other aspects of my life.

I personally love learning new things, so this introduction to the gut microbiome has opened my eyes to the complex microbial ecosystem that’s hidden inside of us. Health is so complicated, but I feel really empowered with this knowledge. Learning is definitely a slow process, but I find that it’s really rewarding to add each new puzzle piece of knowledge to my arsenal as I strive to positively impact my physical and mental health and wellbeing.