Happy Wellness Wednesday! We have talked about understanding eating to loose body fat and gain muscle and then dove into what is Metabolic Health. Now, we need to understand what Microbiome is and why it is key to out optimal health. If our Microbiome is healthy we can see results in changes to our diets and fitness goals at a faster rate. Microbiome defined by the Center for Egocentrics & Environmental health from the University of Washington: 

We humans are mostly microbes, over 100 trillion of them. Microbes outnumber our human cells ten to one. The majority live in our gut, particularly in the large intestine. The microbiome is the genetic material of all the microbes — bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses - that live on and inside the human body. The number of genes in all the microbes in one person’s microbiome is 200 times the number of genes in the human genome. The microbiome may weigh as much as five pounds. The bacteria in the microbiome help digest our food, regulate our immune system, protect against other bacteria that cause disease, and produce vitamins including B vitamins B12, thiamine and riboflavin, and Vitamin K, which is needed for blood coagulation. The microbiome was not generally recognized to exist until the late 1990s.

Link to article

So what does this mean for your health? Everything!  Fat loss and creating a healthy body that can fight disease. A higher performing brain, circulatory system nervous system and so on.  If our gut can absorb all the nutrients and good fats and fiber properly and not be hindered by poor nutrition or just plan lack of knowledge we will be healthier, happy and stronger.  So today I am featuring two podcast by my new favorite Shawn Stephenson and my forever favorite Rich Roll. 

Shawn explains the microbiome and goes into the microbiome fat loss connection. He brings up and dives into a compelling peer reviewed studies to help us understand this connection and the importance of the Microbiome. If you are doing everything right and still cant loose those love handles or stomach fat this is a great podcast to listen to. You want to metabolize food more efficiently to build muscle mass? Or possibly dealing with bloating and digestion issues? Fatigue, sleepiness nights, poor recovery from hard work outs or even easy work outs? Well, Shawn might have the answers to these questions and issues. 

Rich, as always, does a stellar in-depth interview. His interview with Dr. Will Bulsiewicz gives us the break down and the knowledge on optimizing our Microbiome in a Pandemic. Dr. Bulsiewicz is an expert in his field as a Gastroenterologists and considered by many as the Gut Guru. He is a graduate of Georgetown School of Medicine and Chief Gastroenterology fellow at University of North Carolina Hospitals and the list goes on and on. He is an author and has written and conducted many peer reviewed published studies on Gut health. He goes into protecting your body from viruses, weight management and amping your immune system through gut health. 

Hopefully we all will gain a greater knowledge of how our bodies work and be better for it!

Have a wonderful day!

Shara