Gardening & Gut Health

The more I learn the more I am reminded again and again just how connected our world is! Many people know growing food can be such a great way to eat more vegetables, revolutionize our our food system, and save some money on their grocery bill – but what not a lot of people know is how it can also be SO amazing for our gut health.

As I have mentioned before, gut health is super important for our entire well being. Over 70% of our immune cells are synthesized in our gut along with 90% of our Serotonin (happy hormone).

Our gut pretty well runs the show when it comes to our health and well being! Knowing this, it is of upmost importance that we all try our best to focus on improving our gut health.

The Problem for Our Guts

One of the biggest problems for our guts in the world today is the fact that there are SO many things in our external world that cause damage to its’ lining. Even if we are eating all the healthiest organic foods our intestinal cells are still being damaged by pesticides (from cross contamination in the air and water), air pollution, “anti-bacterial” sanitizers and cleaning products, alcohol, excessive use of antibiotics, refined grains & sugars, and so on.

Many people think their guts are free from the negative impacts of these factors if they take a probiotic supplement, however shocking new research has come to find that taking probiotic supplements don’t actually help restore our gut health in the long term.2 Dr. Zach Bush, who is leading the way in human gut restoration, explains that we need over 30,000 species of bacteria and fungi in our guts, however, most probiotic supplements only contain 3-7 different species of bacteria that are then multiplied billions of time,3 as represented in the “Colony Forming Units” (CFU’s). These 3 to 7 species have a very minimal benefit to our body long term!

So, What Can We Do For Our Guts?

This leads us to the question, “what can we possibly do to improve our gut health?”

Well the good news is that there is so much that we can do to help improve our gut health – one of them being gardening!

Simply by gardening, touching the earth, and being in nature we are exposing ourselves to all sorts of different important bacteria that our guts need to thrive!

By exposing ourselves to different soils, ecosystems, and living environments we can be sure we are doing our guts (and entire body) a huge favour.

Closing Thoughts

Our universe is so complex! If there is one thing I am sure of it’s that, we as individuals, are intricately connected to all living beings.

When we do good things for our body like eat organic foods, spend time in nature, and practice conscious breath and meditation we can be sure we are also doing good for the earth. And the best part is, the relationship is mutual. When we are taking actions to benefit the earth like growing food, planting trees, and having a general attitude of care for the earth – it greatly affects our well being too.

So, if there are 2 steps you can take to truly benefit your body and the world they would be to:

  1. Buy and eat ORGANIC food as much as possible (shopping at farmers markets when you can)
  2. Be in nature by getting in touch with the soil. You can do so by gardening, starting to grow your own food, pulling weeds, and spending time in different natural environments – breathing in your biome!

Sources

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6047317/
  2. https://www.chalenejohnson.com/podcasts/part-2-dr-zack-bush-how-to-restore-metabolism-heal-inflammation-with-gut-health/
  3. https://www.kathysmith.com/kathys-corner/episode-13-dr-zach-bush-md-cant-flat-abs-without

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