Tend Your Garden

“All disease begins in the gut…”

...one of my favorite health insights coined by Greek philosopher Socrates over 2000 years ago.

Fast forward to today and it’s pretty clear that the ancient Greeks were on to something.

It’s now widely understood that the gut microbiome is a major regulator of our health and might even be our “first” brain, in constant communication with our “second” brain (the one housed in our skull).

I like to think of the gut microbiome like a garden.

Of the trillions of bacteria that live there, some are protective, aka the “flowers” and others are inflammatory, aka the “weeds.”

In a balanced state, there is a wide variety of flowers that keep the weeds in check.

In an imbalanced state, the variety has dwindled and the weeds take over.

So how do we keep nurturing variety, which is so critical for our overall health?

One of the biggest ways is from the foods we eat.

While there is no one-size-fits-all diet that works for everyone, there are a few baseline principles you can incorporate to help get more variety into your diet.

Here are some tips for starting with the basics of building a balanced meal:

• 2-3 cups veggies: leafy greens, cruciferous veggies, roots, mushrooms, squashes, asparagus, green beans, artichoke, cucumber, celery

• 1 palm size portion of protein: bison, seafood, eggs, poultry, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, whey protein, nuts/seeds, tofu, beans, lentils, tempeh

• 2-3 tablespoons healthy fats: olive oil, avocado oil, ghee/butter, coconut oil, tallow, nuts/seeds, olives, avocado

• 1/2 cup whole food carbs: grains and fruits

Be creative here. It’s easy to fall into eating the same foods all the time. Instead, try rotating proteins and pairing with seasonal vegetables and fruits at each meal.

Watch your garden flourish!