Can You Make Happiness in Your Gut?

Emotions are my best friends. They help me not only understand my present state but also how my body is doing. Researchers are discovering that an imbalance in your gut can cause mental symptoms. They call the gut the second brain, and boy are they right. I have witnessed firsthand those with ADD, anxiety, depression, and despair turn completely around when they fixed the microbes in their gut.

Our gut bacteria can make dopamine, serotonin, and GABA - all neurotransmitters that help control our moods, cravings, anxiety, happiness, and hopefulness. 90% of the body’s total serotonin is produced in the digestive tract. Only 5% of serotonin is produced in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that influences many aspects of your behavior such as mood, appetite, and pain sensation. The right amount of serotonin in the brain produces a peaceful, happy feeling. GABA is responsible for pumping the brakes on our nerve impulses whenever we’re placed in taxing situations. A high level of GABA activity indicates a lower chance of overstimulation and a higher chance of feeling calm under pressure and it also produces a restful sleep at night. Dopamine gives you a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction. When you feel good that you have achieved something, it's because you have a surge of dopamine in the brain. Your body is a virtual pharmaceutical factory and makes all these chemicals with the help of gut bacteria.

Link Between Gut Bacteria And Mental Health

Researchers have established a compelling link between gut bacteria and mental health. They’re still trying to figure out the extent to which the human micro population that is established in early childhood can be transformed.^[1] In a study led by John Cryan, a neuroscientist in Ireland, ^[2] anxious mice dosed with the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus rhamnosus showed lower levels of anxiety, decreased stress hormones, and even an increase in brain receptors for a neurotransmitter that’s vital in curbing worry, anxiety, and fear. I have witnessed this for myself in others, and I know this to be true.

My life feels dramatically different than it did many years ago. I cannot wait for each and every day, but I did not always feel that way. Many years ago, I was living in despair and I started chasing hope like there was no tomorrow. Desperate to find help for my body and help for my family, I was a woman on a mission to find hope in any way possible; and then life turned around dramatically. I trained myself to find the things that would make me feel good physically and this website is the result of that journey. I don't just feel good, I feel fantastic most of the time and I am loving it. I never felt like this in my twenties or thirties and I think it is the only way to live. The best way I can describe it is passion, joy, and wellness. It makes every day magical. I have a lot of energy and feel like I have enough to carry out my mission on this earth, and that includes helping each and every one of you.

It is not just the food I am eating that makes me feel this way, but this is where it all started. I started to feel better physically, and then I connected to my mind and soul in a way I had never connected before. My life's purpose started unfolding before my eyes, and if you could see me writing this blog you would see the emotion that I feel and how very grateful I am to have found the answers that changed my life.

Let me explain to you some of the things that I believe changed my inner world, and as a consequence changed my mental state, my body, and my spirit.

Look At What's In Eight Ounces Of Kombucha

Daily Minimum Allowance

Folic Acid 25%
Vitamin B2 20%
Vitamin B6 20%
Vitamin B1 20%
Vitamin B3 20%
Vitamin B12 20%

Probiotic Content

Bacillus coagulans GBI-30 6086: 1 billion organisms
S. Boulardii: 1 billion organisms

Antioxidants and Organic Acids

EGCG 100mg
Glucuronic Acid 10mg
L(+) Lactic Acid 25mg
Acetic Acid 30 mg

Do you know what all of this means? Do you see the billions of probiotics?

Let me tell you about one of the probiotics found in kombucha called Saccharomyces Boulardii (S. Boulardii) which is actually a good yeast. It is used as the number one probiotic in hospitals, called Florastor. S. boulardii has digestive benefits that support the immune system. When you support the immune system, your body is in a calm and relaxed state. These probiotics help nourish the cells that support the intestinal epithelium and repair the gut, which is a first-line defense against invaders to the body. Drinking kombucha can make you feel great. I have noticed I always feel better about 20 to 30 minutes after drinking my kombucha. It also is a probiotic that can't be killed by antibiotics.

Kombucha, as well as all the cultured foods, has B vitamins. These B vitamins help nourish your adrenals, which control your moods and start you on the road to feeling better.

B And C Vitamins And Adrenal Function

I call B vitamins the happy vitamins. They make you feel great when you have enough of them. And guess what helps you absorb them? You got it - good gut flora. You can't absorb what you need without lots of the right microbes in your gut. When you lack the right microbes, the results are emotions that run amuck and an overall feeling of despair or anxiety. Your adrenal glands manufacture a number of hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, aldosterone, estrogen, and testosterone that regulate body fluid balance, blood pressure, blood sugar, and other central metabolic functions and help your body cope with stress. Each of the B vitamins is essential when you have any kind of stress, be it physical or emotional. They help with everything from mood to DNA synthesis to energy production. Strong emotions cause the adrenals to release extra reserves of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. And, because the production of these hormones requires a lot of nutrients, including B vitamins and magnesium, excessive emotional demands will exhaust the adrenals. A "nervous breakdown" is actually adrenal fatigue, or when the adrenal glands can't deal with the amount of stress they're experiencing. Adrenaline is closely connected with the sympathetic nervous system. Perhaps the very reason you are having these strong emotions is because of things going on in your gut as well?

In this article from The Verge, (see article here)^[3]UCLA researchers showed in one 2013 proof-of-concept study ^[4]that healthy women who consumed (twice daily for four weeks) a drink with four added probiotic strains showed significantly altered brain functioning on an MRI brain scan. The women’s brains were scanned while they looked at photos of angry or sad faces, and then asked to match those with other faces showing similar emotions.

Those who had consumed the probiotic drink showed significantly lower brain activity in the neural networks that help drive responses to sensory and emotional behavior. The research is “groundbreaking,” says the researcher, because it’s the first trial to show that probiotics could affect the functioning of the human brain.

Lots Of B12 In Kefir

Kefir has over 50 strains of probiotics, which is more than any other cultured food. It also has a lot of B vitamins which are increased by fermentation. Most B vitamins act as co-enzymes, which means that they help form enzymes to become catalysts in biochemical transformations throughout your body. When you have enough, you can feel it. Your mood will shift and I believe it is one of the big reasons I feel happy most of the time. All the cultured foods have B vitamins in them, and having good flora in your gut helps you absorb and use these critical vitamins. One cup of milk kefir has half of the B12 you need in a day - I always have two cups of kefir for this very reason. B12 keeps me calm and feeling good. B12 keeps the body's nerves and blood cells healthy, helps make DNA, and prevents anemia.

Tryptophan is also present in kefir in large amounts.^[5]Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that has a relaxing effect on the nervous system, and kefir has always helped me. Without it I have a different personality that's more anxious and stressed.

Social Anxiety and Fermented Foods

William & Mary college Psychology Professors Matthew Hilimire and Catherine Forestell recently joined with University of Maryland School of Social Work Assistant Professor Jordan DeVylder for a study. It was conducted on June 18, 2015, and showed that a diet rich in fermented foods and drinks containing probiotics may help curb social anxiety in young adults. ^[6]

Social anxiety is a disorder that fills you with a fear of being judged by others or embarrassed in front of them in ordinary situations The researchers looked into whether eating fermented foods helps people get more out of traditional treatments such as medication or cognitive-behavioral therapy. The study, published in Psychiatry Research, included 710 students taking intro psychology courses at William & Mary. They filled out questionnaires about their fermented food eating habits, and rated how worried (or neurotic) they tended to be, and also indicated whether or not they had social anxiety. The questionnaire asked about a variety of foods including yogurt or food and drinks that contain yogurt, kefir, soy milk kefir, miso soups, sauerkraut, dark chocolate, juices that contain microalgae, pickles, and kimchi.

While not all of those foods necessarily have the live, active cultures that some cultured foods contain, they still have the potential to contain prebiotics. Researchers also considered factors including eating healthy foods and exercise along with analyzing their answers to look for underlying patterns.

Among those reporting a "neurotic" disposition - and thus more prone to social anxiety - exercise, eating more fruits and vegetables, and more probiotic foods each markedly reduced anxiety symptoms.

Researchers stated, "Probiotics also reduce inflammation of the gut. Because anxiety is often accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms, reducing gut inflammation helps alleviate those symptoms. Probiotics have also been shown to modify the body's response to stress, and the stress response is highly linked to mental health disorders, such as social anxiety."

Expert Reacts

The researchers stated, "Research on gut bacteria is expanding a lot. This study is interesting in how it ties together several relevant threads of personality, food intake, and exercise. This information was not collected from a clinical sample of people with diagnosed anxiety disorders. Participants were first-year psychology students in an American liberal arts university. This means the results have implications for broad population health. Bacteria in the gut produce vitamins and break down our food. Their presence or absence has been linked to all kinds of mental and physical disorders."

One Cup Of Kraut Gives You 700 Milligrams Of Vitamin C

Another key vitamin that is abundant in cultured foods is vitamin C, which is also key in helping support your adrenals and a myriad of other processes in the body as well. Vitamin C is absolutely essential for adrenal function.

Regular cabbage gives you 69 milligrams of vitamin C; but take that same cup of cabbage and ferment it, and it skyrockets to 700 milligrams of vitamin C!

Vitamin C will allow you to respond properly to life’s stressors and recover more quickly from them. Cultured foods not only supply you with a ton of vitamin C (one cup contains 700 milligrams of vitamin C) but they also allow you to better absorb it throughout the body.

Good microbes heal the gut and allow better absorption and digestion from all your foods. Cultured vegetables and kefir are abundant in vitamins C and B. Vitamin C has many, many functions in the body and since it is water-soluble (not stored by the body) and is eliminated in the urine, we require a continuous daily supply in our diet.

Ferment your vegetables and watch what happens!

L. Reuteri Superfood Yogurt And Oxytocin

Recently, I introduced a new yogurt called L Reuteri Superfood Yogurt. Lactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri) is known to release the hormone oxytocin from the human brain. ^[7,8]If you had a baby or have been in love you know how wonderful oxytocin can be. As the hormone releases, we feel more love and connectedness and we all need more love and compassion for one another. I believe we are all designed to love and want to help one another, but when we start missing key microbes we start to feel the symptoms that often come in the form of emotions.

At first, when I heard about L. reuteri creating oxytocin I wasn't sure I believed it would do this. After eating it for a month and watching what has happened to me and my family, I do believe it's having a powerful positive effect on our emotions. The first thing I noticed was how it stopped that circular thinking in my brain and allowed me to let go of things bothering me. When my son would call me on the phone and be singing in his truck on the way home I perked up. My youngest who is twenty could not stop hugging me after a few weeks of eating this yogurt and told me a lot of her anxiety she'd been having just evaporated. My husband was in the kitchen one day and dropped and shattered an entire glass jug of tea on the floor, shrugged his shoulders, laughed, so "Oh well," and then proceeded to tell me how great I looked that day without losing a beat over the mess he had to clean up. I can tell everybody is feeling better and the best part — everybody is helping me clean up after themselves after years of asking to do so. I've always been an observer of people and when they feel good they do things with ease and joy and they have a natural desire to help each other. I started receiving emails from people experiencing the same things and It's made me a believer. So bring on oxytocin! We all need more love and compassion, less fear and anxiety, and with 94% of the population missing this bacteria since most people have had one antibiotic in their life that wipes it out, it's important to replenish this strain. It has many, many health benefits but I will take it for the oxytocin it helps create in a powerful way.

Nourish Your Microbiome

Change the bacteria in your gut by adding probiotic foods. Heal and nourish your adrenals and watch your mood lift and your body heal. I could write page after page about this, but I need to make dinner for my family. Such is my life - little bursts of writing, then it is time to eat again. One of the greatest pleasures of being a human is eating wonderful food and sharing it with others. Especially cultured foods.

How to Make foods that nourish your gut and Mind

References:

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Can You Make Happiness in Your Gut?

Link Between Gut Bacteria And Mental Health