Your gut, or common called your belly, has been proven to be your bodies literal “second brain”. For years, the medical world has been trying to figure out what causes our moods to change and what causes common problems that most of us face like stress, anxiety, and even depression. These are common problems, and we know they are linked to serotonin.
But did you know that 95% of serotonin isn’t even produced in the brain? Serotonin is actually produced in the gut.
What we put inside of our bellies is directly related to our emotional health. Our gut consists of bacteria and we need that bacteria to have a healthy balance or the rest of us will not be balanced, including our mood.
Your gut and your brain work together, so if one is out of balance the other will be also. Have you ever had an upset stomach because your mind was stressed, or you were worried?
Well, now we know that the reverse is also true. When things aren’t right in our belly, the mind gets “upset”. Its pretty incredible, isn’t it?
Is your gut balanced with 85% good bacteria and 15% bad bacteria? That is the recipe for a healthy gut and a healthy mood.
The best way to make sure your body has healthy bacteria for your gut is to feed your gut healthy bacteria.
Some symptoms of an unhealthy gut include gas, bloating, nausea, sugar cravings, and more. An easy way to make sure that your gut is getting the healthy nourishment it needs is by taking a probiotic. There are several probiotics capsules on the market. I haven’t tested them myself. I use the second way of getting probiotics.
I get them through my diet. Fermented or cultured foods and beverages all contain probiotics. I make my own kombucha and water kefir, which are both full of active cultures. You may also buy kombucha, usually in the health food refrigerated section of your grocery store.
I also have made my own sauerkraut. I wrote about that a few months ago. Other options are miso, tempeh, yogurt, sour pickles, and kimchi. When you buy sauerkraut or pickles, make sure that they are unpasteurized. Most varieties that you find in the store will be pasteurized, which is a process that will kill the delicate beneficial bacteria.
Keeping your gut healthy will help you to digest food properly and absorb vital nutrients. As if that weren’t enough, now we see that it is a big part in maintaining a healthy and happy mood.