The brain-gut axis is widely studied at this time. If your gut microbiome balance is poor, it will add to the bouts of anxiety, depression, brain fog, migraines, chronic pain, brain inflammation, and autism, just for starters. It also causes crossed signals from the brain. Signals that tell you when you are hungry or when you are full. This “cross signaling” causes the wrong information to be sent from the pituitary gland in the brain. The hormones that direct your appetites are formed and released from the pituitary. So you can easily see how this incorrect information can lead to weight management issues, but can you not? If the signal that you are full never comes….? Or that you are hungry when you are not in need of food….?

So, how do you know if your microbiome is out of balance? You generally will have some, even very mild, tummy discomfort. Brain fog and headaches are also leading indicators of poor microbiome health. The vessels in your tummy have mainline vessels right to your brain. If you have had the symptoms for years, you may not be all that sensitive to the initial tummy indicators. You might be more sensitive to what is happening in your head, so take note, as head discomfort powerfully relates to poor mouth and gut health. An easy way to discover if it is inadequate is to do things to support a healthier microbiome and then check in with your tummy and head to see if they feel differently. 

There are many more symptoms, and they look like: (or should I say feel like) allergies, joint pain, arthritis, migraines, dry eyes, sinus pressure, sinus drainage, acid reflux, leaky gut, ulcers, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome,  obesity, fluid retention, fatigue, depression, and all the way to brain or intestinal cancer. In fact, when the tummy flora, or microbiome, is off, histamine is released into the system. So, your “allergies” could be more related to your gut health than they are to the weather outside. Or if you see a spike in your allergy response, in reference to what has been normal for you, you will want to consider this as an indicator and see if addressing your tummy lessens your allergies. 

There are studies being conducted now on the mouth’s microbiome that are clearly showing all kinds of different ailments in the body with precise indicators. Just through saliva they are testing with 99% accuracy if a person has cancer, arthritis, kidney/liver disease, gall stones, thyroid, etc. All have markers found in that microbiome that indicate issues around the body. Your body is its own ecosystem, and as such, all things are connected and show the health, or lack thereof, of the whole.

Paying attention and lovingly balancing your microbiome is also a very powerful anti-depressant measure. Many of your “feel good” hormones, such as seratonin, are produced in the gut. Thier production and quality is directly affected by the mucosa wall and good bacteria. So if you feel even “out of sorts,” you might be suffering from “feel good” hormone deficiency! Not an actual psychologically driven state of being. So if it feels like your poor mood has no clear origin, consider that it could be gut health driving it.

You can see the importance of these as one of your first lines of defense. Defense of your entire body begins where you put things into your systems—so not just the mouth! Your lungs provide another line of defense as they are filtering the air that you breathe. Your skin, as well as you, are essentially a walking porous sponge.  

How do you positively support your Mouth and Gut Microbiome? The very first thing to do for your gut is to drink water. The most helpful two things you can do for your “good” bacteria are chemical-free water and high mineral salt. NOT white table salt. (Use that processed white table ($hit) salt to de-ice your sidewalk this winter! It’s not healthy for you.) Organic Celtic Sea Salt, Baja Gold, and Organic Pink Himalayan are today’s best options. 

There are so many nutrients in them that are needed for the absorption of water molecules into the cellular lining of the stomach. Together, they will help you to build a thick mucosa wall. This wall is the mucus layer that lines the tummy wall and is a barrier of protection against onslaughts from harmful bacteria, fungus and viruses. Providing for this wall is the first step to a stronger defense for your overall health. 

As I mentioned earlier, your microbiome begins in your mouth. Research on the microbiome has been conducted recently by many organizations. My favorite by Stanford (which you can glean from Dr Andrew Huberman on YouTube) shows that your gut microbiome begins in your mouth and affects directly the state of the microbiome beyond it.  Common but little talked about offenders include toothpaste with chemicals (most of which you and I can not pronounce), including fluoride. Mouthwash might be the worst of all. Its claims are correct in that it kills 97+ percent of bacteria. The good and the bad. Then, it sets up an acidic environment in which the harmful bacteria coming in with your next inhale will absolutely thrive! And in turn, your good bacteria will suffer in it! Use the chemical-filled toothpaste to clean your bathroom grout and that mouthwash to clean the toilet with. They are really good at those things. Keep them out of your mouth! As a side note, a recent study showed that mouthwash used twice daily can increase your blood pressure by 50%. Yikes!

What to use instead?  I use pulling oil. I like the one by Guru Nanda, but more and more are always coming on the market. Find an organic one whose ingredient you can pronounce without a chemistry degree! Pulling oils contain natural oils that will provide huge benefits for your mouths microbiome and for the health of your teeth and gums. Amazingly, the plaque on your teeth will literally vanish within 3 months of use. You read that correctly. The plaque in your mouth will go away when you stop putting chemicals in it that kill the good microbiome contained in it. Your good bacteria making up your microbiome are designed to keep your mouth healthy! So, Good bye gingervitis.  Support the mouth microbiome and watch your gums get healthy and your teeth get white. For an abrasive for brushing, I use a mix of peppermint herb powder, Sweet mint herb powder, a little bentonite clay, and a little baking soda. I just mix equal parts of each into a glass container and dip my dry toothbrush into it; with the pulling oil already in my mouth, and I brush away. It is simple. Organic toothbrushing powders can also be found on Amazon. I will put some links on our website, for things like that. 

For me, after I have brushed my teeth, my daily gut protocol that has been so helpful and balancing for me is this: Every morning in a small glass (1-2 oz is enough) of water I have a pinch of good (Celtic usually) salt and 1/8th teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). Mix & down it. I add the baking soda because I am going to have coffee. Coffee is acidic in nature and helps the harmful bacteria to grow. Baking soda is very alkaline and will counter the acidic nature of coffee, both protecting my good buddy bacterias and the mucosa wall. The salt will go in and take the water into the cells, which creates this mucosa barrier. Increasing the layer thereby protects the tummy lining. If you have a tummy ache following your morning coffee, your mucosa barrier is subpar. Try to take note of any tummy aches that you have. Asses what has gone in and listen lovingly to your body. Then, take some simple actions to balance it when needed. 

And let me say that I love coffee. Like, really, really, really, REALLY. LOVE. Coffeeeee! It is my guilty pleasure and the one thing I prefer not to give up even during an internal cleanse or a fast. It is my “this is solely for me because I can” dopamine, love myself, am doing it and will not feel the least bit of guilt for it, thing that I do. (It is actually good for me in moderation, thankfully.) It is okay to have that “thing”. (So long as it is not poisonous!) My thing is my morning coffee. What do I love about coffee? The ritual, the smell that permeates the kitchen, the warmth of the cup in my hand, watching the cream, or coconut cream, or whatever I’m mixing, cloud and roll into the coffee. It is like a storm brewing in there. I love gourmet coffee, my Nespresso coffee, cheap coffee, diner coffee, truck stop coffee, pressed coffee, pour-over coffee, piping hot coffee, iced coffee, alllll coffee. My new favorites are Chaga Chuga Choo Choo (which we make) a mushroom mix with espresso! These are yummy additions and designed with ingredients to feed my microbiome!

At night I will do the same before going to bed. I want to give my microbiome the best opportunity to grow. I want to lower the ph in my tummy before bed so the bad bacteria can not thrive while I sleep. I especially will make a point to do the bedtime shot if I have eaten processed food that day, or if I drink any alcohol. If you like to drink soda you will definitely want to do this. It is very, very hard for the microbiome and the tummy lining to thrive if you are putting carbonation and chemicals into it.

How will you know if you have gone overboard with baking soda? Well, that isn’t easy to do at 1/8 teaspoon at a time, but your smart body will tell you. You may experience a mild bladder irritation. But you will have to be consuming a lot for this to occur. I got up to a tablespoon just to experiment and see when my body would say enough. I eat really clean, and that is 36 times what I am recommending. And it was not difficult to fix. I just backed off, and all was fine. 

Another hack I enjoy is adding the juice of a fresh organic lemon and lime to a big glass of water and drinking it throughout the day. When I say big I mean like 30-40oz. I work hard outside, so I consume a great deal of water. Citrus fruits start acidic but turn alkaline once they hit the tummy. So while this doesn’t make much common sense it is actually a fact. They are also great for the kidneys and liver in flushing out any toxins. And as most people know, Vitamin C is good for the entire system! If you don’t care for water this is a habit that will help you tremendously to acquire.

Some of the typical acid producers are meat, cheese, nearly all processed food, grains (wheat, oats, brown rice), carbonated drinks, alcohol, artificial sweeteners (Aspartame), pain relievers, fever reducers, antibiotics, etc.  I always want to be priming my tummy for “good” bacteria support and bad bacteria suffering. So if I am going to consume an acid-forming item, I also want to do something to lovingly counter that action. Either water, Celtic salt & Baking soda shots, or a little Lemon/lime in water. 

However, in addition to doing these other things that pave the way for good gut bacteria are: (organic forms if possible):

•  Fermented things like: Kombucha tea, pickle juice and pickles,  sauerkraut, kimchi, onions, garlic, olives, 
• Fresh foods: Celery, Bananas, Onions, Garlic, Leeks, Asparagus,  Artichokes
• Best cooked foods: Rice cooked with coconut oil (reverses the carb and  calorie effects by 70% and feeds the microbiome)
• Sweet potato (skinned) cooked with olive, coconut or avocado oil.
• Flax seeds

Many people have good luck with pre- and pro-biotic supplements. I personally enjoy good food, so I like food sources. Supplements can be difficult as it is hard to know how much integrity and honesty has gone into the purity of the product and the making of them. There are third-party companies that test supplements. I suggest looking into them before purchasing a bunch of supplements. Or keep a few of these foods and you don’t have to research. Buy organic if you can.  

Once you get some materials into your tummy that it can use to improve your microbiome you will start noticing when your tummy is feeling better. After it feels better you can begin to more pointedly tell when  it feels “off”. As you do, you will become sensitive to understanding what it needs and when. Then just start reaching for some natural things to assist it. There is no reason to suffer when you are empowered by knowledge!

Every single thing that happens in our body affects the health of the whole. There is no separation from system to system because the same blood travels throughout the whole, and the same electrical impulse moves throughout the whole. So get the mouth and gut healthy, and the whole body will follow it down the path! 

You are already learning to love it. To improve its “energy” composition by showing and giving it more love through your determination towards positive mental attention and new practices. Add paying close and loving attention to your gut.  A great addition to your bag of loving things it will be! (Yoda impersonation 🙂