Wait a minute now… You’re telling me that what I eat, drink, and expose my body to directly impacts my mood, my body’s ability to withstand disease, my ability to cope with stress, my longevity, my sleep, and tons of other essential functions to live a prosperous and purpose-driven life?
Yes, yes we are.
Good bacteria in your gut provide your body with heavy resilience against brain disease and mental illnesses, and also physical ailments such as asthma, food allergies, metabolic conditions such as diabetes & obesity, autoimmune disease, and more severe, life-threatening illnesses such as cancer due to your gut’s direct and indirect influence on various organs & systems.
Here is where things get interesting...
The population of bacteria in your gut directly affects the stimulation & function of the cells along your Vagus Nerve (your 12 cranial nerves and the primary channel of information between the hundreds of millions of nerves in your intestinal and central nervous system). Some of the gut’s microbes can release chemical messengers, just as our neurons do, that speak to the brain. In fact, the neurons in your gut are so innumerable that scientists are now calling the totality of them “the second brain” because of their central involvement in regulating muscles, immune cells, and hormones.
So, how might this process and communication in your body through your gut and nervous systems affect your mood and happiness?
According to the National Institute of Health (2018), “The gut provides approximately 95% of total body serotonin.” Read that again. Ninety-five percent of all serotonin in your body comes from your gut, which is made of your microbiome and the bacteria present in your gut, which is derived from what you eat, what you drink, and how you nurture your microbiome.
So, your gut is… Really important, to say the least. Actually, it is absolutely pivotal to whether you have not only a prosperous life while you are young and healthy, but throughout your life and into your later years as disease and illness catch up to many people who have neglected their health for far too long.