While the theme of this blog has been to correcting gut bacteria, it is also good to know how you can harm gut bacteria:

• Splenda(sucralose) and Stevia (see earlier post)
  • “Splenda exerted numerous adverse effects, including reduction in beneficial fecal microflora,” [2008]
• Stressful life
  • “captivity appears to have induced a hyper-inflammatory state in house sparrows, perhaps due to disregulation of glucocorticoids, natural microflora or both.”[2011]
  • “stressor-induced alterations in the composition of gut microbial communities contribute to stressor-induced behavioral changes.”[2015]
• Antibiotics
• Junk Food
  • Serious study on shifts from eating McDonalds (Telegraph, UK)
    • Before: 3500 species
    • After: 2100 species – net lost 1400 (40%) after 10 days
  • 75% of people are adversely impacted [article]
• Western Diet aka Diet of Convenience

“Fifteen thousand years ago our ancestors regularly ingested around 150 ingredients in a week.Most people nowadays consume fewer than 20 separate food types and many, if not most, are artificially refined. Most processed food products come, depressingly, from just four ingredients: corn, soy, wheat or meat”.  –Researcher

• “sorghum benefit the gut microbiota and parameters related to obesity, oxidative stress, inflammation, diabetes, dyslipidemia, cancer, and hypertension” [2015]
• “Food consumption and household food expenditure trends in Canada (1938–2011) present a clear picture of the dietary shift in the last century. Unprocessed or minimally processed roots and tubers as a contribution to household caloric intake have declined by 80%. On the other hand, the consumption of ready-to-consume processed and ultra-processed foods has more than doubled…. there are uncanny functional resemblances between plant root and human intestinal microbiota that may be of evolutionary significance” [2015]

Hint: Count the number of ingredients (real food, not chemical additives) you consume per week.

– let me see, today: Nuts (peanuts & walnuts), radish, pork, beef, spinach, broccoli, rye (100% rye bread), cheese, salad, egg , green pepper — if is not volume, but variety.

So what should you add back to your diet? A few suggestions are: jicama, radish, turnip, rutabaga, carrot, and many more – raw when practical.

Short Term attempts to alter are likely futile

“review of the current literature suggests that the adult microbiome is a highly stable structure resilient to short-term interventions. In fact, most evidence to date demonstrates that therapeutic agents targeting the microflora trigger rapid changes in the microbiome, which then reverts to its pre-treatment state once the therapy is completed.” [2015]

In short, it means having to do permanent changes in eating habits.