Trust Your Guts

Go with your gut. Stick with your gut. What does your gut tell you?

We’ve collectively decided that intuition lives in the gut. Turns out their is scientific rationale explaining this.

“Although it can’t compose poetry or solve equations, this extensive network uses the same chemicals and cells as the brain to help us digest and to alert the brain when something is amiss. Gut and brain are in constant communication.”

“A troubled intestine can send signals to the brain, just as a troubled brain can send signals to the gut. Therefore, a person's stomach or intestinal distress can be the cause or the product of anxiety, stress, or depression.”

The right foods invigorate your gut, and the wrong ones will destroy it. It's intensly individual. How will we know which foods do what?

How can we measure how the gut is functioning in the first place?

Enter Viome: a service to help you “discover the best foods, supplements and probiotics for your [gut] health with advanced RNA-based testing for your microbiome.”

You send them your sh*t (literally); they analyze it; they give you a list of foods to avoid, foods to prioritize, and then upsell you on specialized supplements you can buy only from them.

My gut is telling me something is amiss with my nutrition. Is Viome the answer? Let’s take a look.

Let’s test

I paid the $140 for the test, collected a sample, sent it, and then forgot. 2 weeks went by and I remembered to check my app.

RESULTS ARE IN!

According to Viome my gut health is terrible. I fail 13 of 14 health scores (and barely pass the 1).

I’m fairly surprised initially. I actually thought I’d been eating healthy. My gut feeling about my gut health… not so good apparently.

Then I remember that we inherit most of our gut microbiome from our mothers. Mom had a history of GI issues.

The gut is widely believed to affect mood and energy. Two things I've struggled with lately.

Now I’m kind of happy. This could explain a lot. If I can fix this there’s no telling how sexy I’ll be in a month’s time.

Let's have a look at my recommended and avoid foods.

There are few curve balls in here (onions and black beans are bad for my gut???) but overall the lists of avoid/super foods are not surprising (Meat is bad? Apples and Spinach are healthy? WATFO?).

What next

So now what? Armed with this information, how do I go about improving my gut health?

• eat probiotics? This solution works for many, but Viome tells me to minimize probiotically rich foods like yogurt and kefir.

• stop smoking? I’d have to start smoking in the first place.

• eat high fiber? Already doing it.

• drink water? Look who you’re talking to.

• eat healthier? Always an option, but I thought I was eating healthy.

I decide to start making my own smoothies. I go to the grocery store and for $20 I buy a bunch of the recommended super foods. I run home, mix them with some almond milk and protein powder, throw ‘em in the nutribullet and voila! Super shake.

I imagine it will take a few weeks to improve my gut microbiome, and I’m not anxious to spend another $140 to re-assess my gut health so I guess I'll ll just have to track this anecdotally: Ask myself the tough questions? How’s my mood? My energy? Am I improving? Am I feeling better?

What’s my gut telling me?