5 Benefits Of The Microbiome Diet: Upping Your Fiber Intake For Better Health

Our modern diet vastly differs from that of our ancestors. It even differs from that of our great-grandparents. This is because their diets included many whole foods like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Add to this that all meals were prepared from scratch and contained a lot of fiber. On the other hand, we tend to eat less of these foods and often develop health issues because of our current diets. The microbiome diet, however, may help to address these health problems. This is due to its high fiber content.

The Fiber Microbiome Diet Connection

We should get our body’s fiber requirements from the food we eat. Most especially from fruits, vegetables, and wholegrain products. Fiber plays a major role in maintaining a healthy gut microbiome balance in our gut. The various intestinal flora in our gut microbiome each have a different task. Ruminococcus¹, for example, degrades cellulose. Fibre is made from cellulose.

A balanced, healthy gut microbiome contains enough of this flora to help with proper gut function. This Ruminococcus does by producing cellulosomes. Cellusomes degrade cellulose. They do this by attaching to cellulose fibers and ultimately breaking fiber threads into soluble, shorter chains for easy digestion.

However, research suggests that people living in industrial societies like the USA have fewer essential flora in their gut². This situation can have far-reaching consequences. Following a microbiome diet may help with the situation.

Importance Of A Healthy Gut

Your diet plays a major role in your gut flora composition. Collectively, the various components of your gut microbiome regulate your metabolism and play a key role in immune function. Each component of your gut flora has a job. These include breaking down fiber and complex carbohydrates. They also protect you against pathogens and regulate communication between the gut and brain. Furthermore, studies show that a flora imbalance in your gut plays a role in inflammatory bowel disease and numerous other health issues³.

Types Of Fiber

You get two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble.

Soluble fiber easily dissolves in water and forms a gel. This gel slows your digestive processes and allows your body to absorb nutrients better. This type of fiber may also help address cholesterol and blood sugar issues. This type of fiber is found in carrots, apples, oats, barley, and citrus fruits.

Insoluble fiber promotes bowel movements and can significantly help people struggling with constipation. Good insoluble fiber sources include, amongst others, wheat bran, green beans, beans, and cauliflower.

Both soluble and insoluble fiber form part of the microbiome diet.

Inflammation: A Contributing Factor To Many Health Issues

One of the interesting aspects of dietary fiber is its ability to fight inflammation. Inflammation is part of your immune system’s response to stress. It starts the moment our bodies start fighting off pathogens and toxins that invade them. The NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) stress response, governed by the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, determines your body’s response to stress and affects all organs and body functions during this period.

While inflammation is a good thing, it can harm your health if it persists. It could result in myriad health issues, especially in those who have adrenal fatigue.

Most inflammatory health issues start in your gut. From there, they spread to different parts of your body. This spread is because your gut’s permeable lining allows various substances to pass into your bloodstream.

When this permeability increases due to irritable bowel syndrome arising from an imbalance in your gut flora composition, you may see toxins and other bad substances also entering your bloodstream. Systemic inflammation may result in numerous health issues. Once your entire system becomes affected, your body can no longer access or use the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals needed to work effectively.

Health Issues Associated With Inflammation

The myriad health issues commonly associated with inflammation include the following:

• Gut health issues like irritable bowel disease (IBS), joint pain, gas, stomach pain, headaches, and constipation or diarrhea
• Neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis
• Autoimmune disorders that include lupus, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis
• Psychiatric disorders like anxiety and depression
• Cardiovascular disease, e.g., high blood pressure and heart disease
• Certain types of cancer
• Lung issues like asthma
• Metabolic diseases like diabetes type 2
• Obesity

Phases Of The Microbiome Diet

The microbiome diet aims to encourage the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. In so doing, you may see balance restored to your gut microbiome. This could result in better mood and metabolism regulation, increased brain function, better immune system function, and decreased inflammation.

Your gut’s microbiome includes various bacteria, fungi, and archaea. The latter are single-cell organisms that do not have a nucleus. While research into the function of archaea is encouraged, we know that declining quantities are concurrent with an increase in gut health and other issues⁴.

The microbiome diet consists of three phases. Not only should the diet help to boost microbiome health, but you may also lose some weight!

Microbiome Diet: Phase 1

Phase one of the microbiome diet concentrates on three R’s: removing, repairing, replacing, and reinoculation.

Here, you will remove any foods from your diet that negatively affect your gut microbiome. Instead, you will focus on foods that will repair the gut wall. This implies replacing stomach acids and pancreatic enzymes while introducing beneficial bacteria. You should ideally follow this phase for 21 days, i.e., three weeks.

This phase requires you to avoid eating certain foods while you concentrate on consuming others.

Foods to avoid include:

• Foods that contain gluten
• Most dairy products – you may eat ghee and butter
• All grains
• Fruit juices
• Starchy vegetables, e.g., corn and potatoes
• Grains
• Foods containing soy
• Artificial sweeteners
• Deli meats
• Packaged foods
• Fried foods
• Cane sugar and high-fructose corn syrup

Foods to focus on include probiotic and prebiotic foods like:

• Onions
• Garlic
• Artichokes
• Sauerkraut
• Certain fruits, e.g., apples, berries, oranges, cherries, nectarines, and kiwi fruit
• Healthy oils, e.g., olive oil and flaxseed oil
• Healthy fats, e.g., fatty fish, seeds, nuts, and avocadoes
• Grass-fed meat and wild fish

The Microbiome Diet: Phase 2

The second phase of the microbiome diet sees you eat a wider variety of foods. This part of the diet lasts four weeks, i.e., 28 days, You should already have a much more diverse and healthier gut microbiome by now.

Foods to include during this time:

• Fruits like peaches, pears, mangos, and melons
• Free-range eggs
• Beans, i.e., kidney beans, green beans, and red, white, or black beans
• Goat or sheep milk
• Sweet potatoes, yams
• Gluten-free grains, e.g., buckwheat, millet, gluten-free oats, basmati or wild rice, quinoa, and amaranth

Please note that you should only include foods not recommended in Phase 1 in your meal plan for a maximum of four times a week.

The Microbiome Diet: Phase 3

Your gut lining and microbiome should have fully healed by now. The last phase of the microbiome diet helps keep the beneficial results obtained thus far. Keeping to this phase for as long as possible will help you gain the best results. Please note that you should continue to avoid processed foods and added sugars. You can, however, reintroduce the rest of the foods excluded previously.

Supplements To Consider

The diet recommends the use of certain supplements during the first phase. You can, however, continue using them throughout. But please do so with a healthcare provider's guidance, as they can best make recommendations about supplements and supplement suitability.

Supplements include apple cider vinegar, enzymes like protease and lipase, grapefruit seed extract, and oregano oil. Zinc, quercetin, vitamin D, and glutamine are also recommended as probiotics. The latter includes Rhamosus, Bifidobacterium, and Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Adrebiotics are supplements that introduce a host of probiotics that help preserve good bacteria in your gut. Pro-B contains lactobacillus acidophilus. This probiotic helps to preserve your gut’s good bacteria for optimal nutrient absorption and digestion. If yeast overgrowth in the gut is an issue, you could try using Pro-Y. This supplement contains Saccharomyces Boulardii. This probiotic helps to combat gut yeast overgrowth while helping to diversify your gut microbiome.

Does The Microbiome Diet Work?

While no studies have been made on this diet, a diet high in fiber, like the microbiome diet, may help restore gut bacteria and your gut lining. Furthermore, increasing your consumption of probiotics and prebiotics while limiting sugar intake helps restore the gut’s microbiome balance. Sugar may have a detrimental effect on your gut flora balance⁵.

Increasing your fiber intake has numerous health benefits.

Possible Weight Loss

Foods high in fiber tend to fill you up quicker than those with a low fiber count. Fiber also takes longer to digest. This means you feel full quicker and stay satiated for longer. These foods also supply less energy. This means that you can eat more while consuming fewer calories. Your body needs to work harder to break down high-fiber foods, often using more calories than you consume. This could lead to weight loss.

Promotes Better Bowel Function

While increasing the size of a stool, a high-fiber diet may also result in softer stools. At the same time, fiber may help to solidify watery stools. This type of diet may also reduce your hemorrhoid risk and lower your risk of colorectal cancer.

Addresses Cholesterol

High cholesterol levels are one of the major causes of heart disease. The soluble fiber in oat bran, beans, and flaxseed may help lower your total blood cholesterol. This is done by targeting your ‘bad’ cholesterol. High-fiber foods may also have other heart benefits, e.g., their ability to reduce inflammation and lower blood pressure levels.

Helps To Control Blood Sugar Levels

Fiber can absorb sugar. This means it may help to improve your blood sugar levels. A diet high in especially soluble fiber may thus help reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes.

Inflammation

The health issues mentioned, as well as myriad others, all have a link to inflammation. By incorporating more fiber into your diet, as the microbiome diet suggests, you can help your body reduce the inflammation already present. It may also reduce your risk of developing health conditions relating to an inflammatory response.

In Closing

A healthy diet supports a healthy gut microbiome. A healthy gut microbiome can help reduce your risk of systemic inflammation by promoting a healthy gut lining. A lack of enough fiber in the diet may severely compromise the health of your gut bacteria composition. Following a diet that promotes an increase in fiber consumption may help you deal with the situation and help prevent many health issues from arising.

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