piektdiena, 2018. gada 2. februāris

Guts - our 2nd brain

Few days ago I found out that scientists call guts the 2nd brain due to the fact that it contains billions of neurons. Interestingly enough most of the connections from guts to the brain seem to be a one way street (aprox 90%). Furthermore, our stomachs have the power to control our emotions, psycholgy and preferences for eating, drinking etc. The good news are that we still have the ability to keep the upper hand by changing our diet. All bacteria in microbiome are not the same, there are the good, the bad and the ugly. In order to strenghten the good ones we have to consume probiotics, but not those you can get from the counter. The best probiotics scientists have found are those you can prepare at home by yourself:


  1. sauerkratu - No 1 - fermented cabbage. Slice or chop cabbage, rinse it with salt, press with smth. heavy and leave in warm place for a few days. It will stink a little bit, but you will get worlds no 1 probiotic solution dirt cheap. 
  2. Kefir - No 2 - fermented milk. To prepare it, you need to have milk + buy some kefir grains at ebay or find a local enthusiast who can give those to you for free. After you get those grains put them in warm (but not hot) milk and leave in room temperature for 1 - 2 days. Kefir bacteria will eat the milk and produce kefir. Before you drink it remove kefir grains or you will become a walking kefir machine. Afterwards put those little ones back in a milk and let them do their good work again. You may want to blend the kefir to get a smoothier taste. After a while kefir grains will grow larger and you may prepare kefir faster or in larger quantities. Other possibility is to cut it and sell it on ebay or give as a gift to some relatvies or friends. As it is a living being I would not suggest to throw it in the bin.
Scientists argue that 1/3 ounce of sauerkraut (homemade) contains more probiotics than 10 bottles of probiotic capsules. Furthermore sauerkraut contains several hundreds of bacteria species while bottled probiotics have only 5 - 7 kinds of them. 

Advice of the day - learn to prepare sauerkraut or if you are lazy buy some home made stuff from farmers and increase the number of good bacteria in your stomach. By doing it you will improve your immunity and might even live longer. 



otrdiena, 2013. gada 17. septembris