How Probiotics Can Help Your Depression
Summary: The gut brain connection shows us that there is a strong correlation between what we eat and our mental well being. Cut out the junk and start eating well with probiotics!
The connection between the gut and brain is so strong that your stomach is considered your second brain. Quite literally, you are what you eat. In today’s society, we are bombarded by unhealthy advertisements for fast food products with no nutritional value, junk food that is addictive, contains high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, food colorings, and preservatives. None of these foods help promote good gut bacteria, but instead destroy the gut microbiome and help promote infection and disease. Not just physical disease, but also mental illness, primarily depression.
Chronic depression results often due to life circumstances, such as trauma during childhood, situational depression that has turned chronic, and other factors that prevent the person from being happy and motivated in life. Add on top of this fast food and junk food and the person will have a hard time dealing with their depression since their gut is being destroyed.
Probiotics help the gut by replenishing the helpful bacteria which can help fight off the bad bacteria that resides in the gut that cause infections, parasites, and inflammation, thus lifting one’s mood. But how does this help with depression? Let’s look at a simple example. Have you ever eaten something that didn’t sit well with you and upset your stomach really bad? I’m sure we all have. So do you remember what you mentally felt like? You may not have been thinking clearly, distracted, even feeling down. This is because your body is not only taking away resources for other bodily functions to focus on your gut digestion and getting rid of the bad food you consumed, but also the inflammation of the gut negatively impacts the rest of your body.
That’s a situational issue, but a chronic bad diet causes chronic inflammation in the gut, and your body will be in a constant state of stress. Inflammation is one of the worst things for our bodies. This state of inflammation affects mood and mental well being. Furthermore, since bad gut bacteria can promote infection and parasites, these microorganisms can quite literally affect your brain and control the way you think.
So what probiotics should you consume? Should you take a supplement? The answer to that one is no since you can get probiotics from food sources. Some of the best ones are yogurt, kefir, kombucha, miso, sauerkraut, kimchi, and other fermented foods. You should get a refrigerated fermented food for optimal probiotics. Heating the food will often kill off the beneficial microbes in the food, which is why refrigeration is key and eating and drinking them cold is important. Don’t just expect to eat your normal junk food diet and add in some probiotics, food or supplement, for safe measure will help tremendously with your depression. It will likely help to a degree, but you’re still eating junk foods, and the bad bacteria in your gut is still overwhelming the beneficial bacteria you’re adding. Make changes to your diet and consume probiotics and you will notice a positive difference with your overall physical and mental wellbeing.
With an unhealthy gut comes bad bacteria that does physical and mental harm. An unhealthy gut promotes parasites that can literally control the way you think. Treat yourself well and eliminate fast food and junk food, no matter how much you like it or are addicted to it. Start consuming healthy foods and probiotics that will give you energy and promote a healthy mind and body.
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Additional Info
I used to eat junk food and had a bad diet. It was making me confused and unable to think straight. I slowly made the change to eat better and add probiotics to my diet which improved my digestion. I consume probiotics daily and very rarely have digestive issues, and if I do, it’s often because of something that was too spicy and just upset my stomach, not from bacteria or a parasite. Overall, I improved my mental health as well since I can think clearly and am no longer depressed. But, this came by making many other changes as well.
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