Chapter 1
Constant cravings
(it’s not you, it’s your microbiome)
As long as it’s sweet your taste buds are on board, right? Can’t finish your dinner without needing a dessert to top it off (even if you were full 5 minutes ago)? Whether it’s treating yourself with home-brand chocolate or some fancy organic date latte, you could be a sugar addict and it’s probably sabotaging your health and beauty goals. But now you can say it’s not entirely your fault … because your gut microbiome residents have a major say in what you crave.
What is your microbiome?
The ecosystem in your large intestine is called the microbiome and it consists of thousands of types of gut bacteria and fungi, both good and potentially pathogenic. Most of them are not invaders to be exterminated; they are beneficial colonizers that help to train your immune system, digest your food, protect against disease and produce some vitamins for good health including vitamin B12, thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2) and vitamin K.
Your microbiome is fed by your diet: some microbes like chocolate, others crave broccoli and leafy greens. So what you eat determines who proliferates (and who dies) in your gut.
You might not be a choc-aholic after all
In one study, researchers noted that people who love chocolate have different microbial metabolites in their urine than people who feel indifferent to chocolate, despite eating identical amounts of chocolate during the study.1 Scientists found that gut microbes can manipulate a person’s eating behaviour, sometimes at the expense of the host’s health (that’s you), and they concluded that changing a person’s gut microbiota leads to a change in cravings.2
According to researchers, our gut microbes can:
»generate cravings that suppress their competitors’ growth (and maximize their own)
»induce a state of unease until you eat something that promotes their growth (hello chocolate cravings)
»produce toxins that alter your mood
»change taste receptors (seriously!)
»manipulate reward pathways (altering opioid/feel-good receptors in the gut)
»activate pain receptors.
And they do this by hijacking thevagus nerve which is the link between the gut and the brain.3 Your vagus nerve is important for triggering feelings of being relaxed, calm and satisfied and it helps us to rest, digest and de-stress. So it’s important to have control of this important nerve. (More on how to tone your vagus nerve onp. 18.)
Pathogenic yeasts such as Candida albicans make you crave sugar but when they are fed sugar they proliferate. This can trigger thrush and other yeast infection symptoms that can make you feel itchy, irritable and tired. Candidiasis treatments are covered onp. 81.
How to improve your gut microbiome (and kill cravings)
Your breakfast, lunch and dinn
