Listening to Dr. Michael Ruscio, I am really starting to feel much less certain. He uses the analogy of looking at different eco-systems across the world. Pretend for example that fibre, carbs and prebiotics, which feed your gut bacteria, are like rain. Lots of rain in a rainforest creates super lush vegetation and a healthy environment, but if you take that amount of rain and put that in a dry, arid environment like say California, you wind up with erosion and landslides. A big disaster! What’s good for one environment does not necessarily translate to another environment. The same could be said for the environment of our gut micro biome. Some humans would have evolved to digest a high level of fibre, while others perhaps not so much depending on where you lived. So to say that everyone should be eating lots of fibre, may be just too simplistic. In fact, Dr. Ruscio discusses studies in people with IBS; they tend to respond favourably to a low FODMAP diet which also decreases the amount of their gut bacteria and surprisingly at the same time, reduces imflamation. Interesting. I myself am experimenting with lowering my fibre intake. Believe it or not, it can actually increase your gut transit time if you lower your fibre intake. It’s counterintuitive and sounds a bit nuts, but give it a go. This could be why paleo diets, often help a lot of people. This is something I am going to continue to experiment with.
Bacteria balance – what’s good for one bacterial environment is not necessarily good for another!
