Microbiome

Articles about the MicroBiome from Lori Calabrese, MD | The Ketamine Blog

What is the microbiome?

The microbiome is the genetic material of a vast community of microorganisms such as bacteria, protozoa, viruses, and fungi that live in the gastrointestinal tract of your body. The combined genetic factors in this environment make up more than 200 times the genetic material in your own DNA. As such, this collection of microbes provide a strong influence over your digestion, immunity, and overall health.

In fact, for you to be at optimum health and wellbeing, these organisms must be in balance. When they are, they assist your digestion and strengthen your immunity.

What is “Balance” in the Microbiome?

There are harmful bacteria and other microbes as well as beneficial ones. As long as the “good” bacteria keep the “bad” bacteria from taking over, you can enjoy health and wellbeing. But if the good guys and bad guys shift out of balance, it can cause you to become very ill from a variety of diseases.

And along with diseases, depression and anxiety can also become unmanageable.

How do you strengthen the gut -brain axis?

To strengthen your microbiome, you can

  • increase the fiber in your diet
  • Eat as much fruits and vegetables as you can, choosing a wide variety and including all the colors available.
  • Choose high fiber vegetables in abundance like leeks, artichokes, garlic, and onions for their prebiotic fiber content. Some vegetables are low in fiber and actually have minimal nutritional value.  Lettuce falls in this category.
  • Seek out polyphenols, as in nuts, seeds, berries, olive oil, brassicas (cruciferous vegetables, mustard plants, and cabbages) coffee, and tea (green tea is best of all!)  These are antioxidants and fuel microbes.
  • Avoid snacking to give your microbiome a rest.
  • Make fermented foods a strong component of your daily diet. Foods like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchee
  • Play in the dirt. Spend time in the country, work in your garden, and enjoy the earth and the fresh air. Doing so will diversify your microbiome and multiply the types of organisms there to improve your health, your immunity and your wellbeing.

These articles about the microbiome are offered to improve your understanding of the beneficial properties it possesses.

Cerebral Folate Deficiency and Its Impact on Treatment-Resistance

Man thinks alone on cold silent shore may have cerebral folate deficiency.

“If I see far, it’s that I stand on the shoulders of giants.” If you find yourself feeling alone and forgotten in your symptoms, feeling that there’s no one who really cares, please let me emphasize that there are hundreds, even thousands, of neuroscience researchers, medical doctors with PhDs, biochemists, psychopharmacologists, and psychiatrists who have […]

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Low T in Men Causing Your Treatment Resistant Depression..?

Low T in men can be overlooked as the cause of depression.

Since low testosterone in men has long been presumed to accompany aging, it can be overlooked as a cause of TRD in young men. John had gained 75 lbs (!) through the stressful and exhausting project at work. He’d come to hate the way he looked. Co-workers had turned on each other, undercutting rather than […]

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Ketamine May Relieve Depression By Repairing Damaged Brain Circuits

Ketamine appears to restore faulty connections between brain cells, according to research performed in mice. The anesthetic ketamine can relieve depression in hours and keep it at bay for a week or more. Now scientists have found hints about how ketamine works in the brain. In mice, the drug appears to quickly improve the functioning […]

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Weekly Ketamine Infusions Show Initial, Repeated Depression Benefits

A new study shows that weekly ketamine infusions are associated with continued and maintained reductions in depressive symptoms among patients with treatment-resistant depression. The findings, which are considered novel among studies assessing ketamine administration for patients with treatment-resistant depression, evidence the promising role the controversial drug could play in psychiatric care. A team of investigators, led […]

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BDNF and Microbiome: Your Paved Path to a Fulfilling Life

BDNF and microbiome pave your path to fulfillment in life.

Strengthen your microbiome, build up your BDNF: Live Better and Enrich Your Relationships Feel sluggish…like your brain is falling down on the job? “Why did I come into the kitchen?” “Where are my keys?” “I’m so overwhelmed…!” Wishing you had more physical and mental energy… and feel kind of foggy..? It’s not surprising if you […]

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12 Steps You Can Take to Make Your Gut Microbiome Work for You

Young woman eats yogurt for her microbiome

You Have The Power to Transform Your Life. To Find Out How – Keep Reading… If you struggle with depression or anxiety, you probably know that there’s a pretty good chance you’ve inherited that tendency from others in your family line. But you don’t have to feel helpless about that. There is so much you […]

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