[four-minute read]
The Foundation of Your Health
If a child asked you what the most important organ of the body was, would your answer be the gut? Probably not. But in a sense, it’s true.
Over 70% of your immune system resides in your digestive tract! Immune cells and good bacteria live there and fight off all the bad characters–viruses, fungi, malevolent bacteria–that lead to infections and serious diseases like cancer. When your gut is weakened by poor nutrition and/or excessive antibiotic use, it also makes you prone to inflammation that hurts your joints and muscles.
There’s also a direct link between your digestive system and your brain. The amount of nerve cells in your stomach and intestines is equal to your spinal cord! This means that eating poorly can cause mental illness and that mental illness can, in turn, lead to an unhealthy gut.
Feed Your Second Brain
There are a number of things you can do to support your gut health, including getting enough sleep, making time for exercise, and adding probiotics to your diet. In addition, a critical strategy for improving the health of your “second brain” is eating well.
Diets rich in colorful, fiber-filled foods help your gut bacteria flourish and extract nutrients to be delivered to the rest of your body. Likewise, these foods cue your nerve endings to talk positively to your brain and hormones, thereby communicating a sense of well-being.
In fact, a recent study by Columbia University’s School of Public Health found that cereal fiber, compared with fruit and vegetable fiber, is associated with lower inflammation and cardiovascular disease. This doesn’t mean that fruits and vegetables are ineffective at supporting gut and overall health; it just means that cereal grains like those in Oats Overnight have the greatest power in supporting these health outcomes.
