IN YOUR DAILY DOSE: today is research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison demonstrating how healthy you keep your gut may have a significant impact on your metabolism.

MAKING CHANGES: The changes you may need to make to ensure the health of your gut are easy and simple. You’ll notice a difference in your health within several months.

FACT OR FICTION: In a small town in Alaska there lives a mayor who has fallen into a restaurant fryer and jumped off of a moving truck. Is he crazy or accident prone or brave?  

In The News

There is a growing and thriving community of microorganisms that live in your intestines. They contribute to the digestion of your food, your immune system and your metabolism. This is known as your gut microbiome and has been demonstrated to work with your genetic material to regulate insulin secretion.

Insulin and blood sugar contributes to the development of metabolic disease and later, type 2 diabetes. This new report describes results of experiments done on mice which demonstrated how the genetic variation of a host animal shapes your microbiome. Dr. Alan Attie, researcher from the University of Wisconsin who participated in the study, commented in Science Daily, saying:

"We're trying to use genetics to find out how bugs affect diabetes and metabolism. We're asking whether or not there is a chain of causality between gut microbiota and (disease) phenotype. Genetics is the anchor. If something is associated with a gene, it is truly a causal relationship, not just a correlation."

SOURCE: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170217161013.htm

Daily Health Tip

The health of your gut contributes to the health of your immune system, your allergies, and how clear your skin looks. It affects how quickly you age and a number of other conditions researchers are only just beginning to identify.

Making Changes

What you eat affects the growth of bacteria in your gut that outnumbers the number of cells in your body. This bacteria is responsible for the strength of your immune system and impacts the inflammatory response in your body - which in turn affects your heart health, risk of stroke and potential for suffering immune mediated diseases, such as lupus.

You may make significant impact on your gut microbiome by making just a couple of changes to your diet. Researchers have discovered people eating a variety of vegetables have a more diverse microbiome (important to health). Sugar feeds the bad bacterial growth in your intestines.  Here are several strategies that may help you:

1. Consider using a quality probiotic and prebiotic supplement - the first to add a diverse microbiome to your gut and the second to feed them.
2. Reduce or eliminate your sugar intake, smoking and alcohol consumption as each negatively affects your gut bacteria, your immune system and your heart health.
3. Increase the amount of non-carbohydrate fiber you eat daily as it feeds your good bacteria and found in vegetables.
4. Reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat each day as these foods metabolize into sugar in your body.

Daily Affirmation

There is very little room for self-doubt when I follow my conscience religiously. I am confident about my decisions when I know they come from a moral place.
Today, my honesty molds me into a trustworthy individual. I am committed to staying true to myself and sharing my sincere self with others.

Fact or Fiction?

In a small town in Alaska there lives a mayor who has fallen into a restaurant fryer and jumped off of a moving truck. Is he crazy or accident prone or brave?  

Since his election to Mayor, Stubbs has been shot, fallen in a restaurant fryer, jumped off a moving truck and been mauled by a dog. Elected into office in 1997 and currently in office, Stubbs is a tourist attraction in this town.  But the most interesting thing about the mayor of this small town in Alaska is that he’s a cat!

Have a wonderful day!

Your Healthy Life America Team