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How Fiber Can Help Mind-Body Balance
Mind-body balance is a term used to describe a state of calm connecting the brain to the rest of the body. It’s usually applied to meditative techniques and practices, but this concept can be applied to everyday life in ways that many of us may never have thought of. There is an important connection between the brain and the body, more specifically, the gut.
There are a few hundred billion neurons between the brain and the gut(the digestive system). These neurons send and receive information between these two areas in an effort to help feed the body what it needs and regulate where that information goes. When one of these systems suffers from negative health, the other subsequently follows.
So, what can you do to keep both of these systems healthy? The trick is to start by feeding your gut well. What does the gut need in order to maintain its health? Fiber.
Introducing Happy Fiber
Happy Fiber is a prebiotic fiber supplement, designed to help feed the gut microbiome with the nutrients it needs to maintain proper probiotic health. There are trillions of bacteria that populate the gut microbiome. These bacteria feed off of fiber in order to maintain healthy population size. Of course, without enough fiber, it impacts gut bacteria negatively and can have a ripple effect on the body.
Happy Fiber is designed to help supply the gut microbiome with enough fiber to maintain the growth of happy gut bacteria, which can help maintain the health of other processes and systems in the body. How does it do this?
Helps Regulate The Gut-Brain Axis
Fibers are plant-based compounds that the human stomach can’t digest on its own. Without gut bacteria, these fibers can’t be broken down and be extracted of nutrients. Without healthy gut bacteria, the nutrients from fiber can’t be absorbed into the bloodstream and signals can’t be sent to the brain to help regulate where those nutrients go. This relationship is called the gut-brain axis.
When the brain can’t receive information and nutrients from the gut, it cannot regulate other systems in the body as effectively. Let’s look at the hypothalamus as an example. The hypothalamus is a part of the brain responsible for regulating core body temperature, regulating energy, metabolism, and mood.
The hypothalamus relies on the gut to gain amino acids (nutrients) from foods that help the production and release of mood-stabilizing chemicals like serotonin. However, without enough healthy gut bacteria, the brain can’t get enough of those amino acids to help produce mood-stabilizing hormones. As a result, serotonin levels become low, making it easier for mood swings to occur.
Helps Maintain Mood
This brings us to the next aspect of fiber’s impact on mind-body balance, maintaining mood. Happy Fiber also contains the amino acid, tyrosine, which is important for regulating the production of happiness hormones, especially dopamine. Tyrosine, like other dietary amino acids, can also help with immune system regulation.
Amino acids are needed to synthesize new cells, proteins, and peptides that help improve the immune response. Without amino acids, the immune system can’t produce and release enough immune cells to help fight against viruses, bacteria, and other illness-causing microorganisms. Having enough fiber in your diet can help your gut bacteria better extract those amino acids from food to be used by other systems, like the immune system, later on.
Helps Improve Nutrient Absorption
Why is nutrient absorption so important? As we’ve discussed, the body needs nutrients in order to maintain all of its systems. Without enough nutrients, or without enough healthy gut bacteria to extract those nutrients from food, the body cannot regulate itself as effectively, which can cause a decrease in the brain’s ability to regulate other systems.
Lowered neurological functions, spikes in blood sugar, lowered immune response, lowered metabolism, increased buildup of harmful bacteria, and much more can all occur as a result of a lack of nutrients. Fiber helps gut bacteria more effectively absorb nutrients into the bloodstream by slowing down digestion. Slowing down digestion gives the body more time to process and break down foods, which gives gut bacteria more time to obtain nutrients and pass them through the intestinal lining into the bloodstream.
