Change Your World Week Fall 2021 (Archived)

Gut flora is found in our digestive systems and is made up of good and bad microbes, they balance each other out to create homeostasis within our gut microbiome. Having a balanced gut flora boosts our immune system which prevents us from getting sick from bacteria and viruses, it regulates our digestion system - irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common diagnosis today, metabolizes food correctly, and controls diabetes. The imbalance comes from the foods and chemicals we intake into our bodies daily, which causes an imbalance in the gut flora and microbiota that leads to many rising health problems and illnesses.

Today's modern diet of fast-food chains, frozen meals, acidic beverages, and very few fresh vegetables and fruit choices have become a problem with our digestive systems. These food selections are full of sweeteners, gluten, GMOs, high sodium, and saturated fat. However, few people recognize that those affect our gut microbiome, which over time gets encoded into our gut, then our genes, and then passed on to our future children. Our choices today not only affect us but they affect the future generations. The balance between the gut flora also reduces inflammation within the body, decreased risk of infection, decreased risk of obesity, decreased risk of cancer, and decreased risk of allergies and autoimmune diseases. Today's easy access to the food that throws off this balance has made it a challenge for everyone to be balanced and healthy. If legislation could pass an increase in taxation on unhealthy food, we could beat this on-going problem that is only going to get worse over time.

According to the CDC, the gut microbiome is made of microorganisms that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract. These microbes metabolize the indigestible components of our food choices. They enable absorption of the simple sugars from polysaccharides and influence fat storage. For centuries, different cultures have been using microorganisms to ferment food like yogurt, curd, and kefir to assist the good gut microbes in balancing our gut flora. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that increasing taxation on sugary beverages could lower consumption and help reduce obesity and diabetes. They also state that if we were to reduce fresh fruit and vegetable prices by 10-30% that more consumers would buy and consume these products rather than junk food.

Gut flora is so important to our bodies. Keeping our health is what should be our number one priority. Shopping from local, grown farms should be our go to or having our own gardens and shopping local or growing in your own garden will lessen the chance of pesticides or chemical grown and chemically cleaned fruits and vegetables. Fresh and organic is the way to go to keep our bodies and our gut flora healthy!

 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31315227/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32270494/

https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-13-61

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physrev.00045.2009?url_ver=Z39.88- 2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed&

 https://www.who.int/news/item/11-10-2016-who-urges-global-action-to-curtail-consumption-andhealth-impacts-of-sugary-drinks https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2009/jul/pdf/09_0011.pdf

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/imbalance-body-microbiome-may-contribute-rangeserious-disease/ https://www.healthline.com/health/digestive-health/3-day-gut-reset#day-2

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325293#reduce-stress

https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/what-is-dysbiosis https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4566439/

There is some population that do oppose the higher taxation on unhealthy food due to that being their main food source. Most of our obese, younger, and college student population abuse the low prices of the unhealthy food, and keep consuming it regularly. However, there isn't much of an argument against increasing the taxation on unhealthy food because there is lack of evidence for McDonald's being more nutritional and healthier for the human body compared to a fresh, garden grown salad and variety of fruits. Fresh food is better for the digestive system because there is no chemicals, high sodium, artificial sweeteners, or saturated fats that are affecting our gut flora unlike fast food joints.

Currently there are dietician's, medical doctors, naturopath doctors, etc. that are trying to spread the word on how important it is to eat properly washed fruits and vegetables, stay away from processed foods, sugar, additives, preservatives, GMO's, HMO's that all ruin the good and bad bacteria in our gut microbiome. However, with all the temptations most people just take it with a grain of salt and don't realize just how important a balanced gut microbiome is. I have not found any articles with opposing viewpoints, due to the lack of knowledge a lot of people have about our gut flora and microbiota. 

But what can we personally do to implement change?

Here are a few things - 

1. Stop harming our bodies by eating fast food, opt for a healthier snack. If you're constantly on the go you can keep apples, granola bars, bottled water, or nuts in your purse, book bag, vehicle, etc.

2. Spread the word on how unhealthy food affects our bodies.

3. Write a letter to our state legislature about our concerns, and how we would like to create a healthy community by raising taxation on unhealthy food.

4. Sign our change.org petition!!