How To Feed Your Inner Universe

How To Feed Your Inner Universe

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Were you a fan of Star Trek back in the day? It incorporated a fascinating collection of aliens, including symbiotic organisms like Trills. If you watched it, did you ever consider that you could have a symbiotic being in your body? Hello microbiome!

The gut microbiome consists of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes that influence far more than digestion alone. Gut microbial health connects to immune function, mood, energy levels, skin health, and metabolic processes throughout the body.

Diversity in the gut supports health, and dietary variety is one of the primary ways to cultivate that diversity. Eating a wide range of plant foods appears to be among the most effective strategies for building a robust and varied microbial community.

Here are eight reasons why increasing plant variety supports a healthier microbiome, along with practical ways to incorporate more diversity into your eating pattern.

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How Your Nervous System Affects Your Digestion

How Your Nervous System Affects Your Digestion

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When digestion feels unpredictable, the temptation is to focus exclusively on food. Perhaps you consider what you ate, what you shouldn’t have eaten, and what might need to be eliminated.

Sometimes those details matter, but there’s another layer that often explains why the exact same meal feels fine one day and not the next.

Much of digestion is guided by the vagus nerve, one of the main pathways of communication between the brain and the gut. It helps coordinate stomach acid production, enzyme release, gut motility, bile flow, and the body’s shift into a rest-and-digest state after eating.

When that signaling is disrupted, digestion can feel slower, noisier, and more reactive regardless of what’s on the plate. Here’s a deeper look at how the vagus nerve affects digestion and what can support its function.

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