Hi everyone and thank you for joining me.
As I spoke about in my blog Living with Parking and Improving Gut Health, I am working with a naturopath to improve my gut health as a complementary intervention to manage Parkinson's Disease. Part of this effort has been to understand my gut biome - basically the mix of bacteria in my gut - so we can understand where to direct our efforts.
I apologise in advance as my video post is longer than normal. It covers the test, the results, what interventions we have put in place and what I'm noticing. In short:
we found my gut health was good, with high diversity and nothing outside the healthy range; and
I had generally low levels of inflammatory bacteria.
Two areas identified by my naturopath to focus our efforts were:
increase Faecalibacterium and other butyrate producing gut microbes (anti-inflammatory and may reduce absorption of inflammatory metabolites; and
decrease the level of Bilophila (higher than ideal but not dramatically so).
As I note in my video post, it means I have added in a few more supplements to the anti-oxidant powder I am already taking. I plan to have a follow up biome test in the next few months to see if what I am doing makes a difference. I also have a short consult with a microba coach soon so if anything else comes from that, I'll let you know :)
As I also mention in my video post, this is not a cheap intervention and it will only ever be complementary - that is, one which works alongside my medication regime. Dealing with supplements, naturopathic appointments add up and the microbiome test is expensive. As gut health is influenced by diet and exercise, I've included the naturopath's dietary recommendations to improve my gut health. Please remember: what is right for me may not be right for you. I am sharing the dietary recommendations because they are consistent with the MIND diet:
daily: garlic, onions, oats and greens such as cabbage, kale, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, pak choy, choy sum, rocket;
increasing foods rich in anti-oxidants such as berries, and brightly coloured fruit and vegetable, wholegrains, darker coloured legumes and quinoa and rice (such as black rice, red quinoa);
increase omega-3 fat containing foods such as fresh and canned fish species (salmon, tuna, trevalla etc, and plant-based omega 3s - such as ground flaxseeds (1 tablespoon daily), chia seeds and walnuts.
I am trying my best to adhere to these recommendations, and I've included a pic of my daily breakfast to inspire you!
Finally, over the next few blogs I will be looking at Deep Brain Stimulation or DBS. I look forward to your company. Please reach out and I look forward to hearing about your experiences. Please subscribe if you'd like to be notified when the next blog is posted.
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