By Rosanna
Many years ago while I was studying the human body, I learned that the ancient people believed that our first brain is in our gut. I realized that if we take a picture of our intestine and we put it next to a picture of the human brain we see an incredible resemblance between the two organs. In further studies I also learned that our heart has an incredible amount of brain cells.
So here it is, we don’t have only one brain in our body, but three, and all of them perform best depending on what we feed ourselves and the variety of the bacteria in our intestines.
I am very happy that recent scientific studies have discovered that the human body has 10 times more microorganism cells than human cells, depending on our diet and lifestyle. Our genes are out numbered 100 to 1 by microbial genes. So these little creatures-called bacteria, viruses, and fungi constitute a big part of our bodies. Modern science is calling it the human Microbiome.
The overall composition of our Microbiome is different from person to person depending on different factors such as the person’s ancestors, parents, diet, chemical exposure, geographic location, antibiotic intake, etc. Even at the moment of birth, as the baby is coming down the birth canal, the new little body gets a dose of microbes from the mother. It is like starting up an insemination of seedlings that will grow the flora “garden” of the future adult.
Each different region of our body has different types of microorganisms that perform different protective work for the human. As the child grows and comes in contact with new germs from the environment, his/her own macrobiome is built up.
Keeping our children excessively clean and germ free is not necessarily a good thing, because this makes them weaker and more susceptible to illness. I can relate to that because I was kept so squeaky clean when I was little and consequently I was sick very often.
The idea of extreme cleanliness is coming from an absurd obsessive phobia of germs, and it doesn’t allow the child to build up his/her natural defense mechanism which is important to counteract inflammation and disease throughout their life. Let’s make our kids play in the uncontaminated dirt, it is healthy. Let’s stop use hand sanitizers that are now in every store we walk in. Germs are OK. Humans have lived millions of years without hand sanitizers. This sterile culture that we have created is bombarding our microbiome.
Our gut has the biggest variety of microbes: one hundred trillion and the quality of this bacterial habitat and their performance are very important and highly complex. It is from here that these minute creatures help us absorb the food we eat.
In our intestine is created the quality of the blood that feeds the rest of our body. The higher the variety of the friendly microbes in our intestine is, the better it is for us. Our functions are regulated by these small microbes without which we could not live a healthy life. Our health and happiness depend on it. According to Dr. Permutter our gut microbiome is 99% of the DNA in our body.
New scientific studies have very clearly proven that the use of antibiotics, pharmaceutical drugs, and the exposure to toxic chemicals and metal oxides are a primary cause of rising disease throughout the western world. We live in aseptic buildings cleaned with chemicals that kill germs. Through the use of these products, we have lost our connection with nature. These entirely unnatural products kill the diversity of our microbes.
As humanity becomes more westernized, our connection with the Earth – the same Earth that possesses the entire diverse habitat that makes life possible and thriving – is lost. As a consequence of this westernized lifestyle, we have seen the rise of chronic illnesses connected to autoimmune deficiencies, including allergies, and neurological disease such as: anxiety, depression, dementia, migraine, epilepsy, neuropathy, nerve damage, multiple sclerosis, and autism. As beneficial microbes also play an important role on our mental health, we have also seen a rise in psychiatric illnesses.
Using antimicrobial cleaning products made with sophisticated chemicals reduces the abundant microbial diversity that our bodies need to remain strong. In this modern era, we are also assaulted by food loaded with antibiotics, pesticides, herbicides, chemical coloring and preservatives, and thousands of synthetic chemicals and fumes. All of this has a detrimental impact on the body.
One of the fastest ways to improve our health is via the food we eat. A good place to start improving our health is through eating organic whole grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits. We should also add naturally fermented food in order to grow healthier varieties of intestinal flora and include ocean vegetables to add important minerals.
Foods that have fiber are important not only because fiber cleans the intestinal walls but because the microbes love to feed on it. Eating food that microbes love to feed on is highly beneficial to us because it increases our microbiome population. If the microbes are fiber starved, they begin to feed on the mucous membrane of our intestinal walls and this trigger inflammation to the system. A good source of fiber foods are: vegetables (steamed, blanched, and sautéed), beans, sprouted seeds, nuts and seeds, and whole grains.
Click a picture to go to the recipe
Microbes perform an immense range of functions; they help to digest our food, help instruct the immune system on how to protect us and assist our bodies in resisting disease. They may even have an effect on the way we behave. Different regions of the body house different types of microbes that have different functions. A very good way to replenish our body with these important beneficial microbes is by eating naturally fermented food.
Good sources of fermented food are soy products: Miso, organic shoyu or Tamari soy sauce, Tempeh, Natto, fermented tofu, and soymilk. Pickles can be made at home with vegetables fermented in salt, soy sauce, or brine.
Click the pictures to go to the recipe
From the moment I started studying the macrobiotic principles of the Zen Buddhism more then 20 years ago, I learned the effects that different food types have in our bodies. I started to apply what I learned on myself first, and then on others with extreme success. I also learned about energy medicine and realized that, indeed, our first brain is in our gut. The reasoning for this is that the quality of the blood feeds the rest of our bodies including our brain cells is formed in the intestine. The intestine is located in the lower part of our torso and it takes our heart to bring that energy up to our head. But remember, the heart is not just a pump that moves the vital blood through our entire system.
That red stuff called blood created in the intestine made with pure water, vitamins, essential minerals, carbohydrates, fats, and oxygen, just to name few, also needs a few pounds of microbes that put everything in the right conditions for us to absorb these nutrients from the food we eat. It is essential to create strong blood which has to have the right amount of nutrients to be powerful enough to make us healthy and strong.
Then there is that radical difference in the pumping muscle, the heart works without stopping from the moment of conception to the last breath of a human. The heart, which moves vital blood through our entire system, is not just a pump. This particular muscle is the energy center of the human body. It influences emotions and love. It is connected to the thymus gland which is connected to the biggest chakra of the ethereal body. And it is the most powerful electromagnetic energetic center of our body. The heart has thousands of cells similar to those found in the brain.
So here it is: we don’t have only one brain in our body, but three!
In modern days we know that the heart is also a brain of sorts, with has its own memory. We have observed that heart transplant recipients start to change some aspects of their way of life after the operation. They start to appreciate food that they did not care for before the transplant, and they start to like activities that the donor of the heart used to like.
Modern science tells us that the heart is our second brain, but the mystics from ancient times have always thought that one should use the heart first to make decisions. The heart deals with love and it is in the center of our being and when we make decisions with the love infused from the heart, we are able to see the true in things and make better decisions for the good of humanity, and for mother Earth, not only for ourselves.
It is here that we have to infuse love into our thinking process that we initiate in the gut, to make decisions that will be for the good of everyone, not only for our ego. Only then, with the love infused in our thinking by the powerful heart center, we bring this energy up to the brain located in our head. This brain influences our creativity, through the mind eye and the pineal gland, and even higher to the pituitary gland that is connected to the crown chakra and the higher power.
The larger brain located in our head is very analytical and helps us to be safe in times of trouble. But without the love of the heart and the powerful blood created in our gut the brain in our head is useless, because it never finds peace. “Only love fills our life and the world with peace and prosperity” we cannot bypass the brain in our heart and leave all our thinking to the analytical mind, because if we do so we become as cold as robots and corruption sets in quickly and the entire system self destruct.
The world NOW needs empowered humans that are able to build up a deeper understanding of life and the way it is connected with Nature. They need to discover the subtle ways of how our inner body works in connection with the external world and mother Earth. We have a universe within, just the way there is a universe without and both are connected. We must learn to use natural medicine and energy medicine. We need to learn to live according to natural ways. Our Macrobiome is our defense mechanism. We have to reach our full potential and eat wholesome living food, not prepared food loaded with preservatives, fillers, and GMO. We have to have respect for Nature and all living things if we want to begin to see a change in ourselves and our universe.