What is this microbiome thing? The human biome has a few different parts, and the microbiome refers to the trillions of bacteria we host at any given moment. Fun fact: The human body has about 30 trillion cells. The human microbiome contains about 100 trillion cells. Those are the invisible critters on your skin, in your mucosal membranes (like vaginal walls and nasal cavities), and inside your gastrointestinal tract. It takes more than a little hand sanitizer to put a dent in that population.

What do all those bacteria do?

The short answer is seemingly everything. Studies show that these single-celled wonders are responsible for tasks such as extraction of vitamins and nutrients, UV protection, hormone production, blood sugar regulation, cholesterol regulation, cancer protection, neurochemical production (they make about 95% of the body’s serotonin), and more.

You might be thinking, “I like serotonin and reduced skin cancer risk, so I should take lots of probiotics.” Not so fast there, eager ones. Like with most nutrients and materials that make the human body function well, these essential parts of our larger biome are best consumed in food sources. For example, it’s better to eat wild caught salmon than take fish oil pills. The same is true for our probiotic strains.

Historically, as the theories go, we have consumed these bacteria in the form of soil, raw meat, and funky chopping block colonies. And then we have consumed varied diets rich in fruits, vegetables, and the kinds of fibers that are the food of those bacteria. This is what allows the body to create a diverse, robust, and — this part is really important — unique microbiome.

Every microbiome is unique to its host.

We tend to grow a pretty common set of what we refer to as “commensal bacteria,” but each of us has a varying number and variety that represents our body’s current diet, needs, infections, age, etc.

This is why not everyone needs to take a probiotic. In fact, some studies are suggesting we ought to be a little cautious about how many more billions of those buggers we should swallow in pill form.

When we create an imbalance of bacteria in our GI tracts, this is called “dysbiosis” and can lead to other issues such as pathogenic overgrowth of otherwise friendly bacteria, candida and yeast overgrowth, or elevated inflammation of the GI tissues.

The current consensus (it’s of significance that we use the word “current” because new studies are teaching us new things each day) is that probiotic consumption during the use of antibiotics can help mitigate the overgrowth of yeast or antibiotic-use associated diarrhea. But while these bacteria do good things, we don’t all need to consume large amounts of them.

Studies also show that people who eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, fish, and nuts and seeds tend to have a better-balanced microbiome that can recolonize itself after the use of antibiotics or an infection (like a stomach flu that cleans all the pipes for a few days).

So how do you decide whether or not you need probiotics?

Well, first ask yourself if your diet has natural sources of bacteria. Do you get your vegetables from your local farmer’s market or garden? Do you eat lots of them? Are you a regular consumer of fish? Do you eat fermented foods from time to time? If yes and your gut feels happy and healthy and you have a daily bowel movement to be proud of, you’re probably just fine.

Then ask yourself if you have lifestyle factors that diminish a healthy microbiome: frequent antibiotic use, poor diet or even Standard American Diet, frequent alcohol consumption, high sugar consumption, and/or irregular bowels. If so, lifestyle change is the answer, but grabbing a varied probiotic off the shelf to take for a few weeks might be a good start.

If you still aren’t sure, seek the guidance of a professional who can help you assess those needs safely. In the meantime, eat your vegetables!

Originally published as “Managing a Microbiome” in the May-June 2021 issue.

Amy Midstokke is a nutritionist and author living in North Idaho. She’s been hard at work on a new book and hasn’t written anything for Out There in a while. We miss her.

Read more articles by Ammi Midstokke in the OTO archives.

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Seeking guidance, I turned to Katie Nelson, a registered dietitian who contracts with Physical Therapy Associates and works with nutrition clients through 6th Avenue Pharmacy, in addition to being a certified strength and conditioning coach and a runner herself. She offered professional advice on what to eat and drink before, during, and after a run—plus what to avoid.   

When it Comes to Food, Timing is Everything 

If you’re three or four hours out from your run, a well-balanced meal will do you good. “You can get in everything—protein, carbs, fat—and it gives your body time to adjust,” says Nelson. Once you’re in that hour to half-hour pre-run window, simplify. “Avoid high-fiber foods, avoid high-fat foods, stick to mostly carbohydrates with a little bit of protein,” she advises, or take in some liquid nutrition. 

Within the hour post-run, look to refuel with something that’s approximately a 4:1 carb to protein ratio. One choice Nelson recommends is a smoothie that includes protein powder, greens, and electrolytes. 

Hydration is Key 

“Especially this time of year when it’s warmer, hydration takes priority over nutrition” and will have a bigger impact on performance, says Nelson. When you’re not properly hydrated, your body can pull water from the gut, which can cause GI issues. Focus on hydration not just immediately before, during, or after a run, but in a more holistic way. Aim for getting in half your body weight in ounces of water daily as a baseline, Nelson says. 

Additionally, after running “for every pound you lose from sweat, replace it with 16 ounces of water,” says Nelson. To determine sweat loss, weigh yourself before and after your run. Start rehydrating within 30 minutes of completing your workout.  

Foods to Eat and Avoid 

“Really, you want to get your vegetables in at other meals” versus shortly before a run, or during a run, says Nelson. If you’re fueling an hour or two beforehand, avoid healthy but hard-to-digest options like beans, greens or fibrous fruits such as blueberries or apples. Instead, try a banana, a hard-boiled egg, or a couple of slices of turkey and a roasted sweet potato. Every body is different; experiment to find what works for you.  

When Fuel and Hydration Are—and Aren’t—Necessary 

For a training run (not a race), plan to take in fluids if you’re running an hour or more, and take in nutrition (she recommends dried bananas) if you’re running for more than two hours, Nelson says. Water is probably sufficient for training runs under an hour in duration, but for longer runs consider adding electrolytes, which are beneficial “especially with the heat.” She’s a fan of a local product called Lyte Balance.  

Stay hydrated and well-fueled, and enjoy a fun, strong summer of running.  

Sarah Hauge is a writer and editor who lives in Spokane with her husband and two children. She wrote about creating shady outdoor spaces in the previous issue. 

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To train for a 100-mile race, you basically have to give up gainful employment, manage your household by leaving to-do notes behind (Feed cats, take shower, love you, Mom), and spending your savings on all things food. In fact, that’s what my grocery list looks like these days: Buy All The Food. Also: energy bars, chews, bites, electrolytes, extra magnesium, Tiger Balm, turmeric.  

Some naive supporters say cute things like “Oh my gosh, you’re going to lose weight” which both suggests I need to, and that they obviously know absolutely nothing about the insatiable vortex of my runner’s stomach. At this point, I’m concerned I’m contributing to the world hunger problem just by hoarding all the brown rice in my own kitchen. 

Just last week I was running with someone who watched me shove some kind of bar down my pie hole about 4 miles in. “You running longer today?” She asked. “No, I just have to eat in 40 minute intervals from about the time I wake up until I go to sleep.”  

In my sleep, I eat in four-hour intervals. I’ll wake up at 2 a.m. with my stomach grumbling and decide that only a bowl of oatmeal is going to put me back to sleep. It works better if I put peanut butter and maple syrup on it, too. 

Interestingly enough, the science supports my anecdotal evidence that a ridiculous amount of cardio does not necessarily support weight loss. Because cardio work makes you hungry but doesn’t typically increase the metabolism outside of the actual exercise time. In fact, I read one very discouraging study that suggested runners get more efficient and can slow down their metabolic activity. This is where the science supports weight lifting as a more effective means of weight loss (at least of adipose tissue).  

I asked a coach about it, frustrated by the injustice of why my scale doesn’t budge despite the amount of hours I slog through the snow and mud. He asked me some important questions, like, “Do you have energy for your runs? Are you increasing your performance? Do you feel good?” Yes, yes, yes—but I am an American consumer of media and none of that matters if I can’t fit my squatty Norwegian legs into hot pants!  

One day, the scientist in me ran an experiment and tried to restrict calories to something like the recommended daily amount plus half of what I’d burned during a run—somewhere around 2,300 total for the day. By mid afternoon, I was ready to go chew the bark off trees with the deer. The next day, yoga stretches seemed an impossible effort. The experiment ended with two fried eggs on a bowl of rice with kale and green chili salsa and half an avocado and a sigh of relief from my whole body (and family).  

Most of us battle with the scale, as if it has some magical ability to assess our worth or the efficacy of everything else we’re doing. It is just a single data point that may not even apply to our goals. In which case, we ought not stand on the thing because it takes away from our joy. Rather, we should ask ourselves if we can measure our progress elsewhere: Did we fuel appropriately? Get our vegetables and fruits for the day? Do our pants still fit? Is our training awesome? As for me, I’m going to stop negating my wins with a single arbitrary number and set out a bowl for my midnight slumber snacks. They make those morning miles all that much better.  

Ammi Midstokke is a nutritionist and author living in North Idaho. She wrote about relating to other humans in the “Human Adventure” column for the March 2020 issue.

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It isn’t so much that we don’t know what to eat, but that we continually back ourselves into corners where we can no longer make good choices for ourselves. Those choices might be to skip lunch, which inevitably results in eating a relative buffet of crackers and chips while preparing dinner. Or rushing out of the house without breakfast, sucking down a sugary mocha, then tanking just about the time an office-mate wanders by with a plate of donuts. Or staying up too late to watch Seinfeld reruns. Or the common inability to decline invitations.

There are other opportunities for less-than-helpful choices: When we’re watching TV and we’ve already eaten, everyone knows that sitcoms are funnier with popcorn or ice cream or chocolate covered almonds. When we’re exhausted from a ridiculous day of productivity and cranky bosses or clients, and wine calls us with its sultry promise of relaxation. When we go to parties and some hippie brought hummus and celery sticks, but we’re tolerating a boring conversation because it’s happening right next to the cheese plate. 

When we celebrate with food. When we mourn with food. When we avoid our emotions with food. When we medicate and distract with food. When we don’t give ourselves the opportunity to consciously consider what we want that food to do for us. 

Our food is supposed to nourish our bodies, and yes, it should also be pleasurable. It should delight our tastebuds and inspire our Instagram photos. It should be aesthetically pleasing (except maybe chili, but a good chili makes up for its appearance with hints of cocoa and complex layers of spice). It should provide us with ample nutrients to fuel our adventures, heal our wounds, and age us gracefully. Often, we don’t even give it the chance.

When we don’t take time to think about what our bodies need or to provide the right care, we prioritize a dirty little word called “convenience.” And you can find a lot of organic convenience in the supermarkets too, but that doesn’t make it healthy.  

In order to make healthy food choices, we need to make healthy lifestyle choices. Here are some obvious little helpers that have nothing to do with what you choose to eat, but might just help you crave more vegetables and have more energy to be kind to yourself.

1. Sleep. I bet you’ve read that one a few times in every list ever written about how to improve your health, heart risk, marriage, etc. When we don’t sleep enough, we crave easy energy—sugar, carbs, and caffeine— which makes us crave more of those things, and an ugly cycle of trendy energy drinks follows. And we all suspect those are a gateway drug to meth use. Spare yourself the downward spiral and take a damn nap.

2. Eat some breakfast. Nothing original here either and it’s no magic trick. Your blood sugars are low when you’ve been fasting all night so stabilize them with a couple of eggs, some fruit and oats, or leftovers from last night. Just sneak some protein and fat in there so you last through lunch.

3. Stop doing so much. In my clinic, I hear time and time again, “I don’t have time to cook.” Frozen burritos and packaged foods fill the gaps so people can scroll social media, watch more TV, get up at ridiculous hours to go to the gym, stay up late, and invest an impressive amount of time in personal hygiene rituals, all at the expense of whipping together a salad in ten minutes while some smokies cook on the BBQ. Slow your roll and make yourself a real meal.

4. Make healthy friends. We’ve all heard that we’re the average of the five people we spend most our time with. Take a moment to look at your circle. Do they encourage your healthy lifestyle choices or get you three martinis deep on a Wednesday night? Are they the homemade-hummus-hippies? Spend more time with the people who challenge you to take better care of yourself.

Ammi Midstokke’s “Advice for Anyone on Anything” Column

Check out Ammi’s online-only “Advice for Anyone on Anything” column. Or send her your nutrition, health, outdoor fitness, or other random advice question at ammi@twobirdsnutrition.com.

The post Ammi Midstokke: 4 Non-food Solutions to Healthy Eating appeared first on Out There Venture.

That is pretty much what the legendary bonk is: Your brain’s checkmate move to keep you from depleting your stores of glycogen, lest it run out of enough to fuel its own glucose needs.

The closest I ever came to dumpster diving was a direct result of my brain trying to outsmart me. And possibly my attempt at being an elitist vegan, which is second to being a breathetarian. By mile 15 I was wondering if eating raw squirrel was safe. Somewhere around mile 20 I had considered sucking the salt out of my shirt. At mile 24 I passed a garbage can that had a sandwich box on top. I could hear it calling to me.

Ammi Midstokke is fierce on the trail and in the kitchen. // Photos: Ammi Midstokke

My brain was telling me I was surely going to die if I passed that stale sandwich. It told me there was probably even some pickle left on it. I was saved by reminding myself that I was a vegan, and a vegan would starve to death before eating mayonnaise.

This experience was only surpassed by the time I went Paleo and tried to run a marathon on cashews. Another fact: Chewing cashews while parched and running is a choking hazard. Also, it is inappropriate to gnaw at plump babies on race sidelines.

Eventually, I decided to go to nutrition school and figure out how to eat. Years of research and recipes later, I’ve got a plethora of brain and body fuel ideas to keep you hard at whatever it is you might be doing.

Here’s an energy bar recipe with a healthy ratio of protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals, and electrolytes. They’re a mixture of slow and fast burning goodness for sustained energy and less risk of going cannibal on your biking buddies. It is fuel that tells your brain to tell your body it’s okay to keep going.

Recipe: Cranberry Cocoa-Nut Bars

Ammi Midstokke is the owner of two birds nutrition, where she seeks to find the balance between food dogma and cupcakes. More recipes and ramblings can be found at Twobirdsnutrition.com.

For more recipes and stories food & drink, visit the OTO archives.

Find more of Ammi Midstokke’s nutrition advice in the Eatology column archives.

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