Wine & Dine Your 2 Brains: The Key to Making Your Whole Body Happy

Do you ever feel nauseous when you get nervous? Or have you had a “gut wrenching” experience? Maybe you’re like me and get stomach pain during stress. Or maybe you’ve gotten butterflies in your stomach from someone, say, like a 6’5’’ sexy-as-fuck pillar of chiseled stone you saw on your street yesterday? Just a hypothetical example (but if you’re reading this, call me).

Believe it or not, the brain and the gastrointestinal (GI) tract are intimately connected. As you may recall from your high school science class (or not because that was way too long ago), neurons in the brain send signals to all the different parts of our body – they tell the legs to move, the hand to wave, and the eyes to shut. The stomach is no different. Our brains have a direct effect on the stomach and intestines. But this connection goes both ways: The gut also has a direct effect on the brain.

This “gut-brain connection” is very real. The GI tract is sensitive to emotion – anger, anxiety, fear, sadness, elation. Think of giving an important presentation or a job interview. Do you ever feel a little somethin’ somethin’ in your stomach before or during? Sometimes when I'm sad, my stomach gets a big knot in it, and I feel a physically sick.

A troubled brain sends signals to the gut, and a troubled gut sends signals to the brain. A person’s stomach distress can be the cause or the product of anxiety, depression, and stress.

Your Second Brain

This section is heavy on the science stuff but stick with me.

As we’ve established, these neurons in the brain and central nervous system fire commands at different parts of the body, telling it how to behave. There are approximately 100 billion neurons in the human brain (*continuously amazed by the human body*). Interestingly, our gut also contains neurons – but only a humble 500 million.

Physically, your brain and gut are connected through nerves in your nervous system, most notably through the large vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the longest and most complex cranial nerve. It runs from the brain through the face and thorax all the way to the abdomen. And it sends signals in both directions!

Research shows that stress inhibits the signals through the vagus nerve, which also causes gastrointestinal issues. One study in humans found that people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or Crohn’s disease had a reduced function of their vagus nerve. A study on mice found that feeding them a probiotic (we’ll get to this later) reduced the amount of stress hormone in their blood – but when their vagus nerve was cut, the probiotic had no effect. Wow.

Another way that your gut and brain are connected are through neurotransmitters. These are the things that control feelings and emotions. You may have heard of the neurotransmitter serotonin. We mostly know it as something responsible for our mood – it’s one of the body’s ‘feel good’ chemicals – but it also plays a role in your sleep cycle, appetite, sex-drive, memory, digestion, and other physical processes. Serotonin dictates that “runners’ high” you get after exercising as well as that “come down” you get after doing drugs that have used up your body’s reserve of serotonin the night before, leaving none for the day after (ouch).

Guess where many of our neurotransmitters - including 90% of our serotonin – are produced? The gastrointestinal tract! 90 percent!

The gut-brain connection also has sway over the immune system. Your gut and the gut microbes play a really important role in your immune system by controlling what is passed into the body and what is excreted.

If your immune system is “switched on” (aka having to fight against toxins that, say, your weak gut let get through) for too long, it can lead to inflammation. Inflammation is associated with various brain disorders including depression, dementia, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Well what the f- can I do about it?

The goal: Find the healthy balance of bacteria in your gut. We have a gajillion cells in our body. More scientifically, about 30 trillion. But we have even more bacteria in our body than we do cells – somewhere in the ballpark of 40 trillion!

The gut microbiome is a sort of home-base for the bacteria in your digestive tract. In the microbiome, your good bacteria help with digestion and they help keep the bad bacteria in check. Changes in this balance play a role in conditions like autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, obesity, Crohn’s disease, IBS – seemingly everything under the sun, aye! And of course, the health of the microbiome in your gut affects your heart, kidneys, and numerous other organs. You know, those old things we need to survive.

We get our gut microbiome at birth, and it’s affected by the world we live in as we grow up. I guess we don’t have much control over that. But it’s also influenced by what we eat, which is why we can tilt the balance a bit. Yay, one thing in my life I have control over!

Cue probiotics and prebiotics.

Probiotics & Prebiotics: What the hell is the difference?

Probiotics are the good bacteria like the ones already found in your gut. They can add to the bacteria in your intestinal tract and help keep everything balanced. Our gut microbiomes are all unique though, so the ways in which probiotics work will vary.

Fun fact: Probiotics can also make your immune system stronger, boost gastrointestinal health (especially if you have things like IBS), ease allergy symptoms, and help with lactose intolerance.

Luckily for us, these nifty little good bacteria are found in some foods. Look on the ingredients list for live cultures of bacteria like bifidobacterium and lactobacilli. Living cultures may sound a bit scary to eat, but they’re completely normal and incredibly helpful so don’t be shy!

Sources of probiotics:

· Yogurt (plain, non-sweetened)

· Aged cheeses like blue, camembert, cheddar, gouda, and parmesan

· Fermented vegetables like kimchi and sauerkraut (unpasteurized)

· Pickled vegetables like onions and pickles

· Kefir

· Kombucha

· Sourdough Bread

· Tempeh

· Probiotic Supplements

What about prebiotics? Think of them as the food source for probiotics. They boost the growth of that good bacteria in your gut. Prebiotics are primarily fiber or complex carbs that can’t be digested by human cells. Instead, certain good bacteria break them down and use them for fuel.

Sources of prebiotics:

· Bananas

· Onions

· Garlic

· Leeks

· Asparagus

· Artichokes

· Soybeans

· Whole wheat

Probiotics boost the growth of good bacteria, and prebiotics are good for probiotics. When you combine these two beauties, it’s called a synbiotic. You can make a synbiotic combo with meals like bananas in yoghurt, or a stir-fry with asparagus and tempeh. Cha-ching!

Other ways to improve your digestive wellness

Tip 1: Eat Fermented Foods! There is a common misconception that fermented foods are the same thing as probiotics. So no, I did not accidentally repeat the section above. But yes, there are also many fermented foods that do contain the same living organisms that make probiotics so helpful. Fermentation is a natural process where microorganisms like yeast and bacteria convert carbs such as sugar or starch into alcohol or acids. Take apple cider vinegar (ACV) for example. It’s just apple cider that’s been fermented using yeast. The natural sugars in the fruit are broken down by the yeast and bacteria into alcohol. Voila! That’s all the fermentation process is.

I love a good ACV tonic. I put a tablespoon or two of ACV in a big glass of cold water. I prefer sparkling water because it makes it taste better, but either way – drink up! Yes – it will taste weird the first couple times. But I swear it starts to taste very yummy real soon. If it’s just too bitter for you then suck it up ya big baby! Just kidding. Simply add some honey or something to sweeten it. And if you really can't be convinced, sourdough bread is also on the list. *Drooling.*

Fermentation promotes the growth of bacteria known as probiotics. Fermented foods contribute a diverse set of microorganisms to your gut microbiota, which we’ve established can positively affect your health.

Fermented Foods:

· Miso

· Tempeh

· Kefir

· Kombucha

· Apple Cider Vinegar

· Kimchi & Sauerkraut

· Probiotic Yoghurt

· Olives

· Sourdough Bread

· Beer

· Wine

Pro tip: Tune into Bon Appetit’s cooking show "It’s Alive" for ideas from Brad Leone’s "fermentation station" - preferably a bit stoned.

Tip 2: Eat lots of vegetables, beans, legumes, and fruit! This is kind of a “duh” for general healthy habits. But for a healthy microbiota, these foods are great because they’re high in nutrients and fiber. Fiber can’t be digested by your body. They can however be digested by certain bacteria in the gut, which kick-starts their growth!

High fiber foods:

· Beans

· Raspberries

· Broccoli

· Artichokes

· Green peas

· Chickpeas

· Whole grains

· Lentils

"I’ve been drinking, I’ve been drinking

I get filthy when that liquor get into me..."

Tip 3: Beyoncé knows best. Well, sorta. Red wine is on our next list of good-for-your-gut foods: Foods rich in polyphenols. There’s a lot of other foods rich in polyphenols too, but I figured I’d mention red wine just in case I was losing you with all this talk of vegetables and apple cider vinegar. Also, wine deserves it.

Polyphenols are plant compounds that have a ton of health benefits in addition to the gut stuff – they reduce blood pressure, inflammation, cholesterol levels, and oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is essentially an imbalance between the production of free radicals (unstable atoms that fuck up your cells) and the ability of the body to counteract their harmful effects. Some of the main causes of oxidative stress are cigarettes, diets high in sugar, pollution, certain medications, and industrial chemicals. So if you live in a city where your morning runs are basically a sampling platter of different car exhausts, then red wine is especially important.

Polyphenols can’t always be digested by human cells or absorbed efficiently, so they head to the colon where they can be digested by gut bacteria.

Besides red wine, other sources of polyphenols include:

· Green tea

· Grape skins (…so grapes because only a sociopath would peel a grape)

· Onions

· Almonds

· Broccoli

· Blueberries

And CHOCOLATE! Well, cocoa and dark chocolate. Which is still delicious but not quite the Hershey’s Hugs I eat en masse. Through increasing the amount of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacilli, cocoa and red wine both lower your levels of triglycerides and C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation.

So just to recap: This is not me telling you to go drink 10 White Claws and eat chocolate for the sake of good gut health. I am telling you that the polyphenols in red wine and dark chocolate contribute to the good bacteria in your gut microbiome. But all in moderation people – I don’t think your stomach will feel great if you drink the whole bottle of red wine yourself. At least split it with your friend (and hope that she’ll only want one glass).

And don’t peel the skins off of grapes. Just don’t.

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So remember, your second brain is way down in your stomach. A whole 90% of your serotonin (happy chemical) and many of your neurotransmitters are produced in the gastrointestinal tract. Your gut also influences your immune system, something that I know we’re all trying to strengthen in the face of the coronavirus.

There are things we can do, and eat, to keep our gut microbiome happy and balanced. It doesn’t necessarily require brewing your own kombucha at home (I really want to include a picture of my growing SCOBY, Albert Jr., but I also want people to read this article so I will refrain). I guarantee that you can still find foods that you like in every category listed above.

Be kind to your gut and build up that good bacteria. Your anxiety and depression will thank you. Oh, and so will the rest of your organs working hard to keep your crazy ass alive.