Why Meal Planning Is Important | Gut Flora And The Immune System
My understanding the importance of meal planning has its roots in an immune system reaction I had last year. The reaction happened immediately after taking an anti-biotic. I wrote about it in this blog.
From what I understand, most of our immune cells are in the intestines (digestive tract)—gut flora helps regulate immune homeostasis. As I understand it, unhealthy gut flora leads to autoimmune issues. Specific types of gut microbes feed on complex carbohydrates and leave free fatty acids as by-products. The body uses these free fatty acids to create mucous, which lines (and protects) the intestines. Many people deficient in this mucosal lining suffer from diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, gluten intolerances, and Crohn's disease.
A rather important factor about the body's immune response: diets rich in complex carbohydrates help to concentrate healthy gut microbes in the gut. Diets rich in plant-derived nutrients are necessary. For example, our bodies cannot typically digest certain parts of plants without healthy gut flora. When gut microbes cannot find the "food" (in the form of complex carbohydrates) they need in the intestines (digestive tract), they often venture outside of the gut.
When gut microbes migrate to other areas of the body, it is a different situation. Other body systems may not respond well to gut flora that is typically associated with the intestines. Free fatty acid by-products help to make mucosa. The question, though, is: "is that mucosa protective of other body organs as well?"
My experience and the research I have done up until now lead me to believe something interestingly counter-intuitive about complex carbohydrates. A lot of it has to do with what I choose to include in my diet. I recently shifted my diet from where I eat at least one big salad every day. I now ensure that I eat one small three-green salad regularly. Either I eat a salad with three greens, or I will eat three types of plant-based foods. In two weeks, I logged up to 30 different varieties of plants and vegetables in my fitness and nutrition diary. The number of greens in each meal was small. There may have situations where I have eaten more salad in one day than I did the entire week, yet the difference was remarkable. The variety of complex carbohydrates in your diet plays a role in your gut flora and, ultimately, the body's immune response.
So, a diet that lacks complex carbohydrates may lead to autoimmune issues. Our diet plays a large role in our body's immune health and how it responds to inflammation.
Food Plays a Large Role in our Body's Immune Response
Food is commonly the most random, diverse, and constant connection our immune system has with our environment. Why, then, would it be difficult to understand that food plays such a large role in how our bodies respond to pathogens. Most of our immune cells are in our digestive system. The food we consume gets digested in our immune system.
For example, many of us can count on exactly where we will be, every hour from week-to-week, with about a 70% accuracy or more. How many of us know what we will be eating every week with about that much accuracy? On Monday morning, how many of us are not thinking about what we will eat on Thursday afternoon?
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