The Soil Gut Connection

I am learning a great deal about the gut microbiome, both to correct my own dysbiosis and for certification as a holistic health coach. We have a community of microorganisms living within each of us that we depend on for health. The biodiversity of our gut microbiome reflects the biodiversity of the whole foods we feed it. Since gut functions influence the immune system and a healthy immune system support the whole health of the human, the quality and variety of the whole foods we eat affect our overall wellness. To produce healthy whole plant food, we depend on the health of the soil in which it grows. Land overuse and monocropping depletes the soil. By doing this we are not giving the land an opportunity to regenerate. Animals like cows, sheep, and goats were once an intrinsic part of the regenerative process, as were a large variety of plants that provided organic matter for the soil as they died and decomposed in the earth. In the interest of increased production of just a few crops like corn., wheat, and soybeans, the time has not been taken to tend to the land and provide the ecosystem that once supported the creation of mineral-rich soil.

A June 2023 CNBC news article states that the United Nations is warning that we have less than sixty years to regenerate our soil, otherwise we will encounter “catastrophic effects”. This is due to the damage done to overuse, needless cutting down large areas of trees, and abusing the land, all in the interest of supporting the destructive practices implemented to support the manufactured foods we desire to eat such as industrial meat, the soybean and palm oil used in a multitude of processed foods (start reading every label of food products to verify this), bottled mineral water, and cereal crops. Soil is the microbiome of the earth. As we deplete the biodiversity, mineral-richness, regenerative ability of the earth so too do we do that to our own microbiomes. Produce grown in that depleted soil will be devoid of the minerals that have helped humans thrive and evolve over millennia. The standard western diet is largely responsible for the diminishing of diversity in our microbiota. The microbes in our GI tract and on our skin are also in our environment. If the environment (that sustains us) is compromised, human health is compromised too.

We may feel we are an insignificant endpoint of a complicated food system that is broken. How can change happen? We are the billions of consumers of the food that is produced. Each of us can make individual food choices that collectively make an impact on the food that is produced. We can educate ourselves and communicate our desire for improvements. We can support the organizations striving to make impactful changes to farming practices. We can demand that change happen now. Our food is our medicine.