This week we're going to look at gut health and learn about what prebiotics and probiotics are and why you should think about including them in your eating pattern.
But first, I want to congratulate all of you for making it to the 12th week of the challenge! You did it! And we're so happy for you! We know that you'll continue on your healthy living journey, and we want you to know that you can always come to us for support, accountability, or evidence-based information.
To recap, we've covered goal setting and action planning and using this practice to help you identify what you want to get done and how to celebrate the small successes. To build on that, in week two we looked at motivation, and we asked you to find what motivated you. Are you moved to action from within, or does it take some outside pressure or influence to get you moving?
Then we began to build on why making healthy behavior changes is important. For one, healthy behaviors like eating well, being physically active, and not smoking, are the biggest and best preventative health care tools you have at your disposal. With that in mind, we know that some conditions are hereditary, and it's important to know your numbers in order to know your risk and what you can do to prevent or delay a hereditary condition.
In week five, before we began looking at specific healthy behaviors, we talked about a component of health that is often ignored or gets a bad rap: mental health and wellness. We learned about how mental health and wellness is different from mental illness, and how neglecting this area of our health can have noticeable effects on our physical, emotional, social, financial, and really, overall health. So don't forget to take some time to check-in with yourself from time to time and see how you're doing.
In the following weeks we dove in to walking, fats, salts, and sugars, eating in season, the 7-minute workout from ACSM, fish, nuts and beans, and to finish, we'll learn about an emerging field of research surrounding our gut health.
Before we dive into gut health, please be aware that this site is always going to be available for you to go back and look at what you've learned. I'll also continue to post educational material to the blog. If you don't want to miss out on the great info, please, don't forget to subscribe! You aren't signing your life away, and the subscription won't fill up your inbox with nonsense. You should only get an email when I post a new blog.
Okay, now on to gut health. Have you heard this buzz phrase lately? Gut health is all about good bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract.
I remember the first time I heard about probiotics. It was when those Activia commercials started airing on TV. I bought them (or rather, my parents did) and I ate them at school lunch. My friend was shocked that I was so openly eating something that would... help nature take its course. So I was getting probiotics from my Activia, but I had no earthly idea that I needed prebiotics too, or where to get them.
Have I lost you? Let me explain. Actually, I'm going to let someone else explain. I found this great article and I can't say it any better than they can, so I'm just going to direct you right to another trusted source: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Our hope is that you'll be able to continue making the healthy choice the easy choice, and that these little educational pieces will help you on that journey. This leg of the race is over, but it's a race we all need to run for the rest of our lives. I hope that doesn't sound depressing. I think, when something becomes a habit, it becomes less of a hassle and more of a joy. I hope you get to this leg of the race someday!
