Nature's Glory is a local organic store in Singapore that offers a wide range of natural and organic products to promote healthy living. Along with fresh produce, they provide probiotic supplements in Singapore to enhance gut health. Their products include the best probiotic supplement for weight loss, which aids in digestion and boosts metabolism. Nature's Glory also offers probiotics for constipation, which helps relieve digestive issues and promotes regularity.

https://www.natures-glory.com/blogs/news/rev-up-your-metabolism-with-probiotics-how-these-friendly-bacteria-can-support-your-weight-loss-goals

INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE-
Recharge Your Mind and Body.
Explore non-invasive, complementary and alternative medicine and therapies.

KEY POINTS-
Awareness of and understanding viable options and integrative approaches to address wellness is key.
Cultivating homeostasis and recharging is essential to health and healthy living.
Complementary and alternative medicine focuses on treating the whole person.

It is widely accepted that the only constant in life is change. And its constant change in our external lives that impacts our internal mental and physical ecosystem. Being aware of and understanding viable options and integrative approaches to address health and wellness to cultivate homeostasis within, and recharge in a non-invasive complementary way is essential to health longevity, life, and living.

Homeostasis is the state of balance for a body to function properly and survive while continuously adjusting to surrounding conditions.

Jaden’s Story
Jaden is a young 42-year-old seasoned attorney at a prestigious DC law firm. He works long hours every day including weekends. Normally, he’s able to overlook how he feels and power through the many competing demands, but lately, he’s found himself taking more and more over-the-counter medications to dull the pain that’s consuming his life. The chronic tension headaches and low back pain he’s experiencing are debilitating at times and he’s not able to focus on his work the way he needs. And if that’s not enough, he’s sleep deprived, not rested in the morning, and has been contemplating options other than the OTC medications and even stronger prescribed medications he’s been taking, but he's not really sure where to turn or what to do. It is a conundrum.

Jaden represents many of us in the world — flowing with the hustle and bustle of everyday life while trying to navigate common health concerns like stress, headaches, low back pain, and sleep deprivation, wanting to tap into different ways to manage health and recharge mentally and physically, but not fully aware of viable options outside of conventional medicine. The U.S. population is a melting pot of ethnic, cultural, gender, and age groups and the rapidly changing demographics from a less homogeneous to a more heterogeneous society has given rise to growing demands for different but comprehensive and effective health care options. Integrative, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has emerged as a relevant form of health care used to address a litany of common health issues and for whole-body wellness.

As defined by the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health, “integrative medicine and health focuses on the whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic and lifestyle approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing” (ACIMH, 2023). Furthermore, according to a 2017 National report by the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine (NCCIM), there was an increase in the use of yoga, meditation, and chiropractors between 2012 to 2017 which were identified as commonly used approaches to health and wellness (Clark, T. et al, 2018).

While traditional medicine is steeped in a system of treating symptoms, complementary and alternative medicine and integrative approaches focus on a system of treating the whole person; mind and body are one and affect each other physiologically. Integrative health emphasizes multimodal interventions, two or more, such as conventional health care approaches (e.g., medication, psychotherapy), and complementary health approaches (e.g., yoga, probiotics) in various combinations, with an emphasis on whole-body integrative treatment (NIH, NCCIH, 2021). National data from a 2000 study which included a sample of nearly 10,000 participants, when CAM was emerging, examined the relationship between mental disorders and the use of complementary and alternative medicine and found “relatively high rates of use of complementary and alternative medicine among respondents who met criteria for common mental disorders” (AJP, 2000). Under the parent organization, National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) divides CAM into five major domains:

EMOTION REGULATION
A Healthy Gut Might Mean a Happy Brain.
Happiness is a balanced gut biome.
Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster

KEY POINTS-
Cognitive and emotional centers in the brain are linked in two-way communication with our gut via the gut-brain axis (GBA).
Decreased diversity in the microbiome is associated with physical and psychological dysfunction.
Researchers found that the diversity of bacteria in the gut biome negatively correlated with using suppression as an emotion regulation strategy.

Have you ever had a “gut feeling," an intuition based on something other than logic and reason, perhaps based on emotion? The phrase “gut feeling” became an idiomatic expression because most people report that they literally feel it in their gut. In fact, the cognitive and emotional centers in the brain are linked in two-way communication with our gut via what researchers call the “gut-brain axis” (GBA) (Carabotti et al., 2015). The figure in this post shows this GBA and how the brain and gut can influence one another.

Each of us has a unique microbiome, defined as the community of microorganisms that live either in us (our intestines) or on our skin. Some of these bacteria have beneficial effects on our bodies and minds. Others are associated with inflammation and disease. Both types of bacteria play an important role in our physical health and psychological well-being. We can influence the composition of the microbiome community through our diet and dietary supplements like “probiotics.”

A probiotic is a food or a supplement that contains bacteria and yeasts that help the body maintain a healthy and diverse gut microorganism community.

The Gut Microbiome and Our Immune System
Decreased diversity in the microbiome is associated with physical and psychological dysfunction. Researchers estimate that 70 to 80 percent of our immune system resides in the gut, meaning that microorganisms that live in the gut are in contact with, and can influence, the immune system all the time.

There is a link between gut dysbiosis (an imbalance in the composition of the bacteria or a lack of diversity in that community of microorganisms) and physical problems such as diabetes, colorectal cancer, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and Celiac disease (Lozupone et al., 2012), as well as mental health problems like depression and anxiety (Shoubridge et al., 2022).

Research suggests that there might be a link between the well-known variability in response to antidepressant drug treatment with drugs like SSRIs (SSRI medication does not effectively treat as many as a third of depressed individuals) and the effects of these drugs on the community of bacteria in the gut. Researchers are now exploring the possibility that knowledge of the gut microbiome might help predict who will benefit from a specific drug treatment.

Gut Feelings and Emotional Coping Strategies
Ke et al. (2022) found a link between positive and negative emotions and the gut biome and an association between the diversity of the biome, and two cognitive coping strategies we might employ to help regulate our emotional responses.

These researchers asked a large sample of women (n = 206) who were already taking part in another, larger study to complete a series of surveys measuring their emotional responses, positive (feeling happy and hopeful about the future) and negative (feeling sad, hopeless, or lonely). They also asked how the women coped with their emotional responses.

The researchers were particularly interested in how the women used cognitive reappraisal, a coping strategy involving changing one’s assessment of the emotion-provoking situation, or suppression (inhibiting behaviors) associated with emotion like laughing or crying or keeping information about one’s emotional responses from other people. Cognitive reappraisal is a healthy response, while suppression is generally maladaptive and is associated with increased inflammation levels and stress. The participants completed the surveys twice, one year apart. They also collected stool samples four times in the period between surveys.

They found that the diversity of bacteria in the gut biome negatively correlated with using suppression as an emotion regulation strategy. As suppression used as a coping strategy increased, gut biome diversity decreased. Happier, more positive emotions were associated with lower levels of bacteria previously reported to be linked with markers of ill health like increased inflammation and impaired insulin sensitivity. More negative emotions were associated with higher levels of these bacteria.

Our gut feelings may well provide important information about our psychological and physical health that can help doctors design effective treatment plans.

EATING DISORDERS-
9 Tips for Improving the Gut–Brain Connection.
What you eat can improve your digestion and mood—and reduce disordered eating.
Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

KEY POINTS-
The gut–brain axis is a vital modulator to whole-body health, regulating emotions, cognitive functioning, digestion, and more.
The gut–brain axis is bidirectional, meaning that nutrition interventions may support recovery from mental health conditions.
Psychological interventions may help reduce symptoms in gastrointestinal and other health conditions.

With new findings regarding the gut–brain axis, we’re closer to understanding just how connected we truly are on the insides. The gut and brain communicate through the vagus nerve, which is part of the parasympathetic nervous system. This connection is known as the gut–brain axis, and it enables the two organs to receive and send signals to each other. This communication helps regulate emotions, cognitive functioning, digestion, and other bodily functions.

While the gut–brain connection means that proper nutrition may result in substantial improvements to mental as well as physical health, disturbances to either side of the axis may contribute to problems. Both eating disorders and anxiety produce physiological imbalances that alter the amount and composition of gut microbiota, the microorganisms that live in the gut.

There are many ways to positively modulate this relationship. Here are nine tips to improve your gut–brain connection and support a healthier way of living.

1. Eat a variety of foods.
Eating a wide variety of plant-based foods (such as vegetables, whole grains, fruits, legumes, and nuts), along with regular consumption of fish, poultry, and dairy products, increases microbial diversity in the gut while providing a range of nutrients (such as omega fatty acids and antioxidants) that improve overall brain health. Research shows that foods typically consumed by those living in the Mediterranean region are especially beneficial to the gut microbiota and the brain. In particular, fruits and vegetables contain a group of compounds called polyphenols, which may decrease inflammation and offer neuroprotective benefits. When it comes to protein, studies demonstrate that adequate protein consumption promotes an abundance of good bacteria in the gut while reducing pathogen numbers. Amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein, play an important role in the production of neurotransmitters such as GABA, serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, all of which are essential for brain function.

2. Take probiotics.
Recent studies indicate that patients with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, or anxiety show an imbalance in gut microbiota, which help with immune and metabolic functioning and weight regulation. When they become imbalanced, our immune system response isn’t as strong and we experience inflammation, which can be a precursor to disease. Fortunately, probiotics can help. These live microorganisms are comparable to the good bacteria found naturally in the stomach. Probiotics may help with better digestion, vitamin generation, improved motility and cognitive function, and reduced inflammation. Ask a licensed dietitian for specific recommendations.

3. Improve your mental health.
Research suggests that the gut–brain axis is bidirectional. This means that nutrition interventions may support recovery from mental health conditions, and psychological interventions may help reduce symptoms in gastrointestinal and other health conditions. Neurons and neurotransmitters are found in both the brain and gut, so feelings of happiness or anxiety, for example, could be triggered through the gut.

4. Treat IBS.
There’s a high correlation between irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and anxiety. In some studies, participants with anxiety showed lower microbial richness. The thinking, then, is by improving the health of the gut, we also improve mental health (and lessen IBS symptoms). Interestingly, antidepressants may also help reduce some of the symptoms of IBS; a study of adolescents with newly diagnosed IBS found that the antidepressant amitriptyline significantly reduced symptoms and increased overall quality of life.

5. Reconnect and experience a sense of safety.
Stress impacts the gut barrier and gut microbiota, while trauma can have a negative impact on eating habits and the gut itself. For example, there is good evidence that individuals who have experienced trauma are more vulnerable to binge-eating disorder. Additionally, research shows that an individual who experienced early traumatic experiences may be more vulnerable to changes in the composition of their microbiome and the nervous system:

Long-lasting immune consequences and [an] increase [in] the risk of developing stress-related disorders later in life. –Leclercq, et al.

6. Meditate.
Meditation is often used as part of treatment for eating disorders, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. But new research shows added promise for meditation’s potential positive impact on the gut–brain axis, by altering the composition of the gut microbiome. A study of 37 male Tibetan monks and control subjects concluded that

The specific microbiota enriched in monks was associated with a reduced risk of anxiety, depression and cardiovascular disease and could enhance immune function. Overall, these results suggest that meditation plays a positive role in psychosomatic conditions and well-being. –Sun et al.

7. Rule out viral and bacterial infection.
Viral or bacterial infections may precede the onset of stomach problems, including the onset of eating disorders. The infections and response from your immune system can lead to associated changes such as intestinal inflammation, intestinal permeability, appetite dysregulation, and decreased richness of gut microbiota. It is possible that adaptations in the gut may be physiologically helpful when healing from infection. However, when intestinal gut microbiota responses persist after the pathogen is no longer present, there may be an elevated risk of developing an eating disorder.

8. Get educated.
Being educated about the science of good bacteria in the gut may enhance your motivation to eat more intentionally and help you to apply changes that will be effective. When you are equipped with the truth, misleading advertisements and fad diets may be less able to convince you that dieting, restricting your food intake, avoiding certain foods, or purging has no impact on your health. Knowledge can empower you to turn what you learn into practice.

9. Stay hopeful.
By making your eating more intentional, you can impact your gut biome. And, with bidirectional influences, you can improve your gut with emotional well-being and improve how you feel by increasing the richness of your gut microbiota. To make a concerted effort in improving your gut health and mood, reach out to professionals—dietitians, therapists, meditation instructors, and medical doctors—who are familiar with the gut–brain research.

The significant connection between feeling good and the well-being of your gut microbiota offers new paths for health, healthy eating, and eating disorder recovery. Being intentional about what you take into your body and your mind can have powerful whole-body effects, so nourish both with care.