Have you ever had a Twilight Zone experience in a supermarket? You walk through aisle after aisle of edible food-like substances and realise there’s no food there.
There are floor-to-ceiling freezers. Shelves lined with colourful packaging. Attention-grabbing characters declaring utter nonsense.
Something sinister is happening.
Food used to be grown by farmers and gardeners.
Now, it’s made by chemical engineers. Now it’s entertainment.
Most ‘food’ on supermarket shelves didn’t exist a hundred years ago.
Now, 44 per cent of North American adults between 50 and 80 are addicted to highly processed food.
Scientific American says they resemble drugs of misuse in several disturbing ways.
The Gut Microbiome
Eating real food is the foundation of diet for multiple sclerosis. We can’t talk about eating real food without touching on the gut microbiome.
This is the unique ecosystem of trillions of microorganisms, mostly bacteria, viruses, fungi, and genes that live in your digestive tract: your gut, the small intestine, and large intestine (or colon).
Through the gut-brain axis (known as the vagus nerve, which is a two-way communication loop), these highly influential microbes affect your digestion, moods, inflammation, and mental health
Like the Great Barrier Reef
The gut microbiome is a lot like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It’s a living, changing ecosystem. It’s complex and fragile, and it likes a diverse range of food. Then it’s happy, and it rewards you.
A healthy microbiome is diverse.
Until you introduce an invasive species like too much sugar, petrochemicals, or antibiotics. What happens is like a mass bleaching event of our reef. The harmful species make it easier for other harmful species to proliferate.
Disturbance in the intestinal flora has been linked to several neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s, ADHD, depression, anxiety, and autism.
Fibre—the favourite food of the microbes
Our microbes, mostly good bacteria, feed on fibre.
Here’s the funny thing: we can’t digest fibre, but they can.
We feed them. They give us rewards.
1. Fibre sends anti-inflammatory agents.
When you eat fibre, these bacteria turn it into helpful fats called short-chain fatty acids. They also break down nutrients like tryptophan and bile into compounds that reduce inflammation.
Even healthy plant foods like berries and green tea are turned into useful anti-inflammatory chemicals by your gut.
A healthy gut can act like a natural anti-inflammatory system for your whole body.
2. Fibre provides training for your immune system.
Importantly, our microbes teach the immune system what is ‘us’ and what is ‘not us’.
From the moment you’re born, the trillions of microbes in your gut start ‘training’ your immune system like a coach trains a team. They help it learn how to recognise harmful invaders (like viruses or bad bacteria) while ignoring friendly signals from food, helpful microbes, or your own cells.
(Like the difference between cow’s milk and our myelin sheath, for example.)
Good bacteria interact with special immune cells in your gut lining, encouraging the development of regulatory T cells, which help keep your immune responses in the Goldilocks zone. Not too aggressive, not too weak.
These microbes also send chemical messages (like short-chain fatty acids) that calm inflammation and promote immune tolerance.
Without a healthy microbiome, the immune system can become confused or overreactive, which is why gut imbalances are linked to allergies, autoimmune conditions, and even some chronic illnesses.
3. Fibre offers nerve cell protection
The gut microbiomes (when fed fibre) can produce neuroprotective compounds that may reduce the frequency of our MS attacks. It’s good for our nerves to have a healthy gut.
4. Fibre gives better moods and greater happiness
About 90 percent of our serotonin we make is made in our gut microbiome —it’s the happy hormone. These affect our moods and mental health.
Where can I get fibre?
Eat real food. Five serves of different vegetables every day, at least.
One serve is half a cup.
Two pieces of fruit.
Add some nuts and seeds, like almonds, pepitas, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds.
Fibre is in whole grains like brown rice and rolled oats.
It’s in legumes like chickpeas and lentils.
It’s in beans. They’re plant foods. I’m thinking black beans. What could be more satisfying than sweet potato, black beans, brown rice, with some tomato and cucumber? Thinking it’s Mexican Monday?
If you’re not sure where to get fibre, DOWNLOAD THE FIBRE CHART.
How much fibre should we eat?
We need about 30 grams of fibre every day.
However, this is not what we’re getting. These are the national averages of everyday adults.
- In Australia, we’re getting about 20 grams a day
- New Zealanders are doing a bit better with 20 to 23 grams
- Britain is at 17 grams
- North America wins gold from the wrong end at 15 grams
- Canada also has 15 grams, which is a big deficit
Source: British Medical Journal
Remember the atlas of MS?
See all these high-prevalence countries and their big deficiencies in fibre. It might mean something, maybe it doesn’t, but one thing is certain.
Eating enough fibre is one clear way we could all be feeling so much better.😀
Give your microbes fibre and they will reward you.
If fibre were a drug, we’d be all over it.
Julia Belluz, Vox
The good news is, research says this can be done fast!
In just a few days, you can replenish your gut microbes.
Here’s another factoid. If you’re on a Carnivore diet, you’re not getting any fibre. Fibre’s not in meat. It’s only in plants.
The trick is to eat real food —eighty per cent of the time.
That means treats are okay. So, special occasions are fine, like Easter.
Back in the Supermarket
When I go to the supermarket now, I don’t linger long enough to feel like I’ve stepped into Blade Runner. I’m in and out.
That’s another good thing about a high-fibre diet. You keep supermarket time to a minimum.
I’m only there for the chocolate —dark chocolate.🤨
Be well XO
For more information, the Food Medicine Diet for MS has 21 days of short videos that make it easy.
