Tending Your Internal Garden: Bugs, Your Health, And How Little We Know.
()
About this ebook
Research on the inner world of human bacteria has exploded in the last decade. Instead of a few, domesticated bacteria, we've found a vast uncharted rainforest complete with species that existed when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Epic battles are being fought below your necktie or blouse, silently determining your health, weight, and maybe even your mood.
Your body is outnumbered ten-to-one by the bacteria that grow in you. Who are these strange creatures? Are they friend or foe? And how can you call a truce? Explore with Dr. Christopher Maloney, N.D. as he uncovers the strange splendor within and gives tips for how to keep the peace.
In a mouse study, a sterile mouse was fed a fat mouse's bacteria. Within two weeks, the sterile mouse gained 55% more body weight even though it continued to eat the same amount of food! Your inner bacterial world can be a determining factor in how your body absorbs calories and medications. Learn more about this strange new world.
Christopher Maloney
Dr. Christopher Maloney has spent his life trying to become the doctor he was unable to find when he was ill himself. His practice can be summed up by: when you get hit by a bus go see your M.D. When you just feel like you were, it is time to see me.
Read more from Christopher Maloney
The Colon Cancer Diet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5MD Or ND: What Should I Be? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLyme Free Living In An Infected World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Eye Diet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Zen of Disney Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShielding 101 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Chronic Lyme Doesn't (And Does) Exist Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Dementia Diet: Slowing Neurocognitive Decline Or How Not To Lose Your Memories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHelping Your NF1 Child: A Parent's Guide To Neurofibromatosis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Marquis Papers Volume Four: The Marquis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbe And Ellie: An Unlikely Couple Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Marquis Papers Volume Three: Arctic Refuge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Marquis Papers Volume Two: The Red Hand Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalking In The Valley Of The Shadow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsZika Virus When You're Expecting Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Marquis Papers Volume One: Vampire Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMiner Six Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Tending Your Internal Garden
Related ebooks
Success Principles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Magic of Saving: The Stepping Stone to Wealth: MFI Series1, #46 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaniel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBedtime Stories for Kids: Short Funny Stories and poems Collection for Children and Toddlers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuccessful Working Mom: Boosting Performance at Work and Home with Ease Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAwaken Your Might Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings30 Green Smoothies Recipes To Supercharge Your Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo More Anxiety—Live Free!: A Guide to Identifying and Overcoming Anxiety Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Doctor's Voice: Empowering solutions to physicians’ frustrations, burnout, and healthcare inefficiencies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGetting the Best out of Your Marriage: (Principles and Patterns) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIt’s Your Attitude: Out with the Bad, In with the Good Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoney Sense for Couples Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Making of a Mom: Practical Help for Purposeful Parenting Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBringing Up Kids the Right Way: Parenting Lessons Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEffective Family Management and Parenting Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPromoting Student Success: What Are My Roles As A Parent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThrifty Tips for Families Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHealth Matters: 8 Steps That Can Save Your Life--and Your Family's Health Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 Simple Skills for Every Woman: Success in Keeping Everything Together Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParenting for a Happier Home: The Step-by-step Guide to Keeping Your Kids on Track Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurvival Tips Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeeds to Success: How to Produce Better Results in Life and at Work Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Day I Threw Banana Bread and Almost Went to Jail: True Stories About How I Used to Lose My Temper (and How I Learned to Stop) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrain & Body Fit After Forty: Moving from Intention to Results Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBe The Master of Your Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Diet & Nutrition For You
Mediterranean Diet Meal Prep Cookbook: Easy And Healthy Recipes You Can Meal Prep For The Week Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Crackhead Diet For Beginners: Smoke Crack, Lose Weight, and Feel Great Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Healthy as F*ck: The Habits You Need to Get Lean, Stay Healthy, and Kick Ass at Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Medicinal Herbal: A Practical Guide to the Healing Properties of Herbs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meals That Heal: 100+ Everyday Anti-Inflammatory Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less: A Cookbook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Liquids till Lunch: 12 Small Habits That Will Change Your Life for Good Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe DIRTY, LAZY, KETO Cookbook: Bend the Rules to Lose the Weight! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Noom Mindset: Learn the Science, Lose the Weight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vegan Reset: The 28-Day Plan to Kickstart Your Healthy Lifestyle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carnivore Cure: The Ultimate Elimination Diet to Attain Optimal Health and Heal Your Body Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Delay, Don't Deny Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Tending Your Internal Garden
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Tending Your Internal Garden - Christopher Maloney
I want to acknowledge the extraordinary commitment of the human genome project, which spawned the human microbiome project. I also want to thank the American Gut project, Jeff Leach, and all the tireless medical, biological, and microbiome researchers who are bringing the world of the human microbiome to light.
I also want to thank all those who have seen me as patients, who have taught me so much about what is possible. You are the heroes of your lives and health journeys. Thank you for letting me join you on your journey to health.
What Is Your Internal Garden?
1: Do You Have What It Takes To Garden?
In modern times, one person may love gardening while another would rather eat fried worms than play with them in the dirt. But unlike soil gardens, few of us have any choice in having an internal garden. We all have one, and whether it is an unruly, terrifying mass of disgusting weeds or an ordered, perfectly manicured set of plants worthy of the palace of Versailles, we need to roll up our sleeves and take charge at some point.
For those without gardening skill, tending to an internal garden can be intimidating. But do not be afraid. All of us have been tending our gardens since we were born. From the first time you projectile vomited onto a hapless parent or blew out your diaper with a massive flow, your garden was actively being cultivated. You were rotating your internal crops rapidly and efficiently despite your parents’ hapless screams and protests.
That said, this internal garden is a bit flummoxing for even the most educated PhD in agriculture. We did not even have a true sense of the internal garden, or any means to truly measure it, until about ten years ago. And, unlike a soil garden, the internal garden’s growth patterns can shift dramatically within a day. Imagine planting tomatoes and waking the next day under the shade of Baobab trees where your tomatoes used to be. Anyone who has suffered food poisoning knows that the situation down below can change at a moment’s notice.
Since the internal garden, dubbed the microbiome,
has been hot news on the health front we will see a range of books dictating which species will be better for you and yours. For the most part try to ignore this overly-generalized advice, just as you would someone telling you how to grow Florida orange trees in Maine. The way to build a successful garden has everything to do with your personal soil and conditions. When we generalize too broadly that one-size-fits-all, we make one-size-fits-no-one.
For those of you with gardening experience, some of this book may be the application of tried-and-true common sense gardening. For those of you without gardening knowledge, we will be learning the basics as well. Try to retain the equivalent of: find a sunny spot. Put a seed in the ground. Water well.
Beyond that things get more complicated quickly.
The art of gardening is the art of trial-and-error. With your internal garden, the same rules apply. Nothing in this book takes the place of your own experimentation, and your garden will flourish under your watchful eye if you learn to tweak what should work
to but this works
as fast as you learn it. So, let’s begin!
2: Of Cows And Men
What does it mean when we say something is a microbiome
? The first part of the word means microscopic, too small to be seen by the naked eye. And a biome is a very large geographic area where plants and animals are similar based on temperatures and weather, like the plains of Africa. So the originators of the word meant to imply something huge when they started using that word. They were talking about something that would change the way we viewed ourselves. The microbiome refers to the immense number of genes contained in our bodies and the microbiota are the creatures who live in us. But for the sake of simplicity, let us call it all the microbiome or, even more simply, our internal garden.
The idea of a microbiome isn’t new, but even the idea that bacteria existed and could be the cause of disease hasn’t been an easy sell. Back in Greek times, Hippocrates noted that all disease begins in the gut, describing many infectious diseases even though he never saw the bacteria that caused them. In the 1600s, Anthony Leeuwenhoek is credited with the first extensive viewing of what he called animalcules
swimming in pond water (and in the plaque buildup from his unbrushed teeth). But he didn’t make the connection between what was swimming in his plaque and the fact that the plaque itself was the coral-reef-like buildup of their remains. The first well-publicized bacteria-disease connection came in 1847 when Ignaz Simmelweiss tried to stop transmitting bacteria using hand washing. His effort was resisted by prominent doctors of the day. They ridiculed Simmelweiss and eventually had him sent to an insane asylum. It took Louis Pasteur’s determination to convince doctors that bacteria did not simply show up spontaneously in patients. Even so, medical handwashing just became standardized worldwide in 1975.
For those of you lathering up with your favorite alcohol antiseptic in response to that history, nothing beats good old soap and water which floods your hands and flushes away much of your load. It would take 97% pure alcohol to sterilize most of the bacteria off your hands (now, that’s a recipe for dry, cracked palms). Want to get rid of all the bacteria? It’s not possible from any form of washing. They can’t even get rid of all the bacteria in NASA clean rooms where