It’s interesting to reflect on the journey that brought me to my current state of health consciousness. Like many people, I spent most of my early life eating a standard Western diet, which included a lot of junk food. I would steal cinnamon rolls from the freezer to satisfy my sweet tooth. But after years of eating poorly, I started to feel the negative physical changes in my body. I felt tired most of the time, and going up a flight of stairs was brutal.
I knew these crummy feelings would not go away on our own, so I decided to do something about it. I changed my diet, shunned unhealthy junk food, and replaced it with healthy alternatives like fruits and vegetables. I became what people would refer to as a health nut, and my family used to tease me by offering me frozen yogurt on weekend evenings when they saw me filling up a bowl of frozen fruit for dessert after dinner.
As I began to research the impact of food on health, I stumbled across a topic I wasn’t familiar with: the microbiome. The microbiome is the collection of trillions of microbes in and on our bodies, including viruses, protozoa, and, most commonly, bacteria. Their DNA and their environment tailor each person’s microbiome to be uniquely their own.
One particular area that deserves recognition for keeping us healthy is the gut microbiome. The critical ingredient for a healthy gut microbiome is fiber, which is incredibly beneficial for our bodies. However, the average American only eats about 15 grams of fiber daily when the minimum recommended amount is 25 to 38.
Our culture encourages eating foods full of sugar, fat, and refined carbs, but these foods lack fiber and cause an imbalance between the good and bad bacteria in our gut microbiome. This can lead to immune system problems and digestive illnesses. The antibiotics found in our animal food products also cause issues, killing off the good bacteria in our gut and throwing our immune system out of whack.
Poor gut microbiome health and a poor diet can be linked to an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and depression. This collective issue will lead to increased diseases, causing strain on the medical industry, economic problems, and harming our environment.
As a 15-year-old teenager, I am concerned about this issue because it will significantly affect our society in the future. The burden will be falling on our shoulders, and we will have to handle all of these unnecessary health problems, the strain on the medical industry, the economic problems stemming from poor gut health, and all the environmental laws.
The simple solution is to eat more fiber. This means eating natural plants, grains, fruits, legumes, and whole grains. You can snack on them, cook elaborate dinners with them, or mold them into any recipe you want, but make them take up most of your plate at meal times. You can still enjoy animal products but focus on the fiber.
If you want to take it further, follow a new plant-based diet. As a plant-based eater, I can attest that it’s not as bad as it sounds, and there are a lot of alternatives nowadays. Bonus: you’ll eat loads of fiber and cut out antibiotics.
The simple changes we make today will mean so much in the future. So next time you’re hungry, try eating an apple and make your gut happy.
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Summary of Transcript:
In this video, a teenager discusses how she used to eat an unhealthy diet with lots of junk food. Still, after experiencing negative physical changes in her body, she decided to change her diet to a healthier one. Through her research, she learned about the microbiome, a collection of trillions of microbes in and on our bodies that play a role in our daily function, with a particular area deserving recognition for keeping us healthy: the gut microbiome. A key ingredient for a healthy gut microbiome is fiber, which we don’t get enough of in our diets due to our culture’s encouragement of eating foods full of sugar, fat, and refined carbs and our preference for large amounts of red meat, processed meat, pre-packaged foods, fried foods, butter, candy, and high-fat dairy products. Lack of fiber can lead to an imbalance between good and bad bacteria in our gut, which can be linked to an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression, and other common diseases and disorders. The teenager argues that poor gut microbiome health is not just an individual issue but a collective one, as it will significantly impact our society years into the future, affecting the medical industry, the economy, and the environment. The solution to this issue is to eat more fiber, which can be found in natural plants, grains, apples, pears, bananas, raspberries, legumes, whole grains, leafy greens, and other plants. The teenager emphasizes that the simple changes we make today will mean a lot in the future and encourages everyone to make their gut happy by eating more fiber.
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Summary of Description:
Emmanuelle Lamontagne talks about the microbiome and how our diet affects it. She explains the impacts of the microbiome on our health. However, viewers are warned against taking this talk as medical advice since it represents only the speaker’s personal views and understanding of diet and health.
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Source Description
NOTE FROM TED: Please do not look to this for medical advice. This talk only represents the speaker’s views and understanding of diet and health. Volunteers independently organized TEDx events. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/tedx_content_guidelines.pdf.
Emmanuelle Lamontagne’s talk is about the microbiome, its impacts, and how it is affected by our diet. Emmanuelle Lamontagne is a ninth-grade student from Mountain Brook, Alabama. She loves horseback riding, reading, playing video games, and hanging out with friends and family. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx.
