Gut Feeling

Picture created by Andrew Rae

As a child, you might have wondered where our feelings come from. Perhaps at a young age it seemed like a tug of war between the head and the heart. And possibly not until intuition and experience flexed their muscles in your mature years, did the cliche notion of 'gut feelings' play a bigger part in decision making.
It turns out our gut and our feelings are very connected. One of the ways they are connected, is in the production of Serotonin and it's affect on our mood.

A simple definition of serotonin on a popular search engine quotes "Serotonin is an important chemical neurotransmitter in the human body that is believed to help regulate mood, appetite and digestion, and sleep function."

If your body is not producing enough serotonin, you may experience moodiness or even depression. 

In a study at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, it is claimed that researchers have reversed depression symptoms in mice by feeding them Lactobacillus, a probiotic bacteria found in live-cultures dairy food including kefir. Researchers observed that “a single strain of Lactobacillus is able to influence mood.” Oct 17, 2019

In another recent study, apa.org published an article titled "That gut feeling". American Psychological Association quotes a study as saying "..a shortage of serotonin in the neurons of the gut can cause constipation, just as a serotonin shortage in the brain can lead to depression. The study also found that a treatment that raises serotonin in the gut and the brain may alleviate both conditions. May 8, 2019

You might have read our previous blog on relieving constipation with kefir, if not you can find it here. Live-culture foods and beverages are an effective way to nurture gut health because it has the best cultures for a healthy microbiome, and kefir is a live culture drink that reliably remedies constipation. 

If you can both relieve constipation and have the side effect be the production of a natural anti-depressant such as Serotonin, then drinking kefir is the most natural mood enhancer supported by current medical studies!

Drink kefir for a happy tummy and a happy life! Visit Numesa.co.za and order your favourite milk or water kefir now.

Written by Viv Brown