If there were one small thing that improved your sleep, kindled vivid dreams nightly, enhanced mental health and assisted weight loss, would you be interested? It won’t cost much; nor will it take up much time. You in? Are you ready to make your own yogurt?
You probably thought I was selling you a pill. Nah, Homie, it’s a yogurt maker. Unfortunately it’s not covered by insurance.
Why this might work
Trillions of bacteria live symbiotically in our digestive tract (gut), breaking down food, absorbing nutrients and boosting the immune system.
Your gut, meanwhile, contains over 100 million neurons (that’s more than the spinal cord), forming the enteric nervous system; The enteric nervous systems communicates directly with your brain via the gut brain axis (explaining why you feel certain emotions (nerves/stress) in your stomach). Unsurprisingly, that signal goes both ways.
This is why the gut is referred to as your second brain.
That means that those trillions of bacteria/microbes that compromised the gut/brain axis affect mood, mental health, and hunger.
The problem: Beneficial bacteria that once populated a typical gut have been decimated by generations of modern antibiotics and the western diet.
If your gut ain’t happy, then in all likelihood you ain’t happy either my friend. Poor gut health has been linked to poor sleep, poor mental health, bad dietary choices, depression, anxiety, and even the popularity of Nickelback.
According to results from my viome home gut health test, my gut ain’t happy.
That’s great news! I mean I’m already such a wonderful guy. Just imagine how charming I’ll be if my gut improves.
How do we mend a broken gut
The directive is clear: eat probiotic rich foods such as kefir, yogurt and sour kraut. These fermented foods contain the beneficial yeasts and bacterias that once ingested will repair the gut, force out harmful pathogens and dramatically improve quality of life. Easy. Peasy. Lemon Squeezie.
There must be a catch. There’s always a catch.
The Catch
When you eat store bought probiotics you’re never quite sure what microbes are present in them.
Or if there are enough of them to make a difference.
According to William Davis’s book Super Gut your typical yogurt is fermented for only four hours, yielding an insignificant number of microbes.
And don’t forget there are all kinds of different bacteria; some good; some meh; some bad. The type of bacteria fermented is not regulated; thus it varies from one batch of probiotic to the next. You may get a great strain from one batch, and an inconsequential one from the next, even though both came from the same brand of yogurt.
In sum: You can’t be really sure what you’re getting, but you can be sure you’re not getting enough.
You know the old saying…
If ya want something done you better do it yourself
The answer then is to make your own yogurt. Your yogurt will be vastly superior because:
- You’re going to ferment it for 36 hours (dramatically increasing the amount of bacteria ingested)
- You’re deliberately adding the right microbes to the recipe.
How to Make your own yogurt
First you’re going to need a yogurt maker. I chose the Luvele Pure Plus yogurt Maker. Can’t quite remember why I chose this model, but suffice it to say it’s worked really well for a few years. I have no complaints.
The ingredients
The main ingredients to this dish, goes like this, here’s the list:
- 1 tbsp inulin fiber
- 1 capsule my Reuteri lactobacillus Reuteri bacteria
- 1 bottle organic half and half
Pour it, stir it, touch 2 buttons on your Luvele yogurt maker and wait 36 hours for yogurt to ferment.
2 days later I have my yogurt. I take 2 big spoonfuls and mix it with protein powder, walnuts and strawberries. It tastes good.
I make another batch. And another. I eat enough of my own l Reuteri yogurt to answer the big questions.
Are the claims true?
Better Sleep
Yes to both. Getting to sleep has never been problematic; It’s getting back to sleep after a 2 or 3 am pee break. This improves measurably.
Vivid Dreams
I seldom remember dreams: 3 or 4 per year tops.
All of a sudden I’m remembering 2 or more dreams per night.
This is undoubtedly the biggest win of the yogurt experience.
Side note: I have some, shall we say, interesting, dreams.
Weight loss
I don’t see any marked weight loss, but I am pretty lean to begin with. I can’t say definitively that my yogurt will spur weight loss, but knowing the effect of proper sleep on weight loss and weight management, and noting how my sleep has improved, I will say that it is likely my yogurt will assist weight loss.
Mental Health improvement
Hard to measure this one. I will say that my mental health is most effected by sleep quality; thus I can argue that making my own yogurt has benefited my mental health by measurable impacting my sleep.
Conclusion
I can conclusively back up 3 of the 4 claims made regarding L Reuteri yogurt, and can anecdotally confirm the 4th.
This is exciting. I can meaningfully affect my gut with a simple adjustment. This is progress, and if I’m to believe Tony Robbins Happiness = Progress.
I have a feeling he’s on to something there. Call it a gut feeling.
Call on the field stands: excessive use of a cliche. Twenty yard penalty. Repeat first down.