Welcome, aspiring Microbe Whisperers, to October 2020 on Mother Earth!

Yes, this Autumn is very different for most, if not all of you reading this. The virus, the unrest, the dodgy dance we and fellow masked humans do, as we try to have a "sort of" normal life. The loss of health, job, home, societal ties, loved ones. The fear, the anger, the sadness and oh, the bad habits we may have picked up in these agonizing months of being locked down, locked out or cooped up. Tough times and bad eating habits can certainly obliterate a heathy gut microbiome very quickly. Wow! This certainly has been terrible time for our salubrity. Because - the physical toll of our current woes has chipped away at our immune systems and our mental health.

Here's a post to help you navigate this foggy and trippy season. (I mean, it is called "Fall").

The solution?

Pumpkins! (Yep, this black kitty is trying to tell you). Pumpkin seeds, pumpkin flesh and of course, pumpkin juice (click here for a Harry Potter Pumpkin Juice recipe) are around this season for a reason.

Pumpkins have a great deal to offer to help us take control of our body's health. Pumpkins contain many natural, nutritional benefits, that includes - you guessed it, ingredients to cultivate healthy microbes in your gut!

And a heathy gut microbiome

means you have a higher percentage of good microbes in the community of your gut that make the ingredients for your body to create more immunity cells, antibodies etc. And a healthy microbe gut community helps you make those neurological support chemicals to help you stay positive. (See this image for the names of the microbes that are part of a healthy gut microbiome).

A healthy gut microbiome means that you have a better immune arsenal

to fight off the Covid virus, the influenza and cold virus too. A healthy gut microbiome also helps us overcome depression. Some of us do tend towards more depression naturally, when the darker seasons of Fall and Winter, envelope our part of the world. But right now, given the unbelievable dark forces we are also up against (the pandemic, loss of lives, the unrest, the negative societal impacts from this, such as poverty and crime), the percentage of challenging mental health issues has increased too. You can get more information on the connection of our mental health and gut microbes by clicking on this image.

You can get more on the medicinal properties of pumpkins by clicking on this image, here.

Besides being part of a diet that promotes a more diversified microbe gut population,

pumpkins have a plethora of other medicinal benefits, including anti-microbial, anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory effects. Furthermore, tryptophan-rich foods like pumpkin seeds convert amino acid into the neurotransmitter serotonin. And low levels of serotonin are associated with depression. So boosting the amounts of serotonin in your blood stream contributes to alleviating bouts of depression.

Making pumpkins smile helps too!

October Magic

Many of us celebrate Halloween by carving out faces and other expressions of art on hollowed out pumpkins. So while you carve your jack-o-lanterns for Halloween this season, do this as usual, with smiles and delight. Know that while carving out a story on that juicy orange gourd, you are also cultivating a little bit of alchemy, combining fun with science. And of course, as always, you are microbe whispering to create a synergistic connection between your intentions for a happier, healthier, gut, and taking the appropriate actions to call upon the microbes that are part of that immunity community, and happiness makers.

This Elvin Alchemist with Black Cat is a Microbe Whisperer. (credited to Lindy Kehoe).

JeM with a carved Cat-o-lantern!