One of the most direct ways your gut microbiome can influence your energy is by regulating your ATP creation in your cell’s mitochondria. By eating what your microbes need, you can better regulate energy expenditure and improve lactic acid breakdown, providing yourself the best possible circumstances to have more energy through your workouts and competition.

Your gut’s immune system, called the GALT (gut-associated lymphoid tissue) helps maintain your body’s overall immune system. If your GALT is not active enough, your immune system is more likely to ignore harmful threats. If it is too active, however, it can go out of control behaving as, or becoming, an autoimmune disease. Both extremes need to be avoided.

Providing what your gut microbiome needs to effectively guide your GALT can minimize your risks of either situation happening. This gives you the best possible chances to stay out of bed, and on the field.

When your gut microbiome is unbalanced (in dysbiosis), it does a poor job of preventing toxins from leaking out into your blood and body. This causes inflammation throughout your body, including in your joints, resulting in joint pain.

By eating what you know your gut microbes need to produce healthy substances you can minimize the effects of leaky gut. That means less toxins are likely to pass through to the rest of your body, limiting unnecessary pain and inflammation.

Your gut microbiome communicates directly with your brain via the vagus nerve. It does this by creating and consuming different neurotransmitters, like serotonin (over 90% of your body’s serotonin is produced by your gut microbiome).

When your gut microbiome is unbalanced, the steady and reliable production and consumption of neurotransmitters is disrupted. This can result in several symptoms, including impacting your cognitive performance, brain fog, and more.