This is my blog site on how to grow plants to improve gut biology. Gut biology is part of our intelligent control system and has a major role in our health. I only publish when I have something meaningful to say, so I suggest you click “Notify me of new posts by email” at the bottom of each post. Constructive comments welcome.

 

Our intelligent control system

Modern food production is incredibly efficient. It delivers energy-dense food that tastes good and is convenient. But while energy food keeps us going, it is not enough. We also need food to replace our body parts as they age and—most importantly—food to feed both our head brain and our gut brain. Our gut brain is made from trillions of beneficial cells that together form our intelligent control system, which manages our entire body.

Micro biology

We depend entirely on beneficial microbiology. These organisms were here long before us—breaking down barren rocks to create soil, enabling plants to grow, and eventually supporting human evolution.

This beneficial microbiology forms part of our guts. These trillions of cells communicate with each other like a neural network, creating intelligence similar to a computer or our head brain.

Our gut is a genuine brain which communicates with our head brain to form an intelligent control system. This system manages our heart rate, breathing, immune system, hunger, appetite, and more.

Why we feel hungry and overeat

Our intelligent control system evolved to tell us when to eat (hunger) and when to stop (feeling full). But the system is smart—it looks at all our nutritional needs, not just energy. If even one essential nutrient is lacking, it sends hunger signals even if we’ve already consumed enough energy.

In the past, food was low in energy but high in nutrients and gut food, so overeating rarely occurred. Modern food is the opposite—high in energy, low in micronutrients. The result is overeating, because modern food does not satisfy our intelligent control system.

Our bodies are complex

You can read books like Eat Your Vitamins by Mascha Davis to learn about the many vitamins and minerals we need—iron, chromium, selenium, iodine, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, and more. But what these books don’t explain is how we absorb them. We can’t eat scrap metal to get trace elements—biology must convert minerals into forms we can absorb.

An excellent book on gut health is Guts by Giulia Enders, but again, the critical link between soil health and gut health is barely mentioned.

Dr. Lisa Mosconi’s book Brain Food explores diet and brain function, but even she only lightly touches on how soil impacts brain health through food.

If you want science on the soil–gut connection, read: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31450753/

The facts are clear: **gut health starts in the soil.**

Where do the good bugs come from?

The short answer: the soil. There are more species of microorganisms in soil than inside us.

These good microbes enter plants, then enter us when we eat those plants. They also come from our mothers, from contact with other humans, through our skin, and even from touching soil.

Pro-biotics are the organisms entering our gut. Pre-biotics are the food these organisms need to survive. Plants grown in biologically rich soil are the most effective pre- and pro-biotics — far more beneficial than any pill.

The three key lessons

From traditional agriculture and natural ecosystems, three fundamental rules emerge:

• Soils must contain abundant decaying organic matter to feed microbiology.
• Microbiology (especially fungi) must break down rocks to release essential minerals.
• Soils must remain aerobic, creating conditions where beneficial organisms dominate over harmful ones.

To these we add one modern rule: avoid toxic agricultural chemicals that damage gut biology.

This is the foundation of the Gbiota system.

Technology for human benefit

Our technology is extraordinary — facial recognition can scan thousands of faces in seconds. Yet a microscopic virus brought global systems to a halt. Technology must be used wisely and in harmony with biology.

Modern food systems have contributed to falling life expectancy and rising chronic disease: diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and dementia. We need to redesign technology to work with nature, not against it.

Benefiting us all

The Gbiota system is a powerful technology for improving food quality, health, immune strength, and metabolic control. But technology alone is not enough — it must be widely available and affordable.

Mass advertising will not solve the food crisis. People need authenticity, trust, and a community-based model linking growers and consumers.

The message spreads naturally: **we need beneficial biology in our guts, and we get it by eating food grown in nutrient-rich, biologically active soil.**

Read about how evolution changed our food here

More information: colinaustin@bigpond.com