You’ve got a brain in your ass. Well, technically, it stretches from your throat to your ass.
This “second brain” in your gut actually has more nerves than your entire spinal column. These nerves run through tubes embedded in the walls of your gut.
And this “butt brain” is constantly communicating with the brain in your head.
One common example is that feeling of butterflies you get. That’s your gut letting you know that something crazy is about to happen.
Fun fact, this gut brain also has the power to prevent hangovers (more on that below).
But there’s a big problem with your “ass brain” that I’ll talk about later.
It’s not the fact that this “brain” is sitting in your shit all day. That’s actually the least of its worries.
It has to do with the trillions of bacteria swarming around your second brain in your gut and how they create their own little internet network inside your body with each other and with the brain inside your head.
In this article, I want to show you how your second brain works, what it does, and how you can take care of it for better overall physical health, better digestion, and even better mental health.
The Enteric Nervous System
Doctors have a name for this “second brain” that lives in your butt. It’s called the enteric nervous system.
This system manages all of the tasks related to digestion and nutrient extraction from the food we eat. It does this without input from the brain on your shoulders.
But the enteric nervous system has lots of other very surprising responsibilities.
How Your Ass Brain Makes You Happy and Keeps Your Safe
Scientists have been stunned to discover that 95% of your serotonin, the “happiness molecule”, is produced in your gut.
This is why many anti-depression medications that boost this happiness molecule end up causing gut problem.
On top of that, 70% of your immune response is located in your gut. There are cells lining the walls of your intestines that secrete antibodies into your gut that help you fight infections, bacteria, and viruses.
But there is a third component to this: the bacteria.
Meet Your Gut-Brain Axis
Think about this: you have more bacteria DNA inside you than your actual human DNA.
That’s because your gut is filled with trillions of different bacteria.
See, there are TRILLIONS of bacteria living in your intestines, like little microscopic bugs.
Some of them are good. They help you digest food and with your immune response, like we mentioned.
These bacteria also “eat” the alcohol byproducts that cause hangovers. The byproduct is called acetaldehyde and it causes liver inflammation, headaches, and lots of other nasty hangover symptoms.
But, if you’ve got a gut full of good bacteria, they will get that acetaldehyde out of your system much faster and could stop you from getting a hangover.
However, some of the bacteria is bad and can cause digestive problems like IBS, Crohn’s, and even depression.
The problem is that all this bacteria is intimately connected to your central nervous system (CNS), brain, and “gut brain” by something that doctors call the “gut-brain axis.”
The gut-brain axis is like an internal communication network.
This axis means that changes in the gut bacteria have deep interactions with your CNS and your brain either in healthy or harmful ways.
This relationship between your gut bacteria and CNS is so strong that gut bacteria are closely associated with CNS diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and multiple sclerosis.
But like we mentioned with serotonin, the “happiness molecule”, your gut bacteria can also impact your mood, energy levels, digestive health, weight, and cognitive skills in incredible ways…
Just by interacting with your second brain.
All of this is why it is absolutely crucial for you to take care of your “second brain” by making sure you’ve got a ton of that good bacteria living in your gut.
How to Take Care of Your Ass Brain
So how do you do this?
There are a couple ways.
First, cutting out refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup from your diet will do wonders for your overall health and your gut bacteria.
Sugar feeds the “bad” bacteria and can fuel something called Candida (can-dee-dah) overgrowth, which is a type of terrible bacterial infection in your gut.
Second, you can use a probiotic.
A probiotic is basically like reinforcements for all the good bacteria in your gut.
Probiotics deliver good bacteria right into your intestines where they help balance your gut microbiome, keep your digestion healthy, and also protect your gut brain.
How to Find a Quality Probiotic
My last blog was about all the shady shit that goes on in the supplement industry.
That shit goes down in the probiotic vertical.
So let me tell you everything you need to know to get a good probiotic that will actually work (at the end I’ll recommend one that I use every single day).
Enteric Capsules
Let’s start with the outside of your probiotic.
When you swallow a probiotic capsule, that outer shell will dissolve pretty quickly and dump its contents right into your stomach acid.
For probiotics, this is bad because all those billions of living bacteria will get destroyed immediately in your stomach acid.
So you have to find a capsule that is designed to release inside your gut, not inside your stomach.
This is called an enteric capsule. They are built to survive your stomach acid and only break apart inside your gut.
Most brands do not use them because they cost a little more.
PRE-biotic Blend
Because probiotics contain living bacteria, they need something to eat while they are inside the capsules.
Most probiotics pack their probiotics in sugar. But like we learned earlier, sugar is bad for your bacterial balance and fuels Candida overgrowth.
So you want to find a probiotic that uses a PREbiotic blend of some kind to feed the bacteria and keep them healthy.
Variety of Bacteria Strands
Variety is the spice of life, right?
When it comes to probiotics, you want to get a good blend of different bacteria strains.
There are dozens of different types of strains and they each behave in different ways inside your gut.
For example, one strain in particular, called Probisis® Bacillus, is “spore forming.” While other strains end up in the toilet, Probisis® Bacillus is able to stay and live inside your gut because it reproduces using spores.
The CFU Sweet Spot
With probiotics, it’s true that there can be “too much of a good thing.”
Some companies go overboard on their probiotic CFUs and include 75 billion CFUs or something ridiculous like that.
That’s not necessary. It can also overload your gut with too much bacteria and reverse the good that they do.
You want to find a probiotic that hits the “sweet spot” with bacteria CFU. Something between 20 and 35 is the perfect amount.
The Probiotic I Recommend
Maybe you already have a probiotic that you like.
The one that I use every single day is called AlleveBiotics™.
I use AlleveBiotics™ every single day for one reason: they fit all of those probiotic benchmarks I just laid out.
- Enteric capsules so the bacteria releases in your gut
- Prebiotic blend of 23 superfoods for maximum potency
- 14 independently tested probiotic strains
- 28 billion CFUs
This isn’t some 15% or 20% coupon.
This is actually the code that I use to get AlleveBiotics™ 40% off.
The code is: MIKE40
To unlock this discount, simply enter it at checkout to take 40% off your purchase.
Click here to see what AlleveBiotics™ is all about.
Spend a couple minutes to read up on how they’re disrupting the probiotic market, and learn how their probiotics can shield and protect your second brain.
I absolutely love AlleveBiotics™. There’s no gas, no bloating, no discomfort, and I feel incredible.
Live Like a Lion,
- Mike Rashid King
