Learn English: Is Your Junk Food Addiction Harming Your Gut Bacteria?
Did you know your gut bacteria could be dictating your mood and mental health? Dive into our Learn British English: Gut Microbiome Exploration lesson, where language meets science. Our innovative, fun, and educational lesson is custom designed to not just teach you English, but to allow you to immerse yourself into a world of knowledge and fascination. 🧬🔬
- ✅ Step into an interactive learning environment with a dual purpose: better English and better health knowledge.
- ✅ Absorb British English nuances while learning about your gut microbiome.
- ✅ Our podcast lesson is a riveting blend of language proficiency and scientific enlightenment.
- ✅ It's not just a lesson, it's a journey into your own body, experienced through English.
✔Lesson transcript: https://adeptenglish.com/lessons/learn-english-language-gut-health-and-wellness/
Who said learning English couldn't be a joyride? Join us to demystify complex words and dive into the gut microbiome together. 🌍🔬 #LearnEnglishWithFun
Imagine holding captivating conversations in English, feeling fluent and confident. But what if there's more to it than just grammar and vocabulary? Here's the secret - native English speakers use phrases and words you won't find in textbooks. Intriguing, isn't it? Join us in this English lesson, and unlock these hidden language treasures. Your journey to English fluency, redefined!
Unveil a world where science meets language learning. A unique journey through the gut microbiome awaits you. Let's explore and grow! #HealthAndLanguage
My gut is my guide.
⭐ Oprah Winfrey, media executive, actress, and philanthropist.
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Don't just learn English, live it. 🔥 Experience a lesson that feeds your curiosity and fuels your English skills. Time to elevate your English journey! Embark on an English voyage with a twist! 👩🎓🌟 Subscribe, your next-level English awaits!
More About This Lesson
Today we embark on an extraordinary English language journey, intertwining the mystique of the gut microbiome and the allure of the English language. This isn't just an English lesson; it's an expedition through real-world vocabulary, unveiling expressions and nuances that textbooks don't capture. Learn English while exploring the gut microbiome, enhancing not only your language skills but also your knowledge in science and health.
All disease begins in the gut.
⭐ Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine.
Things you will learn listening to this English lesson:
- Learn new vocabulary related to health and wellness.
- Improve English comprehension while learning about gut microbiome.
- Get to practice difficult English with scientific quotations.
- Boost listening skills by understanding the connection between gut health and learning.
- Expand your vocabulary with new English words spelled out.
- Grasp the pronunciation and use of various health-related English words.
- Understanding English in context of a topic: Gut health.
- Learn to spell complex English words.
- Discover how to use adjectives like 'beneficial' in different contexts.
- Learn English grammar with terms like 'prebiotics' and 'probiotics'.
- Learn how to use common English words in different contexts, like 'weight'.
- Practice English listening skills with an engaging podcast transcript.
Benefits of our listen & learn approach to learning
This English lesson is designed to boost your proficiency while alleviating common fears associated with language learning:
- Overcoming Misunderstanding: Learn precise expressions and intonations used in English, ensuring your thoughts are conveyed accurately.
- Improving Pronunciation: Master the unique sounds and rhythms of English, assisting you in sounding more like a native speaker.
- Expanding Vocabulary: Enrich your language skills with a plethora of new words and phrases as we delve into the gut microbiome.
- Understanding Complex Concepts: Decode the complexity of scientific concepts in English, broadening both your language proficiency and knowledge.
- Avoiding Stagnation: Keep your English language skills progressing, constantly challenging your comprehension skills by exploring the complex topic of the gut microbiome.
Some of the facts and research that went into this lesson
Delving into the gut microbiome opens up a wealth of fascinating facts to enrich your English lessons:
- Diversity: The gut microbiome includes not only bacteria but also other organisms such as archaea, yeast, fungi, parasites, and bacteriophages. It's a whole universe within you.
- Genetic Influence: The genes in your gut microbiome outnumber your human genes 150 to 1, influencing your uniqueness.
- Gut-Brain Connection: Your gut microbiome is like your second brain, affecting mood, happiness, motivation, and neurological performance. It even produces about 90% of your serotonin, the "happiness neurotransmitter".
Contrary to popular belief, English learning and scientific topics are deeply interconnected. Mastering English while exploring topics like the gut microbiome, not only enhances comprehension and vocabulary skills, but also introduces you to domain-specific knowledge. This approach makes language learning more relevant, interesting, and intertwined with various fields of study.
So, are you ready to digest knowledge and unravel the mysteries of the English language and gut health? Follow us, embark on this English voyage with a twist, and watch your English skills skyrocket! Subscribe now, and let's grow together.
Questions You Might Have...
Imagine this: you're in a room, full of native English speakers. You understand everything they say. You join the conversation effortlessly, laughing at jokes, expressing your views. Isn't that what you want? Participating in this lesson will get you one step closer to this goal. You see, real fluency isn't about memorizing rules; it's about exposure and understanding the language as it's actually spoken. We're focusing on real-life English usage, diving into fascinating topics, phrases, and words that don't appear in textbooks but make all the difference in conversation. Be bold, take this step, and watch as the English language unfolds before you!
- What does it mean when it says the gut microbiome is our "second brain"? This means that our gut microbiome greatly influences our mood and mental well-being. Just like our brain, it plays a crucial role in how we feel and behave.
- How can learning about the gut microbiome help me improve my English? By engaging with fascinating topics like the gut microbiome, you're motivated to listen and understand more. This naturally enhances your vocabulary and comprehension skills.
- Why does it matter that our gut microbiome has so many genes? This is a fascinating fact that shows just how complex and important our gut microbiome is. Understanding this concept can lead to interesting discussions and further reading, helping you use and understand English more effectively.
- How does reading fluency impact my understanding of the text? The more fluently you listen, the better you understand the content. This is because fluency allows you to focus on the meaning of the text rather than the individual words.
- I don't find biology interesting. Can I still benefit from this? Absolutely! The goal here is to improve your English skills. Engaging with a variety of topics, even those outside of your usual interests, exposes you to a broader range of vocabulary and contexts, boosting your overall language skills.
Most Unusual Words:
- Microbiome: The community of microorganisms (such as bacteria) that inhabit an environment, especially the body or a part of the body.
- Septic: Infected with bacteria, or caused by bacteria.
- Beneficial: Having a positive or helpful effect, especially in improving a situation.
- Trillion: A very large number. In English counting, a trillion is a 1 followed by 12 zeros.
- Prebiotics: Substances in food that nourish helpful bacteria in your digestive system.
- Probiotics: Live bacteria and yeasts that are good for your health, especially your digestive system.
- Antibiotics: Drugs used to treat infections caused by bacteria.
- Fibre: The parts of fruit and vegetables that the body cannot digest, which are important for keeping the digestive system healthy.
- Ultra-processed foods: Foods that have gone through multiple processes (such as heating at high temperatures, hydrogenation, refining, or dehydrating), contain many ingredients, and are high in salt or sugar.
- Caesarian Section (C-section): An operation in which a baby is born through an incision (cut) that the doctor makes in the mother's abdomen and uterus.
Most Frequently Used Words:
| Word | Count |
|---|---|
| Bacteria | 35 |
| Which | 9 |
| About | 8 |
| English | 8 |
| Microbiome | 7 |
| There | 7 |
| Really | 7 |
| Think | 6 |
Listen To The Audio Lesson Now
The mp3 audio and pdf transcript for this lesson is now part of the Adept English back catalogue . You can still download and listen to this lesson as part of one of our podcast bundles.Transcript: English Fluency Lesson: You Think All Bacteria Are Bad? Think Again
Understanding your microbiome and why that's worthwhile
Hi there, and welcome to this podcast. Here's a two kilogram bag of cat food. You'll understand why that's relevant in a minute.
Did you ever think that the secret to managing your weight, improving your level of happiness and even fighting off diseases may not lie in your gym membership or in the medicines that you take?
But instead in the bacteria that live in your gut! Bacteria, B A C T E R I A means 'your microbes'. And your gut, G U T is where you digest your food. And Yes, you heard that right? Your gut bacteria massively affect your health. Stick around and we'll get into this fascinating topic that's challenging the way we think about health and wellness.
In this podcast, you'll uncover amazing facts about your microbiome, learn practical ways to improve your health, while at the same time enriching your English vocabulary and improving your English comprehension!
This podcast is a unique combination of 'health wisdom', and language learning, made especially for you.
And did you know that your gut health could be influencing your ability to learn? Listen to the end of this podcast for a surprising connection between what's happening in your gut and what's happening in your brain, as well as some tips on how to help your gut bacteria.
Hello, I’m Hilary, and you’re listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.
Understanding what your microbiome is
So, have you heard of that word 'microbiome'? That's M I C R O B I O M E. 'Microbiome'. Even if you don't have pets, even if you don't like animals, did you know that you are the host to a variety of species, species of bacteria living inside you!
So your microbiome refers to the community of bacteria, B A C T E R I A, which live inside you, specifically in your gut, G U T. Your 'gut' means 'your digestive system where you digest your food'. That's 'to digest', D I G E S T. It's what we do with our food and mostly that happens in our intestines, I N T E S T I N E S, 'intestines'.
Until a few years ago, probably most of us would've thought of bacteria as a bad thing. Bacteria might get into our food and make us ill, or bacteria might get into a wound in your finger, make it go hot and red and possibly septic. S E P T I C. Quite a lot of body and health words today, you'll notice!
And in the UK we use a lot of antibacterial sprays and wipes. We like to think that the place is clean, especially in our kitchens and our bathrooms. But for the last 10 or 15 years, we've been made aware of the benefits, the idea of 'beneficial' bacteria. ' Beneficial', B E N E F I C I A L is an adjective. And here it means 'bacteria which help us, bacteria which benefit us, do us good'. That's 'beneficial'.
2kg of bacteria!
Did you know that in your gut, your intestines, it's estimated that there are trillions of bacteria? ' Trillions', T R I L L I O N S. A 'trillion' is a big number. It's a one with 12 zeros behind it. A trillion. That's a lot of bacteria. And the bacteria living in your gut could weigh as much as two kilograms. This bag of cat food again, actually, yes, that's quite heavy. Two kilos of bacteria. Imagine that!
Without these bacteria, we would be unable to digest our food and it would make us ill not to have them. And there are people who are lacking in gut bacteria. It does make them quite seriously ill sometimes.
And what's really interesting? The mix, the community, the population of bacteria living in your gut - it's like any big city in the world - the population can be very different from person to person. Gut bacteria, very enormously from person to person.
And which gut bacteria we have can massively determine our health.
📷
An imaginary view of the human gut biome. Boost your English AND health knowledge with our latest podcast! Visit adeptenglish.com, Spotify, or YouTube. #HealthFacts
Could your gut microbiome be the key to a higher quality of life?
Of course, this is something that we can influence. More of that in a minute. But did you realise that gut bacteria also have an important role to play in our mental health?
So there's believed to be an effect of gut bacteria on your brain and your mind and your mood. Your mood, M O O D. That's the word we use in English to talk about how happy or how sad we feel.
One large scale study, which involved over a thousand participants, found that certain gut bacteria were associated with a higher quality of life. It's THAT important! And there were fewer of these 'good gut bacteria' in people who had depression and low mood. So there's a potential link between your gut biome and your mental health.
Your gut bacteria also affect your weight. That's W E I G H T, how many pounds or kilos you weigh. Lots of people struggle with their weight, so this is worth knowing. And being overweight can lead to other health problems as well.
Also important, your gut bacteria play a huge role in your immune system. Your immune system? That's I M M U N E. That's the system in your body, which helps you fight off diseases and illnesses. Your 'resistance' to disease, if you like. So what diseases you get is somewhat determined by your gut bacteria. They're really important then, aren't they?
And that's just what scientists know so far from studying gut bacteria. A lot is still waiting to be discovered. It's a fairly new area of study.
"The microbiome is the most important discovery for human healthcare in recent decades"
A quotation so that you can practise slightly more difficult English? James Kinross, a surgeon and microbiome scientist at Imperial College London says,
"The gut microbiome is the most important scientific discovery for human healthcare in recent decades. We discovered it or rediscovered it in the age of genetic sequencing less than 15 years ago. We don't really know how it works. And at the risk of sounding like the late Donald Rumsfeld," he's making a joke here, "There's what we know, what we think we know, and an awful lot that we don't yet have a clue about."
So the scientists are clearly still learning about gut bacteria and the microbiome. But what is certain is that it determines our short-term and our long-term health.
Early influences on your microbiome
A really interesting fact for you. If as a baby you were born naturally, meaning that your mother gave birth naturally to you, you will have inherited a whole lot of bacteria from your mother. Beneficial gut bacteria.
If you were born as a 'Caesarian Section' or C-section baby, this won't have happened. A 'C-section' is where the mother has to have surgery in order to deliver the baby. And a study in 2019 showed that there is an effect, a difference here, even later in life. People who were born as C-section babies were more likely to have certain health problems later on. So it's quite a long lasting effect.
When you're a newborn baby, another situation that makes a difference whether or not you're breastfed. So breastfeeding also helps the baby's microbiome develop properly.
How can we help our microbiome now?
So while the mysteries of the microbiome and the gut bacteria are still being discovered, what can we do to help ourselves? One of the measures of gut bacterial health, how long does it take for our food to pass through us?
Studies have been done to test this, where people eat food with dye, D Y E in it. A 'dye' gives a particular colour.
The longer it takes for your food to pass through you, the less healthy is your gut, it seems. If it takes over 24 hours, that means 'less healthy', under 24 hours 'more healthy'. But I think each of us probably have a sense of whether or not things are well in that department.
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Just taking a moment to say that if you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget that there are literally hundreds more on our website at adeptenglish.com, for a small fee. And this is really good value for money. You can download huge numbers of our podcasts onto your mobile phone to enjoy at your leisure.
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Pre- and Probiotics
So what things can you do to help your microbiome, your gut bacteria?
Well, of course there are lots of products you can buy, which are supposed to help. ' Prebiotics', that's P R E B I O T I C S. And 'probiotics', P R O B I O T I C S. What do they do and what difference do they make?
Well, 'prebiotics' are intended as food for your gut bacteria. You eat the prebiotic, but it passes straight through you and goes to your gut bacteria and feeds them.
And a probiotic? This is something that you take that aims to introduce more of those beneficial bacteria to your gut. So it's something you take, which contains bacteria. Hopefully they'll make it into your gut and start living there, set up their homes there inside of you.
So the idea is that you can introduce those beneficial bacteria that you are lacking. Pre and probiotics, it's a big industry and not all of them work. So do your research before buying these products. Some are good, some less so.
What you eat fundamentally transforms your gut microbiome
The best way to influence your gut bacteria in the right direction? It's simply through your food, through what you eat. One of the things I've done recently - stopping eating refined sugars altogether. The only sugar I eat is in fruit. No cakes, no biscuits, no sweets. Only fruit.
And it's made a massive difference to me. I can feel the difference, and this is because refined sugar kills off your gut bacteria. What's also quite damaging to your gut bacteria, all those artificial sweeteners, so low calorie drinks. Artificial sweeteners are added to things to make them sweeter without it being sugar. They're just as bad apparently.
And if you've had antibiotics, well the clue is in the name, I guess. Antibiotic medication will also kill off your good gut bacteria. So if you've had to have antibiotics recently, it's worth thinking about how to help your microbiome get back to normal.
The advice about your microbiome usually focuses on having enough 'fibre' that's F I B R E in your diet. That's what comes largely from eating fruit and vegetables.
Listening Lessons
Junk food and ultra processed food
Another thing to think of though here is 'ultra processed foods'. The more processed a food is, the further away it is from the original food source, the less good it is for us to eat. And ultra processed foods are particularly bad. They usually have a long ingredients list full of chemicals, which you don't recognise from your kitchen cupboard.
Ultra processed foods are a long way away from the original food form. You're much better cooking, starting with natural, recognisable food ingredients.
Download The Podcast Audio & Transcript
Junk food. J U N K is ultra processed food. It's fine to enjoy as a treat, but you are really harming yourself if you eat it every day and you are harming all those lovely beneficial bacteria in your gut. It's much better to do what we call in English 'cooking from scratch', where you start off with recognisable food, ingredients. Fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, oil. Eating like this most of the time will make a huge difference to your gut bacteria, to the health of your microbiome.
How else can we maintain a healthy microbiome? By making sure that we get good sleep? Are you ready to make some changes in your lifestyle for your health?
Further Research
One of the people in the UK who is studying all of this, Tim Spector. He's done a massive amount of work on this and it's really interesting. And he's still going with his Zoe program in the UK. Many fascinating facts are coming out of his work.
Goodbye
If you'd like to know more about this, let me know and I'll do some more podcasts on it.
Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.
Thank you so much for listening. Please help me tell others about this podcast by reviewing or rating it. And, please share it on social media. You can find more listening lessons and a free English course at adeptenglish.com
Links
- Tim Spector
- How gut bacteria are controlling your brain
- Unlocking the ‘gut microbiome’
- Differences in babies' bacteria
- Breastfeeding and the Microbiome
- Your Gut Microbiome
- Importance of Comprehension Skills
- Donald Rumsfeld
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