The human microbiome is considered the 'forgotten organ' by many. But probiotics don't work, especially if you are Vitamin D deficient.
Introduction
For years now, the mainstream media has reported clinical finding after clinical finding asserting connections between the human microbiome (gut flora) and all manner of illness. Our bacterial passengers appear to be deeply linked to mental illness, autoimmune disorders, developmental disorders, and nearly every modern disease that has achieved epidemic proportions. The human microbiome, in total, is estimated to weigh upwards of 5 pounds. It is comprised of trillions of individual bacterial organisms, spanning several hundred thousand different species. Despite rapid advancements in science, less than five percent of those species have ever been isolated, cultured, and genetically sequenced.
We know far more about our own genetic coding than the deep space infinity that is our gut microbiome. Because of this, our observations about how the microbiome affects our health are hamstrung and incredibly limited. We can barely claim to know what it is, let alone the mechanism of how it affects us. Nevertheless, today’s science is capable of determining general linkages and correlations. That autistic children have non-normative microbiome is well established. The same is true of mental illness, obesity, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune disorders like eczema and so much more.
All of this research gets funneled into mainstream headlines that, in total, are screaming:
Seeding The Gut
But the research hardly ever offers a solution. And the few pieces of research that do offer treatment, routinely fall short of providing anything close to a long-term cure. Probiotics, a fast-growing vertical within health and wellness, confer tepid benefits which only last while they are administered. “I took this probiotic for a month, then stopped, and my gut flora remained fundamentally altered, forever,” said no person ever. Indeed, all of the professional research into probiotics confirms this.
The somewhat novel and definitely more radical approach to “seeding the gut with good bacteria,” the fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), which is fundamentally the same as the probiotic approach also appears to fail (albeit after longer timeframes) in the large majority of cases. Therefore, we are left with two conclusions:
- The human microbiome plays an enormous role in the general well-being of human beings. It could very well be the single most important factor in human well-being.
- Seeding the gut with known good bacteria almost never succeeds in its aims. It may provide temporary, small-bore relief, but it does not truly alter the base character and composition of a person’s gut flora.
Fecal transplants, fermented foods, probiotic supplements, even diet and exercise, are capable of temporarily shifting the gut towards balance, but even then, only somewhat. And when the interventions are stopped, the gut flora returns to its baseline state of being broken.
From a researcher’s perspective, the road forward is simple. Continue analyzing the gut microbiome using the latest techniques, break it down piece by piece, and eventually, just as we did with our human DNA, sequence it in its entirety. Having fully determined what it is, they will then be able to work backward and determine how it works and then may even be able to find solutions that fix the microbiome of people whose microbiome deviates outside the normal and healthy ranges.
The Gut Is The Cure
From a person suffering from any chronic illness’s perspective, they need only know one thing: Fix their gut, fix some, or all, of their chronic diseases. They are ill today and at this very moment. They don’t need to know the why or even the what of the microbiome. They need a balanced microbiome, and they need it yesterday. Worst case scenario, they fix their microbiome and none of their disease states clear. This seems incredibly unlikely given the thousands of studies published showing deep correlations between unbalanced microbiome and nearly every modern disease. But even if no remission of disease occurred, it would still be a win, albeit not the win I am positing. There is no evidence that states that having a balanced microbiome could be bad for someone.
And so, we find ourselves, in a state of limbo. We have good reason to believe that fixing the microbiome will confer enormous benefit, but the only solutions offered show themselves to be practically useless when subjected to rigorous examination. The voracious appetite for probiotic supplements, fermented foods, and yes... even the administration of unsanctioned DIY at-home fecal transplants cannot be sated. But few, if any, ever report seeing a lasting change to their microbiome.
Dr. Gominak
Enter a brilliant clinician named Dr. Stasha Gominak. As a practicing neurologist, she discovered, over the course of fifteen years, somewhat accidentally, how to correct the microbiome once and for all. It does not involve seeding the gut with good bacteria at all. She calls her program the RightSleep method. But I will refer to it as the Gominak Protocol in this document.
Caution: It is easy to get trapped in the “this and that” supplement paradigm. You may think, “well yes, Vitamin D is known to help depression” or some other variant. While this is true. That’s not what’s going on here. The Gominak protocol is a re-ignition sequence. You have to do all of the parts in order to reconstitute the microbiome. That is the only thing we are trying to achieve here.
Your disease state(s) is/are unique to you. What is not unique to you, or to any animal on earth for that matter, is that having a healthy microbiome is essential to living one’s life to the fullest possible extent. Fix your microbiome first, then, if, after a year, you still wish to play around with vitamins to eke out more performance, go for it. But commit to fixing your microbiome first.
The vitamins have benefits on their own, no doubt. But that’s missing the point entirely, plenty of other research tells us that. What Gominak has figured out, is that this unique combination of vitamins does something truly astounding… it can re-ignite and re-balance a person's microbiome.
The Protocol
The protocol is elegant and simple, as true solutions to complex problems usually are. The details of the protocol can be found in her RightSleep workbook, which I recommend getting a hold of. But for the sake of this document, I will broadly sketch out the protocol on the next page.
Measure Vitamin D & B12 levels
- UltaLabs – Cardio IQ Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy, LC/MS (Not Immunoassay) ($39)
- UltaLabs – Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) ($26)
- OR both together – UltaLabs - Rightsleep Vitamin D and B12 Panel ($62)
Purchase the Supplements
- Sports Research – Vitamin D3 (5,000 IU / 125mcg) Infused with Coconut Oil
- Solgar – B-Complex “50” (50mg B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 & 50mcg B7, B12 & 400mcg B9)
- Sundown – Vitamin B-12 Energy Support (You only need this if your B12 levels are below 500pg/ml)
- Naturelo – One Daily Multivitamin for Women (Both Men and Women should use this multivitamin, IMPORTANT: All 8 B’s are 100% (most multivitamins B vitamin concentration is much too high and this particular multivitamin has only 5mg Pantothenic Acid (B5) which is critical)
Begin taking Vitamin D
- If your D is below 30ng/ml – take 15k IU per day for one month
- If your D is 30-40ng/ml – take 10k IU per day for one month
- If your D is 40-60ng/ml – take 5k IU per day for one month
Begin Taking B-Complex
- B-50 – 1 per day for three months
- Multivitamin – 1 per day in perpetuity
- B-12 – 1 per day for three months
Measure Vitamin D levels after 1 month
- You want to get your Vitamin D blood level to 60-80ng/ml and then keep your levels in that sweet spot for life
- De Minimis: Do not let your Vitamin D level drop below 40ng/ml – this will allow your microbiome to revert back to its old unbalanced state
Stop the B Complex after three months
- Your microbiome is now producing all of the B’s that you need
- IMPORTANT – It’s also producing all of the B’s that the microbiome itself needs to keep itself a balanced healthy foursome – this is the most important thing you need to understand
Enjoy a reconstituted healthy microbiome
- This will result in better sleep, which in turn will result in your body doing the deferred repairs it has been longing to do ever since your microbiome became unbalanced
- Things you may notice quickly: Less biofilm in the mouth, better bowel movements, altered scent, clearing of skin conditions (eczema, psoriasis, etc.)
- Things you may notice longer-term: Elimination of mental health disorders (depression, etc.), better muscle gain from working out, higher energy levels, better sleep quality, and better defense against illnesses like the common cold, etc.
Yes. It really is that simple. And best of all, your body will show signs of a reformatted microbiome within the first few weeks of the protocol. The number one indicator, in my experience, that it is working will be that your scent changes.
Conclusion
The Gominak protocol is like a human lighting a fire. After completing this re-ignition sequence, you need only ensure that your Vitamin D levels stay above 40 to be certain that you have not let your microbiome extinguish. The B vitamins in the first three months act like flaming newspapers placed under the long-extinguished logs of your microbiome. The reason you stop the B Complex after a few months is that you will have reconstituted your microbiome. This means that your microbiome is now producing the B Vitamins on its own, in adequate quantities, both for its own synergistic needs (to keep itself burning), and also enough for your body’s requirements. If you keep taking the B Vitamins after 3 months, you will start to exhibit signs of overdosing on B Vitamins.
How a balanced healthy microbiome will affect you is unique to you. Indeed, if you already have a balanced healthy microbiome, it may do nothing at all for you. But if like tens (and probably hundreds) of millions of Americans, you do not currently have a healthy microbiome, you will see your chronic conditions melt away. Some will melt away quicker than others. For example, eczema and other autoimmune diseases will probably be resolved within the first month. For more complex disease states, like depression, you will note improvement quickly, but it may take a longer time to feel genuinely cured.
But cured you will be. One need only look at the headlines of the past five years to see that scientists know that there is a profound connection between the microbiome and nearly every modern disease. If you wish to modify your microbiome and bring it back into a state of balance, you need only to follow the Gominak Protocol.
Caveats
None of this negates the benefit of diet, exercise, sleep, hygiene, purpose, work, family, god, community, or any of the other things that make a satisfying life. Indeed, the fact that all of those things appear to help our microbiome only further proves the importance of our microbiome. But by inducing a healthy microbiomatic state you will be free to pursue those things with even more vigor. The wind will be at your back because you will have tamed your treasonous tummy.
When your microbiome is unhealthy, you are like a ship at sea carrying a dark passenger who seeks to sabotage your journey. It conspires against you every step of the way. Each night, when you lay down for sleep, this dark passenger engages in a sinister mutiny, it places its hand upon the ship's rudder and steers it toward depression, obesity, or whatever disease state your particular genetic coding predisposes you to.
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