We know, coronavirus is scary. Itâs an invisible enemy that we are all fighting together. We never know if a surface, a door handle or someone's hand has a virus on it or not. All precautions should be taken. Washing hands, maintaining a safe distance from people and wearing a mask are all important to help us stay safe.Â
As well as protecting you and your kids from the virus on the outside, you can also help by strengthening what's on the inside. Your immune system is complex and responds to the world around you. Right now, you can control the health of trillions of microbes living in your gut - your gut microbiome. Research shows that our gut microbes play an essential role in helping the immune system to fight infections, like coronavirus.Â
Diversity is key and when it comes to your gut microbiome, the more diverse it is, the healthier it is. Scientists are learning more and more about the interactions between the gut microbiome and the immune system and there appears to be a clear link between a healthy microbiome and the body's ability to reduce inflammation. Â
Here are some fun facts for you and your kids about microbes
*Although some microbes sometimes make you sick, the ones that live in you and on you all the time help to keep you well.
*Right now there are more microbes living on your skin than there are people on Earth, and there are ten or even a hundred times as many as that in your tummy.
*A single drop of seawater can hold twenty million microbes. Thatâs more than twice as many as the number of people in London.
*Microbes can eat anything: plants, animals (alive or dead), even oil and rocks. Theyâre too small to have mouths so they just soak up what they need through their skin.
*The things microbes eat donât disappear in bites. They change into something else, like milk into yoghurt; like food into poo.
*Microbes live everywhere, in the sea, on land, in soil and in the air, even at the back of your fridge.
*Less than 1% of microbes make people sick, so you have an army of microscopic creatures on your team.Â
(With thanks to Nicola Daviesâ book, Tiny: the invisible world of microbes)
So, how do you talk to your kids about microbes so they donât grow up thinking all bacteria are frightening and dangerous? You can tell them that:Â
Not all bugs are badÂ
There are trillions of invisible microbes in our world, in our bodies, in our soils, in our homes, that are on our team. Their primary function is to help our bodies thrive and to keep us healthy and strong. They extract nutrients from food, protect cell growth and help our bodies fight infections.Â
It is important to eat a balanced dietÂ
What your kids eat feeds the microbes that live inside them. The best way to increase the diversity of their microbiome is to eat a variety of foods. The most important foods are those that are high in fibre, plenty of fruit and vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and lean meat or fish.Â
What to avoid? Sugar, processed food and additives. We know, it is hard to convince a toddler to eat spinach. Our advice? Dress it up with recipes like this gluten free sweet potato mac and cheese, or these bean quesadillas. When you have dinner with your kids, talk to them about their gut and how important it is for their health.  Â
Get dirtyÂ
Encourage your kids to get dirty. We know that being outside, interacting with nature and getting wet and muddy helps kids to be exposed to different types of microbes.Â
Take a probioticÂ
Very soon, your kids will hopefully be going back to school. If you want to protect them on the inside, as well as the outside, you can help support their immune system with a probiotic. Start establishing a strong and diverse microbiome now.
Bio-Live Kids has a brand new recipe. And itâs important to us that it is available to everyone. Which is why it is gluten, dairy, sugar and GM free as well as being vegan approved. You can mix Bio-Live Kids into a healthy morning smoothie, like this one, to help them get billions of beneficial microbes every day.
Our Bio-Live probiotics are different to your average probiotic because as well as 15 strains of beneficial microbes (which is billions in each sip), they also contain natural herbs that have been used for centuries to help the body reduce inflammation.Â
Chamomile, Echinacea and Carob are three key herbs in Bio-Live Kids. They help to calm the nervous system, tackle inflammation in the body and contain antioxidants and vitamins to support the immune system.Â
Looking for something to do with your kids? Get to know your microbes
There are over a billion different species of microbes on our planet; no one knows how many because itâs impossible to count and they are evolving all the time.
Some microbes are round, some are skinny, some are spiky and some are squishy. The polio virus is one of the smallest microbes; the largest is a sulphur microbe that lives off the coast of Namibia and is as big as this full stop.Â
Every kind of microbe does a different job, and they communicate with each other and form vast communities working together for you and your health. At Microbz we harvest and multiply some of the most beneficial microbes and pop them in a bottle for you.
