Neural Mischief: Two Brains, Mixed Signals and the Filters that Save the Day

I had an experience yesterday that underlined the truth of there being two brains at work in the body. The brain of the central nervous system - brain and spinal cord (CNS) and the enteric nervous system (ENS) - gut microbiome along with 200-600 million neurons embedded in the gastrointestinal tract that functions independently of the brain in the CNS.

Duality is a fact of life on this earthly plane and is in every aspect of our lives. This principle of duality can make making decisions very difficult, especially for those of us who like to overthink and contemplate and analyse the analysis process.

This is where filters can be helpful.

For those of you who read my previous post, you know the story of the adenoviral infection that resulted in EKC. When the infection started, my "sweet" receptors completely shut off. I mean, the thought of anything sweet made my body shiver with distaste. "Sweet" was a hard and uncompromising "no". Three weeks later, as the infection started to resolve, I noticed some slight shifting towards eating sweets again - although nothing like it was before. The most interesting thing about this shift though was that one part was saying "have a little ice cream or a small piece of sweet potato muffin" and the other part was saying" no, I am really not feeling this at all!". There were two opposing players on the field.

The CNS brain desired the sweet while the ENS brain wanted - dare I say, craved - savoury and solid nutrition. At the beginning of infection, the inflammatory cytokines alter taste receptor sites and can result either in distortion of taste or over sensitivity so that there is less, over - or no consumption of particular foods according to taste. But there was more because whilst I could still taste sweet without distortion I simply did not want the sweet.

I can hear the voice of my colleague who is prolific in her work with the gut microbiome reminding me of gut remodeling. The foods we eat impact the species of the microbiome and influence the production of metabolites e.g. short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Prior to the infection, my dietary diversity and nutrient intake favoured my gut but there was room for improvement. Reduced to almost zero sugar intake and semi-fasting due to the infection, this created for an environment that further favoured potent protective and anti-inflammatory bacteria like Akkermansia muciniphila, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Bacteroides fragilis. For me, this shift occurred quickly and the results were clear as chronic right knee and left shoulder pain subsided and there was a decrease in body mass. The scales were tipped in favour of beneficial gut bacteria, reduced inflammation and faster healing. Once the crisis period had passed and the two brains started paying attention to signalling, one tried to outpace the other. Given my awareness of this tug of war I wondered why was this happening, does this happen on a daily basis and what tips the scales in favour of one decision over another?

Earlier, I spoke of filters in the decision-making process. Filters are questions I ask that bring clarity and help make the decision-making process easier. They establish the "why" and the importance of the outcomes. Questions like:

• Does my decision align with my values? This question required that I know my values and it took time to clarify and prioritize. It was time well spent.

• Does this belong in my future? If it doesn't then why choose to have it in my present? How does it contribute to the trajectory of my life? Will it slow my progress or support me in my journey?

• Is this a "yes" in my body? This is a valid question and the experience of my ENS brain-body axis clearly saying "no" to the CNS brain-body recast the dynamics of the importance of this filter and how easily it is ignored or misunderstood.

Once I had a clearer picture of the situation and the filters were in place the answer was easy. I passed on the sweet. Health is wealth and unnecessay pain and inflammation did not belong in my present or my future. To be clear, this does not mean that I will never eat sweet. This is not extremism and I do enjoy a piece of black cake or a piece of chocolate. But, quality over quantity. Always.

Takeaway: Filters are important in the decision-making process but they require that we know what we value and prioritize. The body's response in the decision-making process is frequently overlooked because most often no one is paying attention to this filter.