Everything You Need to Know About Your Microbiome
By: Victoria Pavasovic, Certified Functional and Nutritional Medicine Practitioner and Registered Nurse (see more)
Last updated: 30th March 2026
Offering more than 40 years of clinical expertise Functional Nutritional Medicine, NATA-Accredited Microbiome Testing and National Preferred Practitioner Status to Microba Labs.
My aim is to support your system on every level: the barrier, the microbiome, and the immune response that ties it all together.
Gut Health is not approached as a trend- but as a measurable biological system influenced by diet, lifestyle, stress physiology, sleep, metabolic health and microbial balance
Consultations are :
comprehensive and structured
root cause focussed
evidence referenced and educational
individually tailored
preventive in orientation
Over the last two decades we’ve seen an unprecedented rise in chronic disease.
What many don’t realise is that this rise mirrors the collapse of the human microbiome.
Your microbiome is your unique yet vast ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that live on and within your body, essential at multiple levels for your immune system, gut lining support, neurotransmitter production, and your ability to adapt to stress.
A balanced microbiome is like fertile soil – alive with countless species working in harmony. Modern life depletes that richness, leaving the terrain eroded and less capable of renewal.
We’re living in an environment of daily assault. Chlorinated water, processed foods, synthetic preservatives, antibiotic residues, over-sanitization, and pesticide-laced soil–each of these chips away at microbial diversity and health. Not dramatically, but quietly, every day.
What’s left is a body that no longer recognizes itself. An immune system on high alert. A gut wall that’s compromised. A brain that struggles to focus, rest, or regulate emotion.
We call it dysfunction.
But really, it’s bodily dis-orientation.
What is the microbiome?
The microbiome is YOUR ecosystem of microbes (bacteria, fungi, viruses and other tiny organisms) that live in and on your body.
Your gut is far more than “just a tube”: as home to tens of trillions of bacterial cells and thousands of species, when we lack diversity and balance, we lose internal support to optimise health and age well. Understanding your inner ecosystem is one of the smartest steps toward true preventative medicine.
More commonly the microbiome will be referred to as, “good bugs in your gut”, gut bacteria, stomach bacteria, bacteria on the skin, beneficial bacteria. There are unique microbiomes associate with every organ function of your body, including your skin.
Your microbiome is not a passive passenger. It helps break down food, produce vitamins, maintain a healthy gut lining and barrier function, and train and regulate the immune system. A large part of your innate immunity is thought to come from your gut.
Your gut bacteria also make or influence many of the chemical signals that affect mood, stress, and clarity – the gut and brain are in constant conversation along the gut-brain axis.
When your ecosystem is diverse and in balance (symbiosis), it supports digestion, immunity, metabolism, skin and hair health, and mental wellbeing. When it is depleted or out of balance (dysbiosis), the gut barrier can become leaky, inflammation can spread, and you are more likely to see digestive symptoms, skin flares, low energy, brain fog, weight that won’t shift, or an overreactive immune system.
Supporting your microbiome is a way of supporting your whole system: the barrier, the bugs, and the immune response collectively.
Some recent blogs about your Microbiomes
What affects the microbiome?…. a slow drip of daily assault.
Modern life constantly nudges it in the wrong direction; Chlorinated water, processed foods, synthetic preservatives, antibiotic residues in food and medicine, over-sanitization, and pesticide-laced soil all chip away at microbial diversity. So do chronic stress, poor sleep, and a narrow, low-fibre diet. In many Western diets, more than 60% of calories come from ultra-processed foods, which feed unhelpful species and crowd out beneficial ones. Diversity also tends to decrease with age, which can accelerate both gut issues and ageing. It is rarely one big hit; it is the slow drip of daily assault. Some medications can also damage the gut if used long-term, including antacids (which can reduce nutrient absorption and contribute to dysbiosis), antibiotics, steroids, birth control, and anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen and aspirin. Artificial sweeteners can alter beneficial bacteria too. The good news is that the microbiome can respond when we change the inputs: food, sleep, stress, environment, and how we use medications.
The gut-brain connection: mood, anxiety, and clarity
Read the full blog: https://www.victoriapavasovic.com/blog/anxiety-and-the-microbiome
Science on the gut-anxiety connection shows clear links between the composition of the gut microbiome and your psychological state.
People with richer, more diverse gut microbiomes tend to have greater resilience to stress and anxiety; those with lower bacterial diversity are often more vulnerable to mood disorders. Research has found that people with generalised anxiety disorder often have reduced diversity, lower levels of beneficial bacteria (such as Faecalibacterium and Coprococcus), and higher levels of inflammatory species. These shifts can affect the production of calming neurotransmitters, the immune system, and stress hormones via the HPA axis.
Your gut bacteria talk to the brain in several ways: short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) from fibre fermentation support the gut barrier and help modulate inflammation; healthy bacteria help convert tryptophan into serotonin; gut microbes produce and use GABA, a calming neurotransmitter; and signals travel along the vagus nerve.
Key takeaway : Imbalanced gut bacteria can fuel anxiety, while restoring balance can help support a calmer mind. Increasing dietary fibre from varied plant foods (with guidance, as not all fibres suit everyone – for example, high resistant starch can worsen symptoms when methane-producing bacteria are dominant), eating a diversity of plants (e.g. 30+ different fruits, vegetables, herbs, and legumes over the week), and including fermented foods can all help. Testing takes the guesswork out of which strategies are right for your own microbiome.
The gut-metabolism connection: weight, blood sugar, and diabetes
Read the full blog: https://www.victoriapavasovic.com/blog/feeding-the-right-bugshow-nutrition-gut-microbes-and-type-2-diabetes-intersect
Your gut microbes influence appetite, blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and fat storage. Beneficial species such as Akkermansia muciniphila help support the natural production of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which helps regulate glucose, appetite, and satiety. Low levels of such microbes have been linked to insulin resistance, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. In type 2 diabetes, the gut often shows reduced populations of helpful species (e.g. Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium, Akkermansia) and more unfavourable ones; these imbalances can drive inflammation and insulin resistance.
Nutrition is one of the most powerful modifiable factors: plant-rich, fibre-rich, Mediterranean-style eating tends to support a healthier gut ecosystem and better glucose and metabolic outcomes for many people, while diets heavy in ultra-processed foods and low in fibre tend to do the opposite.
A healthy gut with a balanced microbiome can produce GLP-1 naturally to support sustainable weight and metabolic health – which is why long-term restrictive dieting often fails while building sustainable habits and fixing the underlying “why” (including gut health) works better. Having your gut microbial landscape investigated and then supported with personalised nutrition and lifestyle is one of the most targeted ways to support true preventative care.
Dysbiosis, the gut barrier, and long-term health
When the microbiome is in balance (symbiosis), beneficial bacteria help keep the body in health. When it is out of balance (dysbiosis), unhelpful species can dominate, the gut barrier can weaken, and waste products and bacterial toxins may leak into the bloodstream – driving chronic inflammation and increasing the risk of many conditions, from obesity and autoimmune disease to heart disease, diabetes, and cognitive decline.
Research in animals has shown that transferring gut microbes from young, healthy mice to aged mice can reverse hallmarks of ageing in the gut, eye, and brain; the reverse (disrupting the microbiome) can accelerate ageing. So the gut is far more than “just a tube”: it is home to tens of trillions of bacterial cells and thousands of species, and when we lack diversity and balance, we lose internal support to optimise health and age well. Understanding your inner ecosystem is one of the smartest steps toward true preventative medicine.
How can I support my microbiome?
Support starts with what you feed it and how you live.
Beneficial bacteria thrive on prebiotic fibre (e.g. avocados, artichokes, asparagus, berries, peas, chia seeds, pistachios), fermented foods (e.g. sauerkraut, kimchi, tempeh, miso, kefir), and polyphenols from colourful plants (e.g. berries, olive oil, turmeric, pomegranate, green tea). Unhelpful species thrive on starches, sugars, and ultra-processed foods – so reducing those and increasing variety (different colours and types of plants) helps.
Aim for diversity: 30 or more different plant foods over the week can support microbial richness. Fibre intake matters (e.g. in the range of 30–40 g per day from varied sources), but not all fibres suit everyone; some people with certain overgrowths do worse with high resistant starch or the wrong functional fibres. That is why testing, rather than guessing, is so useful. Probiotics can help repopulate the gut with beneficial strains, but generic over-the-counter products can sometimes add strains that are already in overgrowth – targeted choices based on your results are safer. Prebiotics come in many forms and are not one-size-fits-all; like blood types and fingerprints, no two human microbiomes are identical. Reducing unnecessary antibiotics, limiting ultra-processed foods, managing stress and sleep, and reviewing long-term medications with your practitioner all help. Nature’s prescription – varied whole foods, movement, breathwork, and mindfulness – is free and available to everyone.
Why test, not guess?
Even if you are eating well and avoiding the wrong things, you may need a clear picture of what is actually there.
Microbiome testing (e.g. a simple stool sample analysed by a accredited lab) can show which species are present, whether diversity is low, whether there are overgrowths or imbalances, and how your gut might be affecting your digestion, immunity, metabolism, skin, and mood. That insight allows targeted support: the right fibres, the right probiotics (and avoidance of strains that could worsen overgrowth), and lifestyle changes that fit your unique profile. Your gut ecosystem can start to shift within weeks when you intervene in a targeted way. I view the gut microbiota as a therapeutic target – something we can investigate, support, and modulate to address your specific symptoms and goals. For many people, a microbiome assessment is the gold standard in personalised preventative health.
“I want to have my microbiome tested”
At Gut Skin Clinic we use NATA-accredited microbiome testing (including Co-Biome Microba) to map your gut bacterial landscape. The results inform a personalised plan: which species are low or overgrown, how your microbiome might be affecting your gut, skin, immunity, metabolism, or mood, and what to do next.
Testing is useful if you have ongoing gut symptoms, skin conditions, stubborn weight, brain fog, or you simply want a baseline for prevention. Microbiome testing is intended for adults 18 years and older.
If you would like to explore whether it is right for you, you can book a free, no-obligation discovery call with me using the scheduler below
More blogs on the microbiome…
