Happy 2017! My top 5 New Year’s Resolutions to help me, myself, and my microbiome. Your health is intertwined with health of the microbiomes in and on your body. As a mom of 2 young kids, wife, daughter with aging parents, blogger, and scientist, I have a bad tendency to take care of everyone else but me. “On an airplane in the event of an emergency we’re told to put on YOUR oxygen mask first, then the mask of the small child next to you”, a super-insightful, fellow science-mom friend reminded me. But if I’m not functioning, I can’t help everyone else well. Same goes for my microbial partners. If they aren’t fed and functioning well, they aren’t doing their jobs well and helping keep me healthy. Here’s my New Year’s Resolutions for me and my microbes. 1. Eat (even) More Plants! Gut microbiome studies continue to show that there are few types of microbes in the guts of people with diseases ranging from irritable bowel syndrome to Parkinson’s disease. Higher diversity, more different types of bacteria, is correlated with better health and a more plant-based diet. “What did you feed your gut microbes this meal?” I’ll ask the kids (and myself).