Maintaining a healthy digestion system is essential for both toxin elimination, and nutrient assimilation. A key component in digestive health is maintaining the delicate balance of bacteria in the gut. By enriching our body with fermented foods and probiotics, we can help to balance out any damage caused to our gut bacteria by our modern lifestyle choices and poor diet.
What Is The Role Of Bacteria In The Gut?
A Balanced Ecosytem
Our digestive system contains a complex bacterial ecosystem. It contains some good bacteria, and some bad bacteria.
The “good” bacteria stimulates our immune system and helps to keep out the “bad” bacteria.
The “bad” bacteria produce TOXINS! This bacteria includes salmonella and E. Coli.
Our digestive system is all about balance – we can never totally eliminate the bad bacteria. Our aim is to have at least 85% good bacteria, to prevent over-colonisation of disease-causing micro-organisms.
The Role Of Beneficial Bacteria In The Gut
Beneficial bacteria contribute to some major functions in the human body:
- Front line defence for our immune system,
- Support digestive health by cleaning and maintaining our digestive tract,
- Break down and help us assimilate the nutrients from our foods,
- Manufacture B-group vitamins, and
- Fight disease-causing pathogenic bacteria.
It’s easy to see that keeping the bacteria in our gut in good balance is really important to our health.
Warning Signs Of Bacterial Imbalance
When we fall short of the ideal bacterial balance, and have too much “bad” bacteria, we develop a condition known as “dysbiosis”. This can present in a number of different forms:
- Allergies and food sensitivities,
- Difficulty losing weight, craving sugar and/or carbohydrates,
- Frequent fatigue and poor concentration,
- Frequent constipation or diarrhoea,
- Poor digestion, acid reflux and other gut disorders,
- Poor sleep, night sweats,
- Painful joints, joint inflammation, stiffness,
- Bad breath, gum disease, dental problems,
- Lowered immunity with frequent colds, flu or infections,
- Chronic yeast problems,
- Skin conditions such as acne, eczema, foot fungus, and
- Extreme menstrual or menopausal symptoms.
How We Damage The Beneficial Bacteria In The Gut
Our modern lifestyle and poor food choices can significantly damage the beneficial bacteria in our gut. Damaging factors include:
- Excess stress, both mental and physical,
- Exposure to radtion, such as electromagnetic radiation from computers and television,
- Drinking water with added fluoride and chlorine, such as plain tap water,
- Poor diet high in processed foods, low in fibre, high in fat,
- Excessive alcohol consumption,
- Carbonated drinks,
- Antibiotic use,
- Contraceptive pills, and
- Steroidal and hormonal drugs.
How To Return To Balance
Healthy Lifestyle Choices
The main factors effecting our gut bacteria are our choices in food and lifestyle. This means that each of us has the power to adapt our lifestyle and make healthy food choices to benefit not only our gut bacteria, but our entire body and all areas of health.
We can choose to manage our stress levels, reduce our exposure to television, drink only purified water, omit alcohol and soft drinks, eat well, and choose only natural health care options. Of course, all of this is easier said than done, and you may want to make gradual changes over a number of months.
Healthy Food Choices
Probiotics have been proven as an effective way to combat dysbiosis and help restore balance to bacteria in the gut, along with a host of other benefits! To attain these health benefits, it is essential that live, active bacteria are consumed on a regular basis. This can be done through fermented foods and probiotic supplements.
Recommended Resources
- Here’s a great video about the importance of probiotics for digestive health.
- If you’re not eating some form of fermented food every single day, then you may want to consider a probiotic superfood blend. It’s important to note that synthetic supplements do not offer the same benefits as wholefoods, so take care when choosing.
Do your health a favour, enjoy some yummy organic yoghurt and bring some balance back to your gut bacteria.
References
- Chenery, Narelle (2011), Vitality Through Superfood Nutrition, Webinar recorded 25 August 2011.
- Image thanks to Ambro, courtesy of Free Digital Photos.
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