What is Gut Health

One of the most important steps that you can take to improve your overall health is to make sure that your intestines have plenty of good bacteria. There are approximately 100 trillion bacteria and microorganisms living in your digestive tract.   It is important that they are good, useful bacteria.  If your gut is full of virus, bad bacteria, and unfriendly pathogens, you are vulnerable to food allergies, candida, autoimmune problems, weight gain, intestinal problem, skin problems, bowel problems and catching everything unfriendly thing that comes by.   70% of your immune system is located in your gut.  If your gut is not healthy, can your organs be?

Please take a few minutes and look at this web site.  It is one of the clearest picturs I have found of what your gut should look like.... and what it probably look like.  I am listing this link again at the bottom of the page.  You don't need expensive probiotics, you need to correct the inbalance in your gut.  If you don't understand what the problem is, you probably will not understand the solution.  Please think this over.

Biolife

Some of the benefits of an abundance of "good" or "friendly" bacteria and microorganisms:

• Improved digestion and normalized bowel movements
• Correct skin conditions like acne, eczema, psoriasis
• Provide protection against asthma
• Improve your immune system
• Protect against food allergies
• Reduce or possible eliminate seasonal allergies

Some of the possible ways to destroy friendly intestinal bacteria:

• Use of antibiotics (including antibiotics found in dairy and meat products)
• Eating foods that are genetically modified
• Not managing tension and stress
• An excess of sugar or other concentrated sweeteners
• Overuse of antacids or laxatives
• Use of some prescription drugs (including birth control pills and steroids like prednisone)
• Drinking chlorinated water
  

Today, the balance between "good bacteria" and "bad bacteria" that live in your intestines is the result of the choices you make in what you eat and your lifestyle. The healthier your choices, the more friendly bacteria you have living inside of you. Lets look at some of the ways you can bring correction to your gut using food.

Food based ways to begin correction of the bacteria load in your gut:

• Neutralize the pH in your gut.  This will weaken the "bad" bacteria and virus polyps  - it does not appreciate a neutral pH
• Begin a good multi-vitamin to give yourself a good coverage of nutrients for healing and repair
  
• Feed the good bacteria - Coconut oil is great fertilizer for the good bacteria and the bad stuff doesn't like it  (lets call it weed and feed)
• Begin adding "live" lacto fermented foods from a broad range of different cultures - milks, vegetables and roots.  This replaces expensive pill form probiotics and is a more natural, food based way to acquire the "good" bacteria and allow it to colonize.  Eat live yogurt, sauerkraut, drink ginger ale and kefir.  Give your gut what it needs.
  
• Eat a green salad daily to help "scrub" out some of the weakened bacteria.  Make sure there is some olive oil/vinegar on the salad
• Exercise for 20 minutes.  Get your heart rate up and sweat.  This causes your body to produce a broad-based anti-fungal
• Don't eat overly processed foods

The attached web site has a picture of a healthy gut vs. an unhealthy gut.  Take some time to compare the pictures.  Which one do you think yours looks like?  Don't buy expensive probiotics - make your own or buy them locally.

Biolife

Best of Health
Cindy

Path to Progress:  Start your love of cultured foods here with the benefits of sauerkraut.