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When
the intestinal flora is balanced and working properly, there are billions of
friendly bacteria at work colonizing and protecting us. The list of ways they help us is long indeed,
but here are some highlights: friendly bacteria create vitamins, produce acid
where needed to aid in the digestion of minerals, protect our bodies from
invasion of harmful bacteria and enhance our immune system function in many
ways.
If something were to go awry within
our intestinal flora system, the smooth and highly functioning business of
regulating our immune system will be replaced with a nightmare of health
attacking scenarios. Imagine a healthy
balanced system is suddenly facing an infection and the patient begins a dose
of antibiotics. These antibiotics kill off good bacteria with the bad, they
do not discriminate. Now the space previously taken up in the gut
by trillions of good bacteria is left open for any negative bacteria to grab on
and flourish! Following this is the
release of toxins that can damage our brush border, breaking away at the tight
junctions and allowing toxins to free flow through that would have otherwise
been rejected. Now we have, what is
called, increased permeability of the gut and a certain state of
dysbiosis.
The imbalance of the good and bad
bacteria within the gut is the dysbiosis, itself, while the damage to the brush
border and leaking passage is the start of leaky gut. Now, the list of problems that can occur with
dysbiosis and with leaky gut are far too numerous to mention, but here are some
highlights of what you could expect: diarrhea, fatigue, stomach pain, increased
risk of cancer, indigestion, food sensitivities, rheumatoid arthritis, candida,
eczema and on and on the list goes. (Lipski. 2005. 62-95)
No one wants to be in a state of
dysbiosis, but we all have events in life which will increase our odds of
imbalanced flora. We may need a round of
antibiotics, or NSAIDS, or perhaps we have just undergone a strong period of
stress. So when the damage is done, how
can we fix it? How can we get off the negative and vicious cycle and work our
way back to good health?
Start by assessing where your body is
in the damage stage. Some testing with a
Doctor will tell you if you are fighting Candida and pH testing will let you
know if your HCl is too low or high.
Taking this information and feeding the body with the proper foods for
the results you uncover is a first step.
Feed the good bacteria and give them a
boost with prebiotics such as inulin and FOS, which you can add through your
diet by eating foods rich in these such as artichokes, unripe bananas,
aspargus, riceera yogurt with inulin and more.
Begin taking a quality probiotic.
Look for probiotics that are kept in the refrigerated section of a store
or doctor's office, and look for one that list bacterias such as B Bifidum and
L acidophilus together (and there are many more bacteria, but these are two
common and good bacteria to start with!).
Eat a healthy whole foods diet, avoid
sugars and junk food, add in boosters such as raw garlic (Murray ND, Michael
2005. 106) to help boost your system and
you are well on your way to re establishing that vital balance and resting easy
while your gut flora does its job... taking care of you!
By Laura Schmitt
Bibliography
Lipski
PHD, CCN, Elizabeth. Digestive Wellness : New York, McGraw Hill, 2005
Murray
ND, Michael and Joseph Pizzorno ND with Lara Pizzorno MA, LMT. The Condensed
Encyclopedia of Healing Foods : New York, Pocket Books, 2005.
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