This is one of my most favorite Lunch & Learn topics! Many of the companies I work with are generous enough to give their employees bagels on Monday, pizza on Wednesday & subs on Friday. After my 'Gut Health' talks, these companies are more aware of what foods create wellness from the inside out, so there is higher energy, productivity & positivity in the work place.
Many of the offices I work with now provide a blender & a fridge full of fruits and veggies for smoothies & salads, a salad bar day & Mediterranean day. Simple upgrades with amazing results. In addition to this information, read my blog post on exactly what to eat for a healthy gut HERE.
GUT HEALTH AFFECTS OUR ENTIRE BODY
The home of your immune system is in our gut. When our gut health is weakened so is our ability to fight sickness and disease. The G.I. tract is home to over 25 trillion bacteria. There are good and bad bacteria. Candida (yeast) is bad bacteria.
The top culprits for the destruction of gut bacteria include: Overuse of prescription antibiotic, Sugar, sweeteners, GMO foods, Inflammatory gluten, simple carbohydrates, processed foods, Emotional stress, Medications, Alcohol (except for red wine), Lack of exercise, Over-sanitation, Smoking, Poor sleep habits.
If you crave sugary foods, it’s likely, your gut yeast could be overgrown. Sugar is in most everything these days; even in so-called ‘health foods’. The American Heart Association says 5-8gms of sugar a day is a healthy amount. The average American eats 41gms of sugar a day.
HOW DO WE GET THE YEAST UNDER CONTROL?
EAT COMBINATION OF FOODS THAT CONTAIN FIBER, PROBIOTICS, PREBIOTICS
-Fiber, found in plant foods, helps to regulate the speed at which food moves through your gut, making it a crucial factor when it comes to staying regular.
-Probiotics in foods are beneficial microorganisms that are created through the fermentation process. You might think of them as “good” microbes that can combat infection-causing microbes that are sometimes in the foods we eat or that flourish when we’re sick. Historically, we had plenty of probiotics in our diet from eating fresh foods from good soil and by fermenting foods to keep them from spoiling. Today, because of refrigeration and dangerous agricultural practices like soaking our foods with chlorine, our food contains little to no probiotics and most foods today actually contain antibiotics that kill off the good bacteria in our bodies. Probiotics have been in our systems from the moment we were born. When a newborn is in the birth canal of the mother during delivery, the baby is exposed to the bacteria of his or her mother for the first time. This event starts a chain of events inside the baby’s GI tract, and the infant’s GI tract starts to produce good bacteria.
-Prebiotics, simply put, are food for probiotics. They’re necessary in order for the good flora to flourish.
WHERE DO I FIND PROBIOTICS?
Eat fermented foods & Take a probiotic supplement. Americans don’t eat as much fermented food as other cultures but popularity is growing. Probiotics are a good way to supplement good gut health.
By adding more probiotic foods into your diet, you could see all of the following health benefits:
Stronger immune system: colds & flus
Decrease in antibiotic resistance
Better digestion & relief from digestive disorders. Healing from leaky gut & inflammatory bowel disease
Increased energy from production of vitamin B12
Control of yeast overgrowth: candida, yeast infections etc.
Healthier skin, since probiotics improve eczema and psoriasis
Heightened libido
May improve mental illness. By reducing inflammation along gut-brain connection. Boosts serotonin
Relief from auto-immune disease
Weight loss. Once yeast is under control, the gut starts to turn food into energy & cravings disappear.
Food allergy protection: regulate immune responses
Specific things you want to consider when buying a probiotic supplement:
Brand quality — Reputable, established supplement brands with readily available customer reviews.
High CFU count — from 15 billion to 100 billion. The higher the number, the better.
Strain diversity — Search for a probiotic supplement that has 10–30 different strains, unless you are looking for a specific strain on its own for a particular reason.
Survivability —Strains like Bacillus coagulans, Saccharomyces boulardii, Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and other cultures that ensure probiotics make it to the gut and are able to colonize.
Stability - Some probiotic strains need to be kept cold in order to preserve their potency.
Date - The fresher, the better, when you’re talking about living organisms.
Living vs. dead - “Live and active cultures”
*I am not a doctor. This is my educated opinion on this topic. Please consult a professional before making any big changes.
Naturally Empowered | IamNaturallyEmpowered.com