Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
You’ve probably heard of the microbiome and good bacteria before, but do you know what role they play in your body? Learn about how your microbiome impacts digestion, immunity, skin health and so much more from Amanda Williams, MPH.
Not all probiotics are created equal! It’s important to understand the quality and purity behind your probiotic formulation. Here’s what you need to know about beneficial bacteria.
Antibiotics
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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Antibiotics save lives. There’s no doubt about it. Antibiotics are drugs used to treat infections. But there are some issues with antibiotics. There are some side effects and toxicities that occur, many of them largely due to reducing the number of healthy bacteria in your intestines.
Bacteria and antibiotics
You have trillions of bacteria living with you. They vastly outnumber your own human cells. There are viruses, yeast bacteria and a whole zoo full of other bacteria living with you. Some of them are incredibly healthy and some of them are incredibly dangerous. However, when you have a balance and there’s enough of the healthy bacteria with certain strains and species involved, they help prevent the bad bacteria from acting out.†
When you take many antibiotics, they have what’s called a broad spectrum of activity. They kill many bacteria. Hopefully, they’ll kill the infection that they’re intended to kill, but that doesn’t always happen. However, they frequently kill off your good bacteria and what’s leftover can be really tough, dangerous bacteria, especially one called Clostridium difficile. It’s a very common cause of diarrhea in people who have used antibiotics, but it can also cause a severe form of colitis, which is severe inflammation of the lining of the colon that, in some people, will be terminal.†
The Unspoken Danger Of Prescription Medication On Important Nutrients – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 262. Listen Now >>
Study after study shows that when you use a high-quality probiotic, it helps prevent this problem with Clostridium difficile, which is a very common problem. Clostridium difficile can cause such severe inflammation in the intestines and specifically in the colon, that they actually have to remove part of the damaged colon.†
When an antibiotic kills off all your friendly bacteria and there’s just some nasty strains leftover, that’s a situation called dysbiosis. This means that you’ve shifted and damaged the balance of bacteria in your intestines. A lot of the leftover bacteria release toxins that inflame the intestines and lead to a condition called leaky gut syndrome. The lining of your intestines is supposed to be a really good barrier to keep things in the intestines from getting into the bloodstream. However, when there are certain strains of bacteria that release toxins that inflame the lining of the intestines, that lining is very thin and it becomes leaky, so now things that shouldn’t leave the intestines are exiting and getting into the bloodstream. This is dangerous. This leaky gut syndrome has been linked to certain autoimmune diseases, cancers and many other ill effects.†
How to help your intestines
There are a number of things that heal your intestines, but healthy bacteria and a good diet alone can heal your intestines. I always tell people to cater to your good bacteria in three ways.
Number one is a good diet. Healthy bacteria live on the ingredients in many fruits, vegetables and foods, like whole grains, cocoa and legumes. If you give sufficient supply of these foods, there are nutrients in them that will feed the good bacteria. Typically, this includes any good source of fiber, like green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, salads and vegetables. Plus, the good bacteria can change things in the food that then go onto protect you from viruses, certain cancers, heart disease, mental deterioration, etc.†
DISINFECTING FOR THE CORONAVIRUS MAY BE KILLING YOUR GOOD BACTERIA – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 149. Listen Now >>
A second way, and kind of a step up, is having fermented foods, like kefir, yogurt, tempeh, miso and natto. These foods give you bacteria.†
The next step up is the most powerful step you can take. This is if you choose certain probiotic strains that can amazingly improve your digestive health. If you’re going to take a probiotic supplement, you want to get a probiotic with at least two different bacteria and you want at least a billion of each. It would be good if there was a little food for the bacteria in there. They call this a prebiotic and it might be called chicory or fructooligosaccharides (FOS). That makes the probiotic bacteria more successful at culturing and growing in number, leading to better health.†
Tune into the full podcast episode for more details on the relationship between antibiotics and the digestive system.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
Mushrooms supply powerful antioxidants that support a healthy immune system, while also helping to fight off oxidative stress.
Let’s discuss changes to your diet and different nutrients that can be incredibly supportive when dealing with irritable bowel syndrome.
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Amanda Williams, MPH.
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For so many of us out there, wearing a mask has kind of become second nature. Everyone is wearing their mask when they’re going into grocery stores, gas stations, work, and more. A lot of questions have been coming up in regards to wearing masks on a frequent basis.
One of the things there’s been a lot of inquiries on is bad breath. A lot of people feel like their bad breath has become more noticeable or pronounced, making them question if they really have halitosis. The other thing that a lot of people have questions on in regards to continued mask wearing is dryness and irritation on the skin around the mouth area and even on the chin. I want to talk about a few techniques you can do that might be very beneficial, especially since, in many parts of the country, wearing a mask for the foreseeable future is the new reality.
Your New Winter Skin Care Routine – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 26! Listen Now >>
SUPPORTING YOUR ORAL HEALTH
If you are experiencing bad breath that you notice when you’re wearing your mask all day long, oftentimes, people are usually using traditional toothpastes, which often have many different chemical agents in them. It could be that you’re starting to pick up on the fuming off of those chemicals. One thing that would be advantageous to you would be to use clean formulations, which do not have chemicals and thus cannot seep out these fumes. We want to think about utilizing things from nature, including nutrients like white tea, green tea, peppermint oil, Vitamin C, and olive leaf extract. We know that these nutrients can be very supportive to the health of our gums and teeth. I would even encourage this as a lifelong practice.†
InVite Health’s PerioDental White Teath Gel is a fabulous option. It is a white tea base, but it also combines things such as peppermint oil, myrrh, zinc, Vitamin C, and coQ10. Starting your day off with a really healthy, regimented routine, as opposed to putting chemicals in our mouths, can help with this issue and benefit your overall mouth health.†
The bad breath you’re noticing could also be related to a GI issue. In that situation, we want to consider things like a probiotic on a regular basis and utilizing digestive enzymes. Taking an enzyme like Digestive Hx, for example, 15 minutes prior to eating your meals could be quite advantageous, as it allows for better and more expedient breakdown of your foods. This can often help to mitigate gas build up from residual food, which can cause odor.†
Some people may also notice dryness in the mouth associated with more regular mask usage. Something to consider to combat this issue is an herbal-based lozenge, like InVite’s PerioDental Lozenge, which gives you grape seed extract, glutathione, marshmallow extract, slippery elm, zinc, and Vitamin C. These ingredients can help fend off free radicals that form in the mouth without the use of chemicals. Herbal lozenges like this are very soothing and supportive to the normal balance within the mouth.†
For more details on products that can fit into your oral care routine, tune into the podcast episode by clicking PLAY above, or visit invitehealth.com.
SKIN CARE SOLUTIONS
We have to also think about dryness of the skin. Many people have noticed irritation around the mouth, chin, and nose. Getting into the routine of having a regimented skin care program on a daily basis could be beneficial. I would look at things with a green tea base that will also yield you other nutrients. Washing your face every day with a gentle facial cleanser that has ingredients like green tea, aloe, witch hazel, tea tree extract, and neem can be very beneficial to your skin. These ingredients can be found in our Clear Skin Care formulas, which includes the facial cleanser, facial toner, and facial moisturizer. If you are noticing that your skin does seem to have more of that drying sensation to it, I would definitely encourage you to, at minimum, to look at utilizing the moisturizer. The moisturizer is really nice. It’s a cream that’s easy to use in the morning before you leave for work. The wonderful and powerful herbal extracts in the moisturizer will help hydrate and soothe the skin while you’re at work with your mask on all day. Our formula utilizes ingredients like green tea extract, grape seed oil, aloe, Vitamin E, and Vitamin C, which are all powerful nutrients that can really help to support the skin and irritations that can arise.†
For more details on products that can fit into your skin care routine, tune into the podcast episode by clicking PLAY above, or visit invitehealth.com.
Being on a good skin care and oral health routine are just little steps towards improving these issues and your overall wellness, all while making wearing a mask a little more bearable. We want to make sure we’re using products that provide us with essential nutrients and vitamins, which will help the body thrive.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
