Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Photo by Nadine Primeau on Unsplash According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), you should be consuming anywhere between 20 to 35 grams of fiber per day. However, if you’re like most Americans following the Standard American Diet (SAD), your consumption is …
Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash Are you spending time browsing the vitamin aisle, trying to figure out which Probiotic will work best for your personal health and wellness needs? There are dozens of choices, and while all of them promise to support healthy digestion, …
Let’s face it – talking about your gut may not be that interesting. But it’s important that you understand just how much your gut impacts your overall health. Everything from hormone regulation to a healthy weight is impacted by your gut, so it’s critical that you know both how it works and how to keep it working at its best.
Think about your gut the same way you think about your skin. Your skin is the first line of defense from the environment. When you get a cut for instance, bacteria is able to penetrate the body and cause damage. But, if our skin and immune systems are healthy, we wont have to worry about that bacteria, as our immune system will be able to fight it off. Your gut works in much of the same way.
The gut lining seals our external environment from our internal one, but it allows particles like the nutrients from our food in, in order for our bodies to use them to create the energy we need. If there are things getting into our gut that harm our bodies (antibiotics, microbial imbalances, pesticides, and processed foods), our immune system will be triggered to repair the damage. But it consistent harmful factors are introduced, the cycle of an unhealthy gut begins. With our current lifestyle and food choices, our gut permeability is greatly impacted. The good news is that there are some things you can do in order to support a healthy gut.
The first thing on your healthy gut checklist should be to remove certain foods or agitators from your diet and environment. This includes factors like processed foods and antibiotics. Cut out processed foods and try to stick to healthy options like vegetables, fruits, nuts and fish. Antibiotics are a good thing for your sickness or condition, but it can cause nutrient deficiencies throughout your body. Check out this Drug-Induced Nutrient Depletion Chart, created by Scientific Director Jerry Hickey, R.Ph, in order to find out what deficiency your antibiotic is causing.
Once you’ve realized you have nutritional deficiencies, the best thing to do is to fill them in. Like your skin, your gut has cells that need to be fed in order to sustain its structure. There are some digestive health supplements that can help you fill these nutritional gaps, including Quercetin (involved in inflammation, digestive and immune functions in the body), Zinc (for the metabolism of proteins, fats and carbs), Glutamine (a vital nutrient for the intestines to build and repair itself), Slippery Elm (supports healthy digestion and is a medicinal herb for relief from constipation and diarrhea), and Inulin (stimulates the growth of bacteria in the gut).
Lastly, you’ll want to feed your gut what it needs in order to thrive! This, of course, includes probiotics. Probiotics are friendly bacteria that make up your gut and are the key to good health, especially digestion and regularity. Levels of probiotics decrease with age and can also be affected by factors like a poor diet and obesity. As the levels of probiotics decrease, problematic bacteria will thrive causing digestive and skin issues. But not all Probiotic supplements are equal! You’ll want to use a Probiotic with five non-GMO bacterial strains that can support microbial diversity. A superior probiotic will also be free of milk, soy and wheat and supplied in CFU (colony-forming units) ensuring their survival through stomach acids and intestinal enzymes.
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash There’s a reason why aloe vera is now a major ingredient in numerous skin and hair care products, and it’s not just because it’s great for that sunburn! Aloe’s use can be traced back about 6,000 years to Ancient …
Fiber can be found in vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains. And it’s important. Its job is to bulk up the stool and retain water. Bacteria then helps to digest the fiber, producing healthy ingredients for the colon and promoting healthy bowel movements. Without enough …
If you are like many others, you think grabbing yogurt is both delicious and beneficial; of course its organic and contains live and active probiotic cultures. But how beneficial are these cultures? And how much do you need? Heres what reports are saying.
What are Probiotics?
Probiotics are friendly bacteria that make up the microbiome in your gut or digestive tract and are the key to good health, especially to good digestion and regularity. Bacteria, though naturally present in the body, accounts for two pounds of bio-mass in your intestines, which need a balance of beneficial bacteria to promote good health.
Levels of probiotics decrease with age and can be affected by other factors, including a poor diet and obesity. As the levels of probiotics decrease, problematic bacteria in the gut thrive, which can lead to digestive problems like bloating and gas.
Probiotics in Yogurt
Many probiotic yogurt brands claim that their product contains active, live cultures and many do. But when heat, pasteurization or sterilization is introduced, it kills the bacteria, rendering it useless. While the best kind of yogurt is organic because it does not usually use these processes, you must be aware that different yogurt brands contain different strains of bacteria. Some strains of bacteria may be more effective than others.
The amount of probiotics in each serving of yogurt varies, as well. Yogurt labels do not list a precise amount of colony-forming units (CFUs) (the dosing for probiotics) that are in each serving. Consumer Reports stated in 2011, that most yogurt products contain a wide-range, from 90 billion to 500 billion CFUs per serving. But the amount each person needs daily depends on multiple factors, including your weight and your ailment. So, while adding yogurt to your diet can provide some vitamins, minerals, protein and probiotics, it is unclear if its consumption can do the job of a high-quality probiotic. In order to reap the benefits that probiotics have to offer, you may want to include a probiotic supplement in your diet. Heres what certified nutritionists and naturopathic doctors are saying about superior probiotic supplements.
Probiotic Supplements
According to Archana Gogna, MS, CNS, MBA, levels of probiotics tend to decrease with age and are lowered by factors such as a poor diet and obesity. As these levels decrease, problematic bacteria in the gut thrive. The most important strains of probiotic bacteria include Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and bacillus.
Lactobacillus bacteria inhabit the small intestine, mouth and vaginal tissue. Bifidobacterium are more numerous and are major inhabitants of the large intestine (colon). Both create many important metabolites out of their food and perform a number of functions including burning fat, controlling appetite, fueling digestion and detoxification and support immunity. Bacillus bacteria are spore-bearing bacteria that carry around their own house (and are the only ones to do so). This makes them resistant to heat, moisture, light, stomach acids and digestive enzymes.
When searching for a superior probiotic supplement, make sure that the bacterial strains are non-GMO and that it is a vegetarian formula. The formula should be free of gluten, soy and dairy and contains five of the most important strains of bacteria. All strains must be supplied with at least 2 billion CFU per strain to be sure they can survive and colonize.