What Are Probiotics?
Gut Bacteria
The human body is filled with bacteria. The majority live in the gut and they are responsible for helping to keep us healthy. These gut bacteria are both good and bad. In order to have optimum health, the gut bacteria has to be at a ratio of 80% good and 20% bad bacteria. If this gut balance is not correct the health impact is huge.
Proper gut bacteria balance is linked to weight loss, digestion, immune function, and healthy skin to name a few.
So what does this have to do with Probiotics? Probiotics are good bacteria that our bodies need. When the balance of good bacteria to bad bacteria is off we need to put the good back to in to fix the balance within the gut.
What are probiotics?
Probiotics are living bacteria and microorganisms that repopulate the gut microbiome and allow the body to function at its optimum.
You may be wondering how gut bacteria can become imbalanced. Our body is a complex system that is fully integrated. Many things will disrupt gut health. Stress, foods we eat, environmental exposures, sugar, prescription drugs, and over the counter drugs. Every time we take an antibiotic we have destroyed the good bacteria in the gut. Intentional action is needed to correct the imbalance created by the antibiotics to prevent a downward spiral into ill health.
The human body was created to be able to heal itself. When we get a cut on our skin we clean it and wait for it to scab and heal. When our gut health is hurt we have to clean it up and allow it heal as well. This requires a high quality probiotic to allow it to heal.
Gut Health
Gut health that is not balanced 80% good and 20% bad will result in illness over time. Some side effects of this imbalance include bloating, gas, constipation, intestinal disorders, poor immune system, fuzzy brain, and sleeplessness.
One study done by The University of Texas Medical School at Houston showed that certain high-quality probiotics helped with inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Other areas impacted by taking good probiotics include:
- Inflammation
- Depression and anxiety
- Blood pressure
- Cholesterol
- Skin issues such as acne, rosacea, and eczema
Where to get probiotics
Probiotics can be found in some foods such as yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut. There are also different types of probiotic bacteria and they do different things within the body.
You can get the correct amount and type of probiotics via supplementation. It is important to note that if the probiotic is stored in a refrigerator the moment you open the bottle the bacteria begin to die. Therefore when you take the first dose you are getting the full dosage. But after sitting in your fridge for 30 days the last dose you take will have a fraction of the live bacteria left.
This is why it is important that the probiotic you take is freeze-dried so that the number of bacteria in the first dose will be the same as the last dose you take from the bottle.
Gut health is an important key to having optimum health. Probiotics are one of the keys to good gut health.
Not all probiotics are created the same! Click here to find out my favorite probiotic.
