HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS ON WAYS TO NURTURE THE BENEFICIAL BACTERIA:
• Use synthetic antibiotics sparingly and only when absolutely necessary. Practice prevention in order to decrease the need for antibiotics. Most antibiotics have a deeply disruptive impact on the delicate balance of the intestinal flora and make overgrowth of harmful bacteria and fungi more likely. Recent research has shown that after a single course of antibiotics, it can take up to a year to re-establish the beneficial colonies to their pre-antibiotic state of equilibrium.
After taking antibiotics, it can take up to a year to re-establish beneficial colonies.
• Eat a primitive diet, free of processed foods. Do your food shopping mostly on the periphery of the grocery store where the fresh foods are located. • Eat raw sauerkraut and other cultured foods, like kimchi and kefir. • Take probiotics. Test each bottle for the viability of the organisms because they are fragile and die easily—no matter how expensive your brand is. • Use chicory root powder as a sweetener (brand name “Just Like Sugar”). The powder is made of finely ground fiber that acts as food for beneficial bacteria. • If you are a carnivore, eat animals that have been raised without antibiotics. • Include large portions of vegetables in your meals. They are good sources of prebiotics,
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COLONIES IN MIND DURING DAILY CHOICES.
Next time you crave ice cream or other sugar-laden food, you might stop and ask yourself, “Who is it that wants this ice cream? Could it be the fungal colonies in my gut that are sending signals to my brain, making me unable to resist indulging in foods that help the bad guys thrive?” It’s certainly a possibility. Microbes, both beneficial and harmful, will go to great lengths to survive. You might think you are the captain of your ship, but it’s not always clear who is in charge. So, be sure to say “Good morning” to your colonies when you wake up, and remember to keep their well-being in mind as you make choices throughout the day about what you do with your body, a vessel teaming with nonhuman life that can profoundly affect your well-being for better or for worse. Let’s drink a toast of sparkling water to our microbial friends. May there be peace and harmony throughout our colonies! ■ Dr. Erica Elliott is board-certified in family practice and environmental medicine She has often been nicknamed “the medical detective.” She has given weeklong workshops, has been a public speaker and is co-author of Prescriptions for a Healthy House. She blogs regularly at www.musingsmemoirandmedicine. com. Her professional website is www.ericaelliottmd.com
Green Fire Times • February 2017
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© Seth Roffman
make vitamins that we are not able to make on our own, including B vitamins that are essential to our metabolic functioning, vitamin K for clotting blood and preventing calcium from being deposited in the wrong places, and vitamin B-12 for healthy blood and brain tissue. 5. The microbes make small molecules that travel to all parts of the body and help regulate metabolism, influence appetite, insulin sensitivity and how sugar is utilized. Researchers have recently discovered a link between obesity and the state of one’s microbiome. In one experiment, thin rats were given fecal transplants obtained from the feces of obese rats. The thin rats became obese. 6. Friendly microbes in the gut—the probiotics—stimulate immune tissue found throughout the intestines to make natural antibiotics that fight pathogenic bacteria. They also train the immune system not to attack friendly microbes. One of the major benefits of this training is that the immune system is less likely to attack itself and cause autoimmune disease. 7. Certain microbes produce compounds that block inflammation. The organisms make these compounds to protect our immune system from attacking their colonies. We benefit from these compounds by experiencing less inflammation in our bodies. Our Probiotics provide beneficial bacteria. This photo shows probiotic products at Whole Foods Market. They can immune systems are less likely to overreact to our environment. also be found at La Montañita Co-op, Fruit of the Earth, Herbs, Etc., Love Yourself Cafe/Light Vessel Santa Fe, Milagro Herbs, Los Alamos Cooperative Market and other locations. 8. Microbes in the gut have direct communication with our brains. The gut is loaded with nerve tissue and hence the nickname “the second brain.” The nerve tissue in the gut produces the same the soluble and insoluble fibers that feed beneficial bacteria. neurotransmitters as the brain. The neurotransmitters relay information along the • Introduce a wide variety of foods into your diet. Remember that you are host to a vagus nerve. The information can go in both directions, brain to gut and gut to huge variety of organisms with different tastes in foods and nutritional needs. brain. Intestinal microbes make some of the exact same neurotransmitters, such • Avoid farm-raised fish. They are fed a diet that includes antibiotics. as GABA, acetylcholine and serotonin, each of which can affect one’s mood and • Eat organic foods. Pesticide-contaminated foods harm the beneficial colonies. cognitive abilities. • Avoid genetically modified foods. They are usually heavily contaminated with 9. Some beneficial microbes even have the capacity to inactivate toxic molecules that glyphosate, the active ingredient in herbicides such as Roundup, made by Monsanto we ingest along with our food. and banned in a growing list of countries around the world. The most common genetically modified foods in the U.S. include wheat, corn, soy, sugar beets, Hawaiian Living in a sterile, germ-free environment is not a good idea if you want to be healthy— papaya, squash and canola oil. Genetically modified wheat and corn derivatives are unless of course you have an unusual immune system disorder that makes you vulnerable to commonly found in processed foods. infection from bacteria under any circumstances. Baby mice raised in a sterile environment • Eat a healthy diet high in fiber and low in sugar, optimal conditions for supporting don’t develop a complete immune system. They produce inadequate amounts of antibodies bifidobacteria, which keep toxins produced by other bacteria from passing through and are vulnerable to infections. Studies on humans show that children with asthma tended the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream. to have had less germ exposure than children with heavy germ exposure, such as those raised on farms, for example. Eat lots of foods with high fiber and low sugar. • Avoid harsh skin sanitizers that obliterate all the bacteria on the hands. Wash with Over the years I have had germ-phobic patients who were raised by physician parents. plain soap. The mechanical action of washing is enough to remove potentially harmful They thought they were helping their children by instilling in them a fear of germs. These bacteria from the skin. patients tend to get sick frequently. • Avoid exposures to toxic chemicals. They can upset the delicate balance in the gut, not only through ingestion, but also through inhalation of the fumes. The more researchers investigate our microbiome, the more it becomes apparent how vitally important it is to take care of our internal ecosystems—not just the external ones. KEEP THE WELL BEING OF YOUR BACTERIAL