You Need Lots Of Bacteria To Be Healthy

You Need Lots Of Bacteria To Be Healthy

By Dr Daniel Klein

Most people believe that bacteria are "bad" for you and that if you can wipe them all out, you will be healthy. Nothing could be further from the truth! Most things aren't good or bad of and by themselves, it is usually a degree of amount(s) that determines that. As with most things in life, if something is going to work well for us, it is about finding and maintaining a proper balance of that particular thing or activity. This is especially true with health and there is no better example than the balance of "good" bacteria to "bad" bacteria that is needed to be healthy.

While this is true for your whole body it is particularly important when it comes to your digestive tract. In fact the number of bacteria in your gut is 10 times greater than all the rest of the cells in your body. It is estimated that up to as much as 80% of your immune system is located in your gut. Besides your immune system, maintaining the right balance of these little bugs is essential to proper digestion, nutrient absorption, producing vitamins, extracting minerals, eliminating toxins, preventing infection and suppressing appetite. That is right, studies show that people who are on multiple courses of antibiotics are fatter than people that aren't. Turns out that the hunger hormone ghrelin is suppressed by the common bacteria H. Pylori which is easily killed off by antibiotics.

The trick here of course is how do you maintain the correct balance? The right balance is considered to be 85% good to 15% bad. Antibiotics is most likely the primary source of the ratio becoming unbalanced, as good bacteria are more easily killed and bad bacteria are more opportunistic at regenerating. As a side note it was recently discovered that the appendix is not useless as previously claimed (as if nature would create something that is useless) but instead acts as a factory and storage "safe house" for good bacteria. When the good bacteria become depleted, it acts as a rebooter. So the motto is try to keep your appendix if you can.

Keep your courses of antibiotics to a minimum. Save them for bacterial infections and not for the flu or other viral conditions that aren't resolved by antibiotics. There are a lot of reasons to eat organic, range fed meat and poultry, but one of them is because the standards are pumped full of antibiotics to fatten them up for market (remember ghrelin suppression?). When you find it is appropriate to be on a course of antibiotics, take a probiotic supplement and eat soured foods such as kefir, yogurt, buttermilk, and pickled foods such as sauerkraut, natto (only safe form of soy) pickles to help replenish the good bacteria. I take a probiotic and eat these foods regularly because our food is so sterilized, it is impossible to get the beneficial bacteria that would normally be there.

Bad bacteria's favorite foods are sugars and starches, so stay away from grains, sugars (especially fructose) and processed foods as they are usually packed with both of these items. And as I have said many times before, these foods are not good for you anyhow. So now you have another reason to stay away form them.

Yours In Health,

Dr. Daniel B. Klein, D.C.
http://www.uncommonhealthsecrets.com

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