Now of course I am not talking about picking up a bug from the garden and having at it...although I have heard they're good for you! The bugs I'm talking about are BACTERIA...healthy bacteria that reside in our bodies. Our bodies are made up of roughly 100 trillion cells, and guess how many of those cells are human...only 10%! The rest...yup...ALL bacteria…which means 90% of ALL the cells that make up our bodies are not even human! Kind of makes you wonder about the next time you look in the mirror at the "human" staring back at you...and we're 90% bacteria! Anyway, the point is that our bodies have evolved to live in a "symbiotic" (partnership) relationship with these bacteria...meaning they need us to survive, but we need them just as much! They are important for healthy immune function, digestive function, body weight, fat levels, vitamin production, skin health, and on, and on, and on.
There are actually 500 different kinds of bacterial species, weighing a total of 2-3 pounds that live right inside of you! Of these many kinds of bacteria that are in a healthy individual, not all of them promote health. The important thing is to make sure we have the right amount of good bacteria we're genetically designed to have to ensure our health and wellbeing. The ratio is EVERYTHING! You see, the healthy and harmful bacteria all fight for the same cell attachment sites. This means if you have the right ratio of healthy to harmful bacteria (about 6:1), your body will be able to perform to its genetic potential...which is ALWAYS healthy!!!
So what amount of the genetically required healthy bacteria do most Americans have???...About one millionth!!! And why?? Well, the first exposure to healthy bacteria comes from your
delivery through the birth canal. Unfortunately, many doctors are delivering by
C-section these days, and this robs the newborn of this crucial bacterial exposure. Secondly,
antibiotics are generously used today with many people having multiple rounds on a regular basis. These antibiotics kill harmful bacteria
AS WELL AS healthy bacteria. It’s a double edged sword! You’re killing the ones that may be harming you, but also killing the ones protecting you at the same time…not a great trade-off. Furthermore, many people are in an anti-bacterial frenzy, disinfecting everything in sight and every part of their body. This also unfortunately kills many of the healthy bacteria they would have been exposed to. Our diets definitely play a major role too. Modern diets are dangerously deficient in
fruits and
vegetable fiber, and toxic from
dairy, refined
sugars,
alcohol, and
prescription drugs. All of these promote illness-causing bacteria and yeast and obstruct the survival of healthy bacteria. Finally, our modern farming, food processing, and food preparation methods are so incongruent with what we’re genetically designed to be practicing that we've basically obliterated any chance we have to maintain a healthy intestinal environment.
"That's OK Doc...I eat yogurt with probiotics in it!!!"...Sorry yogurt lovers! Not only is it made from dairy, which we are not genetically designed to consume after infancy, but most yogurts are made from
pasteurized milk! This process kills any decent components milk has in it. Furthermore, most yogurts have high fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners to improve taste. These chemicals also kill any good bacteria that might be present, leaving your yogurt with strains that are not alive when you eat them. And finally, most dairy bacteria are "non-adhesive", which means they’ll mostly just pass through the intestines and go “out with the wash”!
So what can I do to increase my healthy bacteria?? Well, since the human intestinal bacteria make-up was established before agricultural became popular, start eating like they did before! You’ll want to organic, fresh-picked, local fruits and veggies. You’ll also want to eat organic, raw nuts and seeds as well as organic, free-range meats and grass-fed beef. Stay away from dairy, goat’s milk, soy, wheat, and corn. No one EVER ate these things for almost 200,000 years and our ancestors had NONE of the chronic diseases that plague modern man (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.)…and you can take that to the bank!
You’ll also want to get a good probiotic supplement. Unfortunately, antibacterial substances and antibiotics are everywhere and it seems that supplementation is the only means to ensure repopulation of the essential healthy bacteria to our intestines. When choosing your supplement, be very careful! Make sure the company has researched what bacteria our ancestors had. Make sure they’re providing you with the same amounts our ancestors consumed as well. Also, make sure your probiotic has NO MAGNESIUM STEARATE (a flow agent to load the capsules; can lead to a bile film in your intestines and block nutrient uptake) and NO TITANIUM DIOXIDE (a known cancer-causing agent). Finding a good high-quality probiotic will be a difficult task, but definitely worth it when you consider the benefits of restoring your gut to a healthy amount of life-promoting bacteria. I personally have found a brand I am very happy with, and would be happy to refer anyone to it. Please email me at eric@pierceresults.com!
Remember, health is your God-given right!
God bless!
