Do you ever experience gut pain? Here is why you need to know what probiotics are and what are all the benefits of probiotics.
I was in two consecutive accidents and I had to rebuild my whole body. Part of that process, just trying to heal, getting better, is that I felt like my whole digestive system fell apart. Basically, I was scared to eat because every time I ate, I would get bloated, had gas, and all this irritation and pain in my gut. It was a huge, huge problem.
Part of my journey was learning about nutrition, health, and wellness, to really heal our gut and to start healing our whole entire body. A big part of that is understanding just how our bodies work and also looking at probiotics.
What’s a crazy thing is, especially if you grew up in the 70’s, 80’s, or 90’s, or even the 2000’s, we were taught bacteria is bad. Everything is about the sterile environment and I call it the “War on Bacteria”. All the research in the last 10 or 15 years, is that we are 90% bacteria! That was a huge concept when I started learning about health in more detail.
I had rounds and rounds of antibiotics when I was growing up and into my 20s. I didn’t realize that my gut health was having issues before my injuries. I was on Erythromycin for about two years when I was a teenager because I had chronic acne and had a lot of issues with my skin.
That was the protocol back then. I also took a lot of antibiotics for sinus infections. I was always having these constant sinus infections, but I was also eating a very high refined sugar diet and not having the healthiest food.
So What Are Probiotics?
Probiotics mean “pro life”. They’re good bacteria and along with the other good bacteria in your body, specifically in the digestive tract, it helps breakdown food, absorb nutrients and it really boosts the immune system. What we’re looking for is an 85% to 15% ratio. 85% good bacteria and then 15% neutral or bad bacteria. This allows our immune system to stay at its height.
I know for me it was this war on bacteria that we always heard. That bacteria was bad and we really have to change that mindset. How do we get more of this good bacteria, probiotics into our diet?
#1. Eat fermented foods, specifically fermented vegetables. This is easy to make and it’s also something you can buy at the store as well. I always, especially when I was repairing my gut, would have a scoop of fermented vegetables with every single meal. This really helped the digestive process. I had less bloating and less gas. Overall it really helped that acceleration of healing my gut.
#2. Probiotic foods and drinks. This is something that’s become popular in the last 10 years. This is something you can easily infuse into your diet. There’s kefirs and different probiotic drinks now.
#3. Probiotic supplement. I usually take my probiotics in the morning after my two glasses of warm water. I like the powder form. You want to have a probiotic supplement that has 10 or more strains of probiotics in that supplement. If you have a lot of gut issues, it might be good to add on a second dose at night before you go to bed on an empty stomach.
The only time you would not take probiotics is if you’re having a bacterial infection. That can happen in the small intestine (SIBO). That’s something that you would talk to your doctor and get tested for.
If you’re having digestive problems, I would definitely go and talk to a doctor and get tested to make sure that you’re doing the right thing.
These are just a few things to look at when in comes to probiotics and good bacteria. We can heal our gut and improve our skin. Also if you’re having gas, bloating, or pain, how we can really help that as well.
What are your favorite probiotic foods or drinks? I would love to hear what you are doing to heal your gut! Make sure to leave a comment below!
