How things work can get a little abstract—there’s just so much going on at once how can you link one thing to another? Not everyone stay tuned into their health every single day, noting what they eat, if the exercise, how they slept, if they’re stressed.
So here’s an analogy to help you visualize how important probiotics are, and why you should take a probiotic supplement (or incorporate fermented foods into your diet) every day to ensure good digestive health as well as overall well-being!
It’s summer. You’re probably spending a lot of time outdoors. So picture your stomach as a lawn, except the grass is the beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, that are up and down your gastrointestinal tract.
A good lawn looks lovely. It’s functional, too: you can run and play on it with your bare feet, play golf, or sit in a lawn chair sipping tea and enjoying it. Similarly, your stomach needs to be so functional you don’t even think about it, breaking down food with no upset, absorbing nutrients, and fighting off pathogens that hitch a ride.
But that doesn’t just happen. It takes maintenance, and some work avoiding problems, for example:
-Sometimes invading grass takes up in your lawn, and you get patches that are a different shade, texture, and sometimes length if they grow faster.
The same sort of thing happens in your stomach: sometimes your carefully cultivated mix of good bacteria get invaded by bad bacteria. Except it has far-reaching effects, not just visual ones: the bacteria in our stomachs impacts our whole body, potentially, says some research dictating parts of our personality, including mood, habits (exercising, eating, and more), and yet to be discovered who-knows-what.
It can be a lot of work fighting off invading grass on your lawn. Fortunately, this can be an easier battle in your stomach, you just need good habits. Eating vegetables and minimizing sugars aren’t just nutritiously sound habits, they’re part of a prebiotic regimen that encourages the health and growth of desirable stomach bacteria. Get into the habit, and those invaders will have a hard time creating a patch on your turf.
-Other times, something stronger invades your lawn. For instance, rabbits can spread fungus that kills off patches of your lawn leaving brown spots. Fungus can occasionally cut through the good bacteria in your stomach to take hold, too, and it’s much harder to get rid of.
Prevention is always the best first step, and that means having a “thick”, healthy colony of bacteria to crowd out pathogens like fungus. You can also take steps like supporting the your immune system’s battle with the pathogen with colloidal silver, and “re-seeding” your stomach with a probiotic supplement and frequent fermented foods during meals (your sort of sending in wave after wave of tiny good bacteria soldiers to overwhelm the invader).
-If you’re not careful, your lawn can get scorched. Maybe it gets too dry, Maybe you water when the sun is high, and it burns a little. However it happens, you might find yourself fertilizing and spreading seeds like mad.
The bacteria in your stomach can get wiped out, too. There’s a long list of unfortunate life-events that can impact them, but the more common ones including things like food-poisoning, antibiotics (they get the good bacteria, too!), or sometimes, a spicy meal your body isn’t used to/ready for.
Just like with your lawn, you need to “fertilize” (eat lots of prebiotics) and “re-seed” (take in lots of probiotics).
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With your lawn, you probably have a favorite strain of grass that works well in your climate, for your use, whatever. For your stomach, though, variety is key. As mentioned, we’re finding more and more surprising influences of probiotics, so get a good supplement with a long list of active strains (and if you’re going with fermented foods, 1) be careful about DIY-ing, and 2) avoid candy-styles that have minimal probiotics value).
Flora MGR is a great choice that ticks off everything a good probiotic supplement should have. And if you’re not sure where to start with prebiotics (besides eating healthfully), you can take our Blu-Lina Organic Spirulina (it not only has prebiotic qualities, it works as a multivitamin and a natural source of iron).
Summer isn’t just the season for pretty lawns, it’s the time of year where food poisoning is frequent, travel brings new adventures in food, and we accidentally get mouthfuls of lake/river/pool water, so make sure you’re taking care of the good bacteria in your stomach!
Share your tips (lawn or food-wise!) in the comments:
