The Importance of Good Bacteria in you Gut

I have had food issues for a number of years now. I have refined my diet so that I am not eating white flour products and very little sugar. In the summer of 2017, I was visiting my mother in law and we had lunch. She was serving hamburgers with coleslaw. I indulged and ate the whole hamburger, bun and all. About a week later I again indulged in a chocolate bar that I ate when I was a child. Both of these activities cost me. I was in the bathroom all the time. I believe I lost some of my gut lining. I took me months of eating stomach friendly foods. I ate coleslaw, apples, bananas, rice, coconuts and leafy greens. That pretty much was my diet for a few weeks until I could heal enough to be able to eat more items. I went on a trip with @wwf to Windsor Ontario and we met some new friends. They reminded me that kombucha is good for the gut. While drinking kombucha my stomach and intestinal tract felt great. I decided that I need to make more at home. From there I have made kimchi, kefir as well as sauerkraut. I still don’t eat white bread and limit my sugar intake but I am able to cheat a tad and be OK.

I have slowly researched the importance of gut health and here are some of my findings. In our intestinal tract are hundreds of thousands of microbes. These microbes assist us in processing all of our food. However if you have an over abundance of bad microbes this is where problems can come into play. This can produce issues like headaches, food sensitivities and mood changes to name a few.

“Seventy percent of the immune system is located in the gastrointestinal tract.” - Family Medicine
“The good bacteria secrete antibacterial substances that prevent disease-causing bacteria from taking hold in the body.” - Family Medicine

There is research that is coming out now that makes a connection between what we eat and how our bodies function. What we put in we will get out. If we put in bad food then we will not be able to perform as well. Our whole body depends upon what we fuel it with. There is a book out called Grain Brain. The author of this book suggests that what we eat affects that brain and how it functions.

“When our gut becomes compromised it can leak into the body and then into the blood stream. This increases inflammation which is a corner stone of virtually all brain disorders from Alzheimer's and multiple Scleroses (MS) to Parkinson's to Autism” Dr. Perimutter author of Grain Brain

Here are some basic signs of gut issues:
Heartburn
Indigestion
Bloating
Constipation

Nourish your gut and it will nourish you. There are two keys to nourishing and protecting your gut health. Limit your use of antibiotics and eat whole, as organic as possible, foods. Foods that are traditionally fermented and cultured foods help to promote the good gut.
I believe that this is right on the nose. We need to really take care of what we put into our bodies. Getting back to good nutritious food is so important. It takes work but the benefits are huge.

Homemade kombucha

Homemade kefir