May
Probiotics – Are they worth the hype?
The answer, in short, is YES! Probiotics are basically “gut friendly” bacteria that play a very important role in our bodies. They help regulate our digestive health to ensure optimal absorption of vital nutrients from our food we eat, but there’s more!
Probiotics have other great health benefits including:
Better Gut Health – Busy schedules, stress, and low nutrition foods may cause you to experience bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, or abdominal discomfort. Probiotics help to mitigate the damage done to our digestive tract through everyday life and keep healthy gut flora thriving.
Improved Immunity – The majority of our immune system comes from our gut. Yes, you read that right! So if you experience frequent colds or have horrible allergies, improving gut health, including probiotics and dairy avoidance, should be a central part of your treatment plan.
Fertility support – Do you know that microbes in the gut also regulate estrogen? An unhappy gut can have the effect of too much or too little estrogen circulating in the body. Definitely something to keep in check if you’re having reproductive issues.
Better Brain Health – Our body has 2 nervous systems. Most known is the central nervous system composed of the brain and spinal cord. We also have the enteric nervous system which is the nervous system of our gastrointestinal tract (aka our gut). Our gut sends more data to our brain than our brain sends to our gut, how crazy is that?! This is commonly know as the gut-brain connection. Ever had butterflies when nervous? Or feel sick when upset? Even more crazy, up to 90% of serotonin (one of our “feel good” chemicals) is produced in the gut. 90%! This means that if your gut isn’t healthy, likely neither is your overall mood. Like a 2-way road, our gut can influence mental health (anxiety, depression, etc).
There are many over the counter probiotics available and a multitude of yogurts. Most yogurts are chock full of sugar so I would skip the majority of those. And many of the probiotics out there require refrigeration. Refrigeration? If the probiotic is so delicate that it requires refrigeration to be shelf stable, how on earth is it going to make it through the gastric acid in your stomach to get to the intestines? Not going to happen.
There is a pharmaceautical grade probiotic out there that I love. I have given it to many patients and family members with great feedback and results. Because it is pharmaceutical grade, it’s not available over the counter, however I do sell it in my clinic. Send me an email at claretha@jadepathacupuncture.com if you would like to know more about it or order a bottle!
