Healthy Bite 023 - The Pro-Biotic Woman

Super Simple Healthy Podcast

If you suffer from Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diarrhea, eczema, weight loss problems, urinary issues or allergies – this episode is for you! Today we’ll be talking about biotics – probiotics, antibiotics and prebiotics and how they affect ALL of these issues. The Biotic Woman Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. We can rebuild him. We have the technology… I know, we are talking about BIOTICs not BIONICS and I quoted the intro to the Six Million Dollar Man, not even the Bionic Woman – but there is no clever intro to the Bionic woman and after I read the “Six Million Dollar Man” intro I found it rather appropriate for this episode and that is because YOU can be rebuilt too, whether you’re a man or woman by adding probiotics and prebiotics into your diet. So first, I’ll explain what probiotics are, why they are important and then what to look for when purchasing one. Probiotics are the GOOD bacteria and yeast that live in your gut. Most of the time people associate bacteria as a bad thing, but there are good bacteria as well. The root of the word comes from the Greek word “pro” which means to promote and “biotic” meaning life. Probiotics help move food through your body and assimilate valuable nutrients like calcium and B vitamins. They keep your digestive tract healthy –and because 70% of your immune system is in your gut – that’s really important! Antibiotics are the chemical substances which, have the ability to kill disease causing microorganisms. They are effective against bacterial infections, not viral infections. The problem is, while antibiotics are effective in killing off bad bacteria, unfortunately, they will also kill off the good bacteria in your gut as well. They may also be responsible for adding to your abdominal fat! Remember that antibiotics are used as growth promoters in livestock... particularly to increase body fat levels and fat marbling of meat. It wouldn't be a far stretch to correlate this to increased visceral fat in humans as well. And just one more reason to buy organic meats that have not been injected with antibiotics – you are what you eat, eats! Whether you’ve taken antibiotics in the past or if you are currently taking antibiotics to treat a chronic bacterial infection, it is VERY important to also be take probiotics to keep those lil friendly bacteria going or to rebuild what has been lost. Just don’t take antibiotics and probiotics at the same time or the antibiotics will eliminate the beneficial bacteria immediately. You’ll want to wait at least 3 hours to take a probiotic after ingesting any antibiotics. So where can you find probiotics? You can get probiotics in some foods and also in supplements. The probiotic I take is called Prescript-Assist and also includes PREbiotics which feed your PRObiotics. (I know, one more thing). Some sources of PREbiotic foods are raw dandelion greens, raw garlic, raw or cooked onion, and raw bananas. Some examples of PRObiotics in foods are: yogurts, and kefir, which is kind of like drinkable yogurt in texture, fermented foods, like sauerkraut (not canned), kimchi, miso and kombucha tea. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of some of these foods. I hadn’t either before I became a health coach. But most can be found in your local grocery store and it is important to have a variety to make sure you are getting the various strains of friendly bacteria and other microbes. It is important to note that not all yogurts or kefirs are created equal. Some yogurts will advertise as a source of probiotics, but are also full of sugar and if it’s been pasteurized, any live cultures will have been killed during the process, which eliminates any health benefits. For a complete description of what to look for, please visit my website at www.supersimplehealthy.com/downloads and look for the list called “Probiotics Review”.