It is just about a month after the holiday celebrations. If most of you have eaten far too much food and consumed liquids that you don’t normally drink, here are some tips to cleanse. Without breaking the cycle, weight can accumulate also.

WATER

The first step is to drink a lot of water. It is no secret that drinking water is extremely important for overall health, but did you know that water also aids in digestion? Water helps everything moving along in your digestive system. During the holidays the food we eat is often high in sodium, which increases water retention and aids bloating. Water helps to offset this bloating by flushing out that excess sodium. If you prefer not to drink a full glass at one time, sip it throughout the day.

FIBER

After the holidays it is very common to hear people talk about loosing weight. Feeling bloated can add to that feeling. After the holidays add fiber to your food plan. Fiber will also help you to remove the digestive system of toxins that have been consumed. Keep you food as clean and simple as possible.

Best fiber foods are:

Beans

Broccoli

Berries

Avocado

Oatmeal

Apples

GET ACTIVE

Add a 30 minute walk into your routine. Especially after eating. Exercise helps to promote a healthy gut. Exercise promotes the growth of bacteria that helps keep your gut healthy. Walking after eating can lower glucose (blood sugar) also.

PROBIOTICS

Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that have beneficial effects on your body. The species already live in your body, along with many others. Probiotic supplements add to your existing supply of friendly microbes. They help fight off the less friendly types and boost your immunity against infections.

WHAT ARE PROBIOTICS?

Probiotics are live microorganisms (microbes) that can be very beneficial. Every human body is home to trillions of microorganisms that live with us. They help to support our bodily functions and health. Not all the microbes we may carry are helpful to us. Some types (germs) can be harmful. but beneficial microbes, like probiotics, help to control the potentially harmful types.

WHAT DO PROBIOTICS DO?

Probiotics are food and health products that contribute live, beneficial microbes to the populations within your gut and elsewhere in order to strengthen those communities. They are meant to prevent and treat imbalances or a deficit of beneficial microbes in your microbiome. Essential to the health for our overall health. This imbalance is known as dysbiosis.

WHEN ARE PROBIOTICS RECOMMENDED?

If you have symptoms of dysbiosis, in your digestive system or elsewhere your healthcare provider might recommend probiotics to help bring your microbiome back into balance.

Dysbiosis is an imbalance between the types of organism present in a person’s natural microflora, especially that of the gut, thought to contribute to a range of conditions of ill health.  Crohn’s disease is a link with dysbiosis.

If you have or are taking antibiotics it is very important to take probiotics during the course of the antibiotic or immediately after finishing them. Antibiotics are very hard on the intestinal tract.

Some people take a daily probiotic supplement to maintain their general wellness. you might want to do this if you are prone to gut health issues and you notice it helps. If you can’t tolerate dairy, many of these supplements come without dairy.

A healthy gut microbiome can boost your overall immunity, reduce inflammation and help keep your bowels regular.

WHICH PROBIOTIC ARE EFFECTIVE?

For a probiotic to have any benefit to your health, it must:

• Be of a variety that has proven benefits for your body.
• Be in a form that is safe to consume or apply to your body.
• Contain viable microbes that have survived the commercial process.
• Be able to survive the journey through your digestive tract (if it is an oral probiotic).

Some of the most frequently studied and recommended probiotics include:

• The Lactobacillus genus, including L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus, L. casei and L. plantarum.
• The Bifidobacterium genus, including Bifidobacterium longum and Bifidobacterium breve.

Acidophilus (L. acidophilus) may be the most well-known probiotic on the market today, possibly because it has so many different applications. Acidophilus is found naturally in your mouth, gut, stomach, lungs, vagina and urinary tract, and it can help restore balance in all of these microbiomes.

Probiotics are easily available over the counter in health food stores, drug stores, and other wellness stores. Even through your naturopathic doctor, if you have one.

They come as dietary supplements (capsules, liquids or powders). In food form, yogurt and kefir, cottage cheese, miso soup, kombucha, sauerkraut or kimchi, pickles and pickle juice.

Fermented foods and drinks are one way to get more probiotics into your GI tract. Food processing can sometimes destroy these natural probiotics. Check the labels for “live and active cultures”.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST PROBIOTICS

Play close attention to the label. Look for the following:

• Colony-forming units (the number of bacteria per dose).
• Types of bacterial strains that are used.
• How your probiotics need to be stored.
• Which strains and/or brand names have been studied for their effectiveness.

To be a true probiotic, a product must contain live and active bacterial cultures, and it should indicate this on its packaging. You will want to pay close attention to colony-forming units (CFU), which tell you the number of bacterial cells you’ll get in each dose.

A general recommendation is to choose probiotic products with at least 1 billion colony-forming units and containing the genus Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Bacillus or Saccharomyces boulardii. These are the most researched probiotics. Different strains are better for other intestinal conditions. If your doctor doesn’t know, a gastroenterologist or a naturopathic doctor should know.

Pay close attention to the label and how your probiotics should be stored. Generally, you would want to keep them refrigerated (and make sure the place you are buying them from does the same). Heat can kill off the microorganisms in your probiotic if they are not stored correctly.

Pay attention to the expiration date, as colony-forming units tend to decline over time rendering them less helpful.

Also look for a probiotic that is encapsulated with a food source, such as inulin, so it has something to feed off of and remain viable while sitting on the shelf. Inulin is available in powdered form. I mix one teaspoon into my tea in the morning.

Supplements are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). this means companies can essentially add whatever they want into a supplement and call it a probiotic. Read up on scientific studies and research reports to determine which probiotics have made positive outcomes on specific conditions.

ConsumerLabs.com is a very good site as they evaluate many different types of supplements and they write reports on each. It is a subscription site, but valuable. Consumer Labs also lists which brands they have found to contain exactly what is needed to make it effective.

You might want to try food first. For example, yogurt is made with two “starter” bacterial cultures – Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. But these bacteria are often destroyed by your stomach acid and provide no beneficial probiotic effect, Gail Cresci, PhD, RD explains. Some companies add extra bacteria into the product, so check the label and choose products with bacteria added above the starter cultures.

Dr. Cresci says that probiotics may cause bloating and gas, as well as changes in your stool patterns. But these are all early indications that the product is working.

Other probiotic foods are fermented foods such as, yogurt, kefir (a yogurt-like beverage), kombucha (fermented black tea), kimchi (made from fermented cabbage) and tempeh and miso (made from fermented soybeans).

 

Resource:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/14598-probiotics.