PROBIOTICS

Why You NEED To Be Taking Probiotics

We have up to 5 POUNDS of good bacteria (probiotics) living in our digestive system. In last week's newsletter we talked about ACV and how it can increase your good gut bacteria. Increasing the number of these good bacteria in your digestive system is essential for optimal health. They're needed for maintaining a strong immune system, producing key vitamins and have shown in recent studies to have a huge influence on psychological health and body weight. So why do we NEED to take probiotics? With the continuous spraying of herbicides and pesticides on our produce and the massive overuse of antibiotics, the United States is consuming much less of these "good bacteria". Antibiotics have saved lives and are needed, but even in the tiniest amount they can have a negative effect on these bacteria as antibiotics essentially kill both good and bad bacteria in our digestive system.  The vast majority of antibiotic usage is actually in livestock food. When you eat meat or drink the milk from cows given antibiotics, you are actually consuming antibiotics yourself.  But why do they give them antibiotics? Are they always sick?  Cows aren't meant to eat large amounts of corn. When conventional farms feed them a diet full of this they become very sick and have severe digestive problems. So to counteract this they're given large amounts of antibiotics. This is a huge reason why consuming free range, grass-fed, organic is a much healthier option. So what should my probiotic contain? 1. Multistrain - The CFU (Colony Forming Units) is not as important as the number of strains. Your probiotics need to have 6 or more total strains. Why? It gives our body options as to what strain it wants to absorb for that given time. Our stress levels, food, exercise, and sleep can change from day to day, so it makes sense that our body would need to absorb multiple strains. Also make sure it contains one or more of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, the two most highly researched probiotics. 2. No Allergens - Many probiotics are grown in dairy and may contain traces of milk. Since probiotics have shown in studies to help with allergies  it's counterproductive to buy any probiotic that has allergens in them. Probiotic yogurts are infamous for this as they contain these plus a generous supply of sugar.  3. Low in Sugar - Please avoid any carb/sugar based probiotics. These probiotic yogurts are advertised as 'healthy' but can contain sugar to make them taste like candy. Adding any form of sugar to your probiotic can reduce any form of benefit that they can potentially provide. What you thought you were taking was healthy is actually causing your body harm.