This Food Contains 100 TIMES More Probiotics than a Supplement

Video:  Dr. Mercola Interviews Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride About Immunity and Gut Flora

Story at-a-glance

• Abnormalities in your immune system—such as allergies and autoimmune diseases—are a common outcome of Gut and Physiology Syndrome (GAPS), as about 85 percent of your immune system is located in your gut wall
• The answer to resolving food allergies, as well as virtually all autoimmune disorders, is to heal and seal your intestines, which the GAPS nutritional program is designed to do
• Fermented foods are both potent chelators (detoxifiers) and contain far larger amounts of probiotics, compared to probiotic supplements, making them ideal for maintaining optimal gut flora
• If you’ve never eaten fermented foods before, too large a portion may provoke a healing crisis, which happens when the probiotics kill off pathogens in your gut. When the pathogens die, they release potent toxins. If you’ve never had fermented foods in your life, you need to start very carefully and very gradually, beginning with as little as one teaspoon of sauerkraut with one meal. Observe your reactions for a couple of days before proceeding with another tiny portion

By Dr. Mercola

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride is a formally trained Russian neurologist whose child developed autism.

As a result of her own research into autism, she ended up developing what might be one of the most profoundly important treatment strategies not just for autism, but for a wide range of neurological-, psychological-, and autoimmune disorders as well.

I believe her Gut and Psychology Syndrome, and Gut and Physiology Syndrome (GAPS) Nutritional program is vitally important for MOST people, as the majority of people have such poor gut health due to poor diet and toxic exposures. We’ve previously discussed how the GAPS program can help those with autism and other neurological- and psychiatric disorders, such as:

• Dyslexia and dyspraxia
• Depression
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Epilepsy

What is Gut and Physiology Syndrome?

In this interview, we discuss how your gut affects your immune system, as there’s profound dynamic interaction between them. Dr. McBride covers the problems related to Gut and Psychology Syndrome in her first book by the same name. Her next book will cover Gut and Physiology Syndrome, which relates to diseases that are not located in the nervous system but rather elsewhere in your body, such as:

• Arthritis
• Asthma and allergies
• Skin problems
• Kidney problems
• Digestive issues, and
• Autoimmune disorders

Abnormalities in your immune system are a common outcome of GAPS, and such immune abnormalities are at the root of virtually all degenerative diseases.

“Why is that? It’s because about 85 percent of our immune system is located in the gut wall,” she says. “This fact has been established by basic physiology research in the 1930s and the 1940s. Your gut, your digestive wall, is the biggest and the most important immune organ in your body. There is a very tight conversation and a relationship going on between the gut flora that lives inside your digestive system, and your immune system...

Your gut flora—the state of the gut flora and the composition of microbes in your gut flora—has a profound effect on what forms of immune cells you will be producing on any given day, what they’re going to be doing, and how balanced your immune system is.”

How Your Gut Flora Directs Your Immune System

There are two primary “arms” in your immune system:

1. Th1 immunity is responsible for normal reactions to anything in your environment, from pollen to animal dandruff, dust mites, chemicals, food and anything else you come into contact with. Th1 is kept robust and healthy by your gut flora. As long as your gut flora is normal, you will have no adverse symptoms when exposed to these types of environmental influences, but if your gut flora is abnormal, your Th1 become increasingly disabled
2. Th2 immunity is designed to address immune functions inside your body, and is not equipped to handle environmental influences. However, it will try to compensate if your Th1 becomes disabled. Unfortunately, since it’s not properly equipped for this job, it ends up dealing with environmental influences like pollen and foods in an inappropriate way; the end result of which is allergies and intolerances.

It’s important to realize that food allergies and intolerances are a very different group of allergies from the more acute anaphylactic allergies. Food intolerances caused by disabled Th1 (due to abnormal gut flora) are not mediated by the same immunoglobulin as the true allergies are. Food intolerances can also manifest hours, days, or even weeks later, making identifying food allergies very difficult.

“Different reactions can also overlap on top of each other. For example, on any given day you can be reacting to broccoli that you have just had for lunch, and to lamb that you’ve eaten yesterday, and to egg that you’ve eaten two days ago, and to a piece of bread that you’ve eaten 10 days ago. All of these reactions overlap on top of each other. On any given day, you have no idea what exactly you’re reacting to,” Dr. McBride explains.

Making matters even more difficult, these food allergies and intolerances can result in all sorts of reactions, from headache, to sneezing, to rashes, or abdominal pains or swollen joints. Or they may result in psoriasis, or cause eczema to flare up.

“Or, it can be an episode of depression, anxiety, or a panic attack. Any kind of symptom can be brought up by food allergies and intolerances,” Dr. McBride says.

At the same time, because your gut flora is abnormal, your gut lining begins to deteriorate, since it is actively maintained by our gut flora. (The beneficial bacteria in your gut make sure the cells that line your entire digestive tract are healthy, well-fed, and protected from chemical- or microbial attacks.) As your gut lining deteriorates, the junctions between the cells open up, causing your gut to become porous, or “leaky.”

“It becomes like a sieve, and foods don’t get the chance to be digested properly before they are absorbed,” Dr. McBride explains.

“They’re absorbed in this maldigested or partially broken down form. When the immune system and the bloodstream finds them and looks at them, it doesn’t recognize them as food. It says, “You’re not food. I don’t recognize you,” and it reacts to them. It creates immune complexes, which attack these partially digested proteins. As a result, we’ll get all sorts of symptoms in your body.”

So what’s the answer?

The key to resolving your health issues is NOT to determine which foods you’re reacting to in order to avoid them. Rather you need to focus on healing your gut lining, because this is the most likely root of your problem. This will also be your most cost-effective strategy, as allergy testing can be quite expensive.

“There are many testing methods developed now for food allergies and intolerances,” Dr. McBride says. “... [But] if you had enough money to test twice a day for two weeks in a row, you would discover that you react to everything you eat... The majority of practitioners who are experienced in this area give up on testing... They recommend focusing on healing and sealing your gut lining instead. Then these food allergies and intolerances will disappear, and you will be able to eventually start eating foods that you could not tolerate before.”

GAPS and Autoimmune Disease

Autoimmune disorders are a very common side effect of GAPS. Conventional medicine has identified about 200 different autoimmune conditions so far, and the list is continually growing.

“The testing in autoimmunity is fairly expensive, so not many people get tested,” Dr. McBride says. “But the more we test, the more we realize that pretty much every degenerative condition has got an autoimmune component. Why is that? Because 85 percent of your immune system is located in your digestive wall, in your gut wall, and the state of your gut flora has a direct and very profound effect on the way your immune system functions.

... Your immune system is a very hungry organ. It needs to be continuously fed... People with abnormal gut flora – GAPS people – do not digest and absorb their food properly, so they develop multiple nutritional deficiencies; their immune system is starving... At the same time, a river of toxicity is flowing from the gut into the bloodstream of these people, because all those pathogenic microbes sitting in their gut flora are converting the food that comes along into hundreds and hundreds of very toxic substances.

The immune system gets quite a lot of this toxicity, so... we have a poor immune system—it is malnourished; it is intoxicated; it is unbalanced, and, at the same time, it is challenged with a huge amount of work to do. Of course, it cannot function properly. Of course, it cannot react appropriately to various things. Autoimmunity is the result of that.”

Abnormal flora in your digestive tract can easily lead to overgrowth of:

• Pathogenic bacteria
• Pathogenic viruses
• Fungi
• Worms
• Protozoa

Once your gut lining begins to deteriorate, these disease-causing agents can be easily absorbed into your bloodstream and circulated throughout your body. Some of them have affinities for certain proteins, and will attach themselves to them. When that happens, it changes the three-dimensional shape of that protein molecule. When your immune system comes across this foreign-looking protein, it will attack it and begin producing antibodies against it.

“This mechanism is particularly at work in multiple sclerosis in patients. We have researched that quite a lot,” Dr. McBride says.

“Mercury, lead, aluminum, other toxic metals and organic molecules that contain this toxic metal have a particular propensity for getting stored in high-fat tissues such as your brain and the rest of your nervous system, particularly the myelin sheath on your nerves... These toxic metals target your brain and your nerves. But when they get accumulated in those high-fat tissues, these toxins attach themselves to proteins in your myelin, in the white matter of your brain, and other parts of your nervous system. Once they’ve accumulated, once they’ve attached themselves to those proteins, they change their three-dimensional structure. Then the immune system develops an antibody against your protein and your myelin.

That is the number one antibody, which is at work in multiple sclerosis. It is called a myelin-specific protein antibody. It’s an antibody which attacks proteins in your myelin... What the immune system is trying to do is it’s trying to clear out mercury, lead, and other toxic metals out of the nervous system, which got stored in there. Where do they come from? 99.9 percent of anything toxic in your body comes out in the digestive system.”

GAPS and Multiple Sclerosis

Interestingly, when your body is unable to clear a particular toxin on its own, it will invite and employ microbes from the environment to help clear these toxins.

“The microbes in the environment are not our enemies at all. They’re actually our allies. They’re our helpers. Your body employs them when it needs them,” Dr. McBride explains.

“If you have accumulated certain amount of mercury in your brain and in your nerves... your body might employ a virus... If you got a cold, that virus (many viruses target your nervous system) will go directly to those toxic patches in your brain and your nervous system and attack them. It will start gobbling it up... Of course, your immune system then joins in, trying to attack the virus. It joins in with inflammation, and you [begin to experience] symptoms of multiple sclerosis. You will get tingling. You will get numbness in your face or in your extremities. You might start wetting your bed, or you might get peripheral loss of vision for a while... That’s one of the first symptoms in multiple sclerosis.

in this situation, if you would just feed your immune system properly and leave the work for the immune system to complete, then these symptoms would last for a month or two, and then they would disappear, because... the virus will gobble up the [toxins] and your immune system will clear out the virus. Your nerves will recover naturally.”

Unfortunately, this is not what happens nowadays. Typically, as soon as people get tingling, numbness, and other symptoms, they rush to the doctor, who will immediately put them on some form of medication, which will typically have a dampening effect on the immune system. As a result, the viruses spread and become even more established, and the disease becomes chronic and permanent.

You have Natural Antibodies Against Virtually All Autoimmune Diseases...

“What people have to understand is that we all – 100 percent of humans – have in our bodies antibodies to deal with multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, lupus, or any other autoimmune condition,” Dr. McBride says.

It all begins in utero. As soon as the baby’s thymus develops, the proteins floating about in the bloodstream, which is shared between the mother and the baby, begin to educate the baby’s immune system, and allocate a particular responder cell to every protein encountered. Autoimmune conditions develop when your immune system attacks particular tissues or proteins in your body because they’ve been contaminated by toxins or some other environmental influence. And remember, this imbalance, this toxic influence, originates from your digestive system or gut wall.

“Autoimmunity is born in the gut. That’s where it comes from – your gut wall,” Dr. McBride says. “That happens because your gut flora is abnormal. In order to heal any autoimmune condition – whether it’s multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, lupus, alopecia, psoriasis, or anything else that has got an autoimmune component – you have to focus on healing and sealing your gut lining with the GAPS Nutritional Protocol. And you have to focus on... normalizing your gut flora. You have to drive out the pathogens from the gut flora and replace them with the beneficial flora. Then a lot of healing will happen...’

Unfortunately, conventional medicine is largely ignorant about this research, and does not view autoimmune disorders as digestive disorders, which Dr. McBride is convinced is the case.

The Importance of Fermented Foods

Did you know the number of bacteria in your body outnumber your cells by about 10 to 1? These bacteria in turn are comprised of both beneficial ones and harmful ones. The ideal balance is about 85 percent good bacteria and 15 percent bad. Maintaining this ideal ratio is what it’s all about when we’re talking about the importance of probiotics. It’s important to understand though that probiotics are not a new concept. The only thing that’s new is that you can take them in pill form. But historically, mankind has consumed large amounts of probiotics in the form of fermented and cultured foods, which were invented long before the advent of refrigeration and other forms of food preservation.

“Every traditional culture, when you look at their traditional diet, they ferment their foods. They fermented everything. You can ferment dairy, grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, meats, and fish. Everything can be fermented, and there were fermented beverages in every culture. When the cabbages were ripe in September, you made it a fermented cabbage. Perhaps for a month or two, you were eating fresh cabbage, but then for the rest of the year, 10 months of the year, you ate your cabbage in a fermented form. Quite a large percent of all the foods that people consume on a daily basis were fermented. And with every mouthful of these fermented foods you consume trillions of beneficial bacteria…”

Fermented foods not only give you a wider variety of beneficial bacteria, they also give you far more of them, so it’s a much more cost effective alternative. Here’s a case in point: It’s unusual to find a probiotic supplement containing more than 10 billion colony-forming units. But when my team actually tested fermented vegetables produced by probiotic starter cultures, they had 10 trillion colony-forming units of bacteria. Literally, one serving of vegetables was equal to an entire bottle of a high potency probiotic! So clearly, you’re far better off using fermented foods.

How the Fermentation Process Works

“Mother Nature is extremely wise and extremely kind. It populated all organic fruit and vegetables, the dust on our soils, and all plant matter with Lactobacilli. The fresh cabbage leaves, if it’s organically grown (not the one from chemical farming), will be covered in Lactobacilli—lacto-fermenting bacteria. You don’t need to add anything. You just chop it up. Add some salt in the initial stages. (The salt is added in the initial stage in order to stop putrefactive bacteria from multiplying.) Then as the Lactobacillus stop working and start multiplying, they produce lactic acid. That’s why they’re called Lactobacillus. That’s just lactic acid.

If you look at the research in lactic acid, it is one of the most powerful antiseptics. It kills off lots and lots of bacteria.... So as the lactic acid starts producing, it will kill off all those putrefactive and pathogenic microbes and preserve the food. It’s a great preservative... A good batch of sauerkraut can keep for five to six years without spoiling or rotting, as long as it is covered by its own juice.”

For instructions on how to ferment your own vegetables, which is easier than you might think to do at home, please listen to my previous interview with Caroline Barringer:

Video: Dr. Mercola Interviews Caroline Barringer

Download Interview Transcript

This anaerobic process (fermentation) does more than just preserve the food, however. It also makes the nutrients inside the food more bioavailable. For example, according to Dr. McBride, the amount of bioavailable vitamin C in sauerkraut is 20 times higher than in the same helping of fresh cabbage!

“This is because in the fresh cabbage, vitamin C is bound in the cellulose structure and various other molecules, and our digestive system is just not able to cleave it off and absorb it. Lots of it goes undigested and come out right out of you. So despite the fact that cabbage may be very rich in vitamin C, a lot of it you will not be able to absorb. But if you fermented that cabbage and made sauerkraut, all the vitamin C becomes bioavailable,” she explains.

How to Reduce Chances of “Healing Crisis”

There is one precaution that needs to be discussed here, and that is the potential for a so-called healing crisis, or what Dr. McBride refers to as a die-off reaction, provoked by the massive die-off of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other harmful pathogens by the reintroduction of massive quantities of probiotics. It can significantly worsen whatever health problem you’re experiencing, before you get better.

The reason for this is because when the probiotics kill off the pathogens, those pathogenic microbes release toxins. These toxins are what’s causing your problem to begin with; be it depression, panic attacks, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, or any other symptom. When a large amount of toxin is suddenly released, your symptoms will also suddenly increase.

“If you’ve never had fermented foods in your life, you need to start very carefully and very gradually,” Dr. McBride warns.

She recommends starting off with just ONE TEASPOON of fermented vegetable, such as sauerkraut, with ONE of your meals, and then wait for a couple of days to see how you react. If it’s manageable, you can have another helping, and gradually increase your portion.

“But if the die off is too much, then you need to stop. Let the die off subside, and then have a tiny amount of sauerkraut, or even just a teaspoon of juice from it first; not the cabbage itself. Then two teaspoons per day and so on, until enough die off happens in your body, and your gut flora has changed enough for you to be ready for having the cabbage itself.”

It’s important to realize that besides containing massive amounts of beneficial bacteria, fermented foods also contain many active enzymes, which act as extremely potent detoxifiers.

“Healing goes through two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward, and one step back,” Dr. McBride says. “But you will find that the next layer is smaller. The die off and the detox will not last as long as the previous one... We live in a toxic world, and many of us have accumulated layers and layers of toxicity in our bodies. The body will clean them out, but you will find that each layer will last shorter and not be as severe... Eventually, you will come to complete, radiant health. You will feel 100 percent healthy, no matter how ill you were before.”

More Information

You can find more information on Dr. McBride’s website: www.GAPS.me, and on her blog at www.doctor-natasha.com. She recently came back from Australia and New Zealand, where she trained 40 health practitioners to become certified GAPS practitioners. All GAPS practitioners are listed by country on her website.

If you're a doctor, nutritionist, dietician, osteopath, homeopath or other health practitioner and you're interested in becoming a certified GAPS practitioner, please see this link for more information.

Technorati Tags: GAPS,autoimmune disease,autism,probiotics,fermented foods,gut flora,neurological disorders,immune system,detoxifiers

The Case for Healthy Bowels: The Vital Connection Between Your Gut and Your Health

How healthy are your bowels?

Does that sound silly? It shouldn't. In fact, improving and maintaining the condition of your bowels is serious business.

Chances are you have digestive issues. And you're not alone. According to recent studies conducted by the Dannon Company in 2007, nearly 90 percent of Americans deal with occasional problems with digestion.¹ Seventy percent of women say digestive concerns negatively impact their lives every single day.

Digestive concerns aren't a fun topic of conversation. In fact, many people have trouble talking to their own doctor about their concerns. Others suffer in silent embarrassment, worry and discomfort over the rumbling and gurgling -- the cramps, bloating and gas. The constipation. Or diarrhea. 

The fact is that if your digestive tract isn't operating efficiently, you have more to worry about than just your colon. When you carry around too few friendly bacteria and an overabundance of the bad stuff, your body doesn't make use of all the nutrients you're feeding it.

Your healthy diet won't matter, nor will the nutritional supplements you take. If your digestive system isn't operating efficiently, you aren't getting the full benefit of your good nutritional habits. Not only is your health at risk, but you're throwing money away on high-quality food and nutritional supplements that your body can't make use of.

The good news?

Improving the health of your digestive system is often a simple, straightforward process of achieving the right balance of good and bad gut bacteria. It's a matter of moving the right bacteria, in the right amounts, into permanent residence in your digestive tract.

There are various ways to get the job done, some of which will be discussed later on in this report.

Three very positive changes occur when your good-to-bad intestinal bacteria ratio is brought into balance:

1. Your digestive symptoms diminish or disappear, leaving you comfortable and free to enjoy every day to the fullest.
2. Your body begins to use all the good food and nutritional supplements you feed it.
3. Your immune system de-stresses and is better equipped to fight off disease, contributing to a longer and healthier life.

A few interesting facts about intestinal bacteria:²

1. Your body is home to about one hundred trillion bacteria.
2. There are 500 different species of bacteria comprising that population.
3. The ratio of good to bad bacteria is a critical measure in determining your overall health. The ideal balance is 85 percent good and 15 percent bad.
4. One of the jobs of good bacteria is to control the growth of bad bacteria by competing for nutrition and attachment sites in your colon.

Chances are you have a good idea... a gut feeling... whether your digestive system is working properly. What you probably don't know, though, is how things got out of whack to begin with.

If your colon has been suddenly overtaken by bad bacteria, it likely started in one of two³ ways.

1. Have you taken a course of antibiotics recently?

Antibiotics kill off both bad and good bacteria. If you don't have enough good bacteria in your colon to control the growth of the bad guys, the balance will tip in favor of unfriendly bacteria.

1. You've contracted disease-carrying bad guys such as the Clostridium difficile bacterium, or yeasts... or fungi. Perhaps even parasites.

But what if your digestive issues are as old as your memory or have gradually worsened over the years?

Some scientists are studying the possibility that we've taken the use of anti-bacterial products too far.⁴ They suspect that modern hygiene regimens result in too little exposure to helpful bacteria -- bacteria that protect us from allergies and other faulty immune responses.

Bacterial imbalance in your gut can be worsened by processed foods and foods that have been pasteurized or sterilized.

Other factors affecting your good-to-bad bacteria ratio include where you live, your age, your stress level, and any health issues you may have.

The friendly bacteria that reside in your gut have a number of very important jobs to do.⁵

• Digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates.

Without good gut bacteria, your body cannot absorb certain undigested starches, fiber, and sugars. The friendly bacteria in your digestive tract convert these carbohydrates into primary sources of important energy and nutrients.

• Keeping bad bacteria under control.

Simply stated, friendly bacteria compete with the bad guys for room and board in your digestive tract. Since beneficial bacteria are more at home there, they win most of the battles for nutrition and attachment sites within your colon.

The good bacteria tell your body how much nutrition they need and your body responds by supplying just that much and no more -- so that any excess bad bacteria are starved out. The helpful bacteria also produce a substance that kills harmful microbes.

• Preventing allergies.

Friendly bacteria train your immune system to distinguish between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately. This important function prevents your immune system from overreacting to non-harmful antigens, which is the genesis of allergies.

• Providing vital support to your immune system.

Beneficial bacteria have a lifelong, powerful affect on your gut's immune system and your systemic immune system as well. The bacteria play a crucial role the development and operation of the mucosal immune system in your digestive tract. They also aid in the production of antibodies to pathogens.

About 80 percent of the cells of your immune system are located in your digestive tract. With that in mind, it's easy to see why the health of your colon dictates your overall health.

When gut bacteria is out of balance not only is your digestion and feeling of well-being compromised, so is your immune system -- and therefore your ability to defend against serious illness and disease.

The list of conditions and diseases thought to be directly or indirectly related to a shortage of friendly gut bacteria is long and growing longer. It includes the following:

Gut-related issues:

1. Infectious diarrhea
2. Intestinal infection caused by the Clostridium difficile bacterium
3. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
4. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn's Disease)
5. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacterial infection which causes ulcers and chronic stomach inflammation
6. Leaky gut (a compromised intestinal wall that allows undigested foods and toxins to pass into the bloodstream, triggering an inappropriate immune system response)
7. Lactose intolerance

Surgery-related:

1. Pouchitis (a condition that sometimes results from removal of the colon)
2. Post surgical infections

Infections-related:

1. Stomach and respiratory infections in children in daycare settings
2. Urinary and female genital tract infections

Skin-related:

1. Skin infections
2. Atopic dermatitis (eczema)
3. Acne
4. Autism

Other:

• Premenstrual syndrome
• Bladder cancer
• Diabetes
• Tooth decay and gum disease

According to Dr. Martin Blaser, a pioneer in gut microbe research, chronic inflammatory conditions -- diseases like lupus, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis -- are among the most challenging medical issues of our day.

Blaser, a NYU Medical Center microbiologist, believes that these diseases could be genetic or autoimmune in nature. OR... they could be a response to the gradual changes in gut flora that are the result of our modern lifestyles -- the drugs we take, the food we eat, and our growing obsession with all things anti-bacterial.

Helicobacter pylori, a strain of bacteria once present in all human guts, has mostly disappeared in the West.

The good news: H. pylori plays a major role in inflammations associated with peptic ulcers and certain stomach cancers, so it appears at first glance that eradication of this microbe is movement in the right direction. However...

The bad news: H. pylori has a benefit -- it actually reduces acid reflux. Acid reflux disease is serious in and of itself, but did you know that it's also implicated in both asthma and cancer of the esophagus?

Dr. Blaser, an expert in H. pylori, links the decline of the strain to the dramatic rise in acid reflux disease and associated conditions. Blaser also points to a connection between H. pylori depletion and obesity -- the bacteria help regulate production of hormones that act on appetite and metabolism.

The theory behind the dramatic rise in allergies and autoimmune diseases holds that we are actually suffering from a lack of bacterial exposure in our modern-day environments.

Scientists believe that early contact with microbes teaches our bodies to respond appropriately to pathogens later in life. It is a lack of exposure, according to experts, that is contributing to a rise in ineffective immune systems.

How attached you are to speed and convenience when it comes to making food choices?

Modern day convenience foods -- foods that are heavily processed and often loaded with sugar -- are essentially the equivalent of pesticides in farming.

Think about it. Pesticides are designed to quickly and conveniently kill plant bugs. What they also unavoidably kill, however, are the microorganisms in the soil, and ultimately, the soil itself.

In much the same way, processed and prepackaged foods are designed to quickly and conveniently kill your hunger or thirst, or both.

But convenience foods are often so preservative-dense and nutrient-deficient that they do more harm than good inside your body. Among other things, they promote the growth of pathogens -- bad bugs -- thereby hampering the growth of beneficial bacteria in your gut. And you know where that leads -- right?

What, exactly, are processed foods?

Simply put, they are foods altered from their natural state.⁶ They might be canned, frozen, or dehydrated. They frequently contain trans fats, and high levels of sodium and sugar. A few processed foods can be healthier than others -- 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices, for example. Or frozen vegetables.

Processed foods to be avoided include:

• boxed meals (macaroni and cheese, hamburger and tuna 'helpers,' etc.)
• chips and other high-calorie snack foods
• foods made with refined white flour (white breads, pastas, rice)
• frozen dinners
• high-fat canned foods (spaghetti, for example)
• packaged cakes and cookies
• processed meats (sausage, hot dogs, bologna and other packaged lunch meats)
• sodium-laden canned foods
• sugared cereals

If you're planning to wean yourself from convenience foods, start by eliminating processed meats. They're the worst of the worst and are thought to increase your risk of certain types of cancers.

Even though the average modern American ingests over a half-cup of sugar every day -- 175 pounds per year -- it may surprise you to know that sugar is not a food.⁷ And your body doesn't like much of it since it has trouble digesting the stuff and making use of it.

Sugar promotes the growth of disease-causing yeasts and fungi. Symptoms of a yeast (candida) overgrowth include fatigue, lethargy, depression, irritability, headaches, problems concentrating, muscle weakness, recurrent vaginal and urinary tract infections, athlete's foot, jock itch, persistent heartburn, indigestion, constipation, swollen joints, nasal congestion and sore throat.⁸

Like processed foods, sugar encourages your bad gut bacteria to grow, flourish, and overwhelm your digestive tract.

And that's just for starters.

Sugar in all its forms is the number one source of calories in the American diet. It is also the number one reason 66 percent of Americans are overweight, and half of that group is obese.

The list of sugar consumption-related health problems -- over and above those associated with weight gain and obesity -- is long and impressive. Conditions and diseases that affect every square inch of you, inside and out, can be directly or indirectly the result of excessive sugar intake.

From problems with your eyesight to the very structure of your DNA -- from tooth decay to fluid retention to Alzheimer's to cancer -- sugar can play a role.

What you should avoid:

• All artificial sweeteners, such as: NutraSweet, Equal, Splenda, sucralose and others
• The obvious sweet and dessert-type stuff -- candy, gum, cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, ice cream, etc.
• Cane syrup
• Corn syrup and corn sugar
• Invert sugar
• All the -- oses, including dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, and maltose

In case you don't have reason enough yet to re-evaluate your sugar intake, here's another twist in the sugar-obesity connection. Researchers have discovered a difference in gut bacteria between the overweight and those of normal weight.⁹

In the obese, a bacterial strain known as firmicutes is found in much greater abundance than in leaner individuals. In those of normal weight, the bacteroidetes strain is in greater supply.

The firmicutes bacteria appear to be much better than the bacteroidetes strain at turning calories from complex sugars into fat. But as those who are overweight begin to slim down, the bacterial balance shifts from predominantly firmicutes to predominantly bacteroidetes.

Despite the fact that modern day lifestyles and habits have contributed to our digestive issues and related health concerns, the answer is not to turn back the clock.

There are steps you can take -- foods and supplements you can consume -- that will help to re-balance the bacteria in your digestive system and maintain it at an optimum level of health.

When your good-to-bad bacteria ratio is ideal (85 percent good to 15 percent bad), your digestive symptoms will subside. You can relax knowing that you are giving your immune system the support it needs to respond effectively to serious threats to your well-being.

In contrast to the pesticide effect of processed foods and sugar on the state of your health, fermented foods act as natural fertilizers, if you will -- providing nutrients and promoting growth of healthy bacteria in your digestive tract.

For ages, humans have used fermented foods to improve intestinal health. In fact, people of Bulgarian and Asian descent are known for their longevity -- and their consumption of fermented foods.

Traditionally fermented foods contain living micro-organisms that replenish the friendly bacteria in your digestive tract.

A few of the foods in this group include:

• Fermented milk
• Natto
• Miso
• Kimchee
• Tempeh
• Kefir
• Yogurt
• Olives
• Sauerkraut
• Pickles

It is important to note that traditionally fermented foods are not the equivalent of the same foods, commercially processed.¹⁰ The only way to insure you're consuming the real thing is to prepare your own fermented foods at home.

Try a Kefir Cocktail

Kefir, which means ‘feel good’, is a traditionally fermented food rich in enzymes, beneficial yeast and gut-friendly bacteria. It is similar in consistency to liquid yogurt and when prepared correctly is refreshing, energizing drink.

Kefir provides all the benefits of a probiotic – and much more.  It’s considered superior therapeutic nutrition, rich in many of the minerals and essential amino acids your body requires for optimum health.  And Kefir not only contains strains of friendly bacteria that yogurt does not – it also helps to colonize your digestive tract.

Another benefit of Kefir is that all lactose is digested in the culturing process, making it safe for many who are lactose-intolerant.  If you find that you do have trouble digesting the milk Kefir, you can substitute coconut juice.

Kefir is easy to make at home.

Combine Kefir granules with your favorite milk or coconut juice and let the mixture ferment.  Both temperature and time play a role in determining the consistency and taste that is most appealing to you.  Shoot for a creamy texture – a little thicker than milk.  Refrigerate and drink a toast daily to your good health.

If you don’t have the time or interest in experimenting with traditionally fermented foods, don’t despair.  There is an alternative.

The word probiotics means 'for life.' The dietary supplement was invented by Elie Metchnikoff, a Russian physiologist and Nobel prize winner. Metchnikoff was the first to suggest that consuming acid-producing live organisms maintained the vitality of your large intestine, leading to a longer and healthier life.¹²

Like those found in traditionally fermented foods, the live micro-organisms in probiotic supplements help to replenish and maintain the friendly bacteria in your intestinal tract. Good bacteria drive down the pH of your gut, which creates an inhospitable environment for bad bacteria. The result is that the good guys flourish and the bad guys are kept in check.

How often should you take a probiotic supplement? Taken daily, probiotics will help ease any current digestive upsets you're experiencing and will also act to maintain the bacterial balance in your gut longer term.

What you should look for in a probiotic supplement:

• No need for refrigeration
• Long shelf life
• Can survive stomach acid so that it reaches your small intestine
• Stays resident in your digestive tract long enough to be effective

There is mounting evidence that probiotic supplements can be beneficial for everyone -- from infants to the elderly -- for a wide range of symptoms, conditions and diseases.

Infants and children

Probiotics have gained recognition as an effective treatment for diarrhea in children. They have also been used in newborns and infants to repair and support the reliability of their developing digestive systems.

What you might not know is that a number of studies are planned or underway to test the benefit of probiotics in treating a wide variety of other conditions and childhood health issues:

1. Probiotics are being considered in the treatment of children with HIV/AIDS.¹³
2. A study is currently underway to see if probiotic supplements can prevent asthma in children.¹⁴
3. Still another study was conducted to gauge the impact of probiotic supplementation on the oral health of children.¹⁵
4. A European study reported good results in achieving relief of colic in infants.¹⁶
5. There is evidence that probiotics can prevent eczema in infants.¹⁷
6. The beneficial effects of probiotics on GI symptoms related to autism have also been studied.¹⁸

Women We've already discussed the benefits probiotics can provide to the vast majority of women who suffer from digestive distress. However, there are a number of other health issues specific to women that may also be positively impacted by probiotic supplementation. Among them:

1. Urogenital infections¹⁹
2. Immune system support during pregnancy and breastfeeding²⁰

Aging Boomers and the elderly

Around age 60, there is a significant drop in the number of bacteria in our guts.²¹

People over 60 have 1,000 times less friendly bacteria than younger adults. The drop in helpful bacteria increases susceptibility to bowel disorders and infections. Infections may necessitate treatment by antibiotics, which further decimate the good bug count... and you see where this can head.

Clearly, a daily probiotic supplement is an excellent way for older adults to replenish and maintain friendly intestinal bacteria.

Also as you age, your cellular immunity declines.²² (These are the white cells that are absolutely critical to your ability to fight infection and life-threatening diseases such as cancer.)

A nine-week New Zealand study of seniors 63 to 84 indicated that consumption of the probiotic strain known as Bifidobacterium lactisresults in increases in both the number and disease-fighting capacity of white cells. And in fact, the greatest improvement was seen in seniors with the worst immune system responses prior to the study.

Dr. Joseph E. Pizzorno, Jr., physician and former member of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, uses probiotics to treat irritable bowel syndrome, acne, eczema -- even PMS.

Says Pizzorno, "It's unusual for me to see a patient with a chronic disease that doesn't respond to probiotics."

Two things are clear:

1. Sufficient amounts of friendly bacteria are fundamental to your good health. It's impossible to be optimally healthy if your gut's bacterial balance is out of whack. 
2. Your lifestyle -- your diet, medications, the antibacterial cleansers you use, and other factors outside your control -- are working together to compromise the number of lifesaving friendly bacteria in your digestive system.

Maintaining a good balance of gut bacteria through diet and regular probiotic supplementation is one of the most important things you can do to increase your chances of remaining healthy and vital for a lifetime.

Source:  Dr. Mercola

Posted:  TrueHealthIsTrueWealth

Checkout:  Sanoviv Medical Center & TaiSlim - The Weight Is Over

7 Steps to Controlling Crohn's Disease

For people with digestive issues, life tends to revolve around what you can and can't eat and how far away from the nearest bathroom you dare to venture. That's certainly the case with Crohn's disease, which along with ulcerative colitis is one of the two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease. Symptoms include wrenching stomach pain soon after eating (typically in the lower right side) and relentless diarrhea. It's relatively rare, but a new research finding suggests that people with Crohn's are seven times more apt to carry bacteria that cause a related gastrointestinal disease in cattle. The bacteria -- Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis or MAP -- has been found in milk in American supermarkets, and some studies have found it in meat and cheese, raising the possibility that it may be passed up the food chain to people.

IT'S GUT WRENCHING

Whether or not bacteria such as MAP cause disease in the intestinal tract is largely a matter of threshold, explains Daily Health News contributing editor Andrew L. Rubman, ND. A person with a healthy, intact digestive tract will likely be able to resist infectious bacteria. But the large intestine is the body's center of immunity, and when the digestive tissue becomes damaged and inflamed, it becomes more susceptible to invasive microorganisms, be it MAP or the increasingly infectious species of E. coli, Salmonella, and other causes of food poisoning. If the balance of healthy versus harmful bacteria is disrupted and/or tissue is damaged, people become less able to resist disease and it becomes more difficult to treat. Dr. Rubman and I talked more about Crohn's disease in general, and about natural support for people with this problem.

Little is known about the causes of Crohn's disease, although family history, an overactive immune system and inflammation response, and environmental triggers are all believed to play a role. It differs from ulcerative colitis (which causes similar symptoms) because inflammation is deeper in the intestinal wall and also potentially affects the entire gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus. Ulcerative colitis primarily affects the colon and small intestine. There's no known cure for Crohn's and remedies offered by conventional medicine are riddled with problems. In September 2008, the FDA ordered stronger warnings for common Crohn's drugs -- infliximab (Remicade), adalimumab (Humira) and certolizumab pegol (Cimzia) -- after an association with the risk of developing fungal and yeast infections such as Candidiasis was found. Because conventional treatments have significant side effects -- even when they work, and they don't always -- more than half of people with Crohn's disease turn to natural therapies.

NATURAL SOLUTIONS

Since Crohn's disease affects different people in different ways, Dr. Rubman individualizes treatment for each patient, working in collaboration with his/her gastroenterologist -- a strategy he suggests for all Crohn's patients since a combination of natural and mainstream treatments seems to be most effective.

Dr. Rubman's natural solutions include...

• Probiotics. Health requires maintaining a balance between good and bad bacteria in the digestive tract. Poor diet, stress or a digestive disorder such as Crohn's can result in a takeover of the system by "bad" bacteria, resulting in symptoms such as diarrhea and gas. To restore a proper floral balance, Dr. Rubman frequently prescribes a seven- to 10-day course of a probiotic supplement composed of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidus. However, he notes that it is important to have a stool test before treatment, in order to ensure the proper probiotic formula is administered.
  
  
• Fish oil. A small British study found that fish oil taken with antioxidants may help reduce the inflammation associated with Crohn's disease. Eat fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel or sardines two or three times a week. In addition, Dr. Rubman often prescribes one or more grams of an EPA-DHA fish oil capsule or liquid daily.
  
  
• Vitamin B-12. When the bowel has been damaged by Crohn's disease, it may no longer effectively absorb B-12. If you are tired and rundown, ask your doctor to test you. Dr. Rubman prefers to prescribe sublingual B-12 rather than B-12 shots. "It's as effective, less expensive and certainly more comfortable," he notes.
  
  
• Acupuncture. Acupuncture has traditionally been used to treat inflammatory bowel disease in China and is meeting with increasing mainstream acceptance in the US. A small German study suggests that acupuncture may help improve quality of life and general well-being in people with Crohn's disease by modulating symptoms and may even result in a small decrease in inflammatory markers in the blood. Find an acupuncturist in your area at the Web site of the American Association of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine at http://www.aaaomonline.org/45000.asp.
  
  
• Focus on whole foods, fresh fruits and vegetables. A diet that contains lots of processed and fast foods -- like white bread, sugary desserts, etc. -- stresses the bowel and may trigger inflammation and worsen symptoms of Crohn's disease. Disease-causing microorganisms thrive on foods like these. Many people with Crohn's report that they feel better when they eliminate or significantly cut back on processed foods and place a greater emphasis on whole foods, fresh fruits and vegetables and moderate amounts of protein. Avoid milk and dairy products as well as trans fats, as they can also irritate the intestinal track.
  
  
• Decompress. Many people with Crohn's find that their symptoms worsen during stressful periods. If you find this to be the case, take steps to effectively manage stress. Do whatever works best for you -- whether that is yoga or meditation or dancing or tennis.
  
  
• Stay away from colonics. Many people are tempted to turn to this "quick fix," but Dr. Rubman warns that colonics can backfire and worsen symptoms. The large intestine requires a healthy balance of microorganisms to function properly, and colonics indiscriminately wipe out the good with the bad under the thinly supported premise of detoxification.

To feel more in control of your disease and your life, learn more about Crohn's and connect with others who are going through the same things you are. Join message boards, chats, blogs and support groups (online or offline) at Web sites such as www.ccfa.org, or those listed at http://www.crohns-disease-and-stress.com/support.html and http://ibdcrohns.about.com/od/onlinesupport/a/supportgroups.htm.

Acknowledging that a diagnosis of Crohn's disease is never good news, Dr. Rubman urges those who have the problem to be optimistic -- it can often be controlled without drastic drugs or a draconian diet, and quality of life need not suffer.

Source(s):

Andrew L. Rubman, ND, director, Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines, Southbury, Connecticut.

American Society for Microbiology, http://www.asm.org/