by Oasis Wellness Partners on February 4, 2020
Everyone has ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria inside of their body – in fact, we have over 100 trillion bacteria in our guts alone! The good bacteria in your body help aid digestion and change the food you consume into the energy and nutrients you need to thrive.
However, factors like stress, poor diet and intolerences can kill off these good bacteria and leave you with too much of the bad stuff, leading to a number of digestive issues, including food allergies and other deficiencies.
Adding healthy probiotics to your diet does so much more than just ensure optimal gut health – probiotics are a big part of achieving overall health and wellbeing. In fact, increasing your probiotic intake can help:
The choices of food you eat can directly impact your gut health. Choosing unhealthy foods and beverages, such as fried foods, heavily processed foods and excessive alcohol, can damage and reduce, and sometimes eradicate, the good bacteria that we want to have in our digestive system.
Using food to increase your probiotic intake can be a great way to get those love cultures! By eating cultured or fermented foods such as kombucha, kimchi, turmeric, yogurt or sauerkraut, your gut will be getting what it needs to help healthy bacteria thrive.
Using a supplement can have some advantages: you can get multiple strains of bacteria and can sometimes receive more good bacteria than you can from eating certain foods.
However, not all probiotic supplements are created equally. When choosing a supplement, remember these tips:
Choose a supplement with more than 4-5 strains. Each strain has a different function and the more strains you have, the better chance you have of tackling any issue in the digestive system.
Probiotic bacteria actually work by forming colonies and you need a lot of probiotics to do it. Supplements are sold by how many billion bacteria are present. For instance, if the probiotic supplement says ’50 billion’ that’s how many colony forming units, otherwise known as CFUs are in the supplement.
Antibiotics can compromise the digestive system. If you have recently taken antibiotics, start with a probiotic that has a higher CFU and wait a few hours between taking your antibiotic and your probiotic supplement to protect the bacteria flora of your gut.
At Oasis Wellness, we carry a top of the line Probiotic (Innate Response Formulas Flora 20-14 Ultra Strength) that can repair your gut and improve your immunity. Give us a call in Scarborough, Maine to get yourself a bottle—your body will thank you! (207) 883-5549.