These days, you can't turn on the television, go on the internet, or read an article about health without hearing about gut health or having to take a probiotic. But how do you know if you really even need one in the first place? With all the hype that's out there? How do you know what to believe? I’m going to cut through all of that hype, give it to you straight, and break down the seven signs that you might need to be taking a probiotic.
What Are Probiotics?
To understand if you need a probiotic, you must first understand what a probiotic is and how it works in your body. Simply put, probiotics are good bacteria that occur in your gut, and they aid in the digestion and nutritional absorption, so they help break down the food that we're eating, and they also help absorb the nutrients that are within those foods. But that's not all they do.
They even help with the immune system and help keep infections under control. They play a really important role in your overall health so it's really important to pay attention to them. But here's the key. You must have a proper amount of good bacteria in your gut for these things to occur. Too little good bacteria, and way too much bad bacteria can have a significant negative impact on your overall health.
Reasons You Need Probiotics
Taking Antibiotics
Antibiotics kill bacteria that are within your body whenever you take them. Now, that's good if you have bad bacteria that's trying to harm you, but antibiotics are what we call non-discriminate, they will indiscriminately kill both good bacteria and bad bacteria within your body.
While the antibiotic may save your life from a harmful infection, it also kills off your good bacteria, which is often referred to by scientists as normal flora. So if you have taken an antibiotic, it's pretty likely that a good population of your normal flora was killed off in the process and it needs to be replaced. The fastest way to do that is not by taking yogurt, that's such a minute amount compared to what you can get through a high quality nutritional probiotic supplement.
Migraines
Do you suffer from regular migraines? Some migraines are caused by something called leaky gut syndrome. It's a condition that occurs when there's not enough good bacteria in your gut. Good bacteria work as gatekeepers. They allow good nutrients from our food to pass through our intestines into our bloodstream. They also keep toxins that are harmful from passing through the intestinal wall and into our bloodstream.
When there's an overgrowth of bad bacteria or there's not enough good bacteria, the intestinal wall becomes what we call leaky, and it allows things that shouldn't pass through to enter into the bloodstream. These things can often trigger things like migraine headaches that are unresponsive to other treatments. I've had patients that have suffered for many, many years with migraine headaches and have been unresponsive to other treatments, have their headaches and their migraines disappear by simply adopting a nutritionally clean lifestyle and adding in a probiotic supplement. So if that's something you're dealing with, that may be something to consider.
Skin Conditions
Do you have skin conditions? Are you experiencing hives, eczema, psoriasis? These are all signs that you may have a problem with the balance in your gut bacteria. Remember, good bacteria are the gatekeepers to keep toxins in other harmful materials from getting into your bloodstream. When there's a lack of this good bacteria, the toxins enter into the bloodstream. Your skin is your body's largest organ, and when necessary, it'll be used as a way to get rid of those toxins which are often seen in things like rashes and eczema and psoriasis. So if you're experiencing those things, a probiotic definitely would be a positive thing to add into your repertoire.
Digestive Issues
This one may seem obvious to most people, but surprisingly it's often missed. And that's digestive issues. Irritable bowel disease, otherwise known as IBS or painful or excessive gas, bloating, nausea after eating, are all signs that you likely have an imbalance in your normal flora. Adding a probiotic may eliminate the symptoms and allow you to avoid other expensive or invasive treatments, and it's really easy to do.
Sugar Cravings
Do you crave sugar? Bad bacteria thrive on sugar and not just the white sugar, but anything that turns to sugar in your body. Carbohydrates fall into this category. If you're finding yourself constantly craving sugary sweet foods, you might actually have an overgrowth of bad bacteria or a lack of good bacteria. In either event, eliminating the sugary foods, adding in a probiotic might be the right answer for you and clear these things right up.
Yeast Infections and UTIs
Are you someone who gets yeast infections or urinary tract infections regularly? If the answer is yes, it may be a sign that you have an imbalance in your gut. Cutting out sugar, eliminating the bad bacteria and adding in a probiotic might eliminate or significantly reduce the frequency of those symptoms, and it's something that's really simple and easy to add in.
Illness
Are you someone who gets sick regularly? There may be a multitude of things at play here, but one thing I found most common in clinical practice was that the folks who are getting sick regularly, when all the other people around them were not, were not getting the proper nutrition through their diet. Your immune system needs to have proper nutrients in order to function. Of course, I'd recommend high quality multivitamin of vitamin D and an Omega-3 for these cases but remember, it's not what you take it's what you absorb. You can take all the best vitamins and nutrients in the world, but if your gut flora is imbalanced, you're not going to break it down and absorb it properly. So it's imperative that you have a good abundance of good bacteria and that's where probiotics come in. Probiotics help break down the food and the supplements that you're taking, extract and then absorb the nutrients into your bloodstream so it can be used to promote a higher functioning immune system. Sometimes it can be just as simple as that.
If you like a good source for a high quality nutritional supplement, whether it's a probiotic, multivitamin, a vitamin D plus K, any of those things, you can go to Davis Nutrition.
Until next time, remember, health is by choice, not by chance.
