Increase Your Intake Of Fiber
You can support your probiotics supplement with the right diet, beginning with an increased intake of fiber. Fiber does a lot of good for your gut health:
- It acts like a broom, sweeping toxic by-products and body waste out.
- Fiber can make you feel fuller for longer periods, which is necessary since some antibiotics can leave you feeling hungry.
- The insoluble fiber makes an excellent source for prebiotics.
Restoring your gut flora with fiber means eating whole foods as often as possible. Some great sources for fiber are grains, nuts, and crunchy vegetables. You may also supplement your fiber intake with BIOHM Colon Cleanser. It contains a blend of extracts to help get your gut off to a clean start.
Ways To Restore Your Gut After Antibiotics
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6 minute read.
Maintaining proper balance of healthy gut flora the complex community of microorganisms that live in the digestive tracts is a crucial, yet widely overlooked component of human health. While the inception of antibiotics has lengthened lifespans, our excessive and often unnecessary use of these medications account for adverse, long-term health consequences. Antibiotic literally translates as against life, and their objective is to eliminate the bad bacteria that is responsible for your illness. However, antibiotics are not selective as to which bacteria they annihilate, and as a result they also kill the good bacteria. This is important because these beneficial bacteria support your immune system, protect you from disease and infection, help you digest and process food, aid in nutrient absorption and eliminate waste. We now know that at least 70% of our immune system resides within our gut. Unfortunately, after a course of antibiotics the natural balance between beneficial and pathogenic bacteria is compromised. So what can you do to repair and restore this imbalance following a course of antibiotics? Consider the following recommendations:
Prebiotics To Help Restore Gut Health After Antibiotics
To help boost the effectiveness of taking probiotics after antibiotics, you should also take prebiotics. Prebiotics are a type of fiber that act as a food source for good bacteria in your gut.
The British Journal of Nutrition reported that prebiotics help to strengthen the gut against pathogens. Prebiotics have a positive impact on the health of the large intestine in humans.
For example, the prebiotic supplement galacto-oligosaccharides has been shown to help prevent the negative impact of taking amoxicillin on your gut. The prebiotic helped increase the activity of bifidobacteria and improve gut health.
Other studies have proved that prebiotics like fructooligosaccharides can help prevent various gastrointestinal infections. These can also help good gut bacteria strains such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium to flourish in the gut.
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Consume Fermented Foods While Taking Antibiotics
Many fermented foods contain probiotics and can help to restore normal gut flora that has been disrupted by antibiotics. Here are a few of the best probiotic-foods.
Yogurt. You can eat raw yogurt when taking antibiotics because it contains strains of healthy bacteria. One study found that people who consume yogurt have more Bifidobacterium in their gut. Other studies have shown that raw yogurt containing Lactobacillus casei can positively influence gastrointestinal health. Yogurt is also one of the best foods for treating yeast infection.
Some studies seem to indicate that calcium-enriched foods may inhibit the absorption of certain medications. However, this has not been proved with calcium-rich dairy products when taking moxifloxacin.
Kefir. This is a fermented milk drink that contains many types of good gut bacteria. Several studies have shown that kefir has antimicrobial, antitumor and anticarcinogenic activity. Consuming kefir can also boost your immune system and improve lactose digestion.
Kimchi. Another probiotic food you can take after antibiotics is kimchi. Kimchi is made by fermenting vegetables with probiotic lactic acid bacteria. Studies have shown that kimchi contains probiotic properties that have a positive effect on your gut health and immune system.
So What Are Prebiotics
Prebiotics are compounds that help beneficial gut microorganisms grow and survive.
Prebiotic foods contain complex carbohydrates that cant be digested and dietary fibres that resist digestive processes in the stomach and small intestine.
They pass undigested into the large bowel where they are fermented by the healthy good bacteria.
To be called a prebiotic, they need to undergo the processes above, and be shown in clinical trials to selectively improve the microorganism composition in the gut.
Not all dietary fibres are prebiotic. Common ones include complex carbohydrates called fructo-oligosaccharides, inulin and resistant starch.
You can find foods at the supermarket with added prebiotics, but non-digestible carbohydrates occur naturally in many everyday foods, including:
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grains: barley, rye bread, rye crackers, pasta, gnocchi, couscous, wheat bran, wheat bread, oats
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legumes: chickpeas, lentils, red kidney beans, baked beans, soybeans
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vegetables: artichokes, asparagus, beetroot, chicory, fennel bulb, garlic, green peas, leek, onion, shallots, spring onion, snow peas, sweetcorn, savoy cabbage
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fruit: nectarines, white peaches, persimmon, tamarillo, watermelon, rambutan, grapefruit, pomegranate, dates, figs
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nuts: cashews, pistachios.
Additional sources of resistant starch include under-ripe bananas, cooked and cooled rice, cornflour, cooked and cooled potatoes.
For babies, breast milk is naturally rich in oligosaccharides.
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How Antibiotics Affect The Gut
While antibiotics have vital health benefits in certain situations, they also alter the microbiome and can change the gut even after a single dose.
Not only do antibiotics suppress bacterial infections, they can also cause an immediate decline in beneficial bacterial strains like lactobacillus and bifidobacteria. In some cases, they can also cause a rise in clostridium, a harmful type of bacteria that lives in the gut.
Most antibiotics can also cause long-term changes to the bacterial landscape of the gut. While the gut may return to normal on its own without assistance, in many cases, it can take an average of four weeks after a single dose of antibiotics for the gut to begin this process. If more doses are used, or frequent antibiotics are taken, the gut can experience permanent changes unless interventions are used.
The potential even exists for antibiotics to change the gut so that bacterial groups remain altered for two or more years, including the addition of resistant strains to the gut, which can be problematic for future health. Antibiotics can cause damage in mitochondria the energy-producing powerhouses of cells.
Beyond just the gut, antibiotics can also cause damage in mitochondria the energy-producing powerhouses of cells. Without healthy mitochondria, its possible for your whole body to feel run down and short on energy.
Start Eating Bone Broth
I know, it may sound weird or gross if you are not familiar with bone broth. But believe me, bone broth tastes great and it is an incredibly nutrient dense food.
Homemade bone broth is chocked full of minerals, gut-soothing gelatin, and amino acids such as glycine and proline which provide several benefits to your skin and joints. Gelatin is thought to sooth the digestive track and improve nutrient absorption.
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Take Probiotics And Prebiotics To Decrease The Impact Of Your Treatment
Probiotics may help the good and beneficial bacteria to grow back quicker than it would without probiotic supplements. By taking probiotic supplements, you can help to keep one strain of gut flora from taking over. Restoring gut flora after antibiotics are essential as you need a diverse gut microbiome to remain healthy. When youre taking a treatment, you can kill bad bacteriaand sometimes the good ones. You may also disturb the functions of the remaining microorganisms, and the disruption can lead to digestive symptoms. You need probiotics to help increase the population of colony-forming units in the gut. Consider it as replenishing what youre losing. Meanwhile, prebiotics can help feed the remaining microorganisms in your digestive tract. Its like helping them survive and thrive despite the treatment. There are many sources for probiotics, but the best probiotic is one that also contains fungi such as BIOHM Probiotics. Many people are not aware they have fungi in their gut too, along with viruses and bacteria.
Ways To Strengthen Your Microbiome
Tags: Microbiome, Nutrition, Pre & Probiotics
The microbiome consists of TRILLIONS of living microbes inside your gut. These little mood elevators work around the clock producing happy-chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine. Making sure that you have a diverse and thriving microbiome can help not only with your mental health, but can prevent things like the urge to over-eat, and can help regulate your digestive system.
Below, we have compiled a list of ways you can ensure that you have a happy and healthy microbiome!
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Plan For A Healing Anti
Those of you whose children are experiencing limited healing in their gut should opt for a special healing diet, which can help their gut recover a lot faster. Anti-inflammatory foods, such as bone broth and gelatin, can be included as they help heal and restore the mucosal lining in your digestive system.
Commonly Recognized Signs Of Gut Bacteria Imbalance
You may not realize that the source of your issues is due to a gut bacteria imbalance caused by the use of antibiotics. Here are some signs that your healthy gut flora has been damaged:
- upset stomach
- yeast infection
- chronic bad breath
The good news is there are ways to help speed up the process of restoring gut flora after antibiotics. Below, I will explain some of the most important ones.
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What Is Gut Health
Everyones gut is home to approximately 100,000,000,000,000 microorganisms. Among other things, these microorganisms promote normal digestive function, and are responsible for approximately 80 percent of our bodys immune response, and helps to regulate our metabolism.
Recent research has shown that a healthy gut is crucial to overall health, and that an unhealthy gut can contribute to a wide range of medical conditions including diabetes, obesity, and arthritis.
How Can I Help My Gut Bacteria To Recover After Antibiotics
Theres no definitive way to help your gut bacteria recover after antibiotics. The reality is that even though the science on the microbiome is advancing fast, theres still so much we dont know.
Theres something we know for sure: a healthy microbiome is all about diversity, and antibiotics definitely dont encourage that. You can take charge of your gut health and learn ways to improve the diversity of your microbiome on our Gut Health Program.
For now, lets take a look at what research can tell us about how to increase that diversity, whether thats after antibiotics or not.
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The Negative Effects Of Antibiotics
The word probiotic comes from Latin: pro means support and biotic means life. Antibiotic has the exact opposite meaning and effect of probiotic.
Antibiotics are designed to kill the bad, harmful bacteria in our bodies. When were sick, this is a good thing.
Unfortunately, antibiotics also harm some of the good bacteria in the gut. Since antibiotics typically cannot discriminate between the good and bad bacteria in our bodies, they often kill them both.
However, the greatest danger of antibiotics doesnt come from those prescribed by your doctor, but from the foods, you eat. Its estimated that 70 percent of the total antibiotic use in the U.S. is for livestock, which is why its critical to eat antibiotic- and hormone-free meats whenever possible.
Medications also can rob your gut of good bacteria. These include some birth control pills, pain medications, and anti-inflammatories.
What Is Gut Flora
You have a world of microorganisms living in your digestive system. This collection of microorganisms is your gut flora, also known as the gut microbiotaa complex ecosystem that consists of approximately 300 to 500 bacterial species. Thats nearly 10 times the number of cells in the human body.
Our knowledge of the interaction between gut health and overall health is still in its early stages. We do know that colonies of beneficial bacteria help you digest and absorb your food, fight off germs that make you sick and even make a large portion of your serotonin, which helps keep your moods level.
Science is continuing to discover ways that gut bacteria are directly linked to your health. We know that its normal to have balanced populations of beneficial gut bacteria and bad bacteria, and a healthy gut is able to keep the bad guys in check. But researchers are just now beginning to understand what happens when other factorslike antibiotics, diet and stresstilt the scales in the wrong direction.
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At What Stage Of Your Life You Take Them
Our first years seem to be crucial for setting up a healthy microbiome for life. One study found an association between antibiotics given in the first year of life and later neurocognitive difficulties, such as ADHD, depression and anxiety , and others have found that the more courses of antibiotics a person receives during childhood, the higher their risk of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease .
Others have linked antibiotic exposure in the womb and early childhood to the development of asthma later in life and obesity in children as well adults .
How Those Antibiotics Are Ruining Your Gut : Ways To Fix
Until a few decades ago, many healthcare researchers were of the view that a sterile body is the healthiest one.
However, the medical community now recognizes the effects and benefits of microorganisms.
Researchers say that there is a whole world of good and bad microorganisms residing in your intestines, and keeping them in balance keeps you healthy. However, a course of antibiotics can seriously disrupt this balance and have powerful effects on the composition of the gut microbiome.
Here is everything you need to know about antibiotics, how they affect your gut health, and ways to recover afterwards.
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Feed Your Kids Probiotic Foods
Probiotics are the good bacteria required by your body to promote good digestion and gut health. Antibiotics dont just kill the infection and bad bacteria in our bodies – they also destroy the good bacteria, which can have a devastating effect on your childs health. Because even the good bacteria are being destroyed, it is our responsibility to replace it and repopulate both our childrens gut as well as our own with good bacteria again.
The best way to get good bacteria into your childrens digestive system is by feeding them a variety of fermented and cultured foods such as yogurt, milk kefir, water kefir, kombucha, and fermented vegetables. You can even make your own fermented foods!
Skip Gluten And Dairy To Reduce Food Sensitivities
Since the diversity of your gut flora plays a significant role in metabolism and immunity, you may develop food sensitivities after your treatment plan. After completing your treatment, you may want to avoid the common culprits of food intolerances such as dairy and gluten, which is a protein present in wheat.
For this reason, you may find it beneficial to eat a plant-based diet after. Studies have shown that vegetarian diets can benefit your healthy gut microbiota. This happens because of the high fiber content in many vegetarian foods. By following a vegetarian diet, you can reduce the levels of bacteria that cause diseases, as well as losing weight, reducing inflammation, and cholesterol levels.
While diets that contain animal-based foods promote the growth of different types of bacteria than plant-based diets do. Vegetarian and vegan diets can improve healthy gut microbiota. Although, it is unclear whether the positive effects are a result of a lack of meat.
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Benefits Of Prebiotics And Prebiotic Foods
Its important to know that although all prebiotics are fiber, not all fiber is prebiotic. To be classified as a prebiotic fiber, it must be fermentable by the gut bacteria and promote growth and activity of the good bacteria in your gut, otherwise known as probiotics. Probiotics need prebiotics as food to grow and multiply.
Might Impact Immune System
Approximately 80% of your immune system cells are located within the gut microbiome. This area is very close to our small intestine. This organ holds many pathogenic bacteria and toxins that would love to permeate the gut barrier into the microbiome.
The gut barrier has microscopic holes. These allow nutrients from our food to permeate from the small intestine to our bloodstream. Unfortunately, these holes tend to get larger as we get older. These issues are due to chronic inflammation caused by a lifetime of factors, including poor diet choices, long-term use of medications, or autoimmune diseases. Therefore, your immune system must always be on hand to stop these pathogens at the gate.
Our immune system cells and probiotic bacteria remain in constant contact. In fact, they can influence each others functions. If your gut microbiome doesnt have probiotic bacteria, your immune system cells must fight off pathogens from your intestine alone. Without proper support, your body can become more susceptible to colds and viruses.
A recent study conducted by The Francis Crick Institute injected an influenza virus into mice teeming with healthy gut bacteria. Half of the mice were given antibiotics prior to the flu injection. 80% of the mice survived. This 80% included one-third of the mice who used antibiotics prior to being exposed to the flu. These results suggest that gut bacteria help protect the lungs from contracting a virus.
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