Alcohol And Gut Health
Getting merry too often can have implications for your intestinal health, not just your head and your wallet.
Simply put, reducing your alcohol consumption is generally just good for your health, but the odd glass of red wine isnt so bad. It contains polyphenols, antioxidants that help protect you from inflammation and disease, and increase the abundance of beneficial bacteria. If you get red and blotchy when you drink, you might have alcohol intolerance.
TIP Find out if you’re predisposed to alcohol intolerance, gluten intolerance and lactose intolerance with the Atlas DNA Test.
The Peacekeeper: Our Active Probiotics System Starter Kit
The PeaceKeeper features the foundations of our Active Probiotic System to repair the damage caused by traditional skincare and restore the skin microbiome for your most biologically balanced and radiant skin.
This kit is an excellent option for all skin types and includes our Prebiotic Foaming Cleanser, Postbiotic Serum and patented AO+ Restorative Mist.
These three products work together, using prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics to help restore and maintain your skins natural ecosystem.
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Medications Can Cause The Need To Restore Gut Health
Some medications may suppress stomach acid can lead to small intestine bacterial overgrowth, leading to diarrhea, unconjugated bile acids .
Antibiotics kill not only bad bacteria, but the good ones of our gut microbiome as well. This can contribute to lower amounts of immunity and disrupt our homeostasis by altering our metabolic byproducts from microbiota, such as short chain fatty acids .
Without metabolites, such as SCFAs, being produced by the microbiota to fuel colon cells, this makes it more difficult for the colon to absorb water and electrolytes, help maintain the intestinal barriers, and oversee the cell cycle of intestinal cells. With these decreased functions, we are also more susceptible to infections such asC. difficile, a common side effect of antibiotic therapy.
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Strategies To Combat Bloating And Gas
Just as with other chronic digestive issues, you may need strategies to reduce bloating in the short term as well as address underlying issues in the long term. You ultimately need to address the root cause to restore gut health and stomach health.
Here are some ways to help resolve bloating and excess gas:
1. Try a low-FODMAP diet
Certain dietary factors can lead to gas and bloating. Eliminating them while you track down and fix underlying contributors can give you some symptom relief.
FODMAPS, which are foods high in fermentable carbohydrates, are often bloating triggers. When the bacteria in your gut ferment these carbs, they produce gas. So, you may be prone to intolerance to FODMAPS if you have SIBO or a disrupted microbiome.
Onions, broccoli, kidney beans, milk, apples, cherries, and low-calorie sugar alcohol sweeteners like sorbitol and erythritol are among the many other sources of FODMAPS. Only certain high-FODMAP foods may trigger symptoms for you.
Are you ready for more detective work?
To identify your FODMAP triggers, eliminate all sources for a few weeks. Then, reintroduce foods one at a time to see if they cause symptoms. Your goal is to add back as many as possible if you can eat them without symptoms. Over the long term, a restrictive diet increases your risk of nutrient deficiency.
2. Check for SIBO
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is often overlooked as the source of painful gas and bloating. Doctors use breath tests to help diagnose it.
What Is Your Skin Microbiome
Your skin microbiome is a diverse ecosystem where lots of organisms live. And they serve many different purposes, but one key feature is to help your skin stay healthy and maintain a tight barrier from the outside world.
Similarly to your gut, your skin microbiota was colonized at birth. Before that, your skin was sterile within the womb and then exposed to different bacteria depending on whether you were born vaginally or via C-section.
Believe it or not, your skin flora ecology differs depending on where it is located.
There are 3 different location groups are sebaceous , moist, and dry and flat.
For example, the oily regions of the face and the moist regions of the armpits and bottom of your feet differ in the specific flora makeup. It may partially explain why rashes only show up in certain areas .
No matter where specific skin flora is located, there is a direct line of communication to your immune system. Just as gut flora communicates with your intestinal immune cells, your skins immune system is turned on and off thanks to chemical products made by different bacteria living there.
Since one of the key features of chronic skin issues is skin barrier dysfunction, this is important.
Ongoing skin immune activation can spell trouble for rebuilding healthier skin. The problem is only compounded further when youve got genetic SNPs present in a key protein called Fillagrin that help maintain appropriate skin barrier function.
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Pay Attention To Stress Levels
Stress is inevitable, but too much can disrupt your entire system, and your gut is especially vulnerable. Too much stress can lead to immune reactions that contributes to gut imbalance.
And this effect is seen with any type of stressphysical, emotional, and environmental. While its impossible to get rid of stress completely, its important to get all types of stress levels under control. You have to find what works best for you, but some common stress reduction techniques include:
- Reducing your workload
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How To Restore Gut Flora After Antibiotics: 9 Ways
Occasionally, you may be prescribed a course of antibiotics for a health concern. Antibiotics are known for removing all gut bacteria that are in their path even the good and beneficial gut bacteria! Therefore, it is reasonable that you would want to heal gut flora after antibiotics. Antibiotics can have many negative side effects such as diarrhea, bloating, headaches, and yeast infections. So, nurturing your body back to optimal health can be the main concern. Learn how to heal gut flora after antibiotics, naturally with these nine tips.
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What Probiotics For Antibiotic Side Effects
Typically, it will take the body time to balance the microbiome to healthy, diverse bacteria levels. In fact, research shows that it takes about 6 months to recover from the damage done by antibiotics. And even then, the body might not even be back to its pre-antibiotic state.
Saccharomyces boulardii, a probiotic yeast is particularly good at preventing and alleviating antibiotic-associated diarrhea and travellers diarrhea. Its also a friend to your gut bacteria that supports good bacteria and prevents inflammation.
Lactobacillus acidophilus, a probiotic bacterium best known for being in yoghurt is also great for your gut. Studies show that its good at treating and preventing infections, and reducing the digestive side effects of antibiotics.
Other bacteria that help recover from antibiotic use include:
- L. casei
Eat A Wide Variety Of Plant
Again, variety is key. Studies have found that a plant-based diet is beneficial in populating good bacteria in the gut.
I recommend aiming for 30 different types of plant-based foods every week including fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, specifies Rossi. Getting more plant-based variety in your diet is associated with having a more diverse range of gut microbes, which in turn is linked to the health of pretty much every organ in the body, including your skin, heart and brain.
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Skin Conditions And The Microbiome
Your microbiome can change in ways that arenât helpful. This imbalance is called dysbiosis. Itâs not clear why this happens. But itâs linked to certain health conditions, including:
- Rosacea
- Wounds that donât heal
Researchers are also looking into how the skin microbiome affects conditions such as vitiligo, albinism, dandruff, toenail infections, and warts.
What Are The Dos And Donts Of Microbiome
Do: Opt for gentle products with clean, simplified ingredient lists. Being more mindful of your skins microbiome will improve your skins health at its source, explains Cutlan. In fact, you may realize that some of skin issues you are trying to address with your regimen, such as dryness, acne, redness, wrinkles, are actually caused by your product usage. When the skin barrier is compromised, Bowe recommends focusing on nourishing ingredients including aloe, jojoba oil, shea butter, and squalane oil.
Dont: Use harsh ingredients or over-treat the skin. When cleansing, avoid harsh surfactants that strip the skin of its natural oils and denature proteins, says Cutlan, noting that natural soap bars are known culprits as they have high pHs that will disrupt the skins natural low pH and favor the growth of pathogenic bacteria. Be just as wary of irritating ingredients , such as preservatives, essential oils, and other chemicals, in the products you layer on after.
Do: Incorporate pre- pro- and post-biotics that support a healthy microbiome. These ingredients can help with microbiome maintenance and balance to help the skin recover faster from threatening ingredients, says Cutlan, who suggests using fermentation-derived ingredients, such as bacterial lysates and filtrates, which contain rich secondary metabolites that nourish the skin and microbiome. Better yet, look for a skin-care brand thats certified microbiome-friendly, such as Biophile or Dr. Elsa Jungman.
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Ways To Improve Your Gut Bacteria Based On Science
There are around 40 trillion bacteria in your body, most of which are found in your gut.
Collectively, they are known as your gut microbiome, and theyre incredibly important for overall health. However, certain types of bacteria in your intestines can also contribute to many diseases.
Many factors, including the foods you eat, can impact the type of bacteria found in your digestive tract.
Here are 9 science-based ways to improve your gut bacteria.
How Long Does It Take For Inflamed Intestines To Heal
Its difficult to say how long it takes for inflamed intestines to heal, because it depends on why theyre inflamed in the first place.
At Healthpath, were not doctors. We cant tell you if your intestines are visibly inflamed: while inflammation plays a part in IBS symptoms like diarrhoea, bloating and constipation, inflammation that the eye can see is usually an indication of IBD. Only a doctor can diagnose you with IBD.
However, IBS symptoms can certainly make it feel like your intestines are inflamed. Finding a long-term solution to diarrhoea, bloating and constipation takes identifying and tackling the root cause. This is where The Healthpath Gut Health Test can help: it gives a window into your gut, revealing the levels of specific types of bacteria that could be helping or hindering your health, as well as the presence of certain parasites, yeasts and levels of inflammation.Back to top
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Diet Stress And Poor Sleep Impact Your Digestive Health
You are what you eatat least when it comes to your gut flora. Alcohol and highly processed foods can all negatively impact gut health, but were going to focus on one of the biggest players: sugar.
A diet high in sugar can feed the bad bacteria in your gut, creating an optimal environment for the not-so-good microbes to thrive. Thats because high sugar intake seems to change the balance of bacteria in your gut, increasing populations of microbes that contribute to inflammation and gut permeability .
Switching to artificial sweeteners isnt any betterrodent studies indicate that saccharin, sucralose and aspartame cause shifts in gut microbiota and contribute to intestinal dysbiosis, or an imbalance of microorganisms.
What about stress and sleep? Heres the long and short of it:
- Stress and gut health: Mental stressthats anything from work to the news to family lifecan interfere with the communication between your gut and your brain, aka the gut-brain axis. This missed connection contributes to symptoms like nausea, bloating and even the health of your gut bacteria.
- Sleep and gut health: Losing sleep can negatively change the ratio of bacteria in your gut, increasing the risk of insulin resistance, increased gut permeability and even sugar cravings.
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Selective Manipulation Of The Gut Microbiota In The Icu
If one accepts that a healthy intestinal microbiota serves important biological functions, then it is reasonable to hypothesize that gut microbial communities can be manipulated or optimized during critical illness to increase the chances of achieving desired clinical outcomes. In theory, manipulation of the gut microbiota could be used to improve energy balance and decrease the incidence of infectious complications. A fundamental problem with clinical application of this theory has been that we lack a detailed understanding of if and how the microbiome is altered during critical illness. As a result, interventions in this field have been introduced with a limited scientific foundation. Nonetheless, several strategies to optimize the microbiome have now been evaluated clinically. Some, such as the recent description of fecal transplantation for Clostridium difficile colitis , will not be discussed here. Others with obvious relevance to nutrition are discussed.
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Rebalance Of The Intestinal Ecosystem
Many therapeutic strategies have been developed to re-establish intestinal eubiosis, and new strategies are constantly proposed and investigated. The main and at present best known and most adopted therapeutic strategies include the administration of probiotic bacteria likely to displace potentially pathogenic bacteria and promote a rebalance of the microbial community the administration of prebiotics to favor the overgrowth of probiotic bacteria and the administration of probiotics and prebiotics combinations . More recent therapeutic approaches have been proposed, including phage therapy, fecal transplantation, BCT, and a still poorly investigated approach based on predatory bacteria. All of these strategies share the same goal of replacing harmful microbes with more favorable ones to restore eubiosis.
Functional Digestive Health Testing
If you are experiencing symptoms of gut dysbiosis, there are a few functional digestive health testing methods that you can try to identify any underlying issues, such as low stomach acid or poor bile flow, from the comfort of your home.
There are several functional health tests, including blood and stool testing, I also recommend to get a clear picture of your health. Remember, identifying underlying issues and the root causes of your symptoms is a key step for an effective treatment strategy and recovery. Here are the functional digestive health tests I recommend:
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Spend More Time In Nature :
What about adding dirt? There is a difference between the soil in the ground and toxins that can make us ill. The microbial diversity of the soil helps breed diversity in our gut. Studies have shown that increase in germ exposure early in life, and children raised on farms had lower incidences of asthma than those raised in urban settings.
This means get outside and get your hands dirty. Start a vegetable or flower garden. Or just get out and spend time with nature. There is evidence that spending time in nature, whether in your garden, or at a park, playing, digging, and breathing outside around dirt can be good for improving your gut microbiome diversity.
Fermented Foods Are Gut
Fermented foods are another great source of probiotics. The crowd favourite is yogurt, however, if youre going to be eating a lot of yogurt, make sure that it is sugar-free! There are several other options that are a great source of good bacteria. Kombucha is becoming a very popular source of probiotics. You can also eat things like pickles, kimchee, and kefir to ensure that youre getting enough live cultures to keep your gut healthy and happy.
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Snacking Is Nice But Is It Necessary
We all love a good munch on something delicious, but snacking for the sake of it may not be promoting a healthy gut.
Eating triggers a healthy immune response known as postprandial inflammation. This is normal, but if you eat all the time, youre actually prolonging this inflammatory state, increasing your calorie intake, and promoting weight gain. Luckily, there are a few simple hacks to solve the snacking.
Sweeten & Season Your Food Yourself
Foods and beverages that have been prepared by corporations contain far higher levels of salt and sugar than any ordinary human would ever add says Pollan.If you season and sweeten foods yourselves youll find youll be consuming far less salt, calories as well as avoiding other harmful additives.Better still if you cook the food from scratch in which case youll also be omitting all the additives and favour enhancers that are so common in commercial food and even restaurants.
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How Long Does It Take To Replace The Gut With Good Bacteria Naturally After Antibiotics
Replacing your gut with good bacteria after antibiotics can start right away: you can start looking after your gut health while youre still taking a course of antibiotics.
While you can begin to change your gut flora with your next meal , when significant damage has been done to the gut through repeated courses of antibiotics, some bacterial communities disappear and are unlikely to return .
To get the full lowdown on how to restore your gut flora after antibiotics, check out our blog post 14 tips to restore gut flora after antibiotics.
What Is Gut Microbiome: Why Is It Important
Bacteria are not always harmful. In fact, gut bacteria is essential for human survival. Among other things, the gut microbiome plays a very important role in the digestion of food.The good bacteria that make up our intestinal flora, which are vital for our body, have numerous other functions, for example:
- They produce what is known as butyrate from our food, which has been shown to contribute to good gut health by promoting mechanisms to combat stress
- They produce a number of essential amino acids
- They produce certain vitamins, such as vitamin K and water-soluble B vitamins
A study published in the journal Science revealed that the gut microbiome can block allergic reactions. Through its influence on our immune system, it can inhibit immune cells that are responsible for triggering allergies. This link could be an approach for new treatment options for allergy sufferers in the future.
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