How to Use Probiotics

As I had mentioned to all of you in a previous article (here), I have joined an educational program offered by Dr. Josh Axe to receive a thorough education on how to heal leaky gut.  The program is seriously one of my best investments in my health & wellness journey.  I know to heal leaky gut with some Nutritionists & Functional Medicine Doctors costs well into the thousands for months of treatment (supplements, office visits, detox protocols).  And you are all going to be getting a lot of the information - from me - for FREE!   What you learn below is taken directly from his footnotes on his latest discussion w/ us 'How to Use Probiotics'. Below are Dr. Axe's words, not my own:  

Probiotics are symbiotic organisms. They literally work with your body to heal and recover and adapt to your environment. You can’t live without probiotics.  There’s even a probiotic therapy called fecal microbiotic transplant where microbes are transplanted into your colon.   We live in an age of antibiotics where so many of us have had our good bacteria killed.

People ask, “How long should I take a probiotic supplement” or “how often should I eat probiotic food?” My answer is for the world we’re living in today, always and forever. It is the #1 deficiency we have in America today – a deficiency in good microbes.

If you have good probiotics, it takes care of a number of issues. It increases vitamins and nutrients in the body, for instance…. B vitamins.  You might have a vitamin B12 deficiency and you take B12 supplements, get shots, and eat foods with it but if you don’t have probiotics you’re not absorbing and digesting those.

Your body has 10x more microbes and bacteria in your gut than cells in your entire body.  Probiotics absorb nutrients for you. Remember, you aren’t what you eat, you are what you digest and absorb.
Probiotics are important for protection when exposed to viruses & bad bacteria.  Why does one person get sick and another doesn’t? Because the microbes in your body – if you have good ones – protect you.

Probiotics are crucial for communication. For example, if you’re having trouble losing weight it could be because your body isn’t communicating properly. 95% of your body’s serotonin is not released from the brain, it’s released in your gut.   It’s so important for cellular communication, even hormone balance. If you’re trying to overcome infertility, endometriosis, PCOS, thyroid issues, low testosterone in men or any hormone related issue, it can be improved by getting more good microbes.

 Probiotics produce nutrients for you. They produce Vitamin K2, essential for heart health and bone health. They produce certain types of fatty acids and enzymes to digest food better.

This week, focus on getting more probiotic-rich foods into your diet:
#1 is homemade kefir or yogurt. Or go to a local Farmer’s Market for goat’s milk yogurt or kefir. Put a few tablespoons of it into a smoothie if you don’t love the taste. If severely intolerant to dairy, do coconut kefir. Fermented veggies. Saurkraut, kimchi or liquid fermented vegetable juice like Kvass. I order from Wise Choice Markets online. You can get sauerkraut juice and take a few tablespoons or very small glass or shot before each meal. Also Natto and Miso.

*Don’t go overboard on Kombucha. 4 oz only. If you have candida issues, you don’t want to do much of it – too much sugar. You can do a little if you’re feeling better but even for the average person never more than 8 oz per day.

You want to be taking a probiotic supplement. I recommend my Axe Naturals brand with soil-based AND food-based probiotics.  The most important strains to look for are lactobacillus acidophilus, bifidobacterium, and bacillus subtilis.  I formulated mine specifically for helping restore gut health and repairing leaky gut.

To learn all about Dr. Axe, please go to his website.  I absolutely stand behind this physician, his products & recommend you seriously consider learning more about his approach to healing b/c it works. And I have no affiliation with Dr. Axe (note), I sought him out, invested in him and through practicing what he teaches, I am healing my own leaky gut.