Our intestinal bacterias
You have friends, really good friends. I admit they are a bit small and you can’t see them. But they are always with you and are very important for your health. Scientists estimate that around 10-100 billion single-celled organisms. These are more cells than you have in your body. They live in the large intestine. Up to 400 species have been identified so far, including around 2000 different subspecies. There are probably many more.
They do everything for you, really everything. They form immune factors and vitamins as well as precursors of many hormones, enzymes and neurotransmitters. They also detoxify and deacidify you and protect your intestines from harmful parasites and bacteria. Directly and indirectly, they take care of your health, your metabolism and your digestion.
You have a garden of microorganisms
In your intestines you have a rich garden of microorganisms and good friends who need special care. These little helpers love to eat fibers. Therefore your food should consist at least of over 60 percent vegetables, fruits, fresh herbs, lentils, seeds and cereals or cereal alternatives. Please feed your friends with food items they love and you are able to digest. If necessary, a little meat, fish and nuts can be added to the meal according to the eating habits of the ancestors and your digestion power.
The composition of your intestinal flora has adapted to the diet of your ancestors and is quite typical for your family. This is because your family has eaten the same thing for several generations, provided they have stayed in their homeland. This is how bacterial strains settle in the intestines which are used to the regional food and help digesting it.
Only eat food which your bacterias can digest
If you want to know what’s the right nutrition for you I recommend to take a look at the diet of your anchestors. If you come from a family of farmers who ate meat and milk products from their cattle and cereals which they where cultivating you may also digest all these things. But the people in former times had a better digestion power because they worked very hard and ate less harmful things. If you eat according to them you may suffer from indigestion and produce harmful slag (Ama #concept of Ama) which leads to sticky layers on the bacterias who can’t live in such an environment. They are replaced by intestinal bacteria, fungus and other parasites that make no contribution to our health and form harmful metabolic products that lead to inflammation and various diseases in your body. Most of the good intestinal bacterias also can’t tolerate stress, malnutrition or antibiotics. So they die.
To find out what’s the best food I recommend to test yourself about your constitution, current health situation and your digestion power and then follow the recommendation on food and activities…
•#test what’s my current digestion power
•#test what’s my current state of health
Find out if your intestinal bacterias are in place
Based on your bowel movements, you can find out whether your intestinal flora is okay or not. Check the smell. If the flora is intact you won’t smell anything while bad bacterias produce foul substance which you will sense by the the smell of your poops and faeces. If this is the case you need a cleansing of your intestines like a therapeutic diarrhea with herbal supplements as recommended in Ayurveda.
Step two is the targeted administration of probiotics. These are intestinal bacteria of the most common strains of the human intestinal flora cultivated in the laboratory. Before that, a holistic doctor or alternative practitioner can carry out a faecal test. This test should include:
• Escherischia coli
• Lactobacillus
• Enterobacter
• Bacteroides
• Bifidobacteria
Probiotic therapy only with right food
Usually the most common pathogenic bacteria and parasites such as Chlostridia, Helocobacter or Candida only spread if the good bacterias are weakend due to stress and malnutrition. Unlike in conventional medicine, in Ayurveda we do not fight these guys with antibiotics but deprive them of their habitat by creating good conditions for the regular flora again.
In addition missing bacterial strains can be added with probiotics to speeds up the regeneration. However, the new residents also have to be fed well. Some doctors also administer preparations containing pectin and some amino acids at the same time. It is better to add the pectin in the form of sweet ripe apples (Gala or Delicious) and algae preparations such as Chlorella and Sprirulina.
The good bacteria need something fresh and alive to eat like freshly harvested fruits, lettuce, vegetables and fresh herbs. An intestinal rehabilitation is most effective for you if you create the conditions for it. If you live in a big city take a vacation or move out to the countryside where you can get fresh veggie food.
With the right diet your good bacterias will literally explode. There are bacterial species which can’t be supplemented because they are not cultivated yet. If you come from Aserbaisan or Neuseeland you have a different bacterial population than someone from Sicily or India. So only with the right food you can cultivate them. If they where diminished due to bad eating habits or stress some of them have survived deep in your intestines and now with right food have their revival.
If you don’t know your family’s diet observe yourself. Find out what is your favorite cuisine and which items, meals and beverages you can digest the best. Try food from Middle East, India, Thailand, Vietnam and the Mediterranean region which most people can tolerate best.
