RE: The Psychological Barrier To Probiotic Health

The Psychological Barrier to Probiotic Health, or, "Yuck, I Don't Want
to Eat Bacteria!"
by BodyEcology.com

Do you turn up your nose at bacteria-filled fermented foods and
drinks? Turns out that GOOD bacteria could be the antidote you need to
combat the dangers of processed foods, stress, sugar, and medicines.
Good bacteria can actually help keep you healthy!

Like many other people - probably even more so as a Body Ecology
newsletter reader -- you have probably heard of probiotics.

The word probiotic literally means "for life," and these days
probiotics are a health food buzz word and one of the keys to good
health and strong immunity.

I'm so excited that probiotics are on the tip of everyone's tongues
and increasingly researched in modern medicine. I've been using
probiotics (beneficial bacteria and yeast) for a long time and I have
seen what they can do for your health, and the health of the world as
a whole.

Probiotics are the good bacteria and yeast that colonize your
intestines to:


Create a healthy inner ecosystem

Keep bad bacteria and yeast under control

Digest food properly

Form a barrier in your intestines to keep harmful pathogens from
getting into your bloodstream

Manufacture vitamins and other nutrients

Ensure proper elimination

Help your body fight viruses and disease

Boost your immunity

Build your energy and keep you looking young and vibrant
As you can see, probiotics are absolutely vital for your good health!

Unfortunately, good bacteria have a bad rap in our western culture.

It started with Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization to reduce
the number of potentially harmful microorganisms in foods, especially
milk. Later came antibiotics like penicillin that kill bacteria, both
good and bad, in your body.

When scientists discovered that they could cure some diseases by
killing bad bacteria and pasteurizing food, they thought they had the
ultimate solution to ill health.

Antibiotics = Against Life

You know the rest: much of our commercially available food goes
through pasteurization (a heating process), robbing it of important
nutrients, enzymes, and probiotics. Antibiotics, while truly life-
saving in certain cases, have become as commonplace as vitamins, even
for infants. Further, antibacterial hand wipes, soaps, deodorants and
other such products declare that bacteria are bad!
At the same time that bacteria became the bad guys, we further
compromised our health by turning to a diet of processed foods and
sugar, taking prescription and over-the-counter drugs, and by living
stressful, fast paced lives.

The result? Bad bacteria in our intestines have thrived, creating
bodies that can no longer defend themselves against illness and
disease, even with innovations like pasteurization and penicillin.

But if we look closely enough, the cure might be in the cause.

Bad Bacteria vs. Beneficial Bacteria

Our collective fear of germs and bacteria has caused us to neglect the
positive side of bacteria.

Remember the Principle of Balance: everything has a positive and a
negative side. Western medicine has been focused on killing off all
bacteria, and now Body Ecology would like to be the catalyst to teach
people about the benefits of the good kinds of bacteria in your inner
ecosystem.

I call the inner workings of your digestive tract your inner
ecosystem. Your inner ecosystem is a complex network of microorganisms
that help your body function to keep you healthy.


Inside your intestines you have colonies of good and bad bacteria and
yeast. Your body will always have some pathogenic bacteria and yeast,
but they will not harm you as long as you have enough good bacteria
and yeast organisms to keep the bad guys from getting out of control.

When beneficial bacteria thrive in your body and are in control of
their environment, they keep you healthy.

In unhealthy people, however, the bad bacteria and yeasts are out of
control and hinder your digestion, impair your immunity, prevent the
absorption and manufacturing of important vitamins, and can even lead
to disorders like autism and schizophrenia and diseases like cancer!

With all the risks of an unhealthy inner ecosystem, you'd think that
probiotics would be more popular, but a recent study of moms with
digestive distress showed that one third knew about probiotics but
only 10% actually tried them out.1 Even fewer moms gave probiotics to
their children.

It's sad that moms know about the benefits of bacteria but are
unwilling to try them. However, I understand why. Most of us have been
brought up to believe that bacteria is bad.

I'd like to help change this believe system, along with so many
natural health practitioners and increasingly, medical doctors, who
understand that probiotics are true life savers in our modern health
crisis.

Here are just some of the alarming statistics in our modern health
care system:

1 out of 150 children is diagnosed with autism annually.
An estimated 41.3 million people visit their doctors because of
digestive distress each year.3
Cancer, heart disease and autoimmune diseases are the three most
common diseases facing Americans today and often begin because of
compromised immunity and infection.4
What's the connection between these statistics?

Probiotics can help you create health and prevent and treat common
diseases and developmental disorders.

And the good news is, as you build up the good guys in your inner
ecosystem, you no longer have to be overly fearful of pathogenic
bacteria, yeast and viruses because your immunity will be your best
armor.

The Probiotic Solution

I created the Body Ecology system for health and healing because of my
own digestive struggles and quest to be healthy. During my journey to
health I discovered the importance of probiotics.

Probiotics have been used for thousands of years by ancient cultures
all over the world to preserve foods. Little did they know this method
of food preservation provided immunity-building nutrition.

Even though probiotics are more mainstream now, some people still
associate them with yucky bacteria or old food.

Body Ecology offers a new approach to probiotics!

At Body Ecology, we want to shift the paradigm of "yucky bacteria" and
show you how delicious, energizing AND fun good bacteria and yeast can
be!

Body Ecology has created some of the most delicious, convenient and
potent probiotics on the market. You can even make probiotic-rich food
at home with our starters!
Our goal at Body Ecology is to make it tasty and easy to get the
potent probiotics you need for good health.

The Body Ecology system is unique because it emphasizes healing the
root cause of illness - your immunity! And the KEY to healing your
immunity is welcoming the good bacteria and yeast back into our
intestines to keep us strong.

The absolute best way to do this is with probiotic-rich fermented
foods and drinks.
Fermented foods and drinks promote billions of beneficial bacteria and
yeast to safely pass through your stomach to your intestines where
they can boost your immunity and re-colonize in your gut.

You may initially think that these fermented foods and drinks must be
"spoiled," or else become fermented alcohol. If that were the case, I
wouldn't want to eat them either! In fact, fermentation is an ancient
form of food preservation, used long before refrigeration to keep
foods healthy and nutritious.

It is the good bacteria and yeast that do the work of preserving your
food, much in the same way they do the work of preserving your health
and youth!

You might already be familiar with fermented foods like sauerkraut and
fermented drinks like milk kefir, but there are plenty of other
fantastic ways to incorporate probiotics into your diet.

Here's a quick overview of fermented foods and drinks that are
convenient, delicious, and healthy:

Young Coconut Kefir is easy to make at home and combines well with
Stevia and lemon or lime juice for a refreshing "cocktail."
CocoBiotic has all the benefits of Young Coconut Kefir (and more!)
without cracking those coconuts! I often take this with me when I
travel for a convenient boost of energy.
Cultured Vegetables are a delicious way to eat your vegetables and get
probiotics. I recommend a half-cup with every meal to aid digestion.
Dong Quai is another ready-to-drink fermented beverage that combines
probiotics and fermented Dong Quai, an herb known for its energy-
giving and hormone-balancing properties.

Good bacteria and yeast are essential for preserving health and youth.
Want a good, convenient source of beneficial bacteria and yeast that
you can take along for travel or a long day at work? Try CocoBiotic
and get a healthy dose of the good guys today.

These are just some of the delicious ways that you can introduce
probiotics into your diet.

Be sure you remember the Principle of Step-By-Step. You can add some
fermented foods and drinks to your diet in small amounts, slowly
increasing as your body becomes more accustomed to these new foods.

For more information on how to add these new foods in for maximum
health benefits and minimum discomfort, read Is It Possible To Get TOO
Much Fermented Food In Your Diet?


Probiotics For Life!

As you populate your gut with good bacteria and yeast, you can expect
renewed vitality, improved health, and even an enhanced appearance!

With Body Ecology you can create a balanced inner ecosystem and
stronger immunity to fight the bad guys. Modern medicine is just now
starting to remember the beneficial aspects of good bacteria. It may
have taken us 50 years to realize we went too far in the antibacterial
direction, but it's never too late to embrace lessons based on natural
wisdom.

I hope that you will find, as I did, how much better you can look and
feel with probiotics.

Sources:

Halliday, Jess, "Survey shows women know about probiotics but aren't
trying them," FoodNavigator.com, 23 May 2007.

2 Weiss, Rick, "1 in 150 Children in U.S. Has Autism, New Survey
Finds." Washington Post. Feb 2007.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020801883.html

3 Digestive Disorders, CDC.gov. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/digestiv.htm

4 Fairweather, DeLisa, "Women and Autoimmune Diseases," CDC.gov.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol10no11/pdfs/04-0367.pdf



Copyright © 2008 Donna Gates
www.bodyecology.com
.