Our digestive tract (gut) — also called our 2nd brain — contains trillions of microbes. The good and bad bacteria living in your gut microbiota help your body carry out a multitude of essential physiological functions such as help digest food, extract nutrients from food, support immune system resilience, promote healthy metabolism and even influence your mental health by creating feel good hormones like serotonin.
When the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut microbiota is disrupted by external factors — e.g. medication (antibiotics kill all bacteria in your gut), an unhealthy diet, lack of sleep and high stress — probiotics can help support your gut microbiota by interacting with and influencing the microbes that already colonize your body and repopulating a healthy balance of good bacteria. This delicate balance is necessary for a strong immune system, heart health, brain health, mood regulation, quality sleep and the list goes on.
The biggest offenders to your gut health aside from antibiotics are alcohol, processed food, sugar, dairy, grains and herbicides/pesticides that are sprayed on our produce. To support your gut system, make sure to eat lots of fermented foods, such as kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut and miso. Given all of the significant roles a healthy gut plays in your overall health, cleansing the digestive system and healing it with pre and probiotic foods and appropriate supplements can be life changing.
Here at Platinum Chiropractic, we recommend Proflora 4R™ Restorative Probiotic Combination from Bio-Botanical Research. Proflora 4R is a combination of Quercetin, Marshmallow Root, and Aloe Vera extract to provide additional nutritional support for “leaky gut” and a healthy microbial balance. Plus, because it is a spore-forming probiotic, it is undamaged by antibiotic therapies and stomach acid,
surviving to reach the intestines nearly 100% of the time as opposed to most probiotic pills, only reaching the intestine 5-10% of the time.