Probiotics vs. Pathogens
Get rid of the bad by supporting the good
Have you ever seen the commercial that shows a baby crawling on a sparkling clean kitchen floor? We’re warned that bacteria covers household floors all across America–bacteria that will invade the bodies of innocent babies as they crawl around the house.
Photo credit: Yvon_novY
Gasp!
As our anxiety mounts, the commercial offers a simple solution: bleach! It kills off all of those nasty little buggers that we’ve been taught will make us sick.
And replaces them with chemical residues that kill off all bacteria, both beneficial and pathogenic.
Antibacterial Products Kill All Bacteria, Both Bad and Good
This is the problem with all chemical anti-bacterial products. Humans naturally contain bacteria that eat up the bad bacteria that can make you sick. When you destroy these beneficial bacteria–what are usually called probiotics–this opens you up to a variety of health problems.
Anti-bacterial products are a thriving industry: Look at that magic light that shows all of the germs on your teeth! Don’t even think about touching that cart handle before wiping it off with an anti-bacterial cloth!
The truth is that these products haven’t improved overall health, but may instead be the cause of certain health issues, including childhood allergies and the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Probiotics are Important for All Stages of Life
Bacteria outnumber the cells in your body ten to one. This isn’t a bad thing–these organisms are crucial for the health of your body and mind.
Probiotics are healthy bacteria that reside throughout your digestive system, staring in your mouth and ending in your–ahem–end.
These beneficial flora supervise the cells that make up your intestinal lining. Gut lining works as a boundary that keeps food particles and pathogens from slipping through your intestinal walls and out into the bloodstream.
When probiotics are knocked out of balance, holes develop in the lining, which allows pathogens and food particles to escape into the rest of your body. This results in problems like autoimmune disorders, arthritis, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), just to name a few.
Disturbances in the intestinal lining lead to all sorts of health issues. A long list of issues caused by imbalances in gut flora includes both psychological and physiological disorders.
Natural Swings in Gut Flora Lead to Imbalances
Natural fluctuations in probiotic activity during pregnancy may be nature’s way of putting weight on a developing fetus. Researchers have found that gut flora changes over time, from the first through the third trimester. In fact, populations of beneficial bacteria in pregnant women during the third trimester look more like an average person with metabolic syndrome.
Hormones and immune system changes are most likely at the root of these shifts. Even though variations during pregnancy aren’t necessarily markers of disease, there is still evidence that taking steps to support beneficial gut bacteria can help to keep you and your baby healthy.
3 Ways to Keep a Healthy Probiotic Balance During Pregnancy
(#1 ) Eat Fermented Foods
Fermented foods are a fun and tasty way to keep your gut in balance. Once you get into making your own ferments, you’ll enjoy switching things up now and then. You can try different vegetables and find interesting new favorites.
Homemade fermented foods are far more beneficial than store-bought. Things like sauerkraut, pickles, and yogurt contain more active cultures since they haven’t gone through commercial processing.
Fermenting foods at home is so simple. They save time in the long run because they’re ready-made when you need a snack or side dish. And all you need are some canning jars and salt!
Wild Fermentation
(#2) Take Probiotic Supplements
Taking a probiotic supplement during pregnancy is safe and may contribute to your baby’s healthy gut. A small study found that oral probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus) taken as a supplement during pregnancy may be passed on to unborn babies. Among the babies studied, bacteria stayed active for up to 24 months.
Kyodophilus 9
ReNew Life’s FloraMore
Natren is known for producing high-quality probiotic supplements. Their Healthy Trinity system is dairy free and includes three products: Bifido Factor
(#3) Manage Chronic Stress
This is a tough one!
Chronic stress wreaks havoc on your digestive system and disrupts beneficial bacteria. This disturbance may in turn affect your baby’s gut. It can compromise her immune system and may even increase risks of developing symptoms of autism.
Chronic stress affects your health in so many ways. It also elevates certain health risks for your baby, possibly even more so than smoking.
Everyone experiences stress in one way or another. Ridding your life of tension is impossible, especially during pregnancy. The important thing is that you exercise measures that will balance your stress and relaxation to keep the negative effects from causing damage.
Ways to manage your stress include meditation, listening to background music, and taking a warm bath (add some essential oils to the water for even more soothing properties).
Take care of your beneficial buddies. Probiotics help your body to develop a healthy baby and take care of you, too. Eat your fermented veggies, take a probiotic supplement, and practice regular stress relief to keep your gut flora flourishing.
© Liz Davis 2013 | Probiotics
The post Probiotics and Pregnancy: Beneficial Bacteria Help to Build a Healthy Baby appeared first on Paleo Pregnancy Guide.
