What are probiotics and why does our body need them to live a healthy life? The breakdown of the word probiotic comes from the Greek words pro (meaning promoting) and biotic (meaning life). Making the very word probiotic stands for promoting a healthy life. Our bodies have more than thousands of different bacterial types within our digestive tract both good and bad. Good bacteria helps our digestive system function properly while bad bacteria can make us ill.
Our bodies naturally have good bacteria in the digestive system. It is important to balance the ratio between good and bad bacteria for optimal health. We can get probiotics either from fermented foods with bacteria like yogurt, or supplements to provide our bodies with live-active bacteria and yeasts.
When we take antibiotics, we are not only getting rid of the bad bacteria that caused us to become ill, but also the good bacteria that helps our digestive system and our immune system work properly. Taking antibiotics can significantly decrease the good bacteria that is helping our bodies to stay healthy.
When the amount of probiotics in our digestive system is reduced, we need to increase that number with probiotics. Probiotics helps keep the digestive system functioning properly and can also balance the digestive process in the intestinal tract. When we have enough good bacteria in our digestive system it will aid our bodies when we have diarrhea, IBS, yeast infections and more.
There are many types of probiotics but the most common probiotics are lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. Lactobacillus is known as the most common probiotic because it is found in yogurt and other fermented foods. Bifidobacterium can also be found in dairy products.
How does probiotics really help the digestive system? Probiotics are living microorganisms that are extremely beneficial to the body when digested. The good, live-active cultures from the bacteria helps our bodies break down food and absorb nutrients.
Women can get out of balance due to antibiotics and birth control pills. Probiotics can help restore the balance. The good bacteria helps prevent bad bacteria from invading the urinary tract that causes women to suffer from urinary tract infections.
If our bodies have an imbalance of probiotics it can cause problems. Our digestive system may not be able to function properly, causing bloating, gas, cramping, diarrhea and more. A healthy digestive tract is very important to our health. We need to make sure our body has a sufficient amount of probiotics in our digestive tract to help the digestive system balance the good and bad bacteria and allow for a healthy body.
Juice On!
