How To Restore And Improve Your Gut Bacteria (Flora)

Healthy intestinal flora is also vital for the prevention of constipation, for maintaining your primary immunity, for shielding your large intestine from colon cancer, and for averting yeast infections.

The beneficial microflora in and on your body needs a stable environment in which to grow and flourish. We know that the ideal pH in the colon should be between 6.7 and 6.9. A pH of 7 is neutral—anything lower than 7 is acidic and anything above 7 is alkaline. The colon needs to be slightly acidic, which inhibits the growth of undesirable bacteria like Salmonella, Shigella, and E. coli.

The best way to restore beneficial bacteria in the gut is to create acidity, which promotes the growth of various Lactobacillus bacteria – the ones with well-known beneficial effects. Here are a few simple yet effective ways to accomplish this:

• TRADITIONAL FERMENTED FOODS

Such foods are rich in beneficial lactic acid-producing bacteria. In the digestive tract, these bacteria help ferment carbohydrates that we, as human beings, cannot digest.

Consuming naturally fermented foods not only supplies the gut with more of these desirable microorganisms, but the extra acidity they create helps to support the bacteria that are already there.

Pickled vegetables (such as sauerkraut and gherkins), fermented milk products (yoghurt, kefir, cottage cheese), and fermented soy products are some examples.

• PROBIOTIC SUPPLEMENTS

Although eating fermented foods is the most natural way to get the benefits of probiotic bacteria and improve gut flora, many people find it difficult to consume fermented foods on a consistent basis, they may have a histamine intolerance, or they simply don’t care for the taste of them.

An effective alternative is to take a probiotic supplement.

Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are the most common probiotic bacteria.

The Lactobacillus genus has 18 different bacteria strains, while the Bifidobacterium genus consists of eight strains.