Have you all heard of Dr Gundry? He is a former heart surgeon with over 30 years of experience, was part of the medical team that implanted the first artificial heart and is founder of The Center For Restorative Medicine. He is author of The Plant Paradox and a lot of his message centers around the dangers of lectin, what it is, why it is bad, and foods that contain high levels of it, which should be avoided. That is not the point of this discussion today, we will save that for a future post.
He has a very consistent message (beyond the dangers of lectin) regarding the role your gut plays in your overall health.
We just watched a really informative video that can be found at silenceyourcravings.com and wanted to break it down for you as simply as we non-doctor folk can.
You are what you eat! That’s an expression we all have heard but likely don’t think about on a daily basis as we stuff our faces with whatever we might be craving at the time. But as Dr Gundry’s explains, our body is made up of cells and for every 1 cell, we have 9 microbes (so that equates to trillions of microbes - about 1-2 pounds worth). These microbes (aka flora or good bacteria) are crucial to our overall health. They help us fight off infection and digest food. These microbes send messages to our brains regarding what foods we need to eat and regulate Ghrelin - the hunger hormone. The more “good” microbes our gut is home to the more regulated our cravings are, the more our appetite is controlled, the more we crave healthy nutritious food, and the more energized we will feel.
But our gut is also home to bad microbes (things like yeast, fungus, mold and bad bacteria) that feed off sugar and processed foods. Many of our guts, unfortunately are in desperate need of restoration. If you have ever taken antibiotics in your life then you have not only killed the bacteria that made you sick but also wiped out many of your body's own good microbes too. Dr. Gundry stated that for every 1 dose of antibiotics taken can causes 2 years of disruption in your gut microbe balance. When the bad > the good we have symptoms such as fatigue, sugar cravings, bloating, gas, skin breakouts, and joint aches.
So solution? Well, of course as the video neared its end it was clear good old Dr. G was trying to sell us something (that we bought of course). But the key lies in PRE-biotics. You have all likely heard of PRO-biotics so think of prebiotics as food for the probiotics. Without the probiotics having the right food to eat they will die and the bad microbes will flourish. So the key is setting up the probiotics to win the battle going on in your gut!
DR. G has a product called Prebiothrive, but there are less expensive options on the market today, so do your research. His product has claims of not only feeding the good microbes in our gut but in starving the bad ones. Within 7 days he promises feeling the benefits of this new found harmony in the gut. We are going to start our trial in about 5 business days and look forward to sharing how we feel with you.
