This article could be entitled, “Bacterial Wars: Preparing the Battlefield for Probiotic Success.” It is now understood that the biggest part of our immunity to invading bacteria of all types is provided by these huge armies of friendly bacteria that live harmonious within each of us, unless these friendly bacteria have been destroyed by antibiotics. The challenge now is that bad bacteria have taken over the body and have entrenched themselves firmly. The war within needs a multi pronged strategy to displace and destroy the bad bacteria, and reintroduce the right types of friendly bacteria that can permanently clean up the invaders and repopulate in healthy numbers.
New types of friendly bacteria are being discovered all of the time, some that serve humanity as soldiers, seeking out and destroying invading pathogenic bacteria. Enlisting this army of probiotics requires a strategic plan to win the battle against foreign invading microbes of all types.
Not every illness is directly caused by an absence of friendly bacteria, however mounting evidence is showing that restoring normal bacterial populations can indeed go a long way towards restoring health, and as advancements are made in finding and introducing new probiotic strains to the body it is expected that they will prove to be able to cure even the worst illnesses.
The planet Earth is a much smaller place than it used to be, with people being able to easily travel to what used to be thought of as remote countries. Infectious disease doctors, who were trained to never consider certain infections unless a person had been physically to other less developed countries are being faced with exotic microbes rarely seen in the United States. The reality is that in our diverse society and with the constant stream of travelers from every part of the world, our population is seeing an ever increasing range of parasites, bacteria, mycoplasma, and viruses crossing our borders.
I my last few articles I discussed how in a healthy human body bacteria outnumber the cells in the body, by 10:1 and represent over 1100 different species of bacteria. The range of healing potential of reintroducing new generations of friendly bacteria, whose populations were decimated by antibiotic use, medications, poor dietary choices, and electro-polution. I also discussed that once these friendly, probiotic (Probiotic= Promoting Life) type bacteria have been destroyed in the body, that diseases of all manner can occur, from chronic Lyme Disease and other chronic bacterial infections, to heart diseases, to diabetes, and virtually every other plague of mankind. Restoring the populations of friendly bacteria is being shown to be beneficial, but in a well-rounded treatment plan, they can be the difference in improving overall health, and yes in the near future even be curative to many of the worst illnesses known to man.
In states of illness of any kind, it is understood that many of the friendly bacterial populations have been decimated. Replacing the good guys are all many of bad bacteria, parasites, and mycoplasma, and viruses, all of which have damage the tissues of the mucosal membranes, from the mouth and sinuses to the anus. Displacing all the bad guys is going to require
- Strategic natural pathogenic bacterial specific treatments to bring down the populations of the bad bacteria,
- A good plan to repair the damaged tissues so that your probiotics can recolonize,
- Send in your army of targeted friendly bacteria (the specific bacterial strains needed)
- Provide high quality food and prebiotic-flora food to feed your army.
Preparing for war!
Two to four weeks prior to sending in your “pro-life,” probiotic bacterial army. You must create the optimum growing environment for your bacterial army for war!
Preparations of the Battlefield (your gut)
Clear the battlefield of the invaders heavy artillery such as parasites and fungal infections. Parasites are monstrous in size when compared to the microscopic bacteria that make up your probiotic army. Sending your bacterial army into a battlefield full of parasites, fungi, and pathogenic bacteria is like arming your soldiers with pocket knives and sending them out to fight against armored tanks. Parasites eat much needed nutrients from the foods and vitamins we eat before it can be absorbed. Often all of your B-vitamins are gobbled up by parasites. B-vitamins are absolute necessary to run almost every biochemical process in the body, from regulating your stress responses, to making hormones, to regulating brain function, to making heme, cytochrome A, cytochrome P450, and our energy production pathways. Parasites secrete chemicals that cause the bad bacteria to grow out of control.
Parasites, such as Strongyloides can sometimes reach numbers so large that it is classified as hyperinfection. Strongyloides are about the size of grains of rice, and embed themselves in what is called the intestinal crypts of the lining of the small intestines. They clog up the absorptive lining of the small intestines gobbling up and blocking the absorption of all your nutrients. This is a fairly common type of human parasite seen in people with various chronic illnesses. As with all mammals, parasites of various types can be assumed to be present in anyone who has not been treated.
If you have never been treated for parasites then you can and should assume, in this day and age, that you have parasites. There are many readily available anti-parasitic herbs on the market, such as Artemesia (Wormwood), Black Walnut extract, and clove. There are also combinations of herbs that work very well, such as Artemisiacom, Paracom, both from Energique Inc. ParaFree soft gels from Young Living Oils, Inc. are debatably the most effective against parasites, as well as mold/fungal and bad bacterial issues. The therapeutic-grade oils in ParaFree can immediately kill the bad guys on contact, while having a zero toxicity to healthy tissue.
Fungal Mycotoxins: Chemical Warfare Against Your Body
The horrors of chemical warfare from mold and fungal overgrowth also need to be addressed before your bacterial army can even begin to fight the bad bacteria.
Mold and fungi are the most deadly fighters in your body. They secrete toxins that will kill your bacterial army before they can fire a shot.
The ParaFree soft gels from Young Living Essential Oils, Inc., contains many of the most effective anti-fungal essential oils, such as Melaleuca alternifolia, Acotea, and Thyme vulgarism oil.
• Test and maintain your stomach’s ability to produce Hydrochloric Acid (HCl). Click the hyperlink to learn how to test your HCl at home for pennies. The stomach acid, HCl is the strongest acid in the world, and represents your first line of defense preventing bad bacteria, mold, and parasites from gaining access to your intestines. Drinking fluids while eating should be kept to a minimum to avoid diluting and weakening the stomach acid. If the stomach acid is weak then it cannot kill the microbes that hitch a ride into your body on the food you are eating. Low stomach acid production (hypochlorhydria) is a serious problem that can be caused by eating GMO foods, processed foods, and medications, all of which are known to cause gastric inflammation leading to chronic bacterial infections. If you test yourself and find that you are not producing enough HCl, you need to take Betaine Hydrochloride, which is widely available from any health food store. A favorite supplement of mine for this is Hypo-D by NutriWest, Inc. Hypo-D contains the Betaine HCl with other synergistic ingredients, such as Ox Bile, which is especially needed in people who have liver/gallbladder trouble or have had their gallbladder taken out. Bile is a fluid produced by the liver and held in reserve in the sack that is your gallbladder. Bile is a fat emulsifier, meaning it breaks down the fats, from your food and from EFA’s (Essential fatty acid supplements) like fish oil, flax oil, coconut oil…, into smaller, more usable pieces so that they can be used by your body. If you don’t have a gallbladder, you are not breaking down the fats, which leads to promoting the populations of bad bacteria.
• Ideally you would get rid of a lot of the accumulated sludge from your liver, gallbladder, and intestines by doing organic, Gold-roasted coffee enemas every other day for at least one week before sending in your good bacteria. Research shows that most people have pounds of putrified matters stuck in their intestines even when they have daily bowel movements. Click here to see how easy these enemas are to do. I promise, if you have never done enemas, they sound worse than they really are to do.
• Eliminate the sources of toxins in your home. This would include cleaners, personal care products, laundry detergents and softeners, dishwasher pods, air fresheners, perfumes/colognes, basically anything that you wouldn’t eat, you shouldn’t use on your skin or breath into your body. All of these products can most often be returned to the store you purchased them from for a full refund if you tell them you are toxic and allergic to them. You are welcome to tell them Dr. Jernigan says you are allergic and toxic to this product. Replace them with the wide range of safer products now available, such as those sold by Seventh Generation, Inc.
Sending in your troops:
We already discussed how friendly bacteria greatly outnumber the cells making up the tissues of the healthy human body. These friendly bacteria that populate your body since you were born have taken on genetic markers identifying them as “self”, meaning that your immune system, and your entire body sees these bacteria as just being you, just like your liver, and other tissues of your body are identified as self. The opposite of this would be seen in autoimmune disorders where the immune system seems to be attacking the tissues or cells in your body, thinking they are foreign invaders.
Commercially-made probiotic supplements do not have these genetic markers identifying them as part of you. Although they may be of the same species as the friendly bacteria normally in your body, they have not been with you for your entire life like the friendly bacteria in your body.
My Pet Peeve about Most Probiotic Supplements
One of my pet peeves about using probiotic supplements has always been that they never or rarely seem to recolonize the body. Research shows this to be true, as most probiotic bacteria cease to be found in the feces of the person within weeks of discontinuing the probiotic supplement. It is frustrating that indigenous people, who have never had antibiotics or medications, and were raised on locally hunted and grown food, have up to 3000 different types of bacteria colonizing their body, largely protecting them from diseases of modern life. Also frustrating is that idea that a tick or mosquito can bite a person, transmitting a tiny number of bacteria, relatively speaking, and the body’s health collapses as these few become many. So, people can take trillions and trillions of probiotic bacteria in capsules and liquids, yet they cannot recolonize like they were designed to do?
It is my theory, and something the doctors at the Biologix Center for Optimum Health are working on, that if the new probiotics can be imprinted with the patient’s energetic imprint prior to consumption, and the tissues can be prepared for recolonization ahead of time, that the new probiotics can more successfully colonize the gut.
A person might be tempted to simply take huge amounts of friendly bacteria, but too much of a good thing is also bad, and it will further upset the other populations that have been life-long residents of the body. The body likes a healthy balance of the 1100-3000 types of beneficial bacteria, not fistfuls of probiotic capsules equaling pounds and many trillions of the same type of bacteria over the course of taking them for months or years.
Of course, taking probiotics, even if they are transient in the body, is better than not taking them. Definitely take them. I am just striving to help people see that there should be a better strategy to using probiotics. As this is now my fourth article on the topic, you can see that there are many considerations that can help win the battles and get your probiotics to colonize. What do you suppose would be the effect of swallowing capsules of Staph or Strep day after day? They would eventually colonize and cause massive dysfunction and disease in the body. I want the probiotics you take to be able to colonize and protect you from dysfunction and disease…not just be eliminated with each bowel movement!
There is more to do on this topic, so stay tuned. I will be discussing various types of probiotics and what each type does for your body.