It is generally believed that having bacteria in your
body is harmful to you and that it will cause you to
become ill, but this is not so. The truth is, your body
needs bacteria in order to survive.
THE POWER
OF
FRIENDLY BACTERIA
Copyright © 2002
by Ron Harder
In this article we will take a look at the benefits of having bacteria inside your body. You can find bacteria on your skin, in your digestive tract, in your throat, and in every other part of your body, but it is only the bacteria in your intestines that we are concerned with here.
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Ron is a Nutritional Health Consultant, an Iridologist,
and Author of "How To Defeat Cancer - Naturally -
without Chemo, Radiation, or Surgery"
It is generally believed that having bacteria in your
body is harmful to you and that it will cause you to
become ill, but this is not so. The truth is, your body
needs bacteria in order to survive.
What are bacteria? Bacteria are single cell organisms that are among the most simple and most abundant life forms on earth.
You have both friendly and not-so-friendly bacteria in your body, and both of these are meant to be there. The friendly bacteria is responsible for the digestion of your food, for breaking down waste products, for cleaning waste material from your intestinal wall, and for producing essential vitamins that your body needs.
For these reasons, friendly bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract is known as the second of the two "workers" in your body, and it is essential for your good health.
You also have something known as Candida Albicans in your gastrointestinal tract. Candida Albicans is a yeast-like fungal microorganism that lives in your intestines, and in a healthy person it does not cause a problem. Your body maintains a delicate balance between this Candida Albicans and the friendly bacteria, with the friendly bacteria being in control.
This delicate balance is sometimes upset when you become ill. When you have an infection in your body the first thing you are likely to do is go and see your doctor, and the first thing s/he is likely to do is give you some form of antibiotic.
Antibiotics are routinely prescribed for an infection without anyone checking to see if the infection is caused by a virus, or some form of bacteria. It is important to do this step first because antibiotics only kill bacteria, they do not harm either a virus or a fungus.
Why is this so?
To understand that we have to look at the difference between a virus and bacteria. A virus is described as "a minute parasitic microorganism much smaller than a bacterium that, having no independent metabolic activity, may replicate only within a cell of a living plant or animal host". In other words, a virus lives inside the cells of your body where an antibiotic cannot reach it.
Bacteria on the other hand are "single cell organisms that do not have a nucleus, are much larger infectious agents than viruses, and live outside the plant or animal host cell". This means that they can easily be reached by an antibiotic and can be destroyed.
When you take an antibiotic, it will kill the bacteria that causes the infection, but unfortunately, it will also kill the friendly bacteria in your intestines. On the other hand, antibiotics cannot harm a fungus, so when the friendly bacteria are destroyed, the fungal Candida population increases and soon grows out of control.
As the Candida yeast fungus grows it releases toxic
chemicals into the blood, which then attack your
immune system. When this happens, your immune
system is weakened and this usually leads to an
infection in your body known as Candidiasis.
.
| Candidiasis is a fungal infection that travels through the bloodstream to all parts of your body and causes all kinds of problems, including constipation, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vaginitis, kidney and bladder infections, etc. |
Candidiasis affects both sexes but it seems to strike women more often than men. The most common symptom of candidiasis in women is a yeast infection. Candidiasis needs food to survive and it seems to thrive especially well on sugar and gluten.
There is another problem that can be caused by lack of friendly bacteria in your intestinal tract and it is something called IBD.
IBD is generally referred to as a group of chronic disorders that cause inflammation or ulceration in the small or large intestines. IBD is usually classified either as Crohn's Disease or Ulcerative Colitis, but it is sometimes also called Colitis, Enteritis, Ileitis, or Proctitis. IBD is caused by the not-so-friendly bacteria that were mentioned earlier.
Crohn's Disease is the more common and the more serious of these diseases, and is an inflammation that extends into all the layers of the intestinal wall.
Ulcerative Colitis is less severe than Crohn's Disease and is an inflammation that affects only the innermost lining on the colon.
The effects of IBD are very serious and can include severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, bleeding, weight loss, and fever. In an advanced case of Crohn's Disease all the layers of the intestine have become inflamed and swollen. This will cause partial or complete blockage of the intestinal tract, where, in the case of the large intestine, the only medical solution may be the partial or complete removal of the colon. This is only done when the Crohn's Disease becomes serious enough to be life threatening.
All of these problems can be avoided simply by making
sure that the friendly bacteria in your intestines are not
destroyed. This can be accomplished by not using
antibiotics, by staying away from radiation, and by
avoiding any activity that weakens your immune
system.
.
| You can increase the amount of friendly bacteria in your intestines by taking supplements in the form of digestive enzymes and cultured live (friendly) bacteria. This will boost your immune system and help to control the harmful bacteria in your intestines. |
Also, the harmful bacteria in your intestines feeds on sugar and gluten, and to help to control this bacteria you really should stay away from all white flour products, all pastries, and all sugar.
Other articles by Ron Harder are available at www.shift.to/health/
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This article was written by Ron Harder, the Nutritional Health Consultant, Iridologist, and Author of "How To Defeat Cancer - Naturally - without Chemo, Radiation, or Surgery". For a great deal more health information visit his web site at http://www.defeatcancer.ca
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Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of". Click HERE for more strength training information