We are excited to have guest contributor Summer Bock with us this week for EAT. Summer has many talents but the one I am reminded of daily is her co-creation of OlyKraut. There is nothing quite like starting the day with a healthy dose of Spicy Garlic Chi Gourmet Sauerkraut. Read on to learn more about how to create a healthy inner ecology that will alleviate many common health concerns and give you more energy and vitality.
Cause #1 of Intestinal Imbalance – Eating the Wrong Foods
This causes an imbalanced pH and supports the growth of parasites, pathogenic microorganisms, yeasts, and Candida to grow in your digestive tract. Your digestive tract is your ‘inner ecology.’ What’s worse is that once you have the wrong internal environment, it just compounds and becomes systemic. Systemic parasitic and mycosis infections include issues like low immune function, allergies, inflammation, exhaustion, runny nose, fungal infections, fatigue, joint pain, neurological issues, panic attacks, poor concentration, poor memory, depression, anxiety, PMS, headaches, and the list unfortunately keeps going on.
All the cellular waste and acidic byproducts become food for bacteria, yeasts, and parasites all throughout the body. If you feed them, they will grow. As they grow, they excrete. Their excretions are what clog your liver, make your skin dull and accelerate the aging process. This is the environment the unwanted organisms thrive in. If you nourish that kind of environment internally, then you will experience the negative effects of having the wrong inner ecology.
Cause #2 of Intestinal Imbalance – Overuse of Antibiotics
Almost everyone I talk to has taken antibiotics more times than they can count. Antibiotics have clearly saved millions of lives, but were never intended to treat things like the common cold, which runs its course in a matter of days. The thing about antibiotics is that they are non-discriminating. This means that they kill not only the bad bacteria, but they kill the good bacteria as well.
In order to understand how bad this really is, I must explain what the good bacteria do. Friendly bacteria live in the human intestines, on our skin and in our orifices. They protect us from diseases and keep mold from growing on us. We have been evolving and symbiotically living with friendly bacteria for tens of thousands of years. The ones inside our intestines help us extract more nutrition from the food we eat, produce trace minerals and vitamins and protect us from pathogenic bacteria, which keeps us from getting sick.
Bonus mind-boggling factoid: You have one trillion human cells making up your body. Wanna guess how many bacterial cells live in and on you? Nine trillion! That means that you are made up of more bacterial cells than human cells, which means that it is important to have the ‘right ones.’
Bad bacteria crave sugar, alcohol, and make you tired because they tax your detoxification and elimination organs. Being tired all the time means that you crave caffeine and become dependent on stimulants throughout the day to keep your energy levels up.
Once you wipe out the friendly bacteria and the bad bacteria using antibiotics, the bad bacteria and yeasts grow back quickly and take over your system. This is because in the current standard diet there are no friendly bacteria in the food since everything has been pasteurized and sterilized. With no friendly bacteria (also called ‘probiotics,’ which means ‘for-life’) you can’t rebuild your inner ecosystem.
Cause #3 of Intestinal Imbalance – Not Having Probiotics and Friendly Bacteria in Your Diet
Do you know which foods you could eat right now that contain friendly bacteria that inoculate your digestive tract and help restore and rebuild your inner ecosystem, digestive function and trace mineral production? Many people think they are getting probiotics from yogurt. However, only yogurt that has ‘added live cultures’ has probiotic effect.
There are two kinds of probiotics. Wild Probiotics and Laboratory-Produced Probiotics found in supplements and capsules.
Laboratory probiotic supplements are used for people who need an extra strong dose of probiotics or those who cannot eat solid food. It is a good adjunct to other dietary and herbal recommendations.
Wild probiotics are an incredible source of powerful probiotics that help recover your digestive system. They are found in raw-unpasteurized sauerkraut and kefir (similar to yogurt) that is homemade using ‘kefir grains.’ These are the best sources of probiotics that are found in the diet.
Some people balk at the idea of sauerkraut. If you are one of those people, I encourage you to open your mind for a moment and try unpasteurized sauerkraut. Most people have only tried the grey pasteurized soggy kraut that is found on the shelves in the grocery store. Real raw sauerkraut is bubbly, alive, fresh, raw, tasty, zingy, and DELICIOUS!
You can find raw unpasteurized sauerkraut at the health food store in the refrigerated section. But raw unpasteurized sauerkraut is also very easy to make.
Simple Strategy: Eat raw-unpasteurized sauerkraut everyday. Eat 1 ounce (2 big forkfuls) of raw sauerkraut everyday for 30 days to re-inoculate your digestive system with the health-giving benefits of these friendly creatures.
Summer Bock is a Master Fermentationist/Owner of OlyKraut. She also runs her own practice as an Herbalist where she educates nutrition nerds across the world to create a thriving body and unstoppable life! Since you eat cleaner than anyone you know, you should also be the healthiest. She’ll show you how to finally resolve your health concerns by accessing your own internal healer to get rid of toxins, build natural energy levels, rebuild native intestinal ecology, and boost immune function to ultimately access your super human powers and extend your life.
Her programs include: The Nutrition Geek Detox, Gut Rebuilding, & Fermentation Mastery.
She has degrees & certifications from Columbia University, The Evergreen State College, The Institute for Integrative Nutrition and The New Mexico College of Natural Healing.
SummerBock.com, OlyKraut.com, NutritionGeekDetox.com, GutIntegrity.com, FermentationMastery.com
