Periodontal Disease, Gum Disease – What you need to know (with Recipes)

Periodontal disease is the scientific name for all gum disease, ranging from gingivitis to periodontitis. Gingivitis is inflammation and swelling of the gums; periodontitis is the last stage of periodontal disease when the ligaments that attach a tooth to bone are inflamed and infected as well as the bone itself, usually resulting in tooth loss.

According to the mainstream dental community, there is one cause and one treatment path for periodontal disease. This is their take on it:

Our mouths are full of bacteria
Mucous that covers our teeth mixes with bacteria to form plaque
If plaque is not brushed and flossed away each day, it turns into tartar
Tartar attracts more bacteria, resulting in more tartar
Tartar and bacteria cause infection of the gums
Pockets form in the gums, gums recede and/or no longer adhere to teeth
Tartar cannot be brushed away; it must be removed by a dentist.
Oral hygiene and dental cleanings are the only defense against gum disease

They tell us, while gingivitis can be reversed with better oral hygiene and regular dental cleaning, untreated gingivitis can (and probably will) result in periodontitis. As the infection spreads under the gum line, pockets form between the gums and the teeth and the gum line recedes. In time, the infection breaks down bone and connective tissues. Conventional treatment for periodontitis includes deep cleaning, antibiotics taken orally and or packed into the gum pockets, and surgery (bone grafts and tissue grafts for advanced cases.)

One Body, One Source of Disease

While other causal factors are discussed (smoking, hormonal changes, genetics, diabetes) there is little to no recognition of the mouth being one part of an entire system. We know that the balance of good vs. bad bacteria and keeping Candida in check in our gut is essential to health. Most of us know the same is true of our skin. Why would the inside of the mouth be any different? Why isn’t an infection in our mouth considered a failure of our immune system or our bacterial balance rather than our dental care?

This conventional, accepted theory of periodontal disease and tooth decay and its treatment mirrors conventional medicine—symptoms are treated rather than the cause. But through the work of Weston Price, we have known for more than seventy years that isolated populations who did not practice oral hygiene but ate healthy, indigenous foods were free of dental disease—both tooth decay and gum disease. When the Western diet was introduced, dental disease followed.

Today, we are re-learning that simple truth. When it comes to health, in every part of the body, nutrition is the key.

Nutrition

The bottom line is that nutrition is the one cure for anything that ails you. It’s a little more complicated than that, but not much. Our bodies were made to fight disease, to maintain a balance between good bacteria, bad bacteria, and yeast. The common Western diet does not support this balance. Nor does the Western diet give us the nutrition (vitamins and minerals) we need to promote health and maintain a strong immune system.

A healthy mouth requires a healthy body. In a healthy body, bad bacteria do not run rampant, causing infection and disease. The immune system does not become overwhelmed and incompetent when faced with a minor gum infection.

Though it would not be advisable to avoid the dentist, it would be advisable to research the use of fluoride and other chemicals before using them to treat your periodontal disease. One article touted the efficacy of a particular antibiotic used to pack gum pockets, claiming its use resulted in shrinking gum pockets by one millimeter. Natural solutions have been known to shrink pockets by 3 millimeters or more.

A healthy diet is a must. If you suffer from periodontal disease, your mouth is telling you to feed your body right.

Avoid all artificial ingredients: colorings, flavorings, preservatives, and GMOs
Avoid processed foods
Avoid pasteurized dairy
Eat organic as much as possible, especially the “dirty dozen” and animal protein
Soak or sprout beans, nuts, and grains to release enzyme inhibitors
Eat at least 80% raw, focusing on a variety of foods with lots of green leafy vegetables
Eat a balanced diet with plenty of healthy fats
Drink a gallon of pure spring water daily
Stop eating refined sugars

If you supplement your diet with vitamins and minerals, make sure they are not synthetic. Choose whole food vitamins and minerals so your body can properly assimilate them. Vitamin D, vitamin C, and B vitamins are essential to dental health.

If you smoke, stop. If you smoke anything—stop. Smoking cigarettes or marijuana introduces free radicals and other toxins that damage the gums and therefore encourage and promote periodontal disease. Obviously, chewing tobacco products is even worse.

If you are eating 80% raw, chances are you will be eating an alkaline diet. If your diet is acidic, it will promote disease. Sugar creates an acidic pH. In order to self adjust the pH of the bloodstream, the body will pull minerals, such as calcium, out of bone and tissue to regain the proper pH. Sugar is your enemy. You want to heal bone, not degrade it.

How to Treat an Acute Gum Infection

If you smoke, you need to stop smoking. Enough said.

Your diet is key, especially when you have an acute infection. No sugar! Stop eating it now! Sugar feeds bacterial infections and feeds yeast infections. When your gums are infected and you eat candy, your gums will hurt more. If the infection is severe, they will hurt a lot more—now and later. You just fed the infection.

Now, what else can you do for immediate relief and healing?

Keep your mouth clean. Brush after eating. Get a new toothbrush and brush correctly, not just the teeth, but the gums as well.

Stop brushing your teeth with toxic chemicals. Buy good natural toothpaste or make your own.

Chew raw garlic. This is not for the faint of heart. Raw garlic has a very strong taste and it burns when you chew it, but it works. Eating raw garlic may take practice. Chew as long as you can and try to chew it a little longer each day.

Doc Shillington makes a wonderful solution called Tooth and Gum Formula that aids in healing gum disease. His patients report that their checkups amaze their dentists due to the reduction of deep pockets. We can attest to the power of this formula. Check out Heal Cavities, Gum Disease, Naturally with Organic Oral Care – Toothpaste recipes included for the recipe.

Take a good whole food vitamin. If you are vitamin deficient, one or two days of taking a really good vitamin supplement will make a world of difference. Your gums may stop bleeding and hurting with a day. Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula.

Add oil pulling to your daily routine. Two of the best oils to use are coconut oil and sesame oil. You just put a little oil in your mouth and swish it through your teeth for 20 minutes the first thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything. (See link below). If you want to kick it up a notch, add some neem oil, peppermint oil, clove oil, or oil of oregano to the coconut or sesame seed oil. This will obliterate infection, but if you thought chewing on garlic was uncomfortable…

Oil pulling will get in between your teeth and deeper within your gums to help eliminate bacteria and Candida in ways that nothing else can, without causing damage like conventional treatments.

If you have a infection, this infection can drain into the teeth and gums. Shillington’s Herbal Snuff is perfect for clearing up a sinus infection. It’s also good for sore throats, and other infections in the mouth. You can snort it (only a tiny bit needed, and it burns, but it works), or place it directly on infected area of mouth, or directly on the tonsils. This stuff works amazingly well, but it’s not pleasant.

To Recap:

Don’t smoke
Eat a healthy, nutrient dense diet
Use a good, soft toothbrush and healthy toothpaste
Take whole food supplements, paying special attention to your need for vitamin D, vitamin C, and B vitamins
Buy a new soft toothbrush (stop tearing up your gums with rough toothbrushes)
Avoid conventional toothpastes (buy a good natural toothpaste, or make your own)
Help heal your gums with natural solutions that promote gum health
Chew raw garlic
Practice oil pulling

Recommended Supplements:

Further Reading:

Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula.) If you are vitamin deficient, one or two days of taking a really good vitamin supplement will make a world of difference. Your gums may stop bleeding and hurting within a day.
Heal Cavities, Gum Disease, Naturally with Organic Oral Care – Toothpaste recipes included
This article also has a recipe for the most powerful natural gum treatment I know, Shillington’s Tooth and Gum Formula, and it also addresses and instructs with oil pulling.

Your Healthy Diet Isn’t Complete Without These Foods!

When it comes to eating healthily, we all know roughly what to do –limit the fast food, get our 5 a day, cut out snacks etc. But when it comes to writing your healthy eating shopping list, have you remembered to add these goodies?

Kale

This high-fibre leafy green vegetable is a top source of vitamin A, which works to strengthen your immune system and keep your eyes and skin in top health. As well as this, just 1 cup of kale contains almost the same amount of vitamin C as a whole orange! Need another reason to toss some kale into your salad? To top it all, kale is packed with antioxidants which help to fight off illnesses such as cancer. Definitely a healthy diet must!

Watercress

Watercress is full of iron and contains an abundance of antioxidants that combat lung and breast cancer. Just three daily ounces of watercress can enhance your levels of particular antioxidants by 100%! Also, the high iodine content in watercress means that it helps to strengthen the thyroid gland, making it a beneficial superfood for hypothyroidism sufferers.

Pomegranate

Pomegranate is another food full to the brim with antioxidants, which lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and heart disease. Studies have also shown that pomegranates can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure, as well as protect the kidneys against harmful toxins, preventing kidney problems. And of course, they taste beautiful!

Salmon

Aside from being absolutely delicious, salmon has a number of great health benefits. Packed with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, B and D, iron, calcium, selenium, and phosphorous, salmon is definitely brain food that helps to improve your memory. It also contains tryptophan, a natural sedative, which means it can help aid sleep to help you get a good night’s rest.

Lentils

Budget-friendly and versatile, lentils are a very healthy staple to include in your diet. There’s over 9 grams of protein in just 1 cup of lentils, not to mention 8 grams of fibre, which can help to lower cholesterol and reduce digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome and constipation. They are also a fantastic source of folate, which can decrease the risk of heart disease by reducing your homocysteine levels.

Spinach

This superfood not only tastes great, it is versatile and packed full of nutrients. One cup of spinach holds 20% of the recommended daily amount of fibre, which helps to maintain low blood sugar and aid digestion. As well as this, the high amounts of vitamin K within spinach means it’s great for keeping your bones healthy and strong.

Broccoli

This yummy green vegetable is bursting with soluble fibre, which is excellent for lowering your body’s cholesterol. It is also a fantastic source of calcium and vitamin K, which are both very important for preventing osteoporosis and maintaining good bone health. Broccoli is also beneficial to the heart, thanks to the anti-inflammatory properties of the isothiocyanates found within it. These can prevent blood cell damage.

How to Clean Your Floors with Homemade Non-toxic Cleaners Instead of Store Bought Chemicals

Our floors are the largest surface area in our homes that require regular cleaning. If we use chemicals, we breathe them in day and night until they dissipate. There is no need to add to our indoor air pollution when we can use simple and handy, homemade cleaning solutions.

How to Clean Wood, Bamboo, and Laminate Floors

It would be so easy to clean every floor of our home with a steam cleaner. No muss, no fuss, nothing but water turned to steam. But regardless of the claims made by the manufacturers, steam cleaners can damage wood, bamboo, and laminate floors.

Laminate floors consist of layers of materials glued together. Any water, but especially steam, will break down the bonds between layers, causing them to buckle and split. Steam can strip the finish that is protecting your hardwood floor. Moisture that seeps into the wood will cause grains to swell and the wood to warp and splinter.

The primary rule for bamboo, laminate, and hardwood floors is the same: do not wet mop–dry mop (though damp mop would be a better descriptive term). After thoroughly sweeping or vacuuming your floor, use a well wrung out sponge or rag mop with plain water, water with a few drops of essential oil, or water with 1/4 cup of vinegar (added to a 2 gallon bucket). Use warm water; it will evaporate faster than cold. Buff the floors dry with a soft cloth or towel.

Perusing the net, you will find other suggestions such as 1/2 cup of lemon juice added to water. However, a manufactures’ site warns against using citrus to clean laminate flooring as it will damage the finish after repeated use. Many sites, including a manufacturer’s site, suggest using 1/4 cup of dish soap to a bucket of water to clean sealed hardwood floors–without rinsing. But it only stands to reason that, over time, soap residue would accumulate. If you do rinse, you are using more water. Since the object is to clean with the least amount of water possible, this method doesn’t make sense.

One wood laminate manufacturer suggests mixing vinegar and water into a spray bottle. Rather than spraying the liquid on the floor, use it to dampen the bottom of your dust mop.

Another solution, claimed to be even better for wood floors than vinegar, is cleaning with tea. Brew black tea, (1 tea bag per cup of water) and either fill a spray bottle to mist the floor (a small area at a time) then follow with a damp mop, or make enough tea to immerse your mop in a bucket. As before, wring out your mop so it is as dry as possible.

How to Clean Linoleum, Tile, and Stone

Linoleum and tile floors can also be cleaned with vinegar and water. The ratios vary according to preference from 1/4 cup of vinegar to a one-to-one ratio of vinegar to water. For a really dirty floor, try the following recipe:

1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup baking soda
1 tablespoon liquid dish soap (remember to choose a natural soap)
2 gallons hot water
Add a few drops of essential oil, if desired

Rinsing is not required, but if streaking occurs, rinse.

Do not use lemon juice, vinegar or other acids on marble, limestone, or travertine. To wash these floors, use a squirt of liquid soap (such as castile soap or dish soap, not detergent) in your bucket of water and wet mop. Rinse. Too much soap will cause streaking.

These floors may be the best candidates for a steam mop, but first check with the manufacturer to be sure steam mopping does not void your warranty.

All floors of all types are scratched and scarred by dirt. Mats outside and inside each entrance can help limit the amount of dirt on your floors. A shoeless house can make a tremendous difference. Remember, how often you sweep or vacuum and what you use to mop your floors will determine the longevity of your floor’s finish as well as the level of pollution in your home.

Sources:

How to Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem

Most people ingest too many refined, processed foods. Even us health nuts have a tendency to do this. In this fast paced world, with the body biologically programmed to desire sweets and other easy carbohydrates that are so much harder to find in nature, it’s common and totally normal to have too much Candida in our body.

If you experience this problem, and again, most people do, here are some ways you can balance your gut flora. Balancing the flora will alleviate many health issues, even little annoying ones you thought you were stuck with for the rest of your life such as itchy ear canals, body odor, and eczema.

Garlic

Most people know that garlic is antifungal, antiparasitic, antibacterial, and antiviral. It also helps with a host of other issues including the removal of toxins in the body. If I could only choose one single item to work with when it comes to healing and treatment modalities, I would choose garlic. Unfortunately, many people don’t know exactly how to use it to reap the benefits.

First and foremost, don’t cook it. It loses all its Candida fighting properties when you do. Secondly, cut it up and give it a minute before ingesting it. Or, if you’ve got a strong stomach and an even stronger mouth, chew it up for a minute with your mouth open, breathing in and out. This is also an incredibly effective treatment for tooth and gum problems, and even bad breath; though swallowing it, of course, can lead to garlic breath for many, but garlic breath is a sign of a toxic body.

Don’t use garlic from China, even if it’s organic. One way to tell, is those smaller, bright white garlic bulbs are almost always grown in China. China’s soil is just too toxic.

Essential oils

Oil of oregano has antifungal, antibacterial, and antiparasitic properties as well. Oil of oregano is exceptionally powerful and can be taken in tablet form.

Some other essential oils that kill candida include lavender, thieves, tea tree, and peppermint, though I don’t recommend taking these oils internally. They are a good solution for Candida skin rashes, though they can be painful to use. In most cases, they will not harm the skin even though you will feel a burning sensation.

Oils

Coconut oil is known for its antibacterial, antifungal, and antiparasitic properties, though it’s efficacy with Candida control is weak compared to other ingestible choices. Neem oil is an oil with similar antiparasitic properties, a bit stronger at parasitic control than coconut oil, but it should only be applied topically.

Other Candida Killers

Other notable items that are known to combat fungus include wormwood, black walnut hull, Spanish black radish, Pau d’Arco, goldenseal, coptis chinensis, ginger, cinnamon, and olive leaf extract. All of these are great to have around, and a few of them are exceptional at killing parasites, viruses, and bacterial infections (coptis chinensis, wormwood, black walnut hull, Spanish black radish) but while they are certainly antifungal, they’re not the strongest solution.

My favorite combination for eliminating excess yeast in my body is undecenoic acid (Thorne SF722) and very high quality probiotics. Combine this with Shillington’s intestinal cleanse and with big salads everyday with lots of different vegetables, and you’ve got yourself a clean colon free of excess Candida in days, often in just one day. What I love about undecenoic acid and probiotics is that they don’t kill off good bacteria. They only eliminate Candida and other fungi. If I want to knock out parasites as well, I use MicroDefense – Pure Encapsulations, which has wormwood and black walnut hulls (and other good stuff that parasites hate).

Whatever approach you take with intestinal maintenance, a diet with a diverse selection of lots of raw vegetables is the most important thing you can do for your colon and your whole body.

Recommended Supplements:

(You can take these altogether)

Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse (kills parasites, heals the intestinal walls, sets up hospital home for healthy flora)
Formula SF722 (undecenoic acid, kills candida and other fungal functions, does not kill beneficial flora at same rate)
Floramend-Prime by Thorne (a strong probiotic designed to pass through the stomach acid and into the intestinal tract)
MicroDefense – Pure Encapsulations (a parasite killer, works pretty well on Candida, but works even better on many other parasites)
Shillington’s Intestinal Detox (This is necessary only for those with seriously damaged intestines, anyone who has recently been vaccinated, or those looking to do a thorough detox)

Foods that Kill Cancer

In order to defeat cancer and ensure there is no recurrence, the body must be brought into balance and the immune system rebuilt and fine tuned. So how is this feat accomplished? Detox, detox, detox and achieve a slightly alkaline pH, while filling the body with the best, organic, nutritionally dense food available. Your goal is to rebuild a killer immune system as you bathe every non-cancerous cell in your body with nutrition.

For specific foods known to eliminate cancer, check out the following list:

Omega 3

Oily fish, fish oil, flax seed oil, hemp oil, and healthy oil blend supplements provide omega 3 fatty acids (and other beneficial fatty acids), which fight inflammation and make the body less hospitable to cancer cells. Vitamin D is also known to kill cancer, and you can find many fish oils and some vegan oil blends with vitamin D in them.

Cruciferous Vegetables

Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, watercress, kale, collard greens, cauliflower, bok choy, turnips, rutabagas, radishes, arugula, and more. These vegetables contain sulforaphane and other helpful compounds, which help fight tumors, breast, prostate, brain, and colorectal cancers, as well as leukemia. Broccoli sprouts and mature broccoli in combination really pack nutritional, cancer fighting punch.

Berries

Black raspberries appear to reign supreme, though all berries contain cancer fighting phytonutrients and high amounts of ellagic acid, which inhibit tumor growth.

Maitake and Shiitake Mushrooms

Google maitake mushrooms and cancer and the American Cancer Society pops up at the top of the search list. For one brief moment it seemed they might actually be doing their job, but no. They claim there have been no studies to show that maitake or any other mushroom help fight cancer. Continue your search and study after study reveals they do indeed.

Mushrooms boost immune function and are a great source of antioxidants. They are also rich in vitamins C and B vitamins as well as calcium and other minerals.

Tumeric

Curcumin, found in turmeric, inhibits the spread of cancer (metastases) along with its anti-inflammatory and oxidative effects. Tumeric can be found at farmer’s markets in root form. It can be used liberally to spice your food (great on salads or in salad dressing as well as in cooked dishes) with no side effects.

Tomatoes

The active compounds found in tomatoes, carotenoids and lycopene (especially lycopene), are very helpful, especially in the fight of prostate and pancreatic cancer in men. Seven to ten helpings are week are suggested, both cooked and raw juice. To gain the health benefits of juice, make your own. Store bought tomato juice will be pasteurized. Lycopene is a strong antioxidant.

Folate

Egg yolks, avocadoes, apricots, green leafy vegetables, and pumpkin are among the foods rich in folate. For meat eaters, chicken livers are very high in folate. Studies involving folate or its synthetic form, folic acid, show a significant reduced risk of colorectal cancer. Folate or folic acid ?is essential for the body to correctly replicate DNA.

Garlic

Even the National Cancer Institute admits garlic “…may reduce the risk of developing several types of?cancer, especially cancers of the?gastrointestinal tract”.
Garlic reduces inflammation, fights free radicals, and fights cancer. Eat it raw or chop it up and let it sit for 10-15 minutes before cooking with it or its beneficial compound, allicin, will not be released.

Grapes

The compound found in red grapes, resveratrol, is a powerful antioxidant that also saves cells from oxidant-caused death. Grape seeds have huge benefits. We recommend you don’t eat grapes without seeds.

Conclusion

An alkaline, balanced diet with plenty of nutrition, and as few toxins as possible, makes the body inhospitable to cancer. Sugar feeds cancer. Processed and refined foods feed cancer. Raw, organic vegetables, especially when grown for maximum nutrient content (as opposed to large scale farming) should be the foundation of any healthy diet. We also recommend that anyone with cancer undergo a full body detox with a supplement regimen specifically designed for your current state of health. For more information on what to do for cancer, check out the first three sources. For information on detoxifying, check out Cheap And Easy Detox Diet Plan.

Plastic bag ban may be signed into law in California

The California state legislature enacted a ban on single-use, plastic bags. Many cities, (several in California, Washington, and Texas) have made it illegal for grocery stores and restaurants to use plastic bags at checkout, but if the bill is signed into law, California would be the first to enact a statewide ban on plastic bags.

Plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to decompose and are causing notorious environmental problems worldwide, from blocking drains that can lead to flooding, to killing animals that become entangled in discarded bags or choke on the plastic. The damage done by plastic bags costs taxpayers millions every year, and considering long term environmental degradation, the cost down the road is staggering.

The senator who sponsored the bill, Alex Padilla, said, “Single-use plastic bags not only litter our beaches, but also our mountains, our deserts, and our rivers, streams and lakes.”

The California Senate voted 22-15 in favor of the bill. It needs to be signed into law by the 30th of September by Governor Jerry Brown, who has yet to identify a position on the measure.

Not only would the bill ban grocery stores from giving out disposable, plastic, grocery bags at checkout, the bill would also provide funds for local plastic bag manufactures to help them retool to make reusable bags.

Despite intense lobbying efforts from plastic bag manufacturers, the tide is turning. It won’t be long before plastic grocery bags are a thing of the past.

Most consumers and environmental experts believe that paper bags are a better option than plastic, though there is some debate on the issue. American Plastic Manufacturing, a company based out of Seattle, states that plastic bags are not made with petroleum; they are made with a byproduct of natural gas refining, that would otherwise be put into the atmosphere. They also state that paper bags require more resources to produce.

While the obvious solution is to bring your own reusable bags, American Plastic Manufacturing also claims that this may not be the smartest environmental choice either. But then again, they sell reusable bags on their website.

If you’re in the mood for some humor in regards to forgetting your reusable bags at the grocery store, check out Canvas Bags.

Sources:

Reuters

abc News

The Fascinating Bacteria in our Gut, and How it Affects Our Whole Lives

We are host to somewhere between 300-1000 different species of bacteria, each of which has one goal—to survive and multiply. While they live and thrive in our gut, beneficial bacteria provide many necessary and health-related functions. They help us digest our food. They line our intestinal wall, providing a physical barrier against bad bacteria and fungi that may damage or inflame the tissues. Some produce vitamin K and B vitamins, while others aid in synthesizing vitamins. They produce 95% of our serotonin as well as other neurotransmitters. They make up 80% of our immune system, and more. The by-products of their lifecycle benefit us through a harmonious, symbiotic relationship.

We classify bacteria as bad bacteria when their byproducts or functions can harm our bodies. For example, most of the E-coli bacteria strains are harmless. In fact, the harmless strains help prevent colonization of pathogenic bacteria and produce vitamin K2, whereas the pathogenic E-coli strains cause a variety of infections and may even cause death.

Related: Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease

Aside from illness, researchers are learning that specific species of bacteria exert different influences on their host bodies. One example is our metabolism. The bacterial makeup of a lean person is different than the bacterial makeup in someone who is obese.

One study showed that Enterobacter, an endotoxin-producing bacterium, taken from the gut of a morbidly obese human, induced obesity and insulin resistance in healthy mice. In a volunteer with an initial weight of 385 lbs, Enterobacter made up 35% of the gut bacterium. After 23 weeks of a diet of whole grains, traditional Chinese medicinal foods, and prebiotics, the volunteer lost 113 lbs and all traces of Enterobacter. The conclusion was that this endotoxin-producing bacterium creates inflammation that causes insulin resistance resulting in weight gain.

Another recent study showed a direct correlation between a high or low level of bacterium in the gut and the subjects’ weight. A high level of bacterium, with a high level of diversity, was linked to a healthy weight, whereas a low level of bacterium was linked to overweight individuals.

Related: Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases

The amount of bacteria in the gut relates to more than weight, it is also an indicator of overall health. Our actions affect the amount, the diversity, and the ratio of good to bad bacteria. For example, antibiotic use indiscriminately kills bacteria. Antibiotics do not just target the one pathogen causing an infection in our body; they kill off much of the bacteria in our gut as well. Not only do we need the good bacteria to do its work (including keeping the bad bacteria in check), we need to maintain the delicate balance between bacteria and fungi. Candida is opportunistic. Given a chance, it will quickly mass-produce, wreaking havoc in the digestive tract and, in time, the entire body.

As research continues to reveal that diversity in gut bacterium is essential to good health and can influence bodily functions such as serotonin production (a huge factor in depression) or metabolism (a factor in weight control), researchers are learning more about which particular bacteria are beneficial and which bacteria have an unhealthy effect on the body. The day may soon come when we choose our probiotics to manage our weight, to maintain our mental health, or to treat a variety of diseases. Until that day arrives, our diet choices can and will alter this internal balance.

We do have a basic knowledge of which foods promote beneficial bacteria and which foods and medications promote bad bacteria, and we know how to increase the beneficial organisms to crowd out those that do not serve our health.

Related: Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid

The first and most important step to increase health inducing bacterium in the gut, is to eat a diet rich in prebiotics—in other words, lots of raw vegetables and fruit. A large salad each day, filled with a wide variety of vegetables, provides the healthy bacterium in our gut with the food it needs to thrive. Insoluble fiber also houses good bacteria, giving it a structure upon which to multiply. Raw, whole, organic vegetables and fruits (more vegetables than fruit) should always comprise 80% of our diet.

We not only know what to feed good bacteria, we know what feeds or promotes bad bacteria: processed dead foods, acidic foods (factory raised meat and dairy), pasteurized foods, irradiated foods, sugar, antibiotics, antacids, and anti-inflammatory drugs. Choose only organic grass fed beef, organic free-range chicken, and raw dairy. Never eat farm raised fish. Avoid all GMOs, including second generation GMOs from animals raised on GMO feed.

If we were to believe the advertisements, one or two servings of sugar filled, pasteurized, yogurt (often with other ingredients added to thicken, stabilize, preserve, and/or add artificial flavor) would provide all the beneficial bacteria we need. If any beneficial bacteria from this yogurt survived our stomach acid and made it to our intestines, the dairy and sugar content alone would negate its benefits (pasteurized dairy and sugar feed Candida and “bad” bacteria). There are better ways to include probiotics in our diet.

Related: How to Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem

Probiotic foods such as coconut kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi, and raw, organic apple cider vinegar all increase healthy bacterium in the gut. There are also excellent probiotic supplements formulated with very strong bacteria strains that have the ability to make it past the stomach acid before releasing the bacteria into the intestines. These probiotics are rare; most on the market are useless. But the good ones are powerful and can help reset your ecosystem. Remember, while probiotics can be very helpful, more benefit is gained from prebiotics, vegetables in particular. Conversely, if your appendix has been removed, you may need a daily probiotic supplement for the rest of your life. FloraMend Prime by Thorne Research is a very strong and stable probiotic that we highly recommend.

Every choice we make to detox, cleanse, and properly feed our bodies will affect the microbes in our gut. Though we were born with a particular balance of bacteria, it has been influenced throughout our lives by toxins, antibiotics, vaccines, and the foods we have eaten. But we do have the power to change it. We can increase the amount and the type of bacteria in our bodies primarily by the foods we choose to eat and the foods we choose to avoid.

If you want to reduce Candida and harmful bacteria in your gut be sure to check out Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases, and we recommend the following:

Recommended Supplements: