How to Restore & Improve Gut Bacteria
You need to maintain a good intestinal flora balance for your digestive system, immune system and your general well-being and certain elements called prebiotics and probiotics are what you need to pay attention to.
Intestinal flora represents all of the microorganisms that are present in your tummy and intestines and as you may already know that countless bacteria are important for the proper functioning of your body, starting from your digestive system. You may be intolerant to certain types of foods, you may not even be aware and other factors like having taken antibiotics or suffering from life and work stress and will all potentially disturb your gut flora balance.
These bacteria are there for protecting you from a variety of disorders and infections and any kind of imbalance will probably affect your entire immune system, resulting in a variety of health problems. So there are good bacteria and bad bacteria in your system and you need to have a balance of good and bad to fix this and maintain your balance and stability you will need to consume probiotics, which are live microorganisms that are very different to antibiotics that destroy all bacteria, without discriminating good or bad.
These live microelements called probiotics, such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli are great for the balance and stability in your intestinal flora, which in turn helps strengthen your immune system while helping with better digestion. Prebiotics (such as fructans) are certain dietary fibers found in certain fruits and veggies and by being a part of different stages of digestion, stimulating the good bacteria growth from your tummy into the colon- they help enhance the probiotics growth.
Both the soluble and insoluble dietary fibers are highly recommended for helping develop the good bacteria and hence help maintain the balance between bad and good that was lost due to stress, antibiotics or intolerance to certain foods. Fructan or prebiotic rich foods include Jerusalem artichoke, white onions, garlic, leek, chicory root, asparagus spears, cooked beans and raspberries, wholegrains- especially rye and barley, banana, nectarine, pear.
And then you have the yogurt (low fat Greek yoghurt is the best but any plain yoghurt that includes live cultures), cultured cottage cheese (that includes L. acidophilus and B. bifidum), sauerkraut (homemade is best but store bought is also OK if kept in fridge and contains live cultures), miso (fermented cooked soybeans), kimchi (a popular Korean dish- fermented and pickled cabbage mixed with ginger, onion, radish etc.), buttermilk (because of live cultures added for fermenting milk sugars), kombucha drink and kefir drink (fermented milk with yeast culture and kefir grains- bacteria).
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