Protect Your Gut From Disaster While Taking Antibiotics
Antibiotics are often a necessary evil to ward off invasive bacteria and prevent serious illness, but sadly taking them isn’t without consequence. Our exposure to antibiotics has increased exponentially in recent years and the effects have been well documented. We’re seeing resistant bacterial strains, yeast overgrowth, decreased immunity and possible most importantly the devastation of our gut microflora. Whether we’re currently taking prescribed antibiotics, just finished, or even if we’re not currently taking any, it’s important to protect your gut to remain your healthiest.
On this week’s episode we talk about the importance of protecting your gut while taking antibiotics. Probiotics play an important part in protecting your microflora, but it’s not the complete story. Ed walks us through seven steps to protect and heal your gut including eating the right foods, providing nutrients for probiotics.
Some Topics We Discussed:
How do antibiotics impact our gut flora? (1:53)
What are some of the side effects of antibiotics? (6:25)
The 7 steps to take to regain healthy gut flora and gut function. (10:30)
Why should you reduce your sugar intake as it relates to gut health? (15:14)
Why are spores so important when you’re taking antibiotics? (24:21)
What if your child is on antibiotics? (26:52)
Key Takeaways From This Episode:
We have about 3 pounds of microflora in our gut. (4:04)
When you take good bacteria away from your gut, yeast flourishes causing even more issues. (7:51)
Your gut needs food to nourish the good bacteria and those are prebiotics. (10:56)
Shoot for 40 grams of fiber per day. (13:32)
NSAIDS wreak havoc on our gut. (19:15)
Products + Resources:
Thanks to our sponsor this week: Mt. Angel Vitamins
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:43 Hello, everyone, you're listening to The Holistic Navigator Podcast, where we believe in the body's ability to heal itself if it's given the proper nutrients and care. My name is Brian Strickland. I'm the producer of the show. And here with me in the studio, as always is the host Ed Jones. Ed, how's your week been?
Ed Jones 01:00 It's been a good busy week, and we had a lot of new developments that we're excited about and with The Holistic Navigator and other parts to this nutrition kind of conversation, which we certainly will share with time. And I'm very pumped up about today's podcasts.
Brian Strickland 01:18 Absolutely. Well, on today's episode, everyone, we're taking a look at the widespread use of antibiotics and how it's affecting the health of people all around the world. Yes, in certain situations, antibiotics are amazing. But there are consequences for their use. Not only do they destroy whatever invasive bacteria you may have, they also seriously alter your gut flora as well. On this episode, we want to talk about how to protect your gut with the use of probiotics, especially if you're currently taking or just finished a course of antibiotics. But to begin, let's go ahead and talk about just the general use of antibiotics. And how exactly are they affecting your gut flora?
Ed Jones 01:59 Well, thank you. And I think every one of us in this country has at one time or another taken an antibiotic. And in fact, the amount of antibiotics prescribed and given to animals is mammoth. It's in the billions of doses and it's scary stuff. Well, you know, the definition of antibiotic is actually against life. That's what it is. And before I get into the super details of this, I must say, you know, we are not here to tell you not to take an antibiotic. I'm not here to say that instead of doing it, you should do something else. We are not responsible for your health, we're here as educators. And if you are not brave enough to take hold of your own health as a partner, then you probably need to turn the podcast off because this is about a partnership between knowledge, education experience, and health professionals who are open minded. So again, we are not treating your medical conditions. If you have something wrong, go to someone you trust. All right, antibiotics again, I said it is defined as against life. Well, of course they are because antibiotics are there to kill something. And why should we really care if your doc has just said I think you need to take an antibiotic? Well, we all know that there's some aggravating little scenarios that come with that from the diarrhea maybe feeling funny. Some people have no symptoms, Brian, believe it or not, but why should we still care? Because of multiple reasons. In fact, Dr. Jill Carnahan says that intestinal dysbiosis that means unbalanced leads to many deadly disease states, including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, diabetes, liver disease, heart disease, autoimmunity, mood disorders, and much more. And the reason is, is because we actually have about three pounds of what we call micro flora that resides in the gut, and the amount of us compared to others, which is micro flora, we're actually out number 10 to one. And 10 to one means that 90% of what you think you are, it's actually not you. It's actually others, which is cells. And so I think we all would realize common sense wise, we need to maintain a healthy relationship with that. What do antibiotics do? Well, they are going to devastate the whole landscape of the micro flora. And, you know, this garden within, which is home to all the cohabitants that we do call the micro flora is similar to if you were working at a large company, or you were in the military. Just imagine that you are in the military with, you know, 100,000 people. If all of these people say 97% are on the same philosophy, the same work ethic, the same goal orientation, it's all going to work well. But if all of a sudden, you throw in a mix of people who actually are anti government and don't want to work or they're lazy, or they've got difficulties, you can see that there's a certain tipping point of this percentage or devastation is going to occur because of the fact that we're not all on the same team. Well, that's what happens when you are on antibiotics and you take them. I'm not going to get into the purpose significantly of antibiotics, because we've already done a wonderful podcast with Brenda Watson, who was the guru of PBS television for years, discussing the value of probiotics, and how to maintain gut health, everything from constipation, all the way down the list. And you can refer back to The Holistic Navigator for the Brenda Watson episode to learn so much about the other components of probiotics. But to summarize, real quickly, we know that it basically rules the immune system and balances it, it produces brain neurotransmitters. That's why we have to have them healthy or we get anxiety and depression. It removes damaging toxins, it prevents infections, on and on and on, listen to Brenda Watson, you will be amazed, actually life changing. So what are some of the side effects of antibiotics that many people do get? One is antibiotic associated diarrhea, don't have to explain that one. We all know what that means. Secondly, the one that worries me the most is called C. diff. My father actually passed away from C diff. C. diff is a bacterial overgrowth that comes almost exclusively because we have used antibiotics. It is diarrhea, times 20. It is devastating to the health of the body. Some people never stop going to the bathroom until they die, because it's hard to control. Because the thing that caused it is what they used to treat it, which is antibiotics. Brain chemistry changes happen, which is often anxiety, depression. Then you have the potential of gut damage this thing called leaky gut. In fact, it is something that has to be addressed if you have long term gut issues. Then we have immune dysfunction. And it is epidemic what is happening to autoimmune. I've never seen so many people and clients have issues with their immune system as I have in the past 10 years. It was not like this people in the 80s and 90s. I promise because I was here, I was listening, I was watching. And then lastly, yeast overgrowth. You know, yeast overgrowth is not significantly focused on a yeast problem in women. It is systemic. What it does is when this yeast overgrows it causes the immune system to be unregulated, dysfunctional and confused. It also causes foggy thinking, it creates a terrible type of short circuiting of your energy systems. And is not that yeast is a bad guy. It's again, it's about balance. Once you take the good bacteria away yeast flourishes. Alright, so let's say you just went to the doc or a couple of weeks ago you did and you had some issue going on. And the doc suggested you take a antibiotic, I'm hoping and I'm only gonna say this once. You'll have to look into it floor quinolone antibiotics are the most devastating there is ever given. Cipro falls in the class of that and three other ones you can look that up, please, if you have to ask your dog, or if he's suggesting antibiotic say, let me do one is not a fluoroquinolones is actually support groups, because it's changing the lives for the worst in hundreds, 1000 people. All right. Let's say you walked out the office and then sometimes the doc will actually say, I think you should go and get a probiotic. Is that all you need to know to help protect yourself? The answer is no. And in fact, it's hell no. That is such a small part of the solution to what we're talking about. You know why I'm saying this? Because for 41 years, I have observed and followed 10s of 1000s of people who had taken antibiotic came to me and I watched what happened when they took good quality probiotics, which is not always often and it was limited the good benefit. It simply by itself is not going to give you the goal and the regeneration that you want because of the antibiotics. So now for the rest of the story. Dr. Chutcan, who I really respect is a GI physician, she wrote in her book, The Microbiome Solution, that it may take many months, or even many years to replace the microbiome, from a five day dose of antibiotics. But that's based on the standard advice, which is doing nothing or taking a probiotic. Let me tell you people, I'm going to give you the seven steps that I can almost assure you that you will regain healthy flora and gut function, if you will follow these near the time that you're on the antibiotic or after. The longer you wait, the more difficult it can become. So there is a window of opportunity to do these relatively quickly. All right, seven steps. The first one of this is that you have to know that regardless of the quality of the probiotic they will not survive if they do not have food to eat. My analogy is this is if you went to the store and bought some grass seed, and you came home and you put it on the carpet of your house, and you gave it some water. You know what little bit of sunshine, a little bit of water those grass seeds are going to sprout. But how long will they live without soil and nutrition? A day, a few days, maybe a week, and they're all going to wilt away. That's what happens to your probiotics people. If it doesn't have its nourishment. What is the nourishment? Well, they're called prebiotics. many options, you have to make sure that the probiotic has food. One is you can purchase products labeled as prebiotics and drink them. I've done that many times in the past when I felt I wanted to super fuel these probiotics. You can look online, again, be a informed consumer, don't just trust each and every company and all the claims. Second, you must eat foods that contain fiber. I'm talking real foods, not the package processed labeled types that may be having a big number of fiber that are not even from the earth. Because colored vegetables and eating real food is still the key to longevity. You know what makes the difference between the foods we eat today compared to the foods I ate when I was in high school and beyond? It comes down to two words, dirt and distance. When a food has not grown on dirt, which many of our foods are not any longer hydroponically grown or on soils that are very, very depleted. They are not going to contain anywhere near the supportive nourishment, nutrients that they did when we had our foods local. And the second thing is distance. When a food is having to be shipped all the way across countries and worlds. And you know, they're going to have to be picked before they're ripe. You can't pick a banana and just get this perfectly right because you know what will happen before it gets to the store. It will be rotten. So we need to get back to real foods. Now one thing as far as the colored vegetables, I'm a huge believer of drinking the quality green drinks that are available in today's marketplace. So talking about fiber, we need to shoot for 40 grams of fiber per day. I don't care if you're not taking antibiotics. 40 grams plus is where the magic occurs. When I analyze people's diets, I can tell you right now, the majority of people do good to get 20 grams a day. So we need to be doubling that. It's not easy people. Hey, I'm still as good as I eat, I have to add flax and chia seeds to my drinks every single day. I look at the fiber content probably as the first thing on any package, because I want to shoot for about five to seven grams on anything I'm eating. And that gets me close to 40. And don't be fooled everyone by the bars that are out there listing 12 to 14 grams of fiber. I do count that as fiber but it's a different type of fiber than you would be getting from real foods from your garden. So counted maybe 50% of assessed 12 grams of fiber really truly counted as six grams and put that into the mathematical equation. Alright, you know what happens when you have bacteria in your gut, good or bad and you're not feeding it? The bacteria are hungry, so guess what they eat? They eat us instead. Jeff Leads from the founder of human food project made that statement from the studies that were done. So wonder why we're having so much IBS. No wonder why all this intestinal disorders are epidemic. Well perhaps it's because the good bacteria and the bad do not have any food. And so they're going to protect themselves by eating what they can, which is the gut lining the mucus layer. So step number two, greatly reduce the sugar content that you eat daily. I'm not saying this because sugar is a bad guy, which it is in excess. But it's because guess what the undesirable pathogens, yeast and bacteria live on? It is the sugar. I'm sorry to say the good micro flora really don't prefer sugar as much as they do the prebiotic fibers, but the bad guys do. So we got to make sure we're kind of not starving, but we're not giving steroids to the bad guys. So cutting your sugar down is very important, at least for the few weeks while you're rebuilding your gut. Why do you think you crave sugar? It is because the bad guys, the pathogens, the yeast, they're telling you through an indirect communication, we want more sugar. We want you to go out and eat all of it that you can and that makes them happy so they keep feeding that message to you. And artificial sweeteners are actually no better. So stick with stevia try to do organic. I have made this statement before excess stevia gives me brain fog but I am an unusually chemically sensitive person.
Brian Strickland 16:31 Alright everyone, let's pause for just a moment to learn more about our sponsor for this week. This episode is brought to you by Mount Angel Vitamins. Mt. Angel is dedicated to providing quality supplements to suit your busy lifestyle. They understand that picking out vitamins and supplements can be overwhelming. So they offer simple solutions for what your body really needs. And that can help you maintain your health before something needs to be fixed. For more information, visit mountangelvitamins.com. Mt. Angel Vitamins- simple, proactive wellness.
Ed Jones 17:13 Number three eat fermented foods. Things like sauerkraut and kimchi and unsweetened Kiefer. Kiefer can be worse than a milkshake you're getting at Baskin Robbins, so be an informed consumer because many kiefers have 40 grams of sugar in them. The unsweetened is not like a taste of a milkshake. But that's what you do if you want to be healthier. And then you have to eat yeast fighting foods. Garlic, onions, coconut oil. I rarely endorse a specific product by brand name. But Kyolic high blood pressure formula is something I will take I'm sure the rest of my life. Dr. Jim Lavalle, who is the medical director at Kyolic is one of the most knowledgeable people. I've had him on my radio show and we talked about the research on this Kyolic product. It does a job on yeast. It also increases blood flow and helps maintain my healthy blood pressure. Number four, we got to upregulate the detoxing of your liver. Well guess what? If you're already taken antibiotic, obviously you have a reason which means you're ill or sick. So there's one thing that the body has toxins going on. Now you're taking the antibiotic number two reason for toxins. So the liver in is as generally looked at is not the super healthy thing as we age that it used to be. So we need to help it. Two of my most favorite items that absolutely will open the pathways called p 450 is NAC and milk thistle taken as directed or twice a day is what I do. Well open these channels to allow these toxins to not build up. Guess what happens if you use the analogy of a car if we stuck a bunch of dirt in your muffler. That car was still run. But as you can imagine the consequences that's what happens when the liver is blocked. Number five, Dr. Chutkan the GI doc says that NSAIDS will wreak havoc on the microbes, the good microbes in our gut. That's something that most people don't know. So here we are feeling bad. Well, how many times do we take pain pills because we feel bad is contributing to more the imbalance. Number six probiotic timing. This is again part of the unspoken conversation. When would you take your probiotic? Well, I have found through decades of listening and watching that two to three hours passed your probiotic at least once a day but If you're doing probiotics twice a day, and you can do it twice a day, two to three hours after. That means, you know breakfast if you're taking your pill, then at 10 o'clock, you'll take the probiotic. Now the next dose of probiotic, the next dose of antibiotic will kill that probiotic. But guess what, you're going to take it again later on two to three hours. That's the only hope you have to help during the antibiotic. Now of course afterwards, I'm still a two time a day dosing person, but you can do them almost any time after that. Number seven, all probiotics are not created equal, not even by a longshot. I have done stool analysis, which I think number now up to nine or 10. And I have proven to myself how how much less results we get by different brands. Number one is if you're ordering your probiotic online, and it's not the middle of winter, it's probably dead. The heat itself will devastate a probiotic in hours, not days. And we know that there's very few companies or only one actually, I know that actually ships with cold packs. So you might want to look into nutritionw.com because they are the only company shipping with cold packs every single day. Second, the potencies don't get too caught up in potency. This isn't like normal nutrients or drugs were potencies rule the day but you want somewhere between 30 to 200 billion in order to know you have enough. Next is you got to have a good variety of these probiotics you don't want just to because each probiotic now we are finding out has a specific purpose one for irritable bowel. One for losing weight, believe it or not. In fact, I heard a great study where they took the some of the flora out of runners who were super fit and actually put it into mice and the mice that received the micro flora from the superfit humans in cages where they tested them could run 13% faster. I mean, it shows you the communication and the power of these cohabitants within us. And to further show the power of implanting the right good bacteria, fecal implants, which many people know and many people don't, is where you take a donor from your family, and you would actually implant that bacteria into your gut. Now, that happens if you have terrible chrones, irritable bowel, colitis, especially c diff. And you know what 90% cure rate in three days. That shows you that the potential is there, but the way we're doing it is being limited. All right. Next, you got to make sure the probiotic has two things lactobacillus and bifidobacteria. Those are the two classes for the small and large intestine. Look at the date of the product. I don't like it, when they say manufactured date. I like to see the date that is potent, all the way through. Because if it's just manufactured date, you don't know how long it will last. Next, I'm not a fan of the old fashion enteric coating because of the unhealthy ingredients used in that and the unpredictable nature. Now there are companies today using a new process, which I really love called enteric shield. And in fact, Solaray right now is one of them, that is using it. And Vital Flora those two will release those good bacteria in the right place at the right time. And know this, you can take this to the bank, Ed Jones said it because I am the chosen guinea pig of this country on many things, including supplements. I've taken over probably 100 plus brands of probiotics over my career. And I can tell you people that 30% of these will not agree with me. I actually took one a year ago, I got very depressed. They showed me the power of these little guys as far as our brain chemistry. And secondly, I can get gas that's not pleasant. I can get a churning in the stomach. So don't think oh, it's labeled probiotic. So it's going to be perfectly fine. No, and I really would encourage you if you are not at this time, dealing with antibiotics, go ahead and find your friendly probiotics before you actually have to do it with an antibiotic. Lastly, if you are on antibiotics right now, two things get the probiotic that you so think is valuable for you. But there's a new wave of type of product called spores, spores or something that I'm not going to explain here. It's a different type of probiotic that actually, the antibiotic can not kill. You can take them together. It's amazing. The research has come out on spores, I don't have enough confidence to say do spores only. But I do have enough to say it's safe, effective and I would combine it with your probiotic, during the antibiotic. And maybe for several weeks afterwards. I am getting a new stool test done, which I completed about three weeks ago. And I will be revealing that on a future podcast because that's the only way to know the diversity of your probiotics and how much you have. When they look at the cultures around the world of super healthy people, it's really about diversity. More than it is amounts, that means that the family is bigger, you have a lot more skill sets is your back into that working in the military. And you don't have everyone who's just a foot soldier, you have experts from every field, that's what you get when you have diversity of your micro flora. So there's a company called Onegevity. If you go on onegevity.com, and you choose to do this test type in the code word Ed20 and you would get a $20 discount. That is the test that I did that I will be revealing. And the last two things I'd like to say is we did a podcast on glyphosate early on. Glyphosate is roundup. It is an antibiotic people it's found everywhere, you can't run from it. I just finally, you know, I do the best I can. But I know that I'm getting it every single day. So drinking the pure water from a great filter, like Propur, the one I certainly recommend. But the biggest thing is opening the ability to detox this glyphosate. And we did a podcast on that on The Holistic Navigator. And lastly is children. The advice on children is a little bit unknown. One website that I truly, really, really respect as to how to pick the type of probiotics is www.usprobioticguide.com us probiotic guide.com they have a tremendous amount of information on the different versions of the micro flora. Not a big fan of them with the brand names because that didn't always mean everything. But it tells what probiotic does what. So if you had krones, or you had something else, you could actually go through there, and then figure out the brand you want. But on children, once a child hits about four to five years old, their micro flora starts switching into an adult version. The products being sold to children are not effective in most cases. The reason is because it's just simply marketing hype, they're dead by the time you get them, they're more heavily flavored because there's they're always gummies or this or that. And it simply is not a very effective product. If your child will eat fermented foods, highly encourage that. But if they're five years old, don't follow the children's stuff. And again, try to get some of this experience behind you before you need it. It's kind of like be going up in an airplane, you're gonna strap a parachute on, but you didn't have any practice. Let's practice it before the emergency happens people. You know, I'm huge fan of being prepared. Well, I hope that's been super informative for you. And I hope not overly informative. But I have found that, you know, we have to nail these details down. Or we get swept up with just the marketing hype and a label and just go home with hope and it usually doesn't work out. And I am convinced as I actually wrote to myself yesterday, the diversity and robust nature of the garden within us may be the strongest connection to our future physical and emotional, well being above everything else. treats your garden with the same love and care as you would your children and your grandchildren. And you will be so happy that you did it. Thank you everyone for listening to The Holistic Navigator. Please share it, hit subscribe, send us questions. We love what we're doing and we wish you all a very healthy and safe day.
Brian Strickland 29:34 The information on this podcast and the topics discussed have not been evaluated by the FDA or anyone of the medical profession and is not aimed to replace any advice you may receive from your medical practitioner. The holistic navigator assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. The holistic navigator is not a doctor nor does it claim to be please consult your physician before beginning any health regimen.
“I think everyone one us in this country has taken an antibiotic at some point. The amount of antibiotics prescribed and given to animals is mammoth and in the billions of doses and is scary stuff.”
-ED JONES