Your Most Important Health Number

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Posted on: 30th Apr 2014

Numbers, numbers, numbers. It seems the world revolves around numbers, and that includes
your health.

A person's state of health is SO dependent on having the right numbers:

    Blood pressure that's preferably under 120/80.
    Total cholesterol that's below 200.
    Triglycerides less than 150 mg/dL.
    A fasting blood glucose level between 70-100 mg/dL.
    A resting pulse between 60 and 100.
    A BMI (body mass index) that falls within a range of 18.5 to 24.99.

But one number you rarely hear anything about is arguably the biggest and most important
number in your body!

I'm talking about your friendly intestinal flora.

Right now you have more of these little guys milling around than you have cells in your
entire body--to the tune of TRILLIONS!

And since you could not survive for very long without them, they're definitely a number you
want to be concerned with.

Let�s take a closer look at these little dynamos, and explore the 4 ways you can really mess
them up, as well as strategies for helping to keep yours healthy and strong.

Little guys, BIG jobs

Most people have the idea that your friendly gut flora helps keep your digestion smooth, but
that's just the tip of the iceberg.

They also house about 70% of your immune system...so whether or not you will get the latest
bug, cold, virus or infection going around largely depends on your flora population.

They also help inhibit various diseases including CANCER--the number 2 killer in the US.

They encourage a health cholesterol level--they're Nature's alternative to statins.

Plus they also help control the pH level of your intestines, to further help keep digestion
efficient, strengthen your gut wall to stop toxins from leaking out and prevent gas and
bloating.

How To Mess Up Your Gut In 4 Easy Ways

Unfortunately, largely because of excesses in our diets, we humans are susceptible to four
different types of "dysbiosis"--where our flora populations are not what they should be and
hence we're vulnerable to sicknesses and diseases of all kinds.

The 4 different types of dysbiosis are:

1) Putrefaction

This is the rotting of poorly digested food and frequently occurs when someone has a diet
loaded with fats, too much protein and very little fiber.

A diet like this encourages harmful bacteroids to flourish which can cause an increase in the
development of tumor-causing particles.

2) Deficiency

This is when your population of beneficial bacteria begins to dwindle. Like putrefaction, it
too is the result of a high fat, low fiber diet, and it's commonly seen along with putrefaction.

It can also be caused by use of antibiotics.

3) Fermentation

This is when your friendly flora is overcome by Candida fungi or other disease-causing microbes.
Eventually these microbes "eat away" at the gut wall and make it too porous (known as leaky gut).
This allows wastes and toxins to leak into your bloodstream and abdominal cavity and lead to
sickness and disease.

Fermentation is the result of eating a high-carb diet, especially refined carbs (like bread,
pasta and pastries) and sugars.

4) Sensitization

This is when your immune system gets confused and views food particles or other harmless
substances as dangerous invaders and launches an attack.

Normally the Regulatory T-cells in your immune system can help control these responses, but since
your friendly flora helps to encourage Regulatory T-cells to form, if your flora population is
low (due to diet or medications like I mentioned above), you can have fewer T-cells and therefore
more of these inappropriate sensitive reactions.

This is a leading factor in how autoimmune diseases are created.

Take Care of Your Biggest Number

You have trillions of microbes inside of you. And since they play SUCH an important role in your
health, it's crucial to make sure their population is healthy and strong.

Luckily, that's relatively easy to do. It just involves three very important steps:

1) Eat for a better flora balance

When you focus on consuming good carbohydrates (like whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables,
legumes, seeds and nuts), get enough fiber, and have healthy sources of fats and proteins, you not
only encourage better digestion but also you help nourish the friendly flora in your gut.

The Great Taste No Pain health system can help make this a snap for you.

In Great Taste No Pain, I guide you in choosing good, healthy sources of carbs, fats and proteins,
and show you how to pair foods together that are more easily broken down by your system.

I also explain the dangers of refined, processed foods and bad fats that are literal poisons to
your body.

And of course, I give you recipes and meal suggestions you'll positively love.

2) Boost your population of beneficial bacteria with probiotic supplements

Arguably nothing is more helpful to achieving and maintaining a healthy flora balance than to give
your gut a daily dose of the good guys with probiotic supplementation.

The reason for that is that most of the friendly bacteria in your gut are not �permanent
residents��they instead �vacation� inside of your body for a week or two tops.

So it�s crucial to make sure that you always have a healthy environment for them to thrive (with
your diet like I mentioned above) as well as give them the help of a little boost from
supplementation.

But here is where it can get tricky. You see, research studies have shown that it is important
to use more than one strain of probiotics when dealing with dysbiosis. So if you�re limiting your
probiotic intake to only one strain (such as the popular Lactobacillus acidophilus) your gut may
not be getting all the help it needs.

Make sure you are getting a multi-strain probiotic.

3) Reconsider Certain Medications

Certain medications are very harmful to your gut flora�especially antibiotics and acid reducers.

If you are on either of these medications, it may be time to talk to your doctor about alternatives.

And here�s some food for thought: If you change your diet like I suggested in #1 above, chances are
excellent you might not even need acid reducers anymore!

Plus if you help strengthen your immune system by pampering your friendly flora with a healthy diet
and probiotic supplementation, your future needs for antibiotics may decrease as well!

When it comes to having great health, there are many numbers to be concerned with.

And when you keep one of the most important in mind--your friendly flora--you are taking arguably
one of the most effective measures to ensure YOUR great health well into your golden years!

To Your Health,

Sherry Brescia
Natural Health Researcher
President, Holistic Blends, Creator of the Bestselling Great Taste No Pain System
Editor, Pain-Free Living

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