How to have a healthy gut!

I recently wrote about colon cleansing and how it may be helpful for those who suffer with bloating. The issue of bloated tummy raised so much interest I thought we would look at it in more detail, because sometimes it needs.
By Jenny Logan
Published 21st Aug 2015, 22:51 BST
'Good' bacteria are needed to have ahealthy gut. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)'Good' bacteria are needed to have ahealthy gut. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
'Good' bacteria are needed to have ahealthy gut. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

If, as well as a bloated belly, you also suffer from one or more of the following – irritable bowel, thrush, recurrent urinary infections, low energy, bad skin, bad breath, fungal infections, sugar cravings, wind or PMS – your issues could all be related to an overgrowth of a yeast called candida.

Candida is something which lives inside all of us, but practitioners of natural medicine believe that, due to stress, antibiotics, high sugar diets and illness, our levels of good bacteria can die down and candida starts to grow to take their place.

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Candida is fermentative so leads to bloating and bowel problems. It can also overgrow in the urinary tract causing the infections and thrush and on the skin leading to fungal infections.

Jenny Logan. Health Food Shop.Jenny Logan. Health Food Shop.
Jenny Logan. Health Food Shop.

To correct this problem we need to take a few different measures:

Stop feeding the candida. This means reducing the amount of sugar in the diet, by cutting out cakes, biscuits, sweets, fruit and fruit juices. This is a temporary measure we believe is very important. Eat savoury snacks like nuts, oatcakes and hummus instead.

Kill the candida. We often suggest using a good anti-fungal remedy like Citricidal, an extract from grapefruit seeds.

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This is usually taken for two weeks alongside the diet changes and will often make a remarkable difference.

Replace the good bacteria. As the candida has overgrown as a result of the good bacteria dying off we need to replace the good guys to stop it growing back again.

To do this we usually suggest a good strong ProBiotic like Solarays Mightidophillus 12. This contains 12 different good bacteria strains and over 20bn good bacteria so it will really make a difference to the levels of good bacteria in the gut. Feed and strengthen the good guys. We often suggest that, after the first few weeks of killing off the baddies, we switch and start to feed the goodies.

This helps them grow and colonise correctly in the gut to hopefully prevent any recurrence of the problems. To do this we usually suggest using Vogel Molkosan Vitality. This pleasant flavoured drink is rich in the L+Lactic Acid which our good bacteria grow and thrive on.

This in turn helps to ensure a healthy gut and bowel habit.