The Unhealthy Garden

Much like a healthy garden, a healthy gut should include an abundant variety of keystone (beneficial) bacteria. There are strong physical barriers that protect the gut and any pathogens (harmful bacteria and toxins) that do sneak in get removed daily. A nourished and enriched gut microbiome will have an abundance of beneficial bacteria that limit the overgrowth of unwanted pathogens/toxins. These beneficial bacteria protect the integrity of intestinal barriers by producing butyrate and other short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). These SCFA’s and metabolites work together to help maintain a strong mucosal barrier that helps protect the gut against toxins and pathogens. These SCFA’s prune out and reduce intestinal inflammation. They also improve the function of the gut barrier by maintaining the tight junctions that hold the intestinal cells together.
Now let’s compare an unhealthy gut to an unhealthy garden. An unhealthy garden is overrun with weeds and plants.
Boundaries are broken down, plants are overgrown, and important plants die or are drowned out. The few surviving good plants produce weak and sickly produce or don’t bear fruit at all. The garden only offers a limited variety of vegetable and fruit types and there are no healthy spices or herbs. Previous treatments by toxic chemicals have left the garden with toxic soil, making new plant growth difficult. The garden is not managed and cared for daily and produces weeds more than produce. The frustrated gardener throws good and bad things into the garden frequently hoping something will work out. Without the right knowledge and effort, the garden remains unhealthy and unproductive.
Like an unhealthy garden, an unhealthy gut will have low diversity of beneficial bacteria. It is overrun with an abundance of toxins, gut bacteria imbalances, leaky gut (intestinal permeability), and rampant overgrowth of bad bacteria. Certain yeast types or bacteria are likely too high, and some critical delicate bacteria are almost nonexistent. The gut barrier is broken down and inflammation is prevalent. Previous attempts at treating the problems have damaged and left the gut biome unbalanced and in disrepair. Toxins flow freely into the rest of the body causing various stomach issues and other health challenges. The mind is clouded, bowels are irregular, and bloating is the norm.
Much like dousing a garden in chemicals and plowing it under, some people with unhealthy guts take more and more medications to get their gut problems to go away. The symptoms are miserable, so the immediate focus is making the symptoms disappear. Others attempt extreme gut detox programs, clays, or cleanses hoping for the same immediate relief from their symptoms. The medications and extreme detoxes temporarily suppress the problems, providing much needed relief, but they also create massive gut bacteria imbalances, destroy gut bacteria diversity, and leave the microbiome in shambles. With renewed hope people reseed their gut with fancy looking probiotics loaded with 80 billion CFUs and dozens of strains (more for your money, right?). But like most things, quantity isn’t everything. Most of the billions of CFUs don’t survive, and those that do are immediately crowded out by the toxins and pathogenic bacteria still in the gut. The overgrowth of bacteria was never pulled back, the gut lining issues were never addressed, and daily gut bacteria management was not put in place.
Jumpstart Gut Health by Calming and Cleaning the Gut
2 capsules per meal
3 meals a day
1 capsule per meal
3 meals a day
4 capsules with first meal
4 capsules with last meal
2 capsules per day
2 capsules for large meals or
1 capsule with 2 medium-size meals
3 capsules per day
1 capsule with 3 meals per day
2 capsules per day with any meal (preferably the largest)
3 capsules per day taken with
2 Ultimate Probiotic capsules