Pretty much all bacteria love sugar, but so do people. It's good if you can get it out of your diet, but it's pretty hard. I know that just as much as anyone.
The wife loves corn tortilla chips.
A lot of bacteria love starches, which is pretty much what tortilla chips are.
We are both overweight. Me, less so. She, more so.
Some of that may be genetic (it's perfectly normal for the human body to want to store fat.) and some of it may be the result of the type and quantity of bacteria you have in your system. I've read accounts of experiments on mice that have had their gut bacteria eliminated by anti-biotics and when compared to mice with normal gut bacteria, they stay thin on a diet that makes the normal mice fat.
Apparently the bacteria can break down food components that the body won't normally digest and convert them into a form that can be absorbed by the body, thereby adding more calories to the diet than the body would otherwise normally absorb from eating the food.
Years ago I sent a copy of this study to a friend of mine who is a doctor and suggested he develop the "anti-biotic" diet, which he could name after himself. He thought it was amusing but left it at that.
Anyway, it is my understanding that plants such as garlic and onions have substances in them that supress bad bacteria. Honey also.
The way the yogurt works is by boosting the population of a known good bacteria (like Bifidus regularis) which will then go to "war" with bacteria that causes stomach problems such as irritating the stomach lining.
The problem is, there are a lot of known "good" bacteria, but there are billions of unknown "bad" bacteria. (of which H. pylori and C.dificule are known ones)
The whole topic is an emerging science and it has only been in the last decade or so that people have started putting together causes and effects of various strains of gut bacteria which have so far been identified.
Here's another interesting bit. Bacteria in your gut communicate with each other by secreting chemicals which other bacteria can smell. When they are happy they secret one type of chemical, when they are unhappy they secret a different type of chemical.
Certain bacteria which are harmful secret a chemical which tells the colony to "attack". Botulism is an example of this. The colony of botulism in a stomach will grow without releasing any poison until it gets to a certain size, and then the colony will start secreting a chemical to tell all the bacteria cells to "attack" and then they will all start producing and releasing botulism toxin.
Botulism *WANTS* to kill it's host because part of it's life cycle must take place in a decaying corpse.
In any case, I advise you to read up on "probiotics" and keep up with news stories regarding what has been discovered. This is what I do as well as keeping track of what happens to me when I eat certain foods. I've figured out certain patterns for myself and it took quite awhile. I suggest that if you start feeling bad, you think back about what it is you've been eating, and see if you can find any connections between a particular food and the way it makes you feel later.
Would write more, but I have to go. Hope some of that helped.
Would write more, but I have to go. Hope some of that helped.
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It definetly helped. Even the wifey though so. Much thanks.
Also recently read where fake sweeteners can screw up the bacteria in your stomach.
Thank you, this was so enlightening. Hit the gym with some Chobani!