1. Antibiotic Usage
This one is pretty straightforward: antibiotics are meant to destroy harmful bacteria in your body. Anywhere in your body. Oral antibiotics in particular do no discriminate between good and bad bacteria.
So, let’s say you have a bacterial infection in your foot. It’s bad enough that the doctor doesn’t think topical antibiotic cream will do the trick, so you get a prescription for antibiotics in pill form. The infection goes away! But you lose a big chunk of good bacteria in the process.
Without assistance from probiotic foods or supplementation, it could take YEARS for your gut bacteria to recover, leaving you to struggle with the rest of the symptoms in this list.
A good rule of thumb to follow is to double your dose of probiotics following your antibiotic treatment to ensure you are repopulating the good guys! (Example: if you were on an antibiotic for 14 days, double down on probiotics for 14 days afterwards to help your gut achieve balance.)
2. Gastrointestinal Issues
Gas, bloating, trouble digesting certain food groups, diarrhea, constipation, etc… ALL of these can be (and probably are) the result of an imbalance or lack of probiotic bacteria.
Help sweep these symptoms under the rug by eating a diet rich in whole, unprocessed foods. You’ll likely need probiotic supplementation for a time, but it is important to add fermented foods to your diet in the long-term.
Fermented foods include certain dairy products like aged cheeses, yogurt, kefir, soy and soy-based products such as miso, natto, and tempeh, pickled foods such as sauerkraut, pickles, and kimchi.
In the meantime, you can drink some ginger tea to help soothe your tummy, while your gut bacteria repopulates.