How to heal a gut after recovering from ill health?
All disease begins in the gut.
– Hippocrates
The importance of alkalinity in the body has been discussed over and over again on our website. But when it comes to the gut health it’s about a good balance between keeping it alkaline and acidic.
Firstly let us see what your gut really is. The gut (gastrointestinal tract) is the long tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the back passage (anus). When a person is in good health, the gut will have all the good bacteria that are needed to keep the pH in balance.
What Is Gut Bacteria?
Bacteria line our intestines and help digest the food we take in. During digestion, they metabolize vitamins that are vital for life, and send special signals to our immune system. Above that bacteria produce small molecules that can help our brains work better. It’s not the presence or absence of one particular type of bacteria that makes a gut a healthy one, but rather the diversity of good bacteria.
When a person is unhealthy (sick), the gut also gets affected and changes the pH level and the gut bacteria. Therefore, the best approach to heal the gut is by restoring the good bacteria.
Traditionally, doctors recommend taking anti-biotics and pro-biotics. When doctors prescribe anti-biotics and when it is taken by a patient, it automatically kills all the bacteria (both good and bad). However, to bring back the pH in the gut, it is necessary to consume pro-biotics (like curd, yoghurt, kefir etc.). By consuming pro-biotics one can increase the good bacteria in the gut which heals the overall gut health.
Of course, we would never recommend taking anti-biotics, as we are of the absolute conviction, that with an purely alkaline diet there will never be any need of taking antibiotics! Or even pro-biotics, as they have an acid forming effect on your body, therefore take them only moderately.
Apart from the above steps, it is also necessary to eliminate acidic foods (blog link about inflammatory food) from the diet during the healing process. Also, consuming fermentable fibers like sweet potato, yam etc. would help in increasing the good bacteria thereby aiding in gut health.
Please also check the list of our alkaline food recipes to improve your alkaline lifestyle.