Reprinted from:
http://www.defeatcancer.ca
by Ron Harder
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This article is also available at www.shift.to/health/
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THE POWER OF FRIENDLY BACTERIA
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Copyright © Ron Harder 2002
In this article we will take a look at the benefits of
having bacteria inside your body. You can find bacteria
on your skin, in your digestive tract, in your throat, and
in every other part of your body, but it is the bacteria in
your intestines that we are concerned with here.
It is generally believed that having bacteria in your
body is harmful to you and that it will cause you to
become ill, but this is not so. The truth is, your body
needs bacteria in order to survive.
What are bacteria? Bacteria are single cell organisms
that are among the most simple and most abundant life
forms on earth.
You have both friendly and not-so-friendly bacteria in
your body, and both of these are meant to be there. The
friendly bacteria is responsible for the digestion of your
food, for breaking down waste products, for cleaning
waste material from your intestinal wall, and for
producing essential vitamins that your body needs.
For these reasons, friendly bacteria in your
gastrointestinal tract is known as the second of the two
"workers" in your body, and it is essential for your
good health.
You also have something known as Candida Albicans
in your gastrointestinal tract. Candida Albicans is a
yeast-like fungal microorganism that lives in your
intestines, and in a healthy person it does not cause a
problem. Your body maintains a delicate balance
between this Candida Albicans and the friendly
bacteria, with the friendly bacteria being in control.
This delicate balance is sometimes upset when you
become ill. When you have an infection in your body
the first thing you are likely to do is go and see your
doctor, and the first thing he is likely to do is give you
some form of antibiotic.
Antibiotics are routinely prescribed for an infection
without anyone checking to see if the infection is
caused by a virus, or some form of bacteria. This first
step is very important because antibiotics only kill
bacteria, they do not harm either a virus or a fungus.
Why is this so? To understand that we have to look at
the difference between a virus and bacteria. A virus is
described as "a minute parasitic microorganism much
smaller than a bacterium that, having no independent
metabolic activity, may replicate only within a cell of a
living plant or animal host". In other words, a virus
lives inside the cells of your body where an antibiotic
cannot reach it.
Bacteria on the other hand are "single cell organisms
that do not have a nucleus, are much larger infectious
agents than viruses, and live outside the plant or animal
host cell". This means that they can easily be reached
by an antibiotic and can be destroyed.
When you take an antibiotic, it will kill the bacteria that
causes the infection, but unfortunately, it will also kill
the friendly bacteria in your intestines. Antibiotics
cannot harm a fungus, so when the friendly bacteria are
destroyed, the fungal Candida population increases and
soon grows out of control.
As the Candida yeast fungus grows it releases toxic
chemicals into the blood, which then attack your
immune system. When this happens, your immune
system is weakened and this usually leads to an
infection in your body known as Candidiasis.
Candidiasis is a fungal infection that travels through the
bloodstream to all parts of your body and causes all
kinds of problems, including constipation, diarrhea,
abdominal cramps, vaginitis, kidney and bladder
infections, etc.
Candidiasis affects both sexes but it seems to strike
women more often than men. The most common
symptom of candidiasis in women is a yeast infection.
Candidiasis needs food to survive and it seems to thrive
especially well on sugar and gluten.
There is another problem that can be caused by lack of
friendly bacteria in your intestinal tract and it is
something called IBD. IBD is generally referred to as a
group of chronic disorders that cause inflammation or
ulceration in the small or large intestines. IBD is
usually classified either as Crohn's Disease or
Ulcerative Colitis, but it is sometimes also called
Colitis, Enteritis, Ileitis, or Proctitis. This is caused by
the not-so-friendly bacteria that were mentioned earlier.
Crohn's Disease is the more common and the more
serious of these diseases, and is an inflammation that
extends into all the layers of the intestinal wall.
Ulcerative Colitis is less severe than Crohn's Disease
and is an inflammation that affects only the innermost
lining on the colon.
The effects of IBD are very serious and can include
severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, bleeding, weight loss,
and fever. In an advanced case of Crohn's Disease all
the layers of the intestine have become inflamed and
swollen. This will cause partial or complete blockage of
the intestinal tract, where, in the case of the large
intestine, the only medical solution may be the partial
or complete removal of the colon. This is only done
when the Crohn's Disease becomes serious enough to
be life threatening.
All of these problems can be avoided simply by making
sure that the friendly bacteria in your intestines are not
destroyed. This can be accomplished by not using
antibiotics, by staying away from radiation, and by
avoiding any activity that weakens your immune
system.
You can increase the amount of friendly bacteria in
your intestines by taking supplements in the form of
digestive enzymes and cultured live (friendly) bacteria.
This will boost your immune system and help to control
the harmful bacteria in your intestines.
Also, the harmful bacteria in your intestines feeds on
sugar and gluten, and to help to control this bacteria
you really should stay away from all white flour
products, all pastries, and all sugar.
Other articles by Ron Harder are available at
www.shift.to/health/
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This article written by Ron Harder, Nutritional Health
Consultant, Iridologist, and Author of "How To Defeat
Cancer - Naturally - without Chemo, Radiation, or
Surgery". More information on the power of friendly
bacteria is available at http://www.defeatcancer.ca
--------------- End Of Article ---------------
Reprinted from:
http://www.defeatcancer.ca