Thursday 13 June 2019

Why Probiotics may be the Last Thing You Need!

Building a Better Microbiome

The human microbiome (MB) is simply fantastic! It is made up from a combination of micro-organisms including, bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa that exist in and on the surfaces of your body. The majority of these organisms reside within your gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and weigh up to 2kg in a healthy adult.  Building a better microbiome will have a lasting and positive effect on your whole health.   Let me share with you some tips on why this is important and how you can achieve excellent results.

The Microbiome population in the adult gut weighs 2kg!

 Imagine your microbiome as a complex eco-system, like a beautiful rainforest, made up thousands of different species, both symbiotic,  pathogenic and opportunistic.  It is a dynamic environment, constantly influx, and involved in a complex array of biological functions including neurotransmission, immune modulation, nutrient production, hormone signalling and energy production to name just a few.

 These microbes occupy many locations on and in your body and many of the subgroups of microbes are unique to you and your social group.  Importantly, these populations can be greatly influenced by environmental factors like diet and lifestyle. 

Around 98% of the genes in your body belong to non-human microbes

You are literally a walking ecosystem!!



The prognosis of chronic health complaints is affected by the health of  your microbiome

  It's a hot topic right now and there is certainly a lot of information on the web as to how one should best ramp up the health of their gut microbes.  Probiotics are one such option and there are many fantastic strains that can be used to modulate your internal environment.  But often there are other things like finding the right diet to suit your needs, tweaking habits that improve digestive function such as meal times and thorough chewing and reducing consumption of things that can reduce beneficial microbe numbers such as alcohol, sugar and highly refined and processed food.

The scope of what one can achieve by tweaking one's diet is quite remarkable


Why all the fuss?
Our gut microbes produce metabolites that directly orchestrate biological functions within our body.  Appetite, Mood, Behaviour, Energy production, Inflammation and immune function appear to be the results of the chemical messages that our microbes produce.  Our microbial diversity is what makes us unique and allows our bodies to flourish, grow, repair and combat illness.  It's not so much the numbers of particular species that are important compared to the overall diversity. A well balanced plant-rich whole food diet will keep your microbes happy and when your microbes are happy it usually follows suit that you are too.  


At Eluvi Natural Medicine we  are focused on helping people repair damage that has been hindering their health

 There is significant evidence to suggest that our microbes influence emotional responses such as Anxiety, Depression and Stress Response.  Our MB affects neurotransmitter production of Dopamine, Serotonin, Adrenalin, Nor-Adrenalin, and GABA.  There is also evidence to suggest that microbes can affect the important tight junctions in our Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) which protect our brain from unwanted infection.   The gut really is the seat of all health.  

 Sadly though, our MB cops a significant amount of damage and stress from preventable and reversible factors.  A poor diet with lazy choices can adversely affect your good bugs.   For example, a low fibre diet will result in less food for the microbes that live in your large bowel and when they starve they are unable to produce an important contingent nutrient called Butyrate which plays a significant role in immune and inflammation regulation.   Many chronic illnesses can be improved by increasing Butyrate production which is facilitated partly by the microbes that inhabit your large bowel.

We have helped thousands of people repair their microbiome and restore their health and vitality using a systematic and evidence-based system of traditional, holistic natural medicine. eluvi.com.au

 Other lifestyle factors that affect your MB include sedentary behaviour and unnecessary medication, both natural and pharmaceutical.  This can result in your digestion becoming sluggish leading to over-fermentation and putrefaction ultimately giving rise to a state of Dysbiosis or germ overgrowth.  This type of functional damage will result in an internal shift in your biology that has the propensity to sustain biological and physiological functions that are not compatible with health.  There is evidence to suggest that this type of imbalance gives rise to opportunistic microbe populations, the ones we don't want to get out of hand to proliferate and dominate the internal landscape, shaping and influencing key system functions for the worse. 

Alterations in beneficial microbe populations have been linked to Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Allergic diseases and reduced Immunotolerance 

 Alterations in your MB may be contributing to a multitude of neurological and mood altering conditions, psychiatric symptoms, obesity, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, allergy and food sensitivity as well as impaired immune function.  Looking after and building a better microbiome is highly beneficial for overall health.  Hippocrates was correct when he stated more than 2500 years ago  All Dis-ease Begins in the Gut!

 
Patients love that we are available for consultation and support when they undergo a microbiome restoration.  

We can show you how to build a better microbiome and tailor an individual diet to support your boy's needs.  Maybe you've made changes in the past to your diet or lifestyle that resulted in a positive effect. A month without the booze, quitting sugar, or increased your exercise.  How did you feel when you committed to changes that enhanced your wellbeing?  

You might be surprised to know that a few simple dietary changes is all it takes to make your microbes feel as if all their Christmases have come at once


Repair work is part of the key
when you work with a suitably qualified practitioner you can find your path back to wellness.  For example, when we undertake a microbiome restoration in our clinics we embark on a comprehensive fact finding mission to understand what external and internal influences are disrupting the balance of the individual.
 We assess for underlying inflammation, parasitic infestation, hormone imbalance, geopathic stress, immune dysregulation, and which organ systems are most imbalanced.  We need to determine to what extent nutrient deficiencies play a part.  There are complicated biochemical pathways to consider including cellular, hormonal, electrical and biochemical signalling.  Once this is determined we can then target the area that needs most work and focus on repairing damage to your microbiome.  Trust me, you can't google this. You simply need to consult someone who knows what they are doing.


Hoping your ailments will resolve by taking a probiotic without addressing the underlying cause/s is like tipping water into a bucket with holes and expecting the water not to run out!

Probiotics are the last thing you need!
 Your attention should be directed to move beyond simply re-inoculating the gut with probiotics.  This is an overly simplistic approach that often leaves people with very little to show by way of therapeutic effect.  Don't get me wrong, probiotics can be beneficial, we use them everyday in our clinical practice but it's vital that the correct strains are used, at a therapeutic dose to match individual needs and...at the right time in the course of treatment.   Simply buying a probiotic and presuming your health complaints will all dissolve into the ether is simply naive.




Our clinic offers individualised and highly successful microbiome restoration programmes
that will help your body re-establish its natural state of balance.



If you’re suffering physical, mental / emotional, immunological or metabolic health concerns  taking an individual approach to repairing and rebalancing your microbiome will yield great rewards. We look forward to working with you.  

Reference material and relevant links
Reduced Immunotolerance and the Role of the Microbiome

Saturday 1 June 2019

Concepts of Chinese Medicine: Part 1. Holism

Holism in Chinese Medicine

NB: These notes are intended to convey key concepts that are part of Master of Chinese Medicine study I am undertaking at RMIT - Melbourne.  

Chinese Medicine (CM) is more than 2000 years old with a rich history of change and development within the many dynasty periods.  Central to CM is the concept of holism, how things function in relation to each other.  The practice of CM is largely based on observation, patterns of harmony and rhythm, in the natural order of the universe, within the seasons and within humans. 

Chinese Medicine is based on treating patterns of disharmony within the body.

Yin Yang Theory

Explains how things function in relation to each other and the universe.  How the parts of the whole fit together in harmony and balance.  Yin and Yang is about parts of a whole that are inseparable. They inter-consume each other in a dynamic manner. The seed of Yang is within Yin, and the seed of Yin is within Yang. 

Yin can be described as feminine (relative to masculine), shady, dark, quiet, introverted, interior, a state of resting, a downward movement.  The front of the body is more Yin relative to the back, which is more Yang.  Yang can be described as bright, expansive, hot, upward, expansion, stimulation. The back of the body is more Yang relative to the front.  

The aspect of relativity is an important concept to grasp when it comes to Yin Yang theory.  For example it can be said that Hot water is 'Yang' compared to cold water, which is 'Yin'.  However cold water is 'Yang' relative to ice-cold water.  The point is, the two are never static and in fact it is their dynamic flux and movement that gives them vitality.  It can be said that when Yin and Yang seperate life itself comes to an end.
  


Yin and Yang represents inter-connectedness of all life

4 Aspects of Yin Yang Relationship

  1. Yin and Yang are never in a static 50/50 equal split, but rather move in a dynamic and constantly in a changing balance.
  2. Yin and Yang are in opposition but they are inter-dependant, one cannot exist without the other. For example, there cannot be expansion without contraction, day without night and rest without exertion. 
  3. Mutual consumption of Yin and Yang.  Balance is maintained by adjusting relative levels of Yin and Yang. If one is out of balance it will affect the other and as a result they will recompense to maintain balance.
  4. The inter-transformation of Yin and Yang. This change happens are certain stages of development. For example, Summer changes into Winter, Day changes into night, happiness changes into unhappiness, movement changes into rest. 

4 States of Yin Yang Imbalance

  1. Excess Yin - excess Yin induces a decrease of Yang
  2. Excess Yang - excess of Yang induces a decrease of Yin
  3. Deficiency of Yin - induces an apparent excess of Yang relative to the deficient Yin 
  4. Deficiency of Yang - induces an apparent excess of Yin relative to the deficient Yang
                
                                         Image result for 4 states of Yin Yang imbalances

Application of Yin Yang to Medicine

CM treatment is aimed to balance Yin and Yang. Illness in its physiological, pathological, diagnostic and treatment can be reduced to Yin Yang theory.  
  • Tonify Yang
  • Tonify Yin
  • Eliminate Excess Yang
  • Eliminate Excess Yin