Healing Is Multifaceted

What is the Microbiome?

The word microbiome is the collection of microbes that inhabit an environment, creating a mini-ecosystem. Our microbiome is made up of symbiotic, commensal and pathogenic bacteria, fungi and viruses.

They exist in unique to you blends and inhabit everything from our skin, genitals, mouths, eyes and our intestines. The clusters of bacteria from different areas of the body are known as microbiota, your skin microbiota, oral microbiota, vaginal microbiota and gut microbiota.

Some of these bacteria, the commensal - are along for a free ride while the symbiotic bacteria offer a mutually beneficial relationship and in much smaller numbers, pathogens - disease-causing microbes. Pathogens, however, do not always cause disease, and some in fact have beneficial effects.

What scientists understand is that the makeup and overall health of your microbiome as a whole determines whether pathogens in the gut coexist peacefully, or cause disease.

These bacteria make up an essential piece of our biological puzzle - one meticulously constructed through millions of years of natural selection and one that remained largely misunderstood.

Less than a decade ago, the species of bacteria that scientists had discovered as indigenous cohabitants of the human body numbered only 200. Now the estimates are that more than 10,000 different microbial species occupy our microbiome.

How does it benefit us?

The communities in our microbiome carry out a variety of vital functions for our health and well-being and survival. In our immune system, the microbiome establishes parameters in which our bodies decide whether or not something is friend or foe. It maintains harmony, balance, and order amongst its own communities, ensuring that opportunistic pathogens are kept to a minimum, while also keeping the immune system from attacking itself.

It is the first, second and third line of defense, our skin, then our mucus membranes, and then our gut, providing a barrier that is able to be modified to suit our needs and unique environments.

The microbiota is responsible for the breakdown and absorption of nutrients. Without it all of our food intake would not only be indigestible, we would be incapable of extracting the critical nutritional compounds.Our symbiotic friends not only provide this service, but also secrete beneficial chemicals as a natural part of their metabolic cycle.

Where does our microbiome come from?

As infants we come into this world with a blank sheet of paper, waiting our first contact with the microscopic organisms of our world. Our first exposure is through the birth canal, followed by a nurturing concoction of mother's milk. This is nature's way of establishing the foundation on which we will build our microbiome. Family, diet, and environmental influence throughout our formative years cultivate an ecosystem which plays a starring role in our health for a lifetime.

Why is the microbiome important?

Antibiotics and our obsessive nature to sterilize our environments have caused a significant rise in gut-related illnesses and this is forcing the medical community to explore this aspect of human biology.

Research has uncovered a delicate web connecting our gut flora to every process in our body. Because of this, the imbalances in our microbiome have been implicated in many health issues, including immune health, psychological well-being, and some of the most chronic health issues of our times.

Research surrounding one such connection, called the gut-brain axis, has the potential to revolutionize the way psychologists worldwide support mental and emotional well being.

Methods on how to influence the microbiome are flooding medical literature. Trading gut bacteria has become the latest focus for treatments, being successfully utilized as a means to treat antibiotic resistant infections and being considered as a potential means of treating obesity.

As our understanding of our microbiome's impact on our health as both individuals and as a species grows, so does the realization that current bacteria-phobic trends must come to an end.

Hormonal Disruptors Causing Emotional Imbalances

The majority of this is surely due to the amount of fluoride we are exposed to on a daily basis. On top of this is the chlorine, which is necessary keep bacteria under control but also adds to the burden that our bodies must deal with on a daily basis.

How many of us climb into the car on a daily basis which has been sitting in the sun and all those plastics within the car have been emitting all types of compounds as they heated up, we then inhale all of this poison and then wonder why a few years later we get breast cancers and prostate cancers and lung cancers and brain cancers.

Our food chain is also one of the most horrific sources of illness when it should be nurturing us, it is actually killing us. All farm animals are kept disease free on the factory farms by copious amounts of antibiotics in their feed, they are also administered Growth Hormones and anti-inflammatories to speed up their development for better slaughter prices at market. We then consume these animals which are highly stressed at the moment of slaughter, their bodies full of cortisol, hormones, antibiotics and then expect them to Nurture us.

To add to this we cover ourselves on a daily basis with chemicals in deodorants, shampoos, toothpaste, body creams, hand creams, and clothes washed in chemicals.

All of these factors can throw our bodies delicate balance out, causing our hormones especially to become very badly affected. This obviously causes huge emotional fluctuations, which contribute to a highly anxiety-ridden society. This is being reflected back towards us now, in massive amounts of road rage, spousal murder and assault and a real lack of empathy towards our fellow beings.

So, how do we find healing from all these environmental attacks:

• A good quality water filter is an absolute must in every home, to remove as much of the Chlorine, Fluoride, Heavy Metals and Pesticides as possible. Try not to stand in a hot shower too long as the skin absorbs a lot of these chemicals when the pores are opened by the warm water.
• Go Vegan or Vegetarian. If that's too difficult, then start cutting back on farmed fish and eat Free Range, Organic meats and Wild Caught Fish.
• Avoid Commercial toothpastes that are full of poisons. There's a good reason why there are warnings not to swallow it when brushing. There are many good alternatives available from most Health Stores and you can even make your own with Coconut Oil, Bicarb and Peppermint or Cinnamon oil.
• Try using Organic Soap Nuts for clothes and bedding washing. They are really good and aren't overly expensive.
• Organic Cold Pressed Virgin Coconut oil is fantastic for skin care and with some added essential oils can really make a difference to the skin.
• If your car has been standing in the Sun and getting super hot, when you are about to get into it, open the doors and let fresh air into it to flush out all the toxins before you get in. It will also help your Air Conditioner to cool the car quicker.