If you think of your digestive tract like a lush meadow, it is easy to understand why it is so important to listen to our bodies when they tell us when something is wrong. By eating whole foods and consuming natural herbs and tonics such as Rest Easy\u2122 and Inner Garden\u2122, we can handle small problems instead of masking them until they turn into big problems.<\/p>\n
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In our digestive tract, we have millions of intestinal villi, which are tiny finger-like hairs projecting into the intestine. These villi dramatically increase the surface area of the intestinal lining, making it more effective at keeping unwanted things out of our bloodstream while absorbing nutrients from the foods we eat. These villi are covered with a layer of healthy intestinal flora, about 5 to 7 pounds of varied bacteria, viruses, yeast and other microbes.<\/p>\n
These healthy bacteria are vital for a healthy life. They make vitamins, they digest food, they make antibiotic substances to keep down pathogens, and they function as our immune system. This system is like a lush meadow that has a thick layer of soil (the villi) covered by a lush layer of grass (the healthy bacteria).<\/p>\n
When both are intact, the meadow is healthy, but if you went to the meadow and stripped off the grass (this would be the equivalent of using an antibiotic or even not eating enough probiotic food), a whole cascade of catastrophic events will follow.<\/p>\n
The first thing that happens is erosion of the soil. The soil that’s left will be weak and unsupportive of healthy grasses. Weaker varieties of grass and weeds will grow or no grass at all. As time passes, the soil becomes more eroded and develops cracks. (This is leaky gut). Poisons and runoff start to seep into the ground water (your bloodstream). At this point the land is dying.<\/p>\n
This is exactly what happens in our gut. We strip our grass (by taking antibiotics or eating preservatives). Then the soil erodes – the villi get weak and can’t support healthy microorganisms. Cracks develop (leaky gut), and finally poisons seep into our groundwater, the blood.<\/p>\n
We now have foreign proteins in our blood, which either directly poison our nervous<\/p>\n
system (resulting in ADD, ADHD, Autism or Mental & Emotional disorders) or create antibodies in reaction to these abnormal proteins, which is the whole process of autoimmune illness and allergies.<\/p>\n
Some of the diseases that are the direct result of this process include intestinal diseases such as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. This list goes on to include all the auto- immune problems such as eczema, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, and on and on. The majority of human illness starts in the gut and must be healed by treating the gut. Healing the digestive tract is important to good health. One key to getting and staying healthy is avoiding the use of antibiotics.<\/p>\n