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Quotes From the Book

Knowledge is Power

Gut Feeling

  • We underestimate out gut. Not just that, we are ashamed of it -- more "guilt feeling" than "gut feeling".
The Gateway to the GUT?
  • Our Saliva contains one painkiller that is stronger than morphine, called opiorphin.
    • Even chewing gum provides us with a dosage of our oral anodyne
  • Removing tonsils of a child younger than seven can lead to an increased risk of obesity.
    • Our tonsils are an important training camp for our immune cells. microbes, bacteria and viruses get stuck on the tonsils which is the first point of contact with body's immunity system.
  • The mouth is simply the gateway to a world where the external becomes internalized.
Structure of the Gut
  • The Lanky Esophagus
    • Ever wondered why our esophagus doesn't go straight to the stomach, why it takes a detour, circles around and takes a long way to stomach?
    • The answer is pretty ingenious,
      • when we walk we tense our abdominal muscles, doubling the pressure in the abdomen.
      • when we cough, laugh or sneeze, the pressure increases several times over.
    • If we didn't have the esophagus taking the detour and going round, we would end up vomiting every time we laughed
    • If you need to burp while lying down, you can make the process easier by lying on your left side.
  • The Lopsided Stomach Pouch
    • stomach sits higher in our abdomen than we think. It begins just below the left nipple and ends below the bottom of the rib-cage on the right.
    • Alcohol can multiply the number of gas-producing bacteria by a factor of up to a thousand.
  • The Meandering Small Intestine
    • Proteins react to the heat in the hot pan and the acid in our stomach in the same way -- they unfold.
    • Many people find they feel tired and sluggish after eating.
    • The food has not yet reached the small intestine. We no longer feel hungry because our stomach has been expanded by the food we ate.
  • The Appendix
    • Why is it placed so below?
    • So that it can ignore all the digestive business going on above, but be close enough to monitor all foreign microbes.
    • Appendix is made almost entirely of immune tissue.
      • It leaves only good germs alive and attacks anything dangerous
      • Thus, acting as a storehouse of all the best, most helpful bacteria.
  • Why is it recommended to take medicine via the rectum?
    • Tablets and fluids have large doses of active agent because much of it is removed by the liver before it reaches the target area.
    • This ain't ideal, as the substances recognized by liver as toxic are what we call medications.
    • If you want to do your liver a favor, and still need to take fever-reducing or other medication, make use of the shortcut via the rectum and use a suppository.
What we really Eat
  • The Most important phase of our digestion takes place in small intestine, the maximum surface area meets the maximum reduction of our food down to the tiniest particles.
  • Mother nature made the biological world out of 3 basic ingredients:
    • sugar
    • fats
    • amino acids
  • SUGAR
    • Our body has to work much harder to restore a healthy balance if a sugar onrush comes suddenly.
    • If it doesn't enter the system too quickly, sugar is an important raw material for our body.
    • Despite all the problems it causes, our body loves sugary treats because they save the body work, since sugar can be taken up more quickly.
    • It is the only substance our body can turn into fat with little effort.
  • FAT
    • Fat is the most valuable and efficient of all food particles.
    • The effects of olive oil, and results show that it can protect against arteriosclerosis, cellular stress, Alzheimer's and eye diseases such as macular degeneration.
    • Cooking oil or solid fats such as butter or hydrogenated coconut oil should be used for frying.
      • They may be full of the much frowned-upon saturated fats but they are much more stable when exposed to heat.
  • AMINO ACIDS
    • There are plants that contain all the necessary amino acids, in the necessary quantities.
    • Soy and quinoa, amaranth, spirulina, buckwheat, chia seeds.
Allergies
  • What we label as food intolerance may in fact be nothing more than the reaction of a healthy body as it tries to adapt within a single generation to a food situation that was completely unknown during the millions of years of our evolution.
Lactose
  • Problems with Lactose digestion can occur from birth
  • Such newborns are unable to digest their mother's milk, drinking it causes severe diarrhea.
  • In 75% of the world's population, the gene for digesting lactose slowly begins to switch off as they get older.
Let's talk Feces
  • It consists of
    • Feces are three-quarters of water
    • A third of the solid components are bacteria
    • Another third is made of indigestible vegetable fiber.
  • Let's talk color; Our bodies create 2.4 million new blood corpuscles a day.
    • Light Brown to Yellow
      • Maybe a result of harmless disorder called Gilbert's syndrome)
      • One of the enzymes involved in blood breakdown works only at 30% of normal efficiency.
    • Light Brown to Grey
      • No blood pigment makes it to feces.
      • This happens usually because of a blocked kink in the tubes or pressure (usually behind the gall bladder.)
    • Black or Red
      • Congealed blood is black and fresh blood is red
      • Anything darker in color than fresh, bright red blood should be checked by a doctor (Unless you have been eating a lot of beetroots.)
  • Let's talk consistency; The Bristol stool scale classifies the consistency into seven groups.
    • TYPE 1 -- Separate hard lumps, like nuts (hard to pass) (Bakri/goat types)
    • TYPE 2 -- Sausage shaped, but lumpy
    • TYPE 3 -- Sausage shaped but with cracks on surface
    • TYPE 4 -- Sausage/snake shaped, smooth and soft
    • TYPE 5 -- Soft blobs with clear cut edges (passed easily)
    • TYPE 6 -- Fluffy pieces with ragged edges (mushy stool)
    • TYPE 7 -- Watery, no solid pieces, entirely liquid
    • People with type 3,4 should also observe how quickly their feces sink in water.
      • Ideally feces should not plummet straight to the bottom. This indicates that they still contain nutrients that have not been digested properly.
      • Feces that sink slowly contain bubbles of gas that keep them afloat in water.

The Nervous System of the GUT

Nose
  • Up in your nose cavity, there exists Olfactory nerves, these are responsible for smelling.
  • These are coated in a protective layer of mucus, so anything we smell must first be dissolved in that slimy substance if it is to get through to the nerves.
Stomach
  • Our blood sugar levels are impatient and want to rise quickly, and dessert provides a quick blood sugar fix.
  • Meals rich in carbohydrates may perk us up more quickly, but they do not keep up feeling full for as long as meaty or fatty meals.
  • Our bellies don't rumble when we're hungry, but when there is a long enough break between meals to finally get some cleaning done.
  • Constant snacking means there is no time for cleaning. This is part of the reason some nutritional scientists recommend we leave five hours between meals.
Reflux
  • Most people are familiar with glutamate as a flavor enhancer, but it is also released by our nerves.
  • Reflux and heartburn are stumbles that are unpleasant but not dangerous.
Vomiting
  • Vomiting is not a stomach stumble: it happens according to a precise plan.
  • Saliva is meant to protect our teeth from the corrosive effects of the gastric acid they are about to come into contact with.
  • The human animal is especially designed to be able to vomit.
  • Those that are not able to vomit include mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, and horses.
  • The smaller the particles, the more bitter the taste, and the more yellow the color, the more likely it is to be a salutation from the small intestine.
  • Sudden vomiting that comes in a violent surge almost without warning is likely to be caused by a gastrointestinal virus.
  • This feeling of nausea is the body's way of telling us that the food we have eaten is not good for us.
  • When the brain is stressed, vomiting expels partly digested food to save energy required for digestion
  • When gut is stressed, partially digested food is ejected, either because it is toxic or because the gut is currently not in a position to digest it properly.
  • How to reduce chances of unnecessary Vomiting attacks?
    1. Travel sickness? Keep your eyes focused on the horizon far ahead. This helps the eyes and balance sensors coordinate their information better.
    2. Listen to music on headphones, lie on your side and try relaxation techniques.The more secure you feel, the less likely you are to set off your brain's alarm
    3. Ginger or substances containing root ginger block vomit center of the brain and the feeling of nausea with it.
    4. P6 acupressure point. The point is located 2-3 finger breadths below the wrist, right between the two prominent tendons of the lower arm.
      • If you don't have an acupuncture needle handy, you can try gently stroking the skin at that point until symptoms improve.
      • Stimulating this point is believed to activate the energy pathway, or meridian, running up the arm and through the heart, which relaxes the diaphragm and then runs on through the stomach and into the pelvis.
Constipation
  • Temporary constipation can be due to traveling, illness, or periods of stress.
  • The gut is a creature of habit.
  • Travel constipation can often be caused by the "not my toilet" syndrome.
  • Dietary fiber is not digested in the small intestine and can know on the wall of the large intestine in a friendly way to say there is someone here who wants to be shown the way out.
  • The skins of many fruits contain large amounts of insoluble fiber, while the flesh of the fruit contains more soluble fiber.
  • Your gut likes to work according to a plan, pushing digested food back into a holding pattern even just a couple of times trains the nerves and muscles to operate in reverse gear.
  • Probiotics and prebiotics -- living, beneficial bacteria and their favorite food -- can breathe.
  • Those with a taste for the unusual might want to try the rocking squat technique on the western-toilet seat.
  • Osmosis is the water's sense of equality, when one region of water contains more salt, sugar or similar substances than another, less rich water will flow towards the richer water.
  • Too much fresh apple juice can cause diarrhea.
  • Lactulose
    • formed from milk sugar, lactose when milk is heated to high temperatures
    • UHT (Ultra high temperature processed) milk contains more lactulose than pasteurized milk.
The Large Intestine
  • It has 3 sections, ascending, transverse and descending colon
  • Taking a strong laxative may cause the entire large intestine to be emptied.
  • After taking a laxative, the gut deserves a couple of days respite (rest)
Just a cool fact

  • todo screenshot of sea-squirt

  • Sea squirts are sessile animals: Once they take up residence, they never move again, no matter what happens.
  • The first thing a sea squirt does after setting up home is to eat its own brain.
Brain being the diverse organ
  • There is only one other organ in the body that can compete with the gut for diversity, that is the brain.
  • Ourself is created in our head and our gut -- no longer just in language, but increasingly also in the lab
  • Signals from the genitals are sent to the upper central part of the brain
  • Fear is found in the middle of the brain -- right between the ears.
  • Word formation just above the temple. Morality behind the forehead.
  • Signals from the gut can reach different parts of the brain but cannot reach everywhere.
Existentialism
  • How intensely are we prepared to strive for something that we believe exists? The forced swim test performed on mice, how long before the mice gave up?
  • The mice with enhanced gut flora not only kept swimming for longer and with more motivation, but their blood was also found to contain fewer stress hormones.
    • These mice also performed better in memory and learning tests
  • When gut is irritated, the connection with brain can make life extremely unpleasant.
  • Stress is thought to be among the most important stimuli discussed by the brain and the gut.
  • If the brain permanently thinks it is in an emergency situation, it takes undue advantage of gut's compliance.

  • Stress is unhygienic. The altered circumstances stress creates in the gut allow different bacteria to survive there than in periods of low stress.

    • Stress changes the weather in the gut.

  • Lactobacillus reuteri is able to inhibit pain sensors in the gut.

  • Our gut brain possesses the same neural receptors as the brain in our head. Antidepressants thus treat both brains when taken.

    An unhappy gut can be the cause of an unhappy mind.

Where the Self originates
  • The purpose of the brain is to create movement -- Daniel Wolpert
  • One of the main purposes of movement is to constantly shift us to a healthy equilibrium - cold to warm, sad to happy, tired to alert.
  • The more information we connect, cleverer movements we can make.
  • There is also a probability for hierarchy among organs.
  • The brain and the gut are well qualified to take a central role -- if not the central role.
  • The insula creates a picture of our entire feeling body, (Bud Craig -- neuroscientist -- believes that this image refreshes itself every 40 seconds.)

The World of Microbes

  • Among our entire microbiome - all the micro-organisms that teem on the inside and outside of our bodies, 99% are found in the gut.
  • Each of us is an entire ecosystem
You are an ecosystem
  • Almost every body smell is produced by bacteria.
  • Our gut's microbiome can weigh upto 2kgs and contains about 100 trillion bacteria.
  • Skewed proportion of certain bacteria in our gut have been detected in those suffering from obesity, malnutrition, nervous diseases, and chronic digestive problems.

  • When something is wrong with our microbiome, something goes wrong with us.

  • Different bacteria have different characteristics concerning their habitat, nutrition or level of toxicity.

  • Microbiota (refers to "little life") and microbiome, to refer to our collection of microbes and their genes.
  • E. coli make up less than 1 percent of the population in the gut.
The Immune system being a pookie
  • About 80% of our immune system is located in the gut.
    • The immune system must be able to distinguish between bacterial cells and the body's own human cells
    • Some bacteria have structures on their surface that bear a close resemblance to those on the surface of our cells.
    • This is the reason why scarlet fever should be treated immediately with antibiotics (full course tho not midway skipped)
  • Diabetes Type 1, this condition results from the autoimmune destruction of the cells that produce insulin.
  • If our little immune cell encounters something that it cannot clearly identify as belonging to the body or coming from outside, it stop and prods at it a little.
  • Immune cells with a tendency to attack the body's own tissue are weeded out before they leave boot camp.
  • What to do about foreign bodies that aren't actually bacteria but remind the immune system of them? Example red blood cells
  • Our immune system would attack our own blood if it had not learned in boot camp that the blood is a no-go area.
  • We cannot receive blood from donors whose blood cells have a different blood-group marker on their surface. It would immediately remind our immune system of bacteria.
    • Since there is no place for bacteria in our blood stream, it would consider the donated blood cells an enemy and form clumps.
    • If it were not through the combat readiness that our immune system learns through gut bacteria, there would be no blood groups, and any donor could give blood to any recipient.
    • For newborn babies who do not yet have many bacteria in their guts, this indeed is the case. In theory, they can receive transfusions of blood from any group without any incompatibility effects.
    • Blood group development is just one of many immunological phenomena caused by bacteria.
  • The small intestines of young vertebrates have been found to contain bacteria that provoke the immune system.
    • Colonization resistance -- Majority of the microbes in our gut protect us simply by occupying spaces that would otherwise be free for harmful bacteria to colonize.
  • it is not wrong to speculate that, just as the macroscopic world we live in influences us, we are also influenced by the microscopic world that lives in us.
The Development of the Gut Flora
  • All living things of any size have at least one other living thing that helps them in some way and is allowed to live on or in them in return.
  • We are colonized by so many microorganisms that only 10% of our cells are human, with microbes accounting for the remaining 90%.
  • Before we look into our mother's eyes for the first time, the creatures that live in her body cavities have already looked into ours.
  • Anything that finds its way into our mouth in the process could soon be building its empire in our gut.
    • We could say we gather our own fate with our mouth.
    • No matter how sloppy kisses we give to the car window, if we are allowed to kiss and cuddle with our mother regularly, we will be protected by her microbes.
  • Children with insufficient Bifidobacteria in their gut in their first year have an increased risk of obesity in later life compared with infants with large populations.
  • Breast milk provides everything that dietary scientists believe children need in order to thrive -- the best dietary supplement ever.
    • It contains antibodies that can protect against any dangerous bacteria a child make the acquaintance of.
  • The way our gut microbiome in constituted depends to a large extent on the tools we need in order to break down the food we eat
    • For eating raw fish (sushi) we need specific type of marine bacteria
  • Our lifestyle, random acquaintances, illness, or hobbies all influence the shape of the populations inside our body.
Cesarean section babies vs Normal Delivery Babies
  • Initial contact of children born by cesarean section is mainly with other people's skin.
  • They have to glean bacteria for their gut somehow, since their population will not develop from maternal microbes, like those of children born vaginally.
  • The problem with this? Our skin flora is not as strictly controlled as that of the birth canal and is much more exposed to the outside world.
  • Children born this way take months or longer to develop a normal population of gut bacteria.
  • 75% of babies that pick up hospital germs are born by cesarean section.
  • They also have increased risk of developing allergies or asthama.
The Adult Gut Population
  • For a gut, being an adult means knowing how you work and what you like.
  • Sometimes we alter our gut flora and sometimes it alters us.
  • Globalization iis not just your local corner shop turning into a MacD -- it affects even the contents of our navel.
  • Anything we come into regular contact with carries our microbial signature.
  • Genes are possibilities, Genes are information.
  • Our gut bacteria have 150 times more genes than a human being.
  • The genes our our gut bacteria also inform us about our body's abilities.
  • Soy's ability to protect against prostate cancer, cardio-vascular disease, or bone disorders has now been proven.
The Three Gut Types
  • The choice is between families of Bacteroides, Prevotella and Ruminococcus.
  • Bacteroides are experts in breaking down carbohydrates.
    • They do seem to like meat and saturated fatty acids
    • Might be responsible for an increased tendency to gain weight.
    • They produce large amounts of biotin (Vitamin B7 aka Vitamin H)
    • Some species in the gut make a living by clearing away the waste left by Bacteroides.
    • Bacteroides work better in tidy surroundings, and the waste disposal organisms have a secure source of income.
  • Vitamin H
    • It neutralizes avidin, a toxin found in raw eggs
    • Eating raw eggs causes vitamin H deficiency, which in turn can lead to skin disease.
    • It is not only Necessary for healthy looking skin, shiny hair and strong nails, but also in some of the body's vital metabolic processes.
    • We need it to synthesize carbs and fats for our body and to break down proteins.
  • One healthy higher risk group for deficiency is pregnant women: Developing a baby use up biotin like aging refrigerators gobble up electricity.
  • Prevotella
    • Produce sulfur compounds when they work
    • Smell of these compounds is familiar, as we know it from boiled eggs.
    • Thiamine, Vitamin B1. One of the most widely recognized and important vitamins.
    • lack of this vitamin causes beriberi.
    • Polishing rice removes the vitamin B1 contains, and diet made up predominantly of this kind of rice leads to an onset of symptoms within a few weeks.
  • Ruminococcus
    • Produces a substance called haem, which the body needs for many things, including producing blood.
    • Even if the Ruminococcus enterotype does not exist, there is no doubt that these bacteria are present in our gut.
The Role of the Gut Flora
  • The Gut bacteria process food that we cannot break down unaided and share the results with us.
  • Farther you travel from the small intestine toward the final exit from the gut, the more bacteria you will find per square inch of gut membrane.
  • Cows keep their bacteria right at the top of their digestive tract.
  • Bacteria are rich in protein -- so, from a food point of view, they are tiny little steaks. (XD)
    • They are a large source of protein for the cow, tiny microbial tenderloins bread by themselves. #todo screenshot of cow's stomach microbiome
  • Rodents keep their microbes as far down the system as we do, but are more loath to waste the bacterial protein they contain.
  • Yogurt is nothing but milk that has been predigested by bacteria.
    • It saves our body some work, we just have to finish off what the bacteria started
  • Fresh cabbage is less rich in vitamins than the sauerkraut it can be turned into -- those extra vitamins are made by bacteria.
  • About 90% of our nutrition comes from what we eat, and 10% is fed by our bacteria.
    • After 9 lunches, meal no 10 is on the house.
  • The kind of bacteria that are feeding us also make a big difference.
How might bacteria make us Fat?
  • Chubby Bacteria
    • Efficient at breaking carbs.
    • Extract every last smidgen of energy from the same amount of food.
    • Able to make various fatty acids out of indigestible carbs.
    • Obese subjects overall have less diversity in their gut flora and that certain groups of bacteria prevail, primarily those that metabolize carbs.
  • Inflammation
    • Infection reaction flush out bacteria or attack them
    • On the thyroid gland, bacterial infections hinder its function, causing it to produce fewer thyroid hormones, slowing the rate at which the body burns fat.
  • Cravings
    • Gut bacteria can affect the host's appetite
    • The theory is this, our bacteria reward us when we send them a decent delivery of food.
  • BSH stands for bile salt hydrolase. Bacteria with these genes can convert bile salts.
  • Too much cholesterol is not a good thing, but neither is too little
    • if it weren't for cholesterol we would have unstable cells, no sex hormones or vitamin D.
    • too little cholesterol can cause memory problems, depression and aggressive behavior.
  • to sum this up, bacteria help to feed us, make some foods more digestible, and produce their own substances.
The Bad Guys -- Harmful bacteria and Parasites
  • Rules to prevent Salmonella infection
    • Always use plastic chopping boards because they are easier to clean properly and provide fewer grooves and ridges for bacteria to hide in
      • BUT DOESN'T THE USE OF PLASTIC CHOPPING BOARD INCREASE THE MICROPLASTICS IN THE FOOD. I'd rather have a biological parasite than plastic. Wash Wooden boards thoroughly I'll say.
    • Always wash anything that comes into contact with raw meat or eggshells thoroughly with hot water -- chopping boards, hands, cutlery
      • Again the author says wash the plastic chopping board with hot water. I am dazzled for real now.
    • Whenever possible make sure meat and egg based food are cooked through.
  • H Pylori is Bad.
    • Each bacterium is as unique as the person carrying it. It adapts to the host and changes as she changes.
    • 67% of stomach ulcers and almost all small intestinal ulcers are caused by an H. pylori infection
    • sulforaphane, contained in broccoli and similar vegetables is able to block the enzyme that H. pylori uses to neutralize gastric acid.
    • Probability of developing stomach cancer without the presence of H. pylori is about forty times less than with it.
    • It can manipulate our protective barriers, irritate and destroy our cells and manufacture toxins and damage our entire body by doing so.
  • Toxoplasmata -- Fearless cat riders
    • These microscopic creatures in the cat's feces can wait upto years to infect another definitive host.
    • After the acute infection phase, these move into tiny apartments in our tissue and enter a kind of hibernation state.
      • They will never leave us for the rest of our lives, and we will never be reinfected, since we are already occupied.
    • An infection can however have drastic consequences for pregnant women. The parasite can reach the unborn child via mother's blood stream.
      • This does not always happen but when it does, it can cause serious damage and even a miscarriage.
    • If your gynecologist starts asking strange questions like "Do you own a cat" at your initial pregnancy exam, don't brush the question off as meaningless small talk.
    • Toxoplasmata are the reason your cat's litter should be changed everyday. if there is a pregnant woman in the house (but not by her!), why raw food should be avoided by mothers-to-be, and why fruit and veggies should always be washed.
      • Good old hand washing is the best defense.
    • Rats with toxoplasmata
      • Toxoplasmata have one goal for life, to get inside a cat.
      • When rats get infected with toxoplasmata they depict atypical behavior.
      • When put in a enclosure with 4 rooms, each room having a small bowl containing water, rat-urine, cat-urine, rabbit-urine.
      • Mice (and all animals) are programmed biologically to think "if someone who might eat you peed in an area, you do not go there"
      • But the mice infected with toxoplasmata explored all four rooms without fear, entered the box with cat-urine and stayed there for a while.
      • After a while, these mice preferred the cat urine box over others, nothing seemed to interest them more than cat pee.
      • This is an extremely clever move by toxoplasmata. They cause the rats to offer themselves as food to their definitive hosts.
    • What does it mean for humans though?
      • The risk of being involved in a traffic accident is higher among toxoplasma carriers.
      • Fear is associated with part of the brain called amygdala.
      • The toxoplasmata majorly hibernate in the muscles and the brain.
      • In the brain, the toxoplasma move to three locations, amygdala, olfactory center, and area in the brain directly behind the forehead.
      • Amygdala is responsible for increasing risk-taking ability in humans resulting in tragic incidences.
      • olfactory sensor might be responsible for rat's new-found love for cat urine
    • We can dream all sensory experiences except smells. Our dreams are always odorless.
    • Toxoplasmata can influence us via the fear, smell and behavioral sensors of the brain.
  • Pin Worms
    • Anyone with a finger and a mouth can get these.
    • Also known as threadworms.
    • It is not good to keep these parasites as permanent guests, but once in a lifetime is fine.
    • Scientists suspect that when kids have had worms they are less likely to contract severe asthma and diabetes in later life.
    • Prevention
      • Bedclothes and underwear should be changed every day and washed at 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees) or hotter.
      • Regular hand washing and intense itching is better treated with creams than scratching.
Cleanliness and Good Bacteria
  • A wood is clean if the beneficial plats it contains are in a healthy equilibrium
  • Pro bios means for life. Probiotics are edible living bacteria that can make us healthier
  • Prebiotics are foodstuffs that pass undigested into the large intestine, where they feed our beneficial bacteria so that they thrive better than bad bacterias.
  • Anti bios means "against life". Antibiotics kill bacteria and are our saviors when we have picked up a pack of bad bacteria.
  • The problem with obsessive cleaning is that we do get rid of everything -- both bad and good bacteria.
  • The higher the hygiene standards in a country, the higher that nation's incidence of allergies and autoimmune diseases.
  • Thirty years ago, 1 in 10 people had an allergy. Today that figure is 1 in 3.
  • More than 95% of the world's bacteria are harmless to humans.
    • Thus, disinfectants have no place in a normal household.
  • Even harmful bacteria can be good for us when the immune system uses them for training.
  • Four recommended strategies for keeping them in check, Dilution, Temperature change, drying and cleaning.
  • Dilution
    • Washing dilutes most soil-dwelling bacteria to such a low concentration that they become harmless to humans
    • Airing a room is also a dilution technique.
    • kitchen sponges offer the perfect home for any passing microbe -- warm, moist, full of food. Should be used only for cleaning the worst dirt off.
  • Drying
    • Bacteria cannot breed on dry surfaces.
    • Some cannot survive there at all.
  • Temperatures
    • Winter is the real spring clean!
    • The optimum temperature for your fridge is something between 5 degree Celsius.
    • Most E. coli bacteria are killed by temperatures above 40 degree Celsius and 70 degrees is all it takes for Salmonella bacteria.
  • Cleaning
    • Cleaning means removing a film of fats and proteins from surfaces.
    • The drugs need to e absolutely free of all bacteria. This is achieved in pharmacological laboratories by using iodine.
    • Pharmacologists heat up iodine until the entire production lab is veiled in a blue vapor.
    • Cleaning does not mean annihilating all bacteria, cleanliness is a healthy balance of sufficient good bacteria and a few bad ones.
  • Antibiotics
    • Weapons used by both sides in the war between fungi and bacteria.
    • In Germany, 1 person in 4 takes an antibiotic once a year on average.
    • Colds are often not even caused by bacteria, but by viruses.
    • Senseless use of antibiotics kills many helpful bacteria. To avoid this doctorsr can perform procalcitonin test.
    • Antibiotics stop bacteria from reproducing, the immune system kills off any remaining pathogens and we soon start to feel better.
    • Still, antibiotics can alter our gut flora significantly.
    • Changes include the amount of cholesterol they can absorb, their ability to produce vitamins, and the type of foodstuff they can help us digest.
    • Antibiotics can be problematic for children and old people. Their gut flora is already less stable and less able to recover after treatment with antibiotics.
    • Bacteria develop resistance strategies.
      • Some install tiny pumps in their cell walls to pump the antibiotic out like emergency workers pumping water out of a flooded cellar.
      • Antibiotics rarely kill all the bacteria.
    • Advice to avoid antibiotic gut war
      • Don't take antibiotics unless it is really necessary. If you do take them, take the complete course
      • Choose organically farmed meat. Drug resistance occurs in meat when animals are given antibiotics and performance enhancers.
      • Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly. Animal feces are a popular fertilizer. Even tiny amount of bacteria can help bacteria develop resistances.
      • Take care when travelling abroad, wash hands regularly, clean fruit and veggies thoroughly and if required with boiled water.
Alternatives to Antibiotics? Probiotics
  • Fermentation is the oldest and healthiest way of preserving food.
  • The soured milk drunk in rural Germany was made using different bacteria from those used to make the ayran enjoyed in Anatolia.
  • The diversity of bacteria in fermented food have fallen drastically due to industrialization.
  • For mother's who were unable to breastfeed their babies, artificial mother's milk with all the exact same constituents was created but it caused diarrhea much more often than they should have.
    • The scientists did a research and discovered that the bacteria that live on mother's nipples had Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli
    • These bacteria break down the sugar in milk and produce lactic acid which is then further broken down.
  • Some bacteria refuse to being digested and reach down to Large intestine safely, such as Lactobaccillus rhamnosus, Lactobaccillus acidophilus, Lactobaccillus casei Shirota.
  • Probiotic bacteria soothe the villi. Which in turn make the villi grow bigger.
    • Villi significantly boost the nutrient absorption in small intestine.
  • Good bacteria defend our gut -- it is their home and they fight for it.
    • They can produce their own small amounts of antibiotics or other defensive substances that drive unfamiliar bacteria out of their immediate vicinity.
  • A healthy gut contains many probiotic bacteria.
    • These are good for the immune system.
    • Provide possible protection against allergies.
  • Best researched probiotics till date are lactic acid bacteria and Saccharomyces boulardii (yeast)
Prebiotics
  • Used to support the good bacteria by eating certain foods.
  • Perbiotics are roughage that can only be eaten by nice bacteria.
  • Bad bacteria cannot process prebiotics at all and so they cannot use prebiotics to produce their evil chemicals
  • People who mainly eat low-fiber foods like pasta, white-bread, pizza should not switch suddenly to eating large portions of high fiber food.
  • The best strategy is to gradually increase the amount of dietary fiber and not to feed your bacteria with massive, unmanageable amounts.
  • People who never need to break wind are starving their gut bacteria and are not good hosts for their microbe guests.

Sweetness is not in itself unhealthy, we simply eat only the most unhealthy kind of sweetness

  • Inulin is sometimes used as a sugar or fat substitute in the food industry because it is a little bit sweet and has a gel-like consistency.
  • When we speak of sugar, we often mean a particular molecule extracted from sugar beet or sugar cane, but there are more than a hundred different kinds of sugar.
  • Inulin cannot bind with our cells as well as GOS(Galactooligosaccharides (isolated from milk)).
  • We should not underestimate the power of prebiotics since nothing influences our gut bacteria as much as the food we eat.
  • Remember
    • Good bacteria do us good.
    • We feed them well so they populate much of our large intestine as possible.
    • If the good and bad bacteria are in equilibrium, the bad ones can make us stronger and the good ones can take care of us and keep us healthy.