How Our Food Supply is Changing
December 29, 2014
Just like everything else in life, things they are a changing! The food we eat today is very different than what we may have eaten a century ago. One hundred years ago, people ate more whole and fermented foods rich in nutrients and grown and raised with fewer or no pesticides. These days, when you buy produce at the grocery store, unless it’s organic, it probably been genetically-engineered and very likely heavily sprayed with pesticides. Packaged foods are no better because many of their vitamins, minerals and fiber that may have been removed during processing and replaced with artificial colorings, flavorings, preservatives, fillers and flavor enhancers. Many of these options are high in salt and sweetened with processed sugar, high-fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. It’s not a healthy situation!
Unfortunately, it’s not just the produce and the packaged foods that we have to worry about; our meat supply has also been affected with its own challenges. Our meat industry has become so highly industrialized and factory farmed animals are raised in such crowded conditions that they are at a higher risk of developing infections. In order to maintain productivity on factory farms many animals are treated with antibiotics to reduce their risk of infection and it’s also shown that they’re using antibiotics to increase the animal’s weight, making antibiotics even more enticing to the farmer. But what does that mean for you and me? Much of the residual antibiotics found in our food, along with those taken liberally for medicinal purposes, predispose all of us to weight gain and can create colonies of antibiotic resistant bacteria in our gut.
We’re beginning to hear more and more that the overuse of antibiotics encourages the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and because the antibiotics the farmers are giving to the animals are similar to those given to human beings; the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria becomes a serious public health threat. Bacteria that were once responsive to currently available antibiotics are now resistant to the very treatments used to eradicate them. When people and animals develop infections with resistant bacteria, treatment options that once worked are no longer effective. The World Health Organization has recently stated that, “… the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill.” This has some experts worried that antibiotic resistance will take us back to the “dark ages” when people died of bacterial infections because there were no effective treatments.
Antibiotics, Probiotics and Intestinal Balance
So how do antibiotic treated animals affect us? Your gut has its own natural ecosystem teeming with trillions of “friendly” probiotic bacteria that help maintain intestinal balance. These good bacteria have far-reaching beneficial effects on your body. When we eat meat with trace amounts of antibiotics we are exposing both the good and bad bacteria in our gut to this substance. Antibiotic literally means ‘against life’ because it is designed to kill bacteria. So by eating this meat we are killing off our internal ecosystem, we are depleting our beneficial bacteria levels and creating an internal imbalance that negatively impacts our health in many ways.
We don’t get enough probiotics through diet alone because, unlike our ancestors, we eat far fewer fermented foods, which are rich sources of probiotic bacteria. Plus, many food items that may have once been powerful sources of probiotics are now treated by pasteurization or other methods that eliminate or reduce any active cultures that may have been present. No wonder so many people complain of digestive issues, lack of energy and simply don’t feel well, and it’s not all in their head. Much of it has to do with the food we eat.
While, it’s not entirely possible to completely avoid exposure to toxins in our food and in the environment you can certainly “nurture” your gut by supplying it with the healthy bacteria that are in such short supply in modern-day diets. Digestive health is critical to ensure proper nutrient absorption while a healthy immune system protects against foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses that can harm your health. Make sure you’re supplying your gut with the right probiotic bacteria, like those found in Natren Healthy Trinity. Natren’s probiotic super-strains and formulations have undergone three decades of independent laboratory culturing and testing; resulting in some of the strongest and most powerful strains available. Natren’s probiotic supplements are made from only natural ingredients; without genetically modified organisms (GMOs), soil-based organisms, hormones, artificial colors, or FOS (Fructooligosaccharides). Now, more than ever, you need to take proactive steps to help maintain your personal gut ecosystem in an age where antibiotics, genetically-engineered foods and other gut-unfriendly additives upset the natural balance. It can make a difference to your health and how you feel.
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