High Fiber Diet & Probiotics

In case you're unclear about what probiotics are, you aren't alone. Probiotics is a coined name to indicate it's the opposite of antibiotics. It means in favor of life. It also hides the fact that it's bacteria. People equate bacteria with disease and illness and while sometimes that's the case, bacteria performs valuable functions in the body. While the body has 60-to-70 trillion cells, it contains more than 100-trillion bacteria in just the intestines.

Benefits of Probiotics

• Most people expect bacteria to cause disease. Often it produces waste that's toxic to its host, but in the case of probiotics, the bacteria is beneficial for people. Probiotics keep fungi in check, as well as bacteria that cause disease. These beneficial bacteria also help change the composition of many foods, so that the body can use the nutrients they contain.

Benefits of High Fiber

• A high-fiber diet prevents you from being constipated and also adds bulk if you have diarrhea. Soluble fiber helps lower blood cholesterol, and both insoluble and soluble fiber slow sugar absorption, help maintain sugar levels for diabetics and may prevent type 2 diabetes. Fiber takes up space and makes you feel as if you've had more to eat. It also takes longer to consume. Both of these mechanisms are aids in weight loss.

Prebiotics

• If you eat a meal that has prebiotic foods, you are eating something that is non-digestible. Of course, this type of food, while non-digestible to people is perfect for the bacteria in the colon. It's a gourmet delight for bacteria that helps them to grow and stimulates their activity. Normally, these are carbohydrates, and the biggest group of prebiotic materials is soluble fiber. Although, most forms of fiber provide some munchies to the friendly bacteria.

The Body's Ecosystem

• If you've ever suffered from a yeast infection or had an antibiotic resistant infection, you'll appreciate the effect of probiotics. Antibiotics not only kill bad bacteria, they run a full-fledged assault on all bacteria. When the friendly bacteria die, there's no one minding the post, and fungi run free to multiply and wreak havoc on your body. Sometimes, not all the bad bacteria die or new reinforcements arrive from the outside world. The antibiotic killed the friendly bacteria that protected you, so they have full access and take over again. Probiotic treatment helps bring back the balance meant for a healthy body.

Health Benefits

• Not only do you reap the health benefits from the high-fiber diet and the probiotics, they are improved geometrically rather than just doubled when you combine the two. Probiotics might help you lose weight, decrease diseases of the colon, improve your nutritional intake, and even reduce kidney stones.
  Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, now finds that some bacteria cause a reduction in the material that causes kidney stones. Probiotics treatment also reduces the number and severity of upper-respiratory infections in children.

Where's the Probiotics

• You'll find probiotics in foods you eat. Cheese, for example, contains beneficial bacteria, as does yogurt. Watch out though. Not all yogurts have live bacteria. Cheese made into a spread may not either, particularly if the process to make it involved heat. The strain of bificobacteria, bifidobacteria, and lactobacilli makes a difference whether the bacteria is probiotic or not. Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12, Bifidobacterium animalis DN 173 010, Lactobacillus casei DN114 001, Lactobacillus acidofilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Saccharomyces boulardii are just a few of the beneficial bacteria. You also find specific food supplements that contain many of the strains necessary for health.

Foods with Fiber

• Bacteria in the body feed on oligosaccharides, fermentable fiber and resistant starch. While that may sound like a tall order to fill, the good news is that you can find these substances easily. Vegetables such as the Jerusalem artichoke, onions, garlic, leeks, legumes and beans contain food for bacteria. In addition, jicama wheat and chicory root are excellent to help your body maintain a high level of beneficial bacteria. You'll find more food for your bacteria in beans, whole grains and Hi-maize cornstarch.