Probiotics
Prologue-
Although the true metaphorical description of holistic medicine/healing is circular or spherical, we must begin at some chosen point in our contemplation of holistic practice. Expanding our living from dependence on systems driven by monetary priorities to living from increased self awareness and self-education begs a thorough investigation of the roots of healing and of the spectrum of physical survival in our whole environment.
With the caveat that I am jumping right in the middle of what will become a network of conceptual models, written to pique your interest and linked to resources to initiate your own investigation, I choose to begin with a topic as close “the beginning” in physical health, as I can conceive: your whole digestive health.
Many ideas regarding the root of your whole health abound, depending on the school of thought and/or healing practice. I submit that to function at our physical, emotional, and psychological peak, we must be receiving adequate nutrition for all of our organ systems to work as designed.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 1997) is a psychological model created to illustrate the natural priority of human whole survival. The theory states that physiological needs form the foundation of our motivation. Physiological needs include breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, and excretion.
These basic needs, difficult to argue (though some do argue the fine points), are frequently met led only by the basic physical drive with little thought given to how to maximize the fulfillment. Maximizing the fulfillment of basic needs allows the individual to move up the hierarchy of needs to the subsequent levels; safety, love, esteem, actualization.
Whole Nutrition- part of the story
The above rationale is the foundational explanation for why I am beginning this webpage’s blog area with an article on considering Probiotics. Defined by the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) website as” live microorganisms which, when consumed in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit” (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/probiotics/).
This definition, as well as the rest of the information on the NIH NCCAM webpage, only scratches the surface in enlightening one as to why or how Probiotics work. I recommend the page as a basic introduction informational link (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/probiotics, 2010).
But to dig deeper into the whole picture of health by nutrition, one eventually comes to the question of why is my body lacking these naturally occurring microorganisms? How do these microorganisms satisfy and/or improve my gastro-intestinal health? Why am I not receiving these microorganisms from an ordinary diet?
Research into Probiotics became prominent in Japan in the 1930s when Dr Minoru Shirota developed a single probiotic supplement drink (still popular today). Currently there are many probiotic products available for human consumption that contain more than one probiotic microorganism (http://www.dict.uh.cu/Bib_Dig_Food/elsevier/tfst/TFST10/TFST10_411.pdf, 1999).
However, soil based probiotics (SBO) are the original source of necessary elements to our overall well-being and digestive health. SBOs are the live microorganisms that live in healthy topsoil. These microbes are what support the life cycles of plants via providing a healthy source of needed hormones and other nutrients to stimulate botanical processes. Unfortunately modern mono-agricultural methods have depleted the topsoil of naturally occurring microbes that formerly were the source of minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients that are the reason we eat the various parts of plants.
This is a large topic that is influenced by politics and money as much as it is influenced by public and personal health concerns and research. Suffice it to say that feeding the populations around the world has been fraught with turmoil and dissension and there are many populations struggling to provide enough food and to maintain sustainable agriculture. .. agriculture that provides healthy high density nutrition to support children’s development as well as adults and elderly. I have included articles on this topic in the website and will continue to add more.
Epilogue-
All of these topics regarding gastro-intestinal balance, probiotics, soil health and agriculture are for future blogs in Lifestyle Modification Support. Today,my purpose was to broach the topic of a simple addition to the diet to replenish and sustain your gastro-intestinal balance.
Look into Probiotics on your own. Follow my links and seek more links to investigate. Try supplementing your diet with high quality probiotics and see the results. I will add links or articles of recent research into the many ways probiotics have already shown promise in many illnesses.
Seek your own balance and maintain an open mind to self discovery.
What you can conceive, you can achieve!
~janet