Like a good amount of juniors at Boston College, I decided to study abroad for a semester. Â
Destination: Venice, Italy. Term: Fall, 2014.
It was my first time travelling outside the United States, so needless to say that my experience was probably more unique and eye-opening than others’ experiences. I witnessed, lived, and adapted to an entirely new culture, embracing the Italian way of things and spending my weekends in different destinations all over Europe. Of course, food plays a big role in travel, and I was met with only the best of the best meals in Europe made with fresh ingredients that contained no preservatives, antibiotics, or GMOs. While I did gain some weight (try 15 pounds…), I felt as healthy as ever because of the freshness of every piece of produce, meat, poultry, and fish I ate.
Unfortunately, this came to bite me in the butt as soon as I returned home for Christmas. Going from one extreme to the other in terms of food did not sit well with me. While Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, mainly due to the five-course meal my family eats (along with a gargantuan amount of Christmas cookies in between), the change in quality of ingredients really affected my digestive system. I found that I could not stomach butter and some forms of gluten. When returning to BC for the spring semester, I tried to adjust and watch what I ate, switching to more organic and gluten-free products, but I still didn’t feel “right,” nor was I able to easily shed the weight I gained. It was only until I started working for LoveBug Probiotics in May that I started to understand what was happening with my body, and why. I also discovered how Probiotics were going to save me from a lifetime of annoyance and confusion towards my metabolic and digestive system. Let me explain.
Before there were any plants, animals, dinosaurs, or humans on this Earth, there was a bacteria cell. Bacteria are the original life form on this planet and are essential to the existence and survival of every living creature today. We, as humans, are naturally home to trillions and trillions of these bacteria from the moment we are born. Most of these bacteria are located in our gut (don’t worry, this is a good thing). These bacteria make up your “microbiome,” which is like a personalized ecosystem within your body that is unique to you! Every day your microbiome evolves depending on what germs you come into contact with and, most importantly, what you decide to eat on a daily basis. Simply put: your gut bacteria keep you healthy and happy.
In 2008, the Human Microbiome Project was launched as an extension to the Human Genome Project. What scientists found was astounding: your microbial DNA (the DNA of the bacteria cells living within you) actually influences your human DNA, helping to decide which genes are expressed and which aren’t. Even more, the good bacteria help extract nutrients from food and produce vitamins that we cannot produce ourselves. They also aid the liver in detoxifying the body (hello long nights of drinks and debauchery, goodbye head-throbbing hangover), and determine how fast your metabolism is by influencing the way your body stores fat, regulates glucose, and maintains your appetite. Links to whether people suffer from ADHD, depression, allergies, asthma, cancer, diabetes, and even dementia have been made to the status of how healthy our microbiome is as well.
I know what you’re thinking: “If I’m full of these bacteria, why am I not a superhuman with perfect health, a fast metabolism, and a hangoverless Saturday?”
Answer: Blame the United States government.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “You are what you eat.” While this is true, a more correct rendering of this phrase is “You are what your food ate.” Sadly, the FDA allows our meats to be prodded and injected with growth hormones, antibiotics, and other chemicals that are then absorbed and stored in the animals’ bodies. When we eat that animal, we are ingesting the meat along with ALL of those chemicals and hormones. The same goes for plants – we eat whatever pesticides were used on the crop (the most popular pesticide in the USA being described by the World Health Organization as “probably carcinogenic to humans”). Quite obviously, the daily ingestion of these chemicals—due to the Standard American Diet (SAD)—depletes our bodies of our loving “good” bacteria and replaces them with the “bad” bacteria, making us lethargic, overweight, and sick.Â
In addition to the SAD, there has been an increasing trend of doctors overprescribing antibiotics to their patients, including infants. Not saying that I am against antibiotics by any means, for they are essential to fighting many illnesses that may otherwise be fatal. But, when prescribing a person, especially a child, something that literally means “anti-life” and wipes out ALL the bacteria in our system (the good and the bad) scorched-Earth style, shouldn’t there be some OTHER substance a patient can take in addition to antibiotics that restores the good bacteria (which makes up our immune system) so they don’t relapse or catch another illness? …Food for thought.
So without the help of the FDA, how can we possibly make sure our microbiome, our immune system, stays in tact? Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce to you PROBIOTICS.
Probiotics are dietary supplements that contain live strains of the “good” bacteria we are so desperately lacking. They restore our microbiome, gut health, and immune system (which are all interconnected), making the “bad” bacteria a minority in your body once again.
As soon as I started taking Probiotics at LoveBug, the first thing I noticed was my waist shrinking back down to normal size. The study abroad weight I was trying to lose for the past four months was shed in about a month and a half. My metabolism was finally restored to normal. In addition, my digestive system improved, and I am now able to stomach butter and gluten for the most part (though I naturally tend to stay away from them because of my own health preferences). With fall rolling around, I usually brace myself for allergies and eczema breakouts, but so far I have zero symptoms.  As for hangovers? Let’s just say that I was able to wake up at nine in the morning the day after my twenty-first birthday and participate in over ten hours of tailgating. That may be one for the record books, people.
Since January, I have gone zero to one hundred on the health conscious scale in terms of what I put into my body. While it’s hard to continue this health trend in college with senior nights and bar events every other day, tailgates, a lack of fine cooking skills, and Chi Chi’s, I still take my probiotics every day and I find that it keeps me and my digestive health in check.Â
Because I so believe in the benefits of Probiotics, especially LoveBug Probiotics (there’s my unshameful plug of the year), I’m offering ALL of you 25% off your first LoveBug Probiotics purchase on Amazon. Just choose which LoveBug Product you want – Here’s The Skinny (Digestive Health – helped with my weight loss), Colds Suck (Immunity Boost – great for allergies and the upcoming cold season), or Yeast Is A Beast (Women’s Health – perfect for promoting urinary and vaginal health) and use this special code at check-out to receive your discount: HCBCPROB    Â
What’s your gut feeling?
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Sources:
http://www.lovebugprobiotics.com/science/
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