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Three easy steps to improve intestinal health to drastically improve overall wellness when following a years-long, strict gut healing diet is not an option.
For a number of reasons, the majority of people don’t seem to have very good intestinal health anymore.
Most of the food we eat is not only lacking in nutrients, it’s filled with additives, preservatives, and other chemicals.
From the air we breathe and the water we drink, to the thousands of chemicals we come into contact with each day…it all takes its toll on the colon and, ultimately, on our overall health.
The digestive process begins as soon as food enters the mouth. As we chew our food we increase the surface area of food particles making the food more susceptible to digestive enzymes.
Smaller food particles also travel more easily (and quickly) throughout the small and large intestines.
In the stomach, food is mixed with gastric juices containing digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid. This mixture is known as chyme.
From the stomach, the chyme moves into the small intestine. There, more enzymes and bile are mixed with the chyme, and the breakdown of dietary proteins, fats, and carbs is complete.
Some carbs are not digested by human enzymes and they pass undigested into the colon.
Most nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine.
However, Vitamin K, niacin, and B vitamins are formed by beneficial bacteria in and absorbed by the colon. Vitamin K is necessary for blood clotting and niacin and the B vitamins affect energy levels, metabolism, feelings of fatigue, and the function of nerves.
Evidence suggests that serotonin is created in the colon as well.
The colon is also designed to eliminate toxins. When the colon is not working well, it begins to absorb toxins into the bloodstream rather than expelling them. You can see why having a healthy colon is important.
So how do you know if you have an unhealthy colon? First of all, if you’ve ever taken antibiotics there’s a pretty good chance that you colon health isn’t optimal.
Why? Because one of the determining factors of colon health is the composition of the microbes in your gut. Is it mostly friendly or is the majority unfriendly?
Antibiotics are designed to kill bacteria, and they don’t care whether they’re friendly or unfriendly.
Birth control pills, not enough dietary fiber, poor eating habits, alcoholic beverages, chlorine, sodium fluoride, and stress all contribute to intestinal flora imbalance too.
Our digestive system is home to more than 500 different bacterial species, and if 85% of the bacteria in our colon are friendly then the colon can handle the 15% of unfriendly bacteria.
The problem is most of us have this reversed. The result?
Diarrhea, constipation, excessive gas, bloating, allergies, eczema, irritable bowel, inflammatory bowel, kidney stones, ear infections, colds, vaginal yeast infections, Crohn’s disease, lactose intolerance, thrush, athlete’s foot, cancer, and on and on.
The big problem with these conditions is that more meds are used in most cases even when they were the cause of the intestinal problems in the first place. A common example is considering whether strep can go away on its own.
“Of course not” is the answer if you ask most people. The accepted conventional strep throat treatment is an immediate trip to the doctor for yet another prescription, which further destroys intestinal health!
And the rollercoaster to ever-increasing gut imbalance continues…
How Friendly Microbes Facilitate Health
Friendly bacteria (called probiotics – there are literally thousands of strains) prevent the overgrowth of yeast and fungus.
They help keep our intestines healthy in numerous ways including:
- Competition with candida in the intestine
- Suppression of the growth of potentially harmful bacteria
- Production of substances that optimize and balance cholesterol
- Enhancement of the protective barrier of the digestive tract
- Production of vitamin K1
- Stimulation of immune function
- Lowering of blood pressure in some people
- Aiding in the digestion of lactose
- Prevention of cavities and gum disease
- Decreasing the passage of bacteria or antigens from the intestines to the bloodstream
- Fighting pre-carcinogenic or mutagenic compounds
- Breakdown of oxalates (contributes to kidney stones)
- Detoxification of ingested carcinogens
- Production of compounds that inhibit the growth of tumor cells, and more!
So where do you get these probiotics?
Believe it or not, store-bought yogurt probably sometimes isn’t your best source. Neither is the probiotic pill that you buy at the health food store.
Why? Because the yogurt has been pasteurized which kills all the naturally occurring good bacteria in the raw milk!
Then, manufacturers only add back in a few strains of probiotics. On top of that, commercial yogurt isn’t fermented properly either!
With regard to probiotic supplements, they are dried into a powder which requires rehydration in the body before they can be effective.
In addition, probiotic manufacturers are increasingly using lab strains instead of wild ones, as Mother Nature intended.
What to do?
Well, probiotics can be found in homemade yogurt and kefir as well as naturally fermented sauerkraut and other naturally fermented foods.
When you ingest these foods, you’re actually putting friendly bacteria back into your gut!
So what does this have to do with the “perfect trifecta for intestinal health”? Well, probiotics is one part of it.
Let me tell you what we do in our family that works extremely well and is easy to do!
Fresh Garlic
First, every night before bed we take fresh garlic and chop it up fine – about a teaspoon full will do.
Then we let it sit for 14 minutes and swallow it like a pill.
The garlic kills the unfriendly bacteria in my gut and feeds the friendly bacteria; this is known as a prebiotic.
Amazingly, I don’t have garlic breath and I don’t smell like garlic when I sweat.
If you are one of those people who do stink from eating raw garlic, try fermented garlic instead.
It’s incredibly easy to make and pickled garlic cloves retain all the therapeutic value with the heat and odor potential significantly reduced or eliminated.
Clay
Second, every day we take a teaspoon of clay and mix it in a cup of water, let it sit for a few minutes, stir it again, and drink it.
Among other things, the clay is primarily negatively charged. By comparison, unfriendly bacteria, toxins, parasites, heavy metals, and radiation, are all positively charged.
As the clay travels through the digestive system, the unfriendly bacteria (and other things) are attracted to the clay and eliminated by the body.
Traditional peoples practiced the use of clay as well. For example, the Australian Aboriginal tribes would dip their food in water mixed with clay as they ate, presumably to protect them from whatever pathogens might be lurking.
Note that it is not a good idea to regularly use activated charcoal as a detox for these toxins instead.
Most people do not realize that AC takes nutrients out of the body too! Activated charcoal is for food poisoning and similar acute digestive issues only…it is not a substitute for clay.
Kefir
Third, throughout the day we drink kefir. Kefir is a better choice than yogurt as yogurt only contains a few strains of beneficial bacteria whereas kefir has 50 or even more!
Also, unlike yogurt, some of these are aggressive strains that recolonize the gut.
One word of caution.
Homemade kefir is better and more therapeutic than commercial brands, which have fewer strains and are likely fermented for shorter periods of time.
So, we’ve got the garlic killing the unfriendly and feeding the friendly; the clay pulling the unfriendly out of the system; and the kefir putting the friendly back into the system which the garlic then feeds.
See how that works?!
So, what have I noticed since I’ve been implementing the “perfect trifecta” for intestinal health in my life? Well, I’m more regular in my bowel movements (overshare, but it’s the truth).
Remember that your body is like a donut – round with a hole through the center. The top of the hole is your mouth and the bottom of the hole is your anus. Whenever the top hole opens it shouldn’t be too long before the bottom hole opens and if it isn’t, things need some improvement.
The other thing I noticed is that my sugar cravings stopped. I didn’t think too much of it until a friend of mine commented that she was having the same result! But it makes sense.
What do the unfriendly bacteria feed off of? Refined sugar, refined flour… So, when I have more friendly bacteria than unfriendly bacteria, my body isn’t going to crave the things that feed the unfriendly bacteria!
Third, I have an overall feeling of health and well-being and no “brain fog”!
Not too shabby for a few “home remedies”, huh?!
So, have you had any experiences using the Perfect Trifecta of garlic, clay, and kefir to improve intestinal health? If so, I’d like to hear about your experiences.
More Information
Food Poisoning Remedies that Work and Prevent Dehydration
Why Fermented Foods are Not Enough to Heal the Gut (and the Probiotic Boost they Need)
Are You a Tummy Bug Magnet? Fat Phobia May Be the Cause
Slippery Elm for Tummy Aches
hi i am intolerable to all milk products. after having tummy problems for years i removed milk from my diet and have felt considerably better. i drink coconut milk and they have coconut kefir at the store. will this have the same properties as milk based kefir?
thank you for your help,
jennifer
Although some people have used milk kefir grains to ferment coconut “milk”, milk kefir grains feed off the milk proteins and sugars and after a while do not thrive. If you have an intollerence to milk, I would definately look at healing the gut since milk intollerence is an indication of an unhealthy gut. I would also look at raw milk since many who are intollerant to the pasturized “white stuff” 😉 are fine with real milk. And until my gut were healed I would use water kefir. You can find more about water kefir on Yemoos.com, CulturesforHealth.com and do a google search for Dom’s kefir (the foremost authority on kefir of any variety). 🙂
Would you do this instead of the GAPS diet? or would you do the GAPS diet first and do this in continuation of that?
I am considering all options to regain health issues, and would like your thoughts on this?
Thank you,
MK
If it were me, I would just start the trifecta, regardless of where you are in your diet. The trifecta has just become a part of my daily routine – as much kefir and fermented foods throughout the day as I can, a glass of clay water sometime during the day and then the garlic before bed. 🙂
I know Redmond products, at least on the feed side, have OMRI approval (meaning organic certification) but I’m unsure what more steps are required to be classified as kosher. I believe their website is http://www.redmondminerals.com. This maybe for their feed grade instead of their food grade products but would get you their contact information
I have family members who will not take raw garlic. Could it be minimally baked or would a garlic infused honey work? Thanks.
If the garlic has been chopped and if the honey is raw, I think you would be ok. Garlic water is able to keep its benefits for up to 28 days. After that the allicin begins to degrade, so I think honey would be similar.
Heat destroys the allicin, so I wouldn’t bake it.
And I forgot to mention that raw honey is a prebiotic so it’s going to feed the friendly bacteria in your gut. 🙂 I’m still not sure about garlic infused honey though. I’ll need to do some more research. 🙂
How young could a child start with these supplements? Right now, I give my 13 month old an infant probiotic supplement in his homemade yogurt and have been since he was 6 months old.
You could start with the clay water as soon as they started drinking water, just in much smaller doses. You would probably have to hold off on the garlic until they’re old enough to swallow without chewing or, like I mentioned to Mary, try one of those syringe dispensers. In the meantime, you could just make sure that they’re eating plenty of probiotic and prebiotic foods.
What foods are pre-biotic? I’m fairly familiar with pro-biotic foods, but hadn’t heard of prebiotic. I’d like to increase those if I can. I’m nursing and can’t touch anything in the garlic/onion family or baby is very colicky. I recently started making (and drinking) water kefir.
Prebiotic foods feed probiotics. I’m sure there are more, but pre-biotic foods include: asparagus, jerusalem artichoke, banana, berries, oatmeal, raw honey, maple syrup, legumes, garlic, dandelion greens, wheat, flaxseed, and chicory.
Can you share a source for the concept that friendly and unfriendly bacteria are differently charged?
Hmmm, wow Em, I’ll need to go back and check my notes/resources. I know that it was taught in clay classes I have attended as well as at other classes on various natural healing methods. Let me do some checking and I’ll get back to you. 🙂 I’ll start by going back to the book Living clay by Perry A, I know she talks about clay and parasites in there. I’ll let you know as soon as I find it. 🙂
My thoughts exactly. Also, clay has high levels of aluminum. Some people claim that it’s ok because it’s naturally occurring, or somehow our bodies don’t absorb it, but I’d rather not take that chance without conclusive proof. I do use bentonite clay mixed with aloe juice (a la terressentials hair wash) as a substitute for shampoo and conditioner though.
Also, I’ve heard some negative things regarding raw garlic and choose not to eat it. The sulphone hydroxyl ion in garlic penetrates the blood brain barrier. Now, I don’t know whether it’s just the placebo effect, but since I cut raw garlic and onions out of my diet a couple months ago I have had a very increased amount of psychic/synchronistic experiences. Apparently pilots are warned not to eat garlic for a few days before flying because it greatly reduces their reaction time. I noticed some weird mental out there-ness when I used to eat a lot of raw garlic. It is not recommended in some Eastern cultures/religions, along with onions, shallots, leeks, etc. I see it as a medicinal food – meaning it is toxic and should only be eaten for a specific and important reason. I would love to hear any additional info on this…
Hi Em, 🙂
Ok, so I’ve look back through some of my notes (not all because I have years worth of notes from years worth of classes) and in the note books I searched, I don’t see where I indicated a source – perhaps because the particular scientific study wasn’t important to me. So, I checked in Living Clay and the author does state that parasites are attracted to the clay as it passes through the system. I also did some searching online and found references to some bacteria being positively charged and others being negatively charged although the specific bacteria they were referencing I’m not familiar with and don’t know if ithey’re friendly or unfriendly. So obviously some bacteria are positively charged and others are negatively charged.
I’m sure you can do some searching too and find the answers to any other questions you might have about clay or specific bacteria. 🙂
Thanks for the question. 🙂 It gave me a chance to do some research and learn more about bacteria and the amazing benefits of clay! 🙂
Hi Em, 🙂
I contacted Redmond and they confirmed the attraction by unfriendly bacteria to the clay stating that it has been cited inseveral studies. They sent me a summary of a BYU study on acute diaarrhea that shows how Redmond Clay has a “high affinity” for Aflatoxin B1 and Cholera. Here is a summary of that study by Jason Eaton in his book, Upon a Clay Table,
“In fact, Brigham Young University did a study on Redmond Clay. Dr. Kim L. O’Neill and Joshua D. Stubblefield, working in the Microbiology department at BYU, studied Redmond Clay’s effect on Aflatoxin B1 and Cholera toxin. The report was completed on September 5, 2000. The microbiology team determined that the use of Redmond Clay would ‘…reverse the dehydration caused by secretory diarrhea by replenishing lost electrolytes and absorbing bacterial toxins; thereby promoting water reabsorption…’ While acute diarrhea may kill over 5,000,000 people every year worldwide, it’s not likely to do so for those who know about edible clay! The microbiology team determined that the clay’s most likely method of action was not due to any antibacterial properties, but rather, due to the clay’s ability to quickly and safely adsorb and evacuate the toxins produced by the pathogenic bacteria. Further, based upon a chemical analysis of the clay, the scientists hypothesized that the clay could also be acting as an oral rehydration solution. Therefore, taking clay internally not only eliminated the danger presented by the pathogenic organisms, but also may help in providing desperately needed electrolytes to the body (in the small intestine).”
Hope that helps. 🙂
When do you take the clay? Beginning of the day? Empty stomach? Just wondering if this matters or how to make sure it is working optimally.
I typically take mine somtime during the day, but if I forget, I’ll use the clay water to take the garlic at night before I go to bed. Some people will make a pitcher of clay water and leave it in the refrigerator to drink throughout the week. I haven’t found that it matters whether I’ve eaten something or have an empty stomach.
I have to ask … does Redmond clay count as Kosher …?
Actually, yes. 🙂 A rabbi does come and bless the clay. 🙂
Hi Jeanne, 🙂
I just received clarification from Redmond. The rabbi doesn’t “bless” he inspects and approves the product and process to ensure a level of cleanliness that meets the Jewish law of health.
Sorry about the mistake. 🙂
I don’t know about Redmond Clay, but we use Pascalite clay and it’s supposed to do the same thing. Haven’t taken it internally, but friends swear by it. We use it for poison ivy, acne, and dental cavities. Thanks for the article!
Any suggestions on how to do this for kids who can’t swallow things whole like garlic? Is storebought Kefir acceptable? Could I put the clay in bathwater rather than having my girls drink it?
The garlic isn’t whole, it’s chopped very fine, but you could try mixing it with a little oil to help it slide down easier. Once it’s chopped, the allicin that begins to release does tend to make it a little sticky. Because garlic kills unfriendly AND feeds friendly bacteria I can’t think of anything to suggest as a substitute – I just haven’t run across anything else that does the same thing yet. You probably wouldn’t need a full tsp of garlic for younger ones, maybe only half a tsp, so that might make it a little easier. Good luck.
Store bought kefir is better than nothing, but it’s much better to make your own. The ones purchased in the store typically have additives, sweeteners, emulsifiers, etc. Nothing that you really need. Once you get some kefir grains, you’ll never need to purchase them again as long as you continue to feed them and you’ll have a ready supply of kefir. Check out CulturesForHealth.com or Yemoo.com for information or to purchase kefir grains. And to learn more (alot more) about kefir (both water and milk) google Dom’s kefir. The web address is weird, but Dom is the world authority on kefir, you will spend days going through all of his information on kefir. 🙂
You can put clay in bathwater, but it doesn’t do the same thing as it does when you take it internally. Clay baths are detoxifying, but they accomplish this by pulling the toxins from the body through the skin (you can also do clay foot baths), taking the clay internally pulls them out through the elimination system through processes of aDsorption and aBsorption. You can read more about that on my website, just follow the link in the article.
Thanks! When I meant swallow it whole, I realized the garlic was chopped – I was thinking it’s hard to explain to kids to swallow something without chewing it :).
Ah, 🙂 gotcha! 🙂 You’re right, it is. I just had a thought though, since it’s such a small amount, if you mixed it with some olive oil right before giving it to them, maybe you could put it in one of those syringes that you can get for dispensing medicine. That might work?! 🙂 Let me know what you decide and how it works for you.
You can put the garlic in a teaspoon, and cover it with honey – it will go down very easily even for the youngest kids.
I have my daughters (ages 3 and 4) take garlic whenever they start to get a cold. It always seems to head it off. To get them to take it, I chop it up really fine. I dip a spoon in honey, let most of it drip off, and then put the garlic on the sticky spoon. They know to just swallow it, and maybe it’s easier because it’s in the honey – you wouldn’t chew honey. It tastes a little better too because of the sweetness. The 3 year old takes it easily. The 4 year old takes it because she knows she has to, but she makes sure I know that she thinks it’s terrible! Good luck!
Good suggestion Brooke, thanks! 🙂 Garlic is great for colds too (as you know). I would still make sure that it sits long enough to release a good supply of the allicin. That’s one of the compounds that kills the bacteria. 🙂