Baby Boomer Health: Make Friends With Probiotics

If you view bacteria as only being associated with illness and disease, then you may want to take a closer look.  Our bodies actually require certain bacteria to stay healthy.  These “friendly” bacteria, called probiotics, can provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. 

Did you know that about 70% percent of your body’s immune system is located in the digestive tract?  Definitely a good reason to keep that part of the body healthy! Taking drugs such antibiotics, penicillin, steroids and birth control pills, and issues such as yeasts and fungus, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis and some cancers can decrease intestinal flora. Research has shown that consuming certain specific probiotics on a regular basis can help strengthen the body’s natural defenses, or improve digestive health, particularly in folks over 60 who have far fewer friendly bacteria in the gut than others. 

I can be friendly

Probiotics can be taken as supplements or as components of fermented milk, products such as kefir, yogurt and cheeses or fermented vegetable products like sauerkraut. Generally, supplements contain a greater number and variety of bacteria and are therefore more effective than yogurt which is required to only contain two starter cultures.  A recommended dosage for supplements is between one billion and ten billion bacteria per day. More is better!

The bacteria should be stored properly (refrigerated in dark glass) and taken between meals to avoid the acidity of the stomach which can dissolve them. Products should list the number of viable bacteria and carry an expiration date to ensure freshness.  Taking the bacteria as a powder is preferable since they can be damaged when formed into tablets and capsules.  For long-term benefits, bacteria should be taken on a regular basis to maintain a healthy balance of bacteria in the intestinal tract.

 
Scientific studies have demonstrated that conditions commonly experienced by aging Baby Boomers —constipation, calcium deficiency and a weakening of the immune system — are all improved by probiotics. So maybe it’s time to start thinking of bacteria as friends rather than foes!

How Do You Face Adversity?

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life, how things were so hard for her. She didn’t know how she was going to make it, and she wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that as one of her problems was solved, a new one popped up. 

Her mother took her into her kitchen, where she filled three pots with water. In the first pot, she placed some carrots, in the second one, she placed some eggs, and in the third pot, she placed some ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word, then in about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners.

She fished out the carrots and placed them into a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them into another bowl then she ladled the coffee into yet another bowl. Turning to her complaining daughter, she asked, ‘Tell me, what you see?’ ‘Carrots, eggs, and coffee,’ her daughter replied. 

She brought her daughter closer, and asked her to feel the carrots.  She did, and noticed that they were now soft. She told her daughter to break an egg, which she did, and after removing the shell, she saw that the egg was now hard-boiled. Finally, she told her daughter to sip the coffee.  The daughter smiled as she tasted the rich flavor, then asked, ‘What’s the point, mother?’

Her mother explained that each of the three objects had faced the very same adversity — boiling water — but each had reacted differently:

The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened, and became weak.

The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water!

 ‘Now, which are you?’ she asked her daughter, ‘when adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?’

Think of it like this…….Which am I? Am I a carrot that appears to be strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt, and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I an egg that starts out with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship, or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter, and tough, with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually CHANGES THE WATER!!  The very circumstance that brings the pain!! When the water gets hot, it releases its fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better……and change the situation around you! When the hours are the darkest, and trials are their greatest, do you elevate to the next level?

— Author Unknown

 
How do you handle adversity?

ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN?

What Do You Put in Your Circle?

What Ripples are you Creating?

How often do you react from habit or some internal motivation without stopping to consider the bigger picture or put yourself in another’s shoes?  Do you create inner peace or discord?  We radiate the thoughts and feelings we hold inside, whether we speak them or not. Whatever is spinning around inside of us is also flowing out into the world creating peace and harmony or agitation and dissension.

How Do You Want to be Remembered?

Mid-life is a time of reflection, changing goals and reorganizing priorities. It’s a time of letting go of habits, behaviors and thinking patterns that no longer serve you and figuring out what legacy you want to leave behind. It’s about going from a “me” to a “we” life.

Your accomplishments during the first half of your life were no doubt worthy goals but will they last? Are they what you want to be known for when you reach that last part of your life? A “no” answer is the first step in the process of clarifying what is truly important to you at this stage of the game.

One way of defining your legacy to the world is to imagine that you are at your 100th birthday celebration.  Your family, friends and neighbors have come to celebrate this momentous occasion with you.  The person who is closest to you is going read a speech to the audience.  This speech is about YOU, about all that you have accomplished; how you have made the world a better place for the next generation; all the ways you have been of service to others.  YOU are going to write that speech yourself.

Visualize how you have made a difference in the lives of those closest to you, acquaintances, friends, family, colleagues and the world in general.  What have you given, what have you created and how does it make you feel? Now take pen and paper and start writing.

This is just one of the steps in discovering your purpose, your passion, why you were put on this earth. If you would like to gain more insight into what’s missing in your life, why you’re not waking up to greet each day with enthusiasm and joy and why you are in a rut, please email me via my website – http://www.blueprints4change.com