Friendly flora are very important. \u00a0They are the beneficial microorganisms that reside in our body and in the body of our animals, and they keep things in balance. \u00a0Our friendly flora help us to assimilate our food, and they protect us from pathogens. \u00a0They are the “good bacteria”. \u00a0When my kids – the 2-legged variety (human), not the 4-legged (goat) kids – were very young, I referred to the\u00a0friendly flora\u00a0as our “good guys”, and of course, the pathogenic bacteria were\u00a0the “bad guys”. \u00a0The “good guys” must keep the “bad guys” in check for our body to remain in a healthy state.<\/p>\n
When bactericidal\u00a0antibiotics are taken\/given, they wipe out bacteria. \u00a0These antibiotics are NOT selective as to which bacteria they destroy, they kill both the friendly flora and pathogenic bacteria. \u00a0It is extremely\u00a0important to replace the friendly flora to bring the bacteria back into\u00a0proper balance in our body and in the body of our animals. \u00a0We won’t touch on pathogenic bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics this time, because that opens up a whole new “can of worms” and I already have a lot of ground to cover. \u00a0Of course, I would strongly suggest using herbs that support the immune system and work to deter pathogenic bacteria and viruses, etc., instead of turning to\u00a0an antibiotic – which as you are probably aware, don’t do diddly squat when combating\u00a0a virus. \u00a0Well, actually, that is technically incorrect: they do the body a huge disservice if there is a virus present, since the antibiotic will damage our friendly flora making the situation worse. \u00a0But I digress…<\/p>\n
We have friendly flora on our skin AND within our body. \u00a0They reside everywhere, including in our digestive tract. \u00a0They are our friends, we do not thrive without them and neither do our animals.<\/p>\n
Skin.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0When I work with my family and our herd of dairy goats, I DO desire to cleanse the skin of pathogenic bacteria and viruses that we pick up off surfaces in our everyday life. \u00a0The friendly flora on our skin work to protect us against invaders. \u00a0We do them a great disservice by using antibacterial soaps on our skin. \u00a0Antibacterial soaps damage the friendly flora living on our skin.<\/p>\n On our farm, I use essential oils that I add to Dr Bronner’s liquid soap<\/a><\/em><\/span> and I keep dispensers at each sink. \u00a0Keep in mind that essential oils are VERY concentrated and VERY potent. \u00a0A small amount goes a LONG way. \u00a0Did you know that it takes a truckload of some types of herbs to create that tiny bottle of oil?? \u00a0I LOVE essential oils, but \u00a0think of them\u00a0like a drug. \u00a0They DO NOT occur in these amounts in nature. \u00a0I strongly suggest using them externally only, with a few exceptions. \u00a0I will go into more about essential oils in another post, or I will go off on a “bunny trail”. \u00a0\ud83d\ude09 \u00a0I add 5 drops of an essential oil blend to each soap dispenser. \u00a0I like to use On Guard\u00a0essential oil blend<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0At this amount (5 drops added to about eight ounces of liquid soap), the oils are very beneficial to our skin and they do not harm our friendly flora. \u00a0I use a natural udder wash and teat dip\/spray to clean the udder of our dairy goats before milking. \u00a0(Click here<\/a><\/em> <\/span>for more details, including my recipe.) \u00a0In my opinion, this is a very important step and it helps us be proactive in discouraging udder issues like mastitis.<\/p>\n Digestive Tract.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0Our friendly flora\u00a0help us digest our food, they create B vitamins for our body to use, among many other benefits they also help keep pathogenic bacteria in check. \u00a0Without the proper balance of friendly flora in our gastrointestinal tract, we would be in BIG trouble. \u00a0There is a\u00a0type of “yeast” that grows in our body, and it is beneficial in the proper balance with the rest of the bacteria, but it is a holy terror when it overgrows. \u00a0Do you have a guess of what it may be?? \u00a0Candida albicans<\/em>. \u00a0I bet you’ve heard of it. \u00a0 It is a diploid fungus that grows both as yeast and filamentous cells. Do you know what its job is? \u00a0It breaks down sugar and alcohol. \u00a0It has an important job, and it is VERY resilient. \u00a0After a round of antibiotics, this yeast says, “Oh my! \u00a0I have LOTS of room to grow! YAY!!” \u00a0It whips at the walls of our GI tract creating lesions that allow it to leak out of the GI tract. \u00a0I bet you have heard it referred to as Leaky Gut. \u00a0It is important to stop this process\u00a0before it has a chance to start by replacing the friendly flora that were lost. \u00a0We do this using probiotics. \u00a0Homemade Kefir (made from “kefir grains”) is a very nice, natural, whole food way to provide the body with probiotics. \u00a0I will let you do your own research on that. \u00a0It is available as Milk Kefir grains, or Water Kefir grains. \u00a0Another choice is using fermented foods. \u00a0I like to employ a supplement by Garden of Life called Primal Defense<\/em>. \u00a0It is a whole food probiotic containing Homeostatic Soil Organisms (HSO). I use it for my family and our animals. \u00a0I prefer the powder, but I’m sad to say that it DOES contain anti-caking agents. \u00a0If they took that out, I would be overjoyed with this product. \u00a0However, I am very happy with the results I have found using it. \u00a0I do not carry it through my store, but it can be found through the Garden of Life website (a Google search will help you find it). \u00a0I did find it available on Amazon<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/em>with Prime Shipping available.\u00a0 After you receive it, store it in a cool, dry place. \u00a0A refrigerator is cool, but not dry. \u00a0\ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n