FLORA: THE FORGOTTEN COMPONENT OF DETOX
(excerpted from Journey to the Center of Your Colon)

Wrongly described as the body's sewer, the normal colon is actually buzzing with life activity. Millions of friendly bacteria are hard at work in the colon. Their job is the final stage of digestion, leaving only what is absolutely of no use to the body to be eliminated. The friendly bacteria, weighing as much as three pounds in the normal colon, more than 400 species, also function to keep bad bacteria in check. (Shahani) It seems that most bacteria in the world and in the body are actually beneficial to our health. Bacteria are the janitors of the world, disposing of decaying and diseased cells. Think of a beach with no bacteria. What would happen to all those dead fish that wash up there?

How do the friendly bacteria, called probiotics, keep the bad bacteria in check? Well, think of a crowded theatre. You walk in, and there's no place to sit; all the seats are taken. So you can't stay. Same thing with bacteria. There's only a certain number of "seats" in the colon. If they're all taken by friendly bacteria, then there's no chance for the bad bacteria to set up shop and start to duplicate themselves. According to most authorities, normal probiotics should be more numerous than the cells of the intestinal lining itself.

Here's why probiotics are so important. Normal people generally have some cancer cells, Candida yeast, E. coli, staphylococcus, strep, and any number of other potentially bad organisms you can think of in their tract most of the time. But they don't get any disease. Researchers know, for example, that 50% of men over age 75 actually have prostate cancer, found on autopsy, but only 2% die from it. Why? The body encapsulated the cancer: limited and controlled its growth, walled it off. The discoverer of the HIV virus himself, Dr. Luc Montagnier, said that HIV alone cannot cause AIDS. (The Coming Plague) Depressed immune environment is also necessary. Same with Candida or most other bacteria; normally they'll be held in check by sufficient friendly bacteria. E. coli is actually a probiotic when held in check by normal friendly flora. It's only when the friendly probiotic bacteria get killed off that the potentially bad organisms get a chance to get a foothold and take over. The bad bugs are then called opportunists.

So probiotics (friendly bacteria) are extremely important. The whole key is balance. Problem is, our friendly bacteria are constantly being killed off. How? Same culprits as cited in the ALLERGIES chapter:

antibiotics we take

antibiotics given to the animals whose meat we eat

antacids, like Zantac, Tagamet, Prilosec, etc.

NSAIDs, like Advil, Tylenol, Excedrin, Motrin, etc.

other prescription and over the counter medications

white sugar

carbonated drinks

antihistamines

chlorinated water

fluoridated water

coffee

Without friendly probiotics, the final stage of digestion can't take place in the colon. Debris rots in there. Opportunistic bacteria and Candida albicans start taking over. Bernard Jensen, on the relation between the bad bacteria and the undigested food:

"...bacteria and viruses, which are cell scavengers, are not there for lack of something better to do. They're there because there is malnourished, enzyme-depleted, diseased, and necrotic tissue. Functioning as nature's biological sanitation department, they must break down and eliminate the sick tissue to prevent further poisoning of the body. If you stop their action, you allow continuous poisoning by the decaying tissue."
- Empty Harvest p 113

Jensen makes a point here that should not be missed. He's talking about rotting food in the colon as well as diseased living cells of the colon itself, both attracting bacteria. It's an identical situation in the two separate instances:

* Undigested food in the colon

* Bacterial infection in a diseased organ of the body (the colon)

In neither case are the bacteria causing illness. They are trying to prevent illness by breaking down the dying tissue. Whether it's rotting yogurt in a blocked colon, a dead coyote in the forest, or infected liver cells in the body of an alcoholic, bacteria are just doing what they do best: cleaning up. When the bacteria are diagnosed as the cause of the illness, rather than a sign of the illness, the medical approach is to try and kill them. But that's like killing the garbagemen. The garbage remains. Understanding such a simple concept is pivotal in arriving at a holistic outlook toward health.

In the 60 Day Program, flora balance is vital for success. Very simple: 3 capsules 3x per day.

For advanced cases of chronic progressive allergies, that dose can be doubled for the first half of the 60 Day Program.

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