On today’s show: the 10 most important steps to restore your gut health after taking antibiotics. Although it’s true that your microbiome will take a hit after antibiotics and may be permanently altered, it’s still possible to offset some of the damage by supporting your gut during and after the antibiotic.
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There’s no magic wand that is going to completely restore your gut health after taking antibiotics, but there are things that you can do to mitigate the damage.
On today’s show: the 10 most important steps to restore your gut health after taking antibiotics. Before we begin I want to remind you that THE most important thing to do is to avoid taking an antibiotic in the 1st place, so if you’ve missed it, go back to last week’s episode #42: 10 questions to ask your healthcare practitioner if you’ve been prescribed an antibiotic.
Ok, so you’ve voiced your desire to avoid antibiotics and bombarded your health care provider with all the questions I told you to ask about whether they’re absolutely necessary, but the verdict is in – a course of antibiotics is definitely warranted. Now what? Although it’s true that your microbiome will take a hit and may be permanently altered, it’s still possible to offset some of the damage by supporting your gut during and after antibiotics. And that’s the focus of today’s episode.
I’m going to start with the tip that I get the most questions about and that is: “what about a probiotic, could that help?”
1. Take a probiotic during and after antibiotics. Probiotics are not a magic wand for reversing the effects of antibiotics, but several studies have documented that they can be useful for decreasing side effects such as antibiotic-associated diarrhea and Clostridium difficile (C. diff); a bacteria that can overgrow and cause serious diarrheal illness after taking antibiotics. There’s also some evidence that probiotics help repopulate your gut with beneficial bacteria. Now, there’s a caveat here because feeding your native bacteria that are already in your gut is always going to be the more productive strategy, and the probiotic you’re taking – those bacteria also need to be cultivated with the right food so some of the diet tips I’m going to give you later on in this episode are essential whether you are taking a probiotic or not. If you decide to take a probiotic, you should start it at the same time you start the antibiotic but here’s what else you need to know about timing: take the probiotic dose at a time as far away from the antibiotics as possible. So, for example, if you’re taking an antibiotic twice daily at 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., you would take the probiotic at 2:00 p.m. You also need to continue the probiotic for at least one month after finishing the course of antibiotics. What type of probiotic should you take? Probiotics containing strains of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria are the most useful, as well as those containing strains of the beneficial yeast Saccharomyces boulardii (500 mg daily), which is especially helpful in preventing C. diff and which isn’t susceptible to antibiotics.
When we come back – the other 9 tips that will help minimize the damage to your microbiome and encourage regrowth of essential species.
2. Request a narrow-spectrum antibiotic. You might remember that this was question #8 from last week’s episode on 10 questions to ask your healthcare practitioner if you’ve been prescribed an antibiotic. So if you’ve asked that question “could I take a more narrow spectrum antibiotic like penicillin?” and the answer is yes, this is a great strategy to help reduce the impact on your microbiome. And here’s how that works: taking a narrow-spectrum antibiotic will minimize damage to your microbiome by targeting a narrower range of bacteria. Broad-spectrum antibiotics kill off more species of bacteria – and that includes not just pathogens but also your essential good bacteria. Ideally, culture and sensitivity results from urine, stool, sputum, blood, skin, or other body parts, depending on the type of infection, will reveal which bacteria are present and which antibiotics they’re sensitive to, allowing your doctor to pick a narrow-spectrum antibiotic that will still be effective, rather than a broad-spectrum one that will needlessly kill off a lot of your good bacteria. Having the culture results before starting antibiotic therapy ensures that the infection you’re being treated for is actually sensitive to the antibiotic you’re taking, which will help avoid retreatment with additional courses of antibiotics. So this is an important tip to know about ahead of time, before you start the antibiotic.
3. Eat prebiotic foods to support your microbiome. Foods high in fiber are especially important when you’re taking an antibiotic. Not only do they provide food for your microbes, but they also help to promote species diversity, which can decrease dramatically after a course of antibiotics. Fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi feed your gut bacteria and they also provide additional live microbes themselves because bacteria are produced during the fermentation process. Follow my 1-2-3 rule to make sure you’re getting enough microbe-boosting plant fiber each day: 1 veggie at breakfast, 2 at lunch and 3 at dinner.
4. Eliminate sugary, starchy foods. Deleting these foods from your diet is an essential part of rehabbing your microbiome, and it’s particularly important when you’re taking an antibiotic. Foods and drinks high in sugar and starchy foods that are broken down into simple sugars in the gut send undesirable yeast species into a feeding frenzy, and that worsens the microbial imbalance induced by the antibiotics. If you’re prone to yeast infections, following a strict anti-yeast diet that excludes sugar while taking antibiotics and for thirty days afterward may be advisable.
5. Eat lots of yeast-fighting foods. Antibiotics are the main cause of yeast overgrowth, which can cause vaginal infections and lots of other symptoms. Check out episode 29 on yeast overgrowth. Foods with significant anti-yeast properties include onion, garlic, seaweed, rutabaga, pumpkin seeds, and coconut oil. Make sure you’re incorporating lots of these foods into your diet while taking antibiotics.
OK, so we’ve covered the first five things on the list. When we come back: the second half of my 10 tips on what to do after taking antibiotics to restore your gut health.
6. Drink ginger tea. Ginger has a soothing effect on the digestive system and can help to reduce gas and bloating associated with taking an antibiotic. Here’s what I recommend: peel a one-inch piece of fresh ginger root and cut it into small pieces and put it in a pot or teapot. Then add two cups of boiling water and let steep for twenty to thirty minutes. Strain and serve.
7. Use bentonite. Medicinal clay has been used as far back as ancient Mesopotamia. Bentonite clay can help treat antibiotic-associated diarrhea by thickening your stool, and it also has antibacterial (E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus) and antifungal (Candida) effects. Use one tablespoon of bentonite clay (mixed with one tablespoon of unsweetened applesauce, if desired, for taste) one to two times daily until symptoms of antibiotic-associated diarrhea are alleviated. Be sure to separate the clay from the antibiotic and probiotics or any other medications to avoid binding them and reducing their efficacy. Stop using the clay if you become constipated.
8. Make a mushroom tea. Shiitake and maitake mushrooms have been used as medicine by various cultures throughout the world for thousands of years. They have significant immune-boosting properties and antifungal effects. Here’s what I recommend: chop two dried mushroom caps into small pieces. Add them to a small kettle or pot of water (about four cups) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about thirty minutes. Strain and serve. You can drink this mushroom tea daily while you’re taking antibiotics.
9. Support your liver. You know how when you get certain medications it will say on the bottle with the instructions from the pharmacy: “avoid alcohol”? Well there’s a reason for this. Antibiotics, like many drugs, are broken down in the liver, so it’s really important to make sure that your liver is as healthy as possible when you are taking a course of antibiotics in order to avoid liver damage. Dark green leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, and collard greens, as well as broccoli, beets, and artichokes, can help keep your liver healthy and promote the production of healthy bile. Avoiding alcohol is essential while on antibiotics, because it increases the likelihood of liver toxicity.
10. Skip the acid suppression. Blocking stomach acid while taking an antibiotic is a recipe for microbial disaster because the lack of stomach acid leaves you vulnerable to overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria like C. diff that can lead to serious infection. If you think you are going to need an antibiotic, you should plan to stop any acid-suppressing drugs at least seventy-two hours beforehand and stay off the aid blocker while you’re on the antibiotic to allow your stomach acid levels to return to normal. And of course, do that with the help of your healthcare practitioner – whoever prescribed the acid suppression in the 1st place.
I want to leave you with three takeaways about restoring your microbiome and your gut health after antibiotics:
1. The best strategy is still to avoid taking the antibiotic in the 1st place, if that is at all possible.
2. Probiotics can play a role but you’re going to get much more bang for your buck if you are also making dietary changes that include cutting back on sugary starchy foods and eating lots of fiber because that is going to help cultivate your native population of essential bacteria and feed the bacteria that you’re ingesting in the probiotic.
3. Antibiotics are really hard on your gut so this is a time to be gentle: avoid things like acid suppression that can disrupt your gut even more, support your liver by avoiding alcohol and eating lots of leafy greens, and soothe your gut with ginger, and mushroom teas.
So that’s it for this week’s episode of the Gutbliss Podcast on 10 things to do after taking an antibiotic.
Coming up next week: healthcare has turned into a retail transaction. What does that mean for you as a consumer? What do you need to be aware of in our current era of retail healthcare?
