Sort your cake hole out

Back in the day (2007 in fact) when I first went gluten free and starting eating to manipulate my microbiome, I was quite the crazy person.

I didn’t eat starch at all, I fermented vegetables and took bacteria as supplements, what a nutter!

These days I am positively mainstream, I can walk into most supermarkets and buy fermented sauerkraut, kombucha and gluten free goods as needed.

I feel almost normal, almost…..

Anyhoo, these day we all love the gut microbiome, but not many people are talking about the oral microbiome and the dysbiosis that can affect it.

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Locally we know that dysbiosis can cause periodontitis.

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More importantly is what the dysbiosis can cause in elsewhere in the body.

The mouth is the gate way to the digestive tract, and in their it is the exact opposite of Vegas. What goes in your mouth does not stay in your mouth, it goes into your gut.

From leaky gut lining to dysbiosis in the intestines

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Into full blown cancer.

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And into heart disease.

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The common feature of all of these is of course our old sparing partner, the sustained low grade inflammatory response, in this case a response to dysbiosis aka bacterial overgrowth/infection.

So what can we do about it?

With my clients I like to keep the lifestyle intervention as easy as possible in order to make them sustainable (whilst be effective obvs) and also if possible cost effective.

So an easy suggestion for all clients when we are talking microbiome, even if they have no obvious mouth issues per se, is to rinse twice daily, ideally thrice daily with sodium bicarbonate (note to self, try to use the word thrice more often in conversation, it’s playful and jaunty).

One of the challenges in the oral cavity is the increased acidity after eating and with dysbiosis.

Bad bugs love a reduced, more acidic pH.

Sodium bicarbonate is able to alkalinise the mouth, raising the pH, and controlling dysbiosis, breaking down biofilms and controlling gum issues.

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It even beats a prescription only mouthwash in treatment/prevention of oral issues in patients with leukemia on chemotherapy.

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ACTIONS TO TAKE

– Grab some sodium bicarbonate in use 1/2-1 tsp in water to rinse with morning and night, maybe even at lunch too….aka thrice daily

– Thrown a big handful of sodium bicarbonate thricely (is that a word? It is now) into your bath and get a alkaline hit to your system.