Posted on December 19, 2021September 22, 2022 by lynz taylor — Leave a comment

Becoming More Eco-friendly

Since the Industrial Revolution, environmental advocates have been promoting eco-friendly living. But, what does it really mean to be environmentally-friendly? And why is this important? In 2021, we all know we should recycle and reduce our single use plastics consumption, most people don’t understand the value of doing these things as one individual in a much larger context. While it is important to live eco-friendly lives, it is equally as important is understanding why. Did you know:

According to NASA, the world’s rainforests will be gone by 2100 if the current rate of destruction continues.
If current patterns continue, we will have emptied the world’s oceans for seafood by 2050.
If all life on Earth was put on a scale, the human population would only make up about one ten-thousandth of the total weight of life on Earth.
Landfills are composed of 35% packaging materials.
Rainforests are cut down at a rate of 100 acres per minute.

(Environmental Facts Source: The World Counts)

The ‘Why’ of transitioning to an eco-friendly lifestyle can be as broad as combatting global warming as a whole or as small as reducing waste in your local waterways – but, every action counts. Whatever your personal reasoning may be, we are all working together towards a common goal: improving the world for ourselves and future generations.

How To Become More Eco-Friendly

We created this guide for easy eco-friendly living that include small, everyday changes you can implement to lesson your carbon footprint:

Switch To LED Lighting

LED stands for Light Emitting Diode and are now readily available at most hardware stores. Although they can be initially more expensive, they are more efficient and last 25x longer than traditional incandescent light bulbs. 90% of the energy used by incandescent light bulbs is waste in the form of heat. LEDs use 1/4 of the energy without any waste.

Limit or Eliminate Single-Use Plastics

Things like disposable cutlery, excess plastic packaging, and soft plastic-storage bags are all examples of single use plastic. Single-use plastics and packaging make up 35% of current landfill content. Opting for products with little to no packaging or recyclable packaging are great ways to make your daily shopping better for the environment. You can also consider sourcing a local refill store where you are able to bring your own containers to refill on things like soap, laundry detergent, or bulk foods.

Eat Locally Sourced Foods

The food with the smallest carbon footprint is locally grown, or even better – you grow it yourself! This allows you to eat seasonally delicious foods grown by people in your community. Transporting food from abroad, whether by truck, ship, or plane, uses fossil fuels for fuel and for cooling to keep foods in transit from going bad.

Wash Your Clothes In Cold Water

If you have ever wondered, ‘what’s the difference between regular laundry detergent and cold water laundry detergent?’ – it’s fairly simple! The enzymes typically used in cold water detergent are designed to perform better at lower temperatures. Doing two loads of laundry weekly in cold water instead of hot water can save up to 450+ pounds of CO2 each year.

Buy Less “Things”

Less items being frivolously purchased or less items of lower quality being purchased, only to be thrown away shortly after, reduces a great deal of unnecessary waste each year. Purchasing more expensive, high-quality items or second hand items is a great way to keep items out of landfills.

Resources

The World Counts / Amazing Environmental Facts

Ways to Reduce Carbon Footprint

David Suzuki Foundation / Pledge to go zero waste and giving up single-use plastics

Posted on October 15, 2021September 12, 2022 by Homebiotic

How To Start Living Sustainably

Getting started on a journey to living a more sustainable, eco-friendly life can feel incredibly complex. The idea of changing your entire way of life can seem like a huge task with an unclear way to start! It can seem impossible to live sustainably when you consider all the things that are a part of our everyday life that are NOT sustainable. Take a look around, count the number of plastic items that you find, single-use items, products made in environmentally unethical ways. Plastic is everywhere and has become more difficult to avoid.

Originally, the invention and mass dispersal of consumer plastic products were to make modern lives easier. In 2018 the EPA reported that single use and packaging plastic made up 14.5 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW). Overall, the amount of MSW has been increasing at a rapid pace, climbing 42 million tons between 1990 and 1995 alone. Plastic waste is not only harmful to the environment, it is also extremely damaging to our health. According to the Geneva Environment Network:

Humans are exposed to a large variety of toxic chemicals and microplastics through inhalation, ingestion, and direct skin contact, all along the plastic lifecycle. According to WWF on average people could be ingesting approximately 5 grams of plastic every week, which is the equivalent weight of a credit card.

So, where do we start?

WHAT DOES ‘LIVING SUSTAINABLY’ MEAN?

It’s important to understand what it means to “live sustainably”. Sustainable living is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual’s or society’s use of the Earth’s natural resources and personal resources. Practitioners of sustainable living often attempt to reduce their carbon footprint by altering methods of transportation, energy consumption, and diet.

HOW CAN YOU START LIVING SUSTAINABLY?

A great place to start is to do a sustainable audit of your home and the processes that keep your home functioning. Here are 4 easy ways to improve your environmental impact on a daily basis:

1. MAKE YOUR KITCHEN MORE SUSTAINABLE

The kitchen is a great place to begin, since most single use plastic is used in the kitchen. Plastic utensils are often used to protect Teflon-coated pans. Metal or wood are better choices for the environment. Many brands are also introducing bamboo dishware and storage options. Bamboo is extremely eco friendly, it is readily biodegradable and easy to grow without pesticides of chemicals.

Recycle your Tupperware and opt for glass or metal: These include reusable metal or glass water bottles, glass storage containers and reusable stainless-steel items like cups, plates and bowls. These alternatives are easy to clean and pack to go, making living sustainably easy even with a busy lifestyle! Get rid of Tupperware and all disposable packaging. Disposable plastics are often mixed with harmful chemicals which can potentially leech into their contents when heated or when worn down.

One of these chemicals is known as Bisphenol S has been found in 81% of blood tested, due to it’s inclusion in plastic consumer products, and that it can lead to ailments such as diabetes, obesity, asthma, birth defects, and cancer.

Try using reusable produce bags or go bag-less: If you often buy fresh produce, you have a significant change of ending up with a lot of single use produce bags which often end up in the garbage. There are fantastic reusable options available, many which can be sourced locally.

Keep your cleaning routine green: a large source of waterway and ecosystem contamination comes from the chemicals that are washed down drains. Things like liquid bleach, drain cleaner, and ammonia all contribute to toxic chemicals in local ecosystems and compromising waste water systems in local communities.

2. START USING REUSABLE BAGS

Did you know that between five billion to one trillion plastic bags are being used every year in the world? Plastic shopping bags are the most harmful to the environment. Shopping with your own bag can help reduce plastic waste. You can also avoid food packaging by shopping in bulk and bringing your own containers! Many cities are seeing the emergence of bulk stores. These stores offer a huge amount of products, from shampoos to spices, without any individual plastic packaging.

Remember, if you have to use plastic bags, you should reuse them as often as possible and then recycle them when you are done. Many grocery stores have bins that allow you to return plastic bags and film.

3. WHEN POSSIBLE, MAKE YOUR OWN FOOD

After a long day at the office, cooking is not something you would want to do. We get it. However, take-out often involves a lot more plastic and single use waste than eating at home. Remember that processed or premade foods and lots of disposable packaging go hand in hand. Natural, local ingredients are healthier for your health and the environment.

4. LOOK INTO PLASTIC FREE CLOTHING

Recent studies have shown that tiny fibers made from synthetic fabrics are being emitted into the water supply of aquatic animals. It is possible to reduce the amount of tiny fibers entering our water streams by choosing clothes made from natural fibers like cotton, hemp, linen and wool. Polyester, for example, is made from synthetic material.

5. GET A GREEN CLEANING ROUTINE

You will likely find a lot of cleaning products in your cabinets that you don’t use or chemical heavy products that you’re not wanting to continue using. There are only a few products that you really need to clean your entire home which makes living sustainably simple. Keeping a citric acid based multipurpose cleaner will cover all your cleaning needs across many different rooms and situations.

The Homebiotic Surface Cleaner, which is citric acid based, allows you to clean surfaces naturally without harsh chemicals that damage your home biome. Keeping a natural, safe balance of microbes in the home helps protect against exposure to toxins that could negatively impact your health.

As an eco-bonus, Homebiotic Surface Cleaner arrives at your house as concentrated tabs that you mix using a reusable bottle, which saves plastic from ending up in landfills.

Find mold under your sink? Don’t reach for the bleach! Use the Homebiotic Surface Cleaner, which is powerful enough to kill mold, but not harmful to water systems. Wipe away mold, dirt, & grime with the Homebiotic Nano Sponge, which doesn’t cultivate harmful bacteria the way conventional sponges do.

A natural cleaning routine paired with the powerful probiotic protection of Homebiotic Probiotic Spray, your home will stay happy and healthy, protected from the sources of grime and musty odors.

Annie Leonard, a notable American proponent for sustainable living, said:

There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw something away it must go somewhere.

The idea that everything we consumer MUST take up space before, during, and after we use it is a great foundation for making more sustainable decisions. Living sustainably is as easy as remembering that EVERYTHING has to end up SOMEWHERE.

We don’t recommend that you start over and discard everything. Instead, we suggest that you work with what is available and, as they run out, make a list of eco-friendly, plastic-free options. Even the biggest waves, start as small ripples.

Posted on July 13, 2021July 11, 2021 by Homebiotic

10 Health Benefits of Gardening

Gardening is getting more attention in recent years. Unfortunately, we’ve become more disconnected from nature in the last century. We used to farm and garden all the time, but modern life made us more detached from this human practice. However, new research shows that gardening has many health benefits that improve everything from the aging brain to physical conditioning. Also, gardening puts us back in touch with the external microbiome we need to stay healthy. Let’s look at 10 different health benefits of gardening.

1. Getting More Sunshine

Gardening definitely gets us out in the sunshine more. Getting more sun exposure has been proven to raise Vitamin D levels and boost energy and health. Sunshine makes us feel better and gives us a boost that we may not realize we were missing.

Proper vitamin D levels are necessary for our health and wellbeing. Vitamin D supports the immune system, the brain, bone health, and mental health. It reduces inflammation which prevents diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Conversely, deficiencies in vitamin D have proven to be disastrous for human health. Although health officials caution people about skin cancer due to sun exposure, sunshine is the best way to get a daily dose of vitamin D. Often, just 10 minutes of sun exposure on the eyelids can boost vitamin D levels quite a bit. This means you can wear sunscreen and get your vitamin D too. And there’s no better way to get vitamin D than during a good session of gardening.

Although health officials caution people about skin cancer due to sun exposure, sunshine is the best way to get a daily dose of vitamin D. Click To Tweet

2. Growing Your Own Nutritious Foods

By growing our own fruits and vegetables, we can increase the number of food nutrients we’re receiving. In the last few decades, many modern farms have lost soil nutrients due to over-planting the same crops from year to year. When we grow our own vegetables, we naturally retain those nutrients because we don’t often plant the same things yearly. Small gardens are some of the best ways to grow nutritious food. Planting our own vegetable gardens naturally rotates crops which helps make the crops nutrient-rich.

3. Exposure To Beneficial Soil Bacteria

Research shows that kids who grow up on farms with lots of soil exposure have much better immune systems. As a result, they have less risk for autoimmune diseases, allergies, and asthma. This is because soil-based bacteria are genuinely beneficial for our health. Exposure to soil-based bacteria boosts and trains our immune system and enhances our skin and the gut microbiome.

There’s no better way to connect with soil-based bacteria than gardening. We usually get soil all over our hands and skin, and this is a good thing. Our culture has advocated that dirt is harmful, but this is simply not true. In fact, the more soil we can connect with physically, the better our health will be. And we shouldn’t be afraid to get a little dirt from the garden into our homes. It turns out that our homes also have a microbiome, and adding soil-based bacteria to it is a great way to improve the home microbiome and keep it naturally clean. The more diverse a microbiome is, the healthier it is. Soil-based bacteria naturally compete for food and space and therefore keep the numbers of harmful microbes to a minimum.

Our culture has advocated that dirt is harmful, but this is simply not true. In fact, the more soil we can connect with physically, the better our health will be. Click To Tweet

4. It’s A Work Out!

Gardening is a surprisingly good form of exercise. Apparently, one session of gardening is equivalent to half an hour of jogging. You’d never think that tinkering in the soil would be such great exercise, but it’s one of the best ways to keep in shape. It’s a low-intensity activity that is good for fat burning and muscle conditioning. It’s also a full-body workout and strengthens ligaments and bones, along with working out the muscles. Lastly, it promotes good flexibility, which is especially good to prevent age-related issues. The exercise you get from gardening can prevent health issues like injuries, bone loss, heart disease, and diabetes.

5. Beneficial To Overall Mental Health

There is growing research attesting to the benefits of horticultural therapy. Not only is it a great source of exercise, but it also boosts our mood and sense of wellbeing. According to the horticultural therapist Mitchell Hewson, gardening can help people experiencing mental health and addiction issues. Gardening stimulates thought, exercises the body and mind, and encourages awareness of the present moment and external environment. The combination of these factors can help improve mental health and addiction issues. In addition, gardening has been shown to renew the desire to live, improve self-esteem, and decrease anxiety.

6. Helps Prevent Dementia & Alzheimers

Gardening appears to have a beneficial influence on the health of the brain and the prevention of dementia. One study shows that those who participate in gardening have a 36% lower risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. A different study shows the lowered risk to be around 47%. This is good news for an aging population. Not only does gardening improve the physical body and mental health, but it also enhances brain health and prevents brain-related issues. This is likely due to many factors we’ve already discussed, such as more sunshine, more activity, vitamin D exposure, and better nutrients from home-grown food.

One study shows that those who participate in gardening have a 36% lower risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Click To Tweet

7. Helps You Sleep Better

One study looking at the elderly shows that gardening helps improve many aspects of their lives, including improved sleep. Older adults naturally have more sleep issues due to changes in the brain and circadian rhythms. However, exposure to natural settings like gardens can help with sleep due to more exposure to sunlight, vitamin D, and activity. However, the actual physical task of gardening improves sleep hygiene because it’s an excellent form of low-impact exercise. Also, as we’ve discussed, gardening can help improve mental health, which also improves sleep habits. Studies show that problems with mental health have a direct impact on sleep hygiene. Therefore, since gardening improves mental health, it also helps reduce sleep problems.

8. Improves Mood

For all the reasons we’ve discussed above, gardening can help nurture the spirit. It lifts mood, enhances vitamin D, and gives a sense of purpose. It also connects people to the external environment by improving the connection to nature. All of these factors can give the spirit a lift. This inevitably improves mental and physical health as well. When the spirit feels well, chances are the person feels well in all areas too.

An experiment conducted by NASA in 2016 showed that gardening keeps astronauts happy and healthy while they’re in the challenging environment of space. Even if they’re in small pots, planting and nurturing seeds can help boost the mood and spirit considerably.

9. Benefits The Environment

We all know that an increase in carbon in the environment is dangerous for our climate. We also know that plants and trees have an excellent effect on reducing carbon in the atmosphere. This is because plants and trees literally “eat” carbon. They absorb carbon and send out healthy oxygen for us all to breathe. The more individual gardens we have in the world, the better. Not only do gardens help participate in reducing carbon, but they also teach us about the natural environment, which helps us stay connected to the climate we live in. Without this knowledge, we wouldn’t be able to understand our role in reducing climate change.

We live in a giant microbiome called earth, and the more we know about how to take care of it, the better we’ll all be. Having a garden can teach us about the microbiome we live in and help us understand our place in things. By communing with nature through our gardens, we expose ourselves to the outside microbiome, which has excellent health benefits for us as living beings. If we never connect to the larger microbiome we live in, we’ll never be able to understand how climate change affects us and is mediated by us. Those who live in high-rise buildings and who never get out in nature are more likely to misunderstand the nature of climate change. Gardening in any form, even if it’s just potted plants on a balcony, can be a massive help to us and the climate.

10. Gardening Benefits Overall Quality of Life

This should go without saying, but it’s worth mentioning how much fun gardening is. After all, if it weren’t fun, we wouldn’t want to do it. But the truth is, the more fun we have, the more health benefits we will achieve through an activity. The “fun” aspect of gardening gives us the mood and self-esteem boost, as mentioned above. It helps us feel grounded in nature and connected to ourselves and the outside world. We also improve our physical health as well without doing things that seem like “work.” Many gardeners will confess that gardening never feels like work.

In summary

So these are 10 health benefits of gardening. Not only is gardening good for the spirit, self-esteem, and mental health, it also nurtures our physical health in many ways. It connects us to nature, gets us out in the sun, boosts physical activity, and gives us access to helpful soil-based bacteria. All of these things combined make gardening a genuinely healthy and stimulating activity.

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3372556/

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/benefits-of-sunlight#health-benefits

https://www.thehealthy.com/mental-health/self-care/health-benefits-of-gardening/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16411871/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/11/health-benefits-gardening/7971047/

https://www.fix.com/blog/health-benefits-of-gardening/

https://www.wholebodymicrobiome.com

Posted on June 7, 2021July 11, 2021 by Gillian May

How To Maintain Gut Health

In the past decade or so, gut health has become a topic of interest for researchers and regular people looking to improve their health. Gut health is linked to several areas that promote health and wellbeing in the body. As such, people want to learn more about how to maintain gut health so they can feel better and avoid health issues. Research findings are showing that the gut microbiome is an essential aspect of our overall health. So, let’s look deeper into how and why we should maintain our gut health.

What is Gut Health?

Gut health refers to a proper balance of bacteria in the gut which promotes proper digestion and absorption of nutrients. It also refers to adequate nutrition as a way to support the bacteria in our gut. Also, by getting adequate nutrition and supporting bacteria growth, we can lessen our chances of getting other illnesses like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, etc.

What is a Microbiome?

The microbiome is comprised of all the microbes that live in a particular environment. We have a gut microbiome, but we also have one on the skin, in our homes, and in nature. In fact, we all live in one giant microbiome, called earth. The environment and how we interact with it has a big part to play in the health of our bodies. We also affect the microbiome for other living things as well. Every time we dump carbon and other pollutants in the air and water, we affect the overall microbiome we will live in. In turn, this also causes problems with our microbiome in and on our bodies.

How Much Bacteria Should I Have in my Gut?

The most important thing about our gut microbiome is ensuring a healthy and diverse amount of good microbes. It’s not so much the numbers of each bacteria; instead, it’s about the diversity. The more varied they are, the better our health will be. When we have an overgrowth of one type of bacteria, we often feel sick. Also, too much of one bacteria can prohibit the growth of others, which leads to dysbiosis. Dysbiosis refers to a gut that doesn’t have a balanced and abundant microbiome.

What are Good Microbes?

Good gut microbes are things like lactobacillus and bifidobacteria. These bacteria are essential in helping us break down food and absorb nutrients. They also help protect and repair damaged tissue inside the intestines. This is a vital part of reducing and preventing inflammation. Without diverse numbers of good bacteria, our body can become inflamed, leading to a variety of diseases and health problems. Our goal should be to protect and maintain the good bacteria in our gut. By doing so, these bacteria will help protect us as well.

What are Bad Microbes?

Harmful microbes refer to bacteria that not only make us sick but they prevent good bacteria from growing and doing their job correctly. Examples of harmful bacteria are c. difficile, e.coli, and salmonella. Also, various forms of fungi such as candida can cause health issues as well. An overgrowth of candida has been known to cause fatigue, diarrhea, indigestion, and inflammation. When our gut has a good amount of beneficial bacteria, these harmful microbes don’t have as much of a chance to grow.

What are Probiotics?

Probiotics are concentrated amounts of good bacteria that you can take in pill form. These products are for people who are lacking in good microbial diversity in their gut. The majority of probiotics contain lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. They also contain healthy yeasts as well; another beneficial microbe. Often probiotics are kept in the fridge to ensure the health of the bacteria in each pill.

There are many types of probiotic products. Be sure to talk with a nutritionist or naturopath to choose the right product for you. The research about probiotics is up and down. Many research studies lack the scientific rigor needed for the products to be approved by the FDA. Nonetheless, there’s enough research and anecdotal evidence that shows that probiotics are very helpful.

What are Prebiotics?

Prebiotics are basically food for our beneficial bacteria. They contain a type of fiber that is not digestible in the human intestinal tract. It is broken down and fermented in the gut. Prebiotics won’t help if you don’t already have enough good bacteria in your gut. However, many probiotic products come with prebiotics in them to help support the growth of beneficial bacteria.

Prebiotic products (pills that you buy from the store) are generally made with a substance called inulin. However, there are many foods that are considered prebiotic as well. Certain undigestible fibrous carbohydrates are considered prebiotics. These undigestible compounds ferment in the gut and the products of fermentation feed the good bacteria in our gut. So, in a sense, prebiotics are just as important if not more important than probiotic products.

How do Prebiotics and Probiotics Help Maintain Gut Health?

Having both probiotics and prebiotics are essential to maintaining gut health. They work together to ensure the health, diversity, and strength of the microbes in our gut. In this way, the beneficial microbes can do their job of breaking down food, creating by-products that aid our digestion, prevent inflammation, and increase the nutrients we absorb. Without this process, we can’t maintain our health very well. Some research shows that gut bacteria influence the health of our brains and the bacteria can even communicate with our nervous system.

Are There Other Products that Help With Gut Health?

The good news is that we don’t have to rely only on probiotic and prebiotic pills sold in natural health stores. We can get both probiotics and prebiotics in different food items. Mainly these food items consist of fermented products. For example, sauerkraut is full of both prebiotic and probiotic substances. The fiber in the cabbage ferments creating food for the beneficial bacteria that grow on the cabbage. Another example is kombucha; a fermented drink made from a blob of yeast and bacterial culture. It may sound unappetizing, but it actually tastes quite good and it’s excellent for your health and wellbeing.

Perhaps the best news is that we can make these products ourselves in our own homes. There are many websites that can teach you how to ferment things to create your own prebiotics and probiotics. Research shows that eating fermented foods is a better way to get proper amounts of probiotics and prebiotics.

How Else Can I Maintain Gut Health?

There are a few other key factors that help maintain gut health. For one, antibiotics can wipe out our gut microbiome quite easily. Although antibiotic treatment may be medically necessary for certain conditions, it may not always be required for everything. For example, a viral illness that has no evidence of bacterial infection likely doesn’t require antibiotics. You should avoid taking antibiotics if they are not necessary. They should only be taken for a serious infection.

Secondly, diet plays a big part in maintaining gut health. A diet rich in fiber and nutrients is very important. Much of our modern diets contain too much sugar and processed fats, which can kill off our healthy microbiome. There are also chemicals in processed food that can decimate our gut bacteria as well. It’s best to limit these foods and increase healthy vegetables, fruits, and fibrous carbohydrates.

What Happens if I Lose Beneficial Bacteria?

Many people report having diarrhea and bloating after they lose beneficial bacteria through things like antibiotic treatment or a gastrointestinal illness. The loss of beneficial bacteria is usually temporary, but it can take some time to build back the gut microbiome. In these moments, it’s good to have a healthy diet along with probiotic and prebiotic treatment to help restore the diverse bacteria in our guts.

What Health Problems Happen from Bad Gut Health?

When our gut lacks healthy and diverse amounts of good bacteria, we fall into a state called dysbiosis. This can cause mild health problems if the dysbiosis is temporary. Mild symptoms are usually things like diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and indigestion. However, long-term dysbiosis has been linked to several more serious health conditions such as autoimmune disease, allergies, chronic inflammation, diabetes, obesity, migraines, and nervous system damage.

Without a healthy gut microbiome, our intestines are unprotected which can lead to a condition called leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut is basically a term to describe an intestinal barrier that has become too porous. This means that harmful substances can pass through the gut barrier and into the bloodstream causing a widespread inflammatory process. This inflammation is what can set off various health problems as described above.

Without a healthy gut microbiome nutrients don’t get broken down and absorbed properly. This leads to vitamin deficiencies and malnutrition. Without nutrients, our bodies can’t perform the necessary functions to maintain proper health. This seriously affects our quality of life over the longer term.

What Else Contributes to Poor Gut Health?

On top of a bad diet and lack of pre and probiotics, certain illnesses can contribute to a loss of beneficial bacteria in our gut. Interestingly, these health issues can be caused by dysbiosis so it’s hard to know what comes first, the illness or the dysbiosis. Nonetheless, illnesses like diabetes and autoimmune issues are known for degrading the gut biome.

What Can I Do Today to Help My Gut Microbiome?

You can take action right now to help promote and maintain your gut health. Number one is to ensure a healthy diet with lots of fiber and nutrients. Eat lots of diverse fruits and vegetables. Also, try to eat complex fibrous carbohydrates like whole grains and root vegetables.

Next, try to find a source of probiotics and prebiotics that work for you. If you don’t have time to ferment things like sauerkraut or kombucha, you can try buying these products from a natural health store. They tend to be expensive but they’re worth it. If you don’t like fermented foods then you can find probiotics and prebiotics in a pill format.

In summary

Maintaining gut health is essential for our overall health and wellbeing. Gut health is about having a healthy a diverse gut microbiome. We want to have healthy amounts of beneficial bacteria and low amounts of harmful bacteria. Good bacteria are essential for digestion and nutrient absorption as well as promoting health and preventing inflammation.

We can maintain our gut microbiome by eating a healthy diet and taking prebiotics and probiotics. The best sources of these two substances are fermented foods, but taking them in a pill form can also be helpful.

A gut lacking in diverse and beneficial microbes is in a state of dysbiosis. This can cause several health problems such as leaky gut, inflammation, and other health conditions. Some health conditions like diabetes, obesity and autoimmune disease can be caused by dysbiosis and can make dysbiosis worse.

A gut lacking in diverse and beneficial microbes is in a state of dysbiosis. Click To Tweet

So it’s obvious that the more we put emphasis on maintaining our gut health, the better our overall health will be.

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6463098/

https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/probiotics-what-you-need-to-know#:~:text=Probiotics%20may%20contain%20a%20variety,probiotics%20may%20have%20different%20effects.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4315779/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6733864/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30535609/

https://www.wholebodymicrobiome.com/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6567126/

Posted on May 21, 2021September 12, 2022 by Homebiotic

Musty Tent? Fix It Fast

These days, many people are opting for a more traditional getaway: camping. Immersed in nature, sunlight and aromatic campfires, spending time in the great outdoors is a great way to boost your immune system, brain health, and nervous system. With that said, camping is primarily a summer activity, and anytime you combine moisture with a warm, enclosed environment, you are more susceptible to musty odors and mold. It might not be immediately visible, but they can sure put a dent in your relaxing vacation. In this article, we’ll look at some of the reasons why your tent might have a funky smell, how to get rid of it, and how to properly store your tent to help prevent this problem in the future.

Why Does Your Tent Smell Musty?

Regardless of how you describe the smell — musty, dank, damp, or just plain BAD — there are many reasons why a tent might smell unpleasant. The most likely reason is because tents provide campers with protection from the [outdoor] elements. As a result of direct exposure, the tents are more likely to get wet from rain or condensation from the damp ground. If you’ve got the whole family snuggled in a tent, breathing the same air and/or sipping hot cocoa, the tent is likely to become damp from excess moisture.

Just like at home, if you’ve got moisture, you can get mold. This is the most common reason a tent can have a musty odor, but it takes a bit to get to that point. Tents are designed to repel water (they wouldn’t be very useful as shelters otherwise!) but the problem arises when the tent remains wet for too long. This can cause mold to grow, either on the tent surface itself, or on any dust or debris that may be trapped on the surface.

Just like at home, if you’ve got moisture, you can get mold. This is the most common reason a tent can have a musty odor, but it takes a bit to get to that point. Click To Tweet

With that said, it might not be mold! Tents can also develop an unpleasant odor from build up of dirt and grime, sweat/body odor from the occupants, or even from a chemical breakdown of the tent’s material itself, but we won’t get into that issue here today.

How to Easily Clean a Musty Tent

If your tent’s odor seems stale rather than musty, it may just need to be aired out prior to use. This is a good first step in any case. You can set the tent up, or just hang it from a clothesline. The important part is getting every surface exposed to airflow. Fans can help if there’s no natural breeze. The offending smell may waft away on its own after a day or so.

If the odor persists, or if there is any visible soiling on any surface, the next step is to wash the tent. Tent fabric is usually treated with various coatings, so take caution when cleaning. Gentle dish soap or castile soap is recommended, but the use of stronger spray cleansers is not recommended as they could strip away any protective coatings. Spray the affected areas and gently scrub with a cloth or soft-bristled brush to remove any visible grime.

Consider using Homebiotic Surface Cleaner, which is citric acid based, to clean your tent naturally without harsh chemicals. After all visible grime and/or spots have been removed, mist the tent surfaces with Homebiotic Probiotic Spray to help eliminate musty odors at the source. Then let the tent dry fully, preferably on a sunny day.

If your tent has pockets, pouches or flaps, prop them up to encourage better airflow. If necessary, you can also use an ordinary box fan to speed up the drying process.

Keep airing out the tent for at least a day after it has fully dried to ensure there is no odor left. Then you can safely pack it up for storage or to go on your next camping adventure.

How to Properly Pack Up a Tent

Once your adventures are over and you’re ready to pack up, be sure to air out your tent as best as you can. If you’re packing up quickly due to bad weather (which many campers often face at one point or another), do your best to keep it as dry as possible. If this isn’t an option, you’ll need to dry it out as soon as you get to your destination by following the previous cleaning steps.

If you’re just packing it away for storage, there are a few steps you can take to ensure it stays fresh and free of musty odors:

If your tent already has a musty odor, clean it and air it out prior to packing it away to prevent this issue from becoming worse.
Lightly spray the tent with Homebiotic Environmental Probiotic spray if you have not already done so . This probiotic spray helps eliminate the causes of musty-smelling odors and keeps your tent fresher, longer.
Always make sure that your tent is completely dry before packing it away.

How to Properly Store Your Tent to Avoid Musty Odors

When it comes to storing your tent, there are two primary methods that work best: seal it up or keep it in a climate-controlled environment.

1. SEAL IT UP – This method involves packing your tent into a sealed container, like a snap lid storage tote, to keep moisture or pests out. This is a good idea if you’re storing your tent in an area that might not be well climate-controlled, like a garage or basement. If you are storing your tent this way, be sure to pack a moisture and odor absorbing object in with the tent. Good examples include a bamboo charcoal bag, some rice in a cloth bag, or a box of baking soda that is opened or has side vents.

2. AIRY BUT PROTECTED – In this alternative method, you’d leave the tent in its original bag and store it in a space that is climate-controlled. This could be a storage closet, or anywhere else it will maintain relatively stable temperature and humidity conditions. You may still want to add a charcoal bag or other moisture control device just for peace of mind.

In either case, proactively check on your tent every few months to ensure that it hasn’t accidentally gotten wet or developed an odor. It’s also a good idea to check it out at least a week before you intend to use it, as that will give you enough time to clean and dry it before camping if necessary.

Conclusion

When a tent is properly taken care of, it should provide years of use. Whether you’re escaping busy city life for a weekend, or you’re traveling cross country, these simple tent care tips can help you enjoy your next camping trip without worrying about musty odors.

Happy camping!

Posted on April 21, 2021April 20, 2021 by Homebiotic

Contaminated Potting Soil

If you are a lover of houseplants, with an ever-growing collection, chances are you’ve encountered contaminated potting soil. It is not only annoying to deal with, it can seriously harm even the most robust leafy beauties. Types of contamination can vary from bugs to harmful microbes, all requiring differing remediation techniques.

How Does Potting Soil Become Microbially Contaminated?

Potting soil contains a combination of organic, such as steer manure and composted vegetation, and inorganic material, such as rocks and sand. This mixture is often composted at warmer temperatures with a considerable amount of moisture, breaking down the material quicker for the sake of fast production. This creates the perfect environment for bad microbes and fungus to grow. Any time you have a small portion of microbes, given the perfect conditions they can multiply at an extremely high rate.

Common strains of harmful microbes found in potting soil are norcardia, legionella, and clostridium simply as a result of the components. What initially would have been a small population of these harmful microbes, has been given the perfect conditions to grow and thrive during warm composting. High levels of legionella exposure can cause Legionnaires disease, which is a form of atypical pneumonia and symptoms include high fever, muscle pain, shortness of breath, and headaches.

How Does Potting Soil Become Contaminated With Bugs?

Bug eggs and larvae are extremely small, they would be absolutely impossible to see in a bag or container of potting soil. The eggs get mixed into potting soil either by contaminated tools or organic matter. From there the bugs finish their hatching cycle and appear, almost out of thin air, buzzing around your living room.

Getting rid of bugs in your soil and plants is extremely important. As the larvae hatch they feed on small roots and any fungus present in the plant biome, which can cause irreparable damage to your plants. They also tend to have a very small life cycle, meaning they quickly and continually recontaminate the soil by laying more eggs. They also can easily infect all of the plants in your home that are growing in soil by laying their eggs.

Types of Common Contamination Issues & How To Fix Them

If you’re struggling with any of these issues it can seem like there is no end in sight. With patience and perseverance, you can overcome serious soil contamination without reaching for toxic pesticides, getting rid of, or damaging your plants. Here’s what we recommend:

Fungus Gnats

An extremely common pest found in mass-produced soils. They are very small black flies, their larvae are impossible to see in the soil. Multiply quickly and can contaminate all plants in the home. Chances are if you have a significant amount of indoor plants it will be more difficult to get rid of fungus gnats because you will have to treat all plants.

WHAT TO DO

Control moisture in the soil – don’t overwater or have excessive amounts of water around your plant, gnats love warm wet soil. A great way to avoid overwatering is a method called ‘bottom watering’ which means you set your plant, pot and all, in a container of water allowing it to soak up what it needs. This removes the chance of having excessive wet soil accessible to gnats.
Sticky tape traps – this is an extremely simple but effective way to control the gnat population and stop adult gnats from laying eggs. Yellow sticky tape traps can be bought on small stakes to put directly into the affected plant’s soil, catch gnats buzzing around them, stopping them before they can further the gnat population. Use a few, placed strategically in different plants, to make the biggest impact.
Neem oil – neem oil is an effective, natural insecticide. How neem oil works are that it inhibits important brain functions of the gnats, preventing them from performing essential functions, which eventually kills them. It also has a smothering effect as well, making it a great natural option for pest control. To use mix 1.5 teaspoons neem oil, 1 teaspoon mild natural soap, and 1 liter of room temperature water. Generously spray this mixture over the infected plant, removing it from the sun to completely dry. Use this treatment weekly for the best results!

Mold

Much like your home microbiome, mold is an indicator that the delicate balance of microorganisms in your potting soil is off. The soil you’re using lacks the necessary beneficial bacteria to prevent harmful colonies from thriving. The mold typically found in potting soil appears as white, fuzzy areas on the soil surface. In addition to this being facilitated by over-watering and poor drainage, potting soil can come to you contaminated through improper composting techniques or storage. The best plan of attack is to treat it early on to prevent spreading to other plants/soil.

WHAT TO DO

Scrape off the top 1/2″ of soil – this is the best way to stop a mold outbreak in its path. By removing contaminated soil (be sure not to reuse the tool used to scrape the soil on any other plants before sanitizing it) you stand the best chance of getting rid of the mold issue altogether.
Do not overwater – mold, like fungus gnats, loves wet soil. Ensuring you have proper drainage and are not watering your plants too often will go a long way in the fight against soil mold.
Treat soil regularly – if the soil you are using is microbially contaminated, it would be wise to continually treat the soil to ensure you keep away mold issues. Using hydrogen peroxide on the soil surface will help kill any active mold spores, it also gives your plants a boost of oxygen which they love! Treating with Homebiotic Environmental Probiotic spray is also a great option to boost the beneficial bacteria population, offering probiotic protection against microbial imbalances.

Spider Mites

Unfortunately, this pest is extremely contagious to any plants that may be close by AND very difficult to get rid of. They can attack plants both indoors and outdoors, commonly getting into households on plants being brought inside for the winter. Often visible on the undersides of leaves, spider mites act like tiny plant vampires, piercing the leaves to suck out all the fluids. This will eventually kill the plant while the spider mite colony thrives. Most people do not realize they have a spider mite infestation until they see fine webbing all over their plant, at which point the population of mites is quite large.

WHAT TO DO

Remove infected leaves and wipe plant clean – the first step in the battle is to physically remove any visible spider mites from the plant. The easiest way to do this is to trim off leaves that are infested with mites and to take a wet paper towel to wipe off infested stems. This is not a sure-fire way to get rid of them but it will help decrease their numbers, making the remaining bugs easier to get rid of.
Beneficial predatory insects (outdoors) – if at all possible, the best way to get rid of spider mites is to introduce beneficial insects into the area. Ladybugs are sold during the summer months at farm supply stores and are a great, natural way to control spider mite populations.
Natural insecticide options – there are a few natural insecticide options available, many containing either citrus oil or neem oil, that not only kill spider mites but will also interrupt their reproduction cycle. This will make getting rid of the spider mites a lot shorter of a task.

References

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/03/29/health/potting-mix-bacteria-partner/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/about/index.html

https://getbusygardening.com/neem-oil-as-organic-pest-control/

Posted on April 8, 2021April 8, 2021 by Homebiotic

6 Spring Gut-Healthy Recipes

Spring is the perfect time to refresh and liven up your go-to menu. As the sun begins to show her face more, warming everything up we are able to find locally grown delicious fruits and vegetables to nourish our guts. We’ve hand-selected 6 fantastic Spring gut-healthy recipes that are not only easy to make but will keep you feeling your best:

Spring Confetti Salad

This absolutely stunning salad from Edible Perspective has everything you need for a deliciously filling main course salad. Red cabbage, chickpeas, and asparagus pair perfectly with a light, easy salad dressing. Add feta cheese to add that punch of probiotics.

Favorite Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Nothing satisfies quite like a chicken salad sandwich! This fantastic recipe from The Crafting Chicks takes your standard chicken sandwich to a whole new level by using craisins for a bit of sweetness and colby jack cheese for some serious flavor. We also love the idea of using a light, fluffy croissant instead of regular sandwich bread.

Pea Fritters with Greek Yogurt Sauce

Accompanied by the probiotic-rich greek yogurt sauce, these pea fritters from Lavender & Macarons are fantastic finger food. Peas are a phenomenal source of vitamin A, vitamin K and other antioxidants that actively support your immune system and overall cell health.

Mediterranean Buddha Bowl

Another nourishing, filling recipe featuring a probiotic heavyweight FETA! This dish from A Cedar Spoon contains so many amazing gut-healthy ingredients like chickpeas, kalamata olives, and hummus. A perfect bowl to fill you up and keep you cozy for those still chilly spring days.

Season’s Best Asparagus Soup

Lacking in the prebiotic department? This amazing soup recipe from 31daily features asparagus which is a fantastic source of prebiotic fiber. It is the perfect way to optimize your gut function AND stay nourished.

Shrimp Spring Roll Bowls

We love bowls as a way to pack a lot of highly nourishing ingredients into the same meal. This dish from Robust Recipes is filled with amazing prebiotic vegetables paired with a delicious tahini sauce. Hot or cold, this bowl is sure to please the whole family.

Posted on March 24, 2021July 11, 2021 by Gillian May

Do Air Purifiers Help With Mold Growth?

Household mold is a costly and sometimes serious health hazard. Besides the uncomfortable musty smell, mold can cause a variety of health problems if left untreated. The best way to get rid of mold is to hire a professional mold remediation company as the process can be challenging and also a bit dangerous. Some species of mold can’t simply be wiped away and require more expertise to remove. This is especially important in the case of black mold, which is a very toxic and dangerous type of mold. But, what about mold and air purifiers?

The best way to get rid of mold is to hire a professional mold remediation company as the process can be challenging and also a bit dangerous. Some species of mold can’t simply be wiped away and require more expertise to remove. This is… Click To Tweet

Fortunately, an air purifier can help with a mold problem as well. Although they can’t fix mold that is settled and growing on household spaces, they can remove spores and with the right unit, they can actually kill the spores. This makes air purifiers for mold a great help. But even more so, they are fantastic for preventing any future mold problems. In this article, we’ll answer some popular questions regarding air purifiers and how they can help with mold growth.

Do Air Purifiers Work?

Air purifiers help freshen the air in the room by removing toxic particles, allergens, and pollutants. Sometimes they are combined with dehumidifiers to keep the moisture levels lower in the home. An air purifier can remove mold spores, dust, and other pollutants to enhance the cleanliness of the air and reduce allergies and other health problems. There are many types of air purifiers and some work better than others for microbes such as mold.

Are air filters the same as air purifiers?

Air filters only clean the larger particles in the air such as dust and dander. However, air purifiers will sanitize the air using ozone, heat, negative ions, or UV and UV-c light. Most air purifiers also have a filter to remove those large particles. However, some air filters don’t have a purifying mechanism and thus just filter the air of large particles like dust.

Are there any mold-removing air purifiers?

No air filter or purifier can remove mold that has settled into household items like walls, kitchens, bathrooms or furniture. This means that an air purifier doesn’t work on its own to fix a mold issue. However, once mold has been cleaned and removed from the house, an air purifier can prevent mold from returning. Air purifiers can help remove spores and some models can actually burn up the spores completely.

How Can An Air Purifier Help With Mold?

An air purifier equipped with a proper HEPA filter or carbon filters can keep mold spores from circulating in the air. This is one step to help reduce mold problems. Also, some air purifiers can help reduce the moisture in a home which is also helpful. However, it’s important that an air purifier has a good filtration system, which we will talk more about below. People with health effects from mold exposure can benefit from the use of air purifiers for mold.

Can an air purifier kill black mold?

Air purifiers don’t actually kill mold of any kind, but they do trap small invisible mold spores that are buoyant in the air. This means it can prevent those spores from settling in other spots and growing more colonies. Air purifiers with a HEPA filter or activated carbon filter can remove spores from room air.

The only way to kill black mold is to consult with a professional that provides mold remediation. A black mold problem can be very serious and cause many symptoms such as asthma, skin irritation, and other serious health effects. It’s best to have help in removing black mold from your home. But an air purifier can definitely help reduce black mold spores to prevent any further contamination of the home.

What Kills Mold Spores In The Air?

There are no instruments or products that can kill mold spores while they’re circulating in the air. However, air purifiers that have UV light or UV-c light can suck up mold spores from the air and into the purifier unit where they are killed by the UV light.

Do Air Purifiers Remove Mold Spores?

Yes, most air purifiers can remove mold spores and trap them in the filter. It’s best to use a true HEPA filter with a UV-c light as it is the best air purifier on the market. Filters with UV light can make a big difference in reducing mold spores.

Do Mold Spores Grow Inside Air Purifiers?

Unfortunately, yes, mold spores can begin to erode the filter. This can happen even with the best true HEPA filters. This is why it’s recommended to find one with a UV light or UV-c light. HEPA filters don’t actually kill mold spores so they can build up and start growing right in the filter. This can be a serious issue because many people don’t realize that mold can grow inside air filters and purifiers as well. Once mold takes hold in the filter of any one of these units, the unit will begin to circulate mold spores in the room which defeats the purpose of the purifier. Always check and clean air purifiers well and consider getting one with UV light if you have or have had a mold issue.

Are Air Purifiers For Mold Covered By Insurance?

If an air purifier has been deemed medically necessary by a medical professional then many insurance companies will cover it. However, you should check with your individual plan to be sure that an air purifier has the capacity to be covered with that plan. Doctors will often deem an air purifier necessary if there have been serious health effects from mold or other household toxins and pollutants. People with health problems like allergies, asthma symptoms, pulmonary fibrosis, or mold sensitivities may require a medically necessary air purifier.

Doctors will often deem an air purifier necessary if there have been serious health effects from mold or other household toxins and pollutants. People with health problems like allergies, asthma symptoms, pulmonary fibrosis, or mold… Click To Tweet

My home doesn’t have mold, do I need an air purifier?

Mold is a very common household issue causing many health effects. Mold can grow in any home at any time if the conditions are right. If you don’t have mold growing in your home then that is good news. Air purifiers do more than reduce mold, they freshen up a home, remove toxins and other pollutants.

How do I know if I need an air purifier?

Air purifiers are often a matter of personal preference. However, if you or your family suffers from health problems related to air quality in the home then an air purifier would be highly recommended. Health problems that often prompt the need for an air purifier are allergies, asthma, breathing issues, headaches, or autoimmune diseases that are triggered by allergens. Also, if your home has a musty smell or has had issues with mold in the past, it’s highly recommended that an air purifier be kept in areas where problems have been noted.

if you or your family suffers from health problems related to air quality in the home then an air purifier would be highly recommended. Health problems that often prompt the need for an air purifier are allergies, asthma, breathing… Click To Tweet

Do you need an air purifier in every room?

It’s not necessary to place an air filter or purifier in every room. Instead, choose the best place where you feel the air quality needs more help. It’s also possible to move air purifiers from room to room if you wish to freshen the air in all rooms. Of course, if you own a large home, you may need two air purifiers to capture the problem areas in a large space.

Deciding which room to place an air purifier comes down to choosing the most problematic area. Be sure not to place too close to walls, furniture, or other electrical units. Sometimes people are tempted to place an air purifier right next to a problem area, but the unit will need space to pull in air and do its job.

Do I Need A HEPA Filter For Mold?

A HEPA filter is an efficient filtration system that can help reduce mold spores circulating in the air. HEPA stands for high-efficiency particulate arresting or high-efficiency particulate air. A true HEPA filter is considered the best air purifier on the market. It is also a good air purifier for mold. However, it won’t kill mold so you may need an air purifier that also contains a strong UV light or UV-c light. A UV light takes things one step further and can literally fry mold spores.

What is a true HEPA filter?

There are HEPA-type filters and then true HEPA filters. The main difference is in the efficiency of the filtration system. A true HEPA filter works almost 100% and can grab extremely small particles that a HEPA-type filter can’t grab.

What is the best air purifier for mold and mildew?

The best air purifier for mold in your house is a true HEPA filter with a UV-c light. Not only can this filter trap spores and remove them from the air, but it can also kill off spores so they don’t lodge in air purifier filters. Unfortunately, mold can damage filters if too many spores build up inside the HEPA filter system. Having a HEPA filter with UV-c light is the best solution as it will reduce mold spores and kill them.

Mildew is generally less harmful than mold even though it is a type of fungi as well. It usually grows on wet surfaces like kitchen and bathroom tiles and in moist corners where water builds up and remains. In this case, an air purifier can help with circulating spores but can’t actually remove mildew. Removing mildew is easy and requires a simple wipe using hydrogen peroxide or just vinegar and water.

What’s Better For Mold, An Air Purifier, Or A Dehumidifier?

Air purifiers and dehumidifiers are two very different pieces of equipment. Often you can find units that have both an air purifier and a dehumidifier built-in. But they are also sold separately. An air purifier cleans the air whereas a dehumidifier removes excess moisture from the air. Both mechanisms are important in treating and preventing mold.

Mold needs the following circumstances in order to grow: food, moisture, and free space without competition. Mold grows by emitting spores into the air that settle on surfaces and multiply. Air purifiers can help grab mold spores out of the air before they settle anywhere. As we said above, it’s not the only way to prevent mold, but it certainly helps when the problem is simple or in a preventative manner. Dehumidifiers help reduce mold by taking excess water out of the air and surrounding items. This robs mold spores of the moisture that they need in order to grow. So as you can see, a combination of both an air purifier and dehumidifier can really help reduce and prevent mold.

How Important are air purifiers in reducing or preventing mold growth?

Air purifiers, especially those with a UV light or UV-c light, can be invaluable in reducing or preventing mold. However, one should never rely solely on air purifier units. Instead, adopt a more broad approach by preventing all the conditions necessary for mold to grow. Remember that mold needs space, food, and moisture so anything that can be done to prevent those conditions will help reduce and prevent mold and mold spores. Some ways to do this are: use fans, open windows, keep air circulating in the home, fix water leaks, prevent water build up, and remove food sources around moist areas. All of these measures plus the addition of an air purifier will help reduce and prevent mold spores and mold growth.

Conclusion

Air purifiers can be a very beneficial investment when you want to reduce or prevent mold issues in your home. Although they can’t fix an established mold problem, they can certainly help with removing and reducing mold spores and improving air quality. Be sure to find air purifier products that have a UV or UV-c light as this is the best way to actually kill mold spores not just trap them in the filter. Remember that filters can get overrun with mold too which is why UV light is more effective.

In short, air purifiers can be a really helpful part in preventing mold growth and mold spores. If you’ve ever had a mold issue or you have family members with mold-related allergies or illnesses, it would be very beneficial to do some market research and get the right air purifier for your home.

References

https://www.epa.gov/mold/what-difference-between-mold-and-mildew#:~:text=Mildew%20refers%20to%20certain%20kinds,of%20multicellular%20filaments%2C%20called%20hyphae.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25007943/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4206797/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3165134/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3631655/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7277583/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4587002/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16268830/

Posted on March 17, 2021September 12, 2022 by Homebiotic

3 Ways To Keep Your Home & Gut Healthy

Keeping your home & gut healthy can involve some of the same steps! In the book “Never Home Alone,” biologist Rob Dunn says that we’ve done a fantastic job controlling the pathogens in our home environment (1). However, we’ve inadvertently gone too far and killed off all the beneficial species. Next, we built our homes in ways that favor problem species like fungi, new pathogens living in our faucets, or cockroaches living in our kitchens. He says there was always another way – that is to nurture the beneficial species in our homes (1).

Just like our gut biome, our home has a biome as well. Although the home biome is somewhat different than our guts, the same principles apply. Nurture the good species while removing whatever nurtures the bad. Experts say that we ought to focus efforts on the good microbes instead of killing off the harmful microbes. This is because whenever we kill off bad microbes, we usually kill the good guys too.

To care for our gut biome, there are three main principles we need to follow: eat healthy, take probiotics, and take pathogen-killing medicine when absolutely required. It turns out that caring for the home biome follows very similar principles. Let’s look at each of these principles and how nurturing our home biome is similar to nurturing our gut biome.

1. Eat a Healthy Diet

Keeping your home & gut healthy means keeping them nourished. Eating healthy for our gut biome means that we are feeding the good microbes with foods they like. Harmful microbes tend to like sugars, starches, and processed foods. In contrast, good bacteria and microbes like to eat fermented fibrous items like fruits and veggies. The idea is to enhance the growth of good bacteria and microbes, which will naturally balance out the gut microbiome (2).

The same can be said for our home biome. Good microbes consist of more soil-based bacteria and microbes, which we don’t often find in modern homes (3,4). Over the last half a century, we’ve become so averse to dirt that we have created a home environment favoring human microbes and pathogens. Research shows that when we began actively removing microbes and building airtight living spaces cut off from nature that we inadvertently favored a biome that lacks healthy microbes (1,3,4,5). At the same time, many illnesses developed, such as asthma, allergies, and autoimmune diseases. We’ve also made our immune systems more susceptible to other illnesses as well (1,6).

Over the last half a century, we’ve become so averse to dirt that we have created a home environment favoring human microbes and pathogens. Research shows that when we began actively removing microbes and building airtight living spaces… Click To Tweet

So the first step in nurturing our home biome is to feed the good guys in our homes. We do this by allowing our environment to find its own natural balance without using harsh cleansers, cleaning too frequently, and avoiding any and all dirt. The truth is, good microbes will eat and compete with harmful microbes if we let them be. Good microbes also have a symbiotic relationship with our human and pet microbes, and we must nurture that relationship as well (1,3,4,5).

2. Take Probiotics

Keeping your home & gut healthy sometimes requires calling in reinforcements. The other way we can nourish and promote good microbes in our homes is to actually add them to our environment the same way we do in our guts. It looks a little different between the gut and the home biome, but the principle is much the same.

Probiotics for our guts involve taking probiotic pills or ingesting foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, and kefir (2). As science and human technology advances, we are discovering ways to add probiotics to our home environments (7).

A research study done in a healthcare setting shows that probiotic microorganisms may help decrease the growth of harmful pathogens. Probiotics and their biosurfactant products may keep hospital-based infections under control. Since this works in a hospital setting, it may indeed work well at home (7). This is excellent news amidst a pandemic where we need to clean our homes with harsh chemicals more often.

This is where Homebiotic Probiotic Spray comes in to create a population of beneficial microbes within your home. Include Homebiotic as a treatment at the end of your regular natural cleaning routine to create a barrier of probiotic protection on surfaces in your home, keeping them clean long after chores are done.

3. Take Pathogen-Killing Medicine Only When Absolutely Required

Keeping your home & gut healthy can mean minimizing the intake of antibiotics. In the last few decades, we’ve discovered that antibiotics and other chemical irritants can kill off the beneficial microbes in our gut. Even things like stress, massive change, and unhealthy food choices can negatively affect our gut biome. Now that we know this, many health officials are advocating for the discretionary use of antibiotics. There’s also been an increase in education around foods, chemicals, and stress and how they negatively impact the gut biome (1).

It turns out that the same is true for the home biome. Research shows that over-cleaning, using harsh antibacterial cleansers has a devastating effect on beneficial microbe species in the home. As we discussed above, creating a sterile environment in the house has led to the development of many new illnesses (1,3-6). This is because we need beneficial bacteria in both our guts and our homes to stay healthy.

Research shows that over-cleaning, using harsh antibacterial cleansers has a devastating effect on beneficial microbe species in the home Click To Tweet

So in order to nurture our home biome, we need to decrease our use of harsh cleansers and reduce our cleaning frequency. This is not to say to leave our homes dirty and full of grime. Rather, we allow some microscopic dirt to remain and clean in ways that don’t destroy beneficial species. Instead of using antibacterial cleansers, we can choose essential oils, small amounts of vinegar and opt for surface wiping and removing excessive dust (1,4,5,6).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it seems that nurturing our home biome is quite similar to promoting health for our gut biomes. As we are biological beings that live symbiotically in a connected biosphere, it makes sense that our home and gut biomes would behave in similar ways.

There are three main points to keep your home & gut healthy:

We need to feed the good microbes while starving out the bad ones.
We add in good microbes when necessary to help repopulate and bring balance to the biome.
Be careful with how we treat overgrowths of harmful microbes.

When we don’t need to kill any harmful pathogens, then it makes sense not to use harsh pathogen-killing chemicals if it’s unnecessary.

As we become more familiar with our gut biome, it makes sense to look at the entire biome we live in, including our home. The principles for nurturing any biome are relatively similar. The more we understand, the better we can be at fostering our overall health and wellbeing.