Part one…
what’s in it for me?
Did you know that the man who invented fertilizer and pesticides also invented the gas used to kill humans in world war two. Farmers still use these toxic chemicals, they don’t just impact the food but they also make their way into the soil, water and our guts. These impact our gut health, killing the most necessary microbes throughout the body.
I remember learning that that classical Chinese medicine would have us travel with a small amount of soil from our home. That way, when we inevitably suffer from travelers diarrhea, we will have the perfect treatment with us. That’s right, dissolve that soil in a bit of warm water and its down the hatch it goes. Do that for a few days and you will feel much better.
Western science has now answered the question “why”? Why is it that taking a bit of soil from home would bring about relief from what can feel like a predictable and completely inconvenient experience?
“There are more microbes in a single handful of soil that there have ever been humans born onto this planet” That can’t be ignored. These microbes also live in our guts. They digest our food, balance our brains, hormones, emotions, they even impact our personalities. When we travel to a new place, similar to the culture shock you might feel while you learn new ways of doing things, your body has a biome shock. Some of the same bugs, a lot of different bugs, both good and less helpful.
Antibiotics, anti bacterial, and squeaky clean. All things I grew up thinking were so good for us have been seriously myth busted. If you want to help with climate change, it is important to see how some of our common day behaviors and beliefs are contributing in such a big way.
How many showers do you take a week? How many times do you wear something before you wash it? How often do you clean your home? What do you use when you clean all of those things, you included? When we kill off the good bugs with these cleansers we make the perfect home for the strong, invasive bugs to set root, we throw off harmony.
I like to think of the garden for this one. Back to the soil but not really. So if you have ever gardened you know that the best way to keep down the weeds is to fill the empty space with plants. The weeds will have something to compete with. In the end, the healthy, native plants thrive the easiest and a diversity of those plants creates the healthiest environment.
So, if we go back to our biome, taking antibiotics, using chemicals on foods, on our clothing and our bodies all kills off our biome leaving it suspendible to dandelions. Ok, you know what I mean. And no offense to dandelions, they are actually medicinal and I highly recommend eating them, fresh in the Spring out of your yard, covered in dirt..lol
But really, these bugs are important little biome friends. Without them, we feel and exhibit the imbalances throughout our bodies. Travelers diarrhea is just an easy to relate to example. We also see systemic health issues, digestive issues, malabsorption, premature aging, cancers, weight imbalances, birth defects and more. These chemicals also pass through breast milk and impact the health of our babies.
If you can’t wait to hear more, check out Kiss the Ground website here.