We’ve all heard how important exercise is when it comes to building strong muscles and keeping your heart healthy. But when is the last time you’ve thought about what you’re doing to keep your microbiome in shape?

“My what?” you ask.

What is a microbiome?

Your microbiome is in your gut. It’s a big community of tiny, living organisms – good and bad bacteria – that populate your large and small intestines.

Those little beings have a very important job. In addition to keeping your digestive system humming along, they make up about 70 percent of your body’s immune system, making them a vital part of your overall wellbeing.

A tale of two bacteria

There are two basic kinds of bacteria that make their home in your gut: the good kind and the bad kind. Your body works hard every day to try to keep a healthy balance of both.

Bad bacteria can come from things like poor diet, a stressful week at work, or even lack of sleep. When there are too many of these bad bacteria, they can keep our microbiome from functioning like it should.

Good bacteria help break down the foods we eat, add an extra layer of protection to the lining of the intestines and perform thousands of other functions that help to keep us healthy.

Your internal social network

Let’s take a closer look at your microbiome. Think of the good bacteria in there as your own personal social network – they are the trillions of little friends you never knew you had.

Their role is to stick with you, creating a healthy immune system and keeping your digestive process running smoothly.

The challenge is making sure your gut is full of good bacteria even when your lifestyle may invite in a small army of the bad bacteria at every turn.

Aiming for a balanced microbiome

The bad bacteria are the troublemakers – the trolls. They need to be unfriended and blocked. They are created when we eat too much processed food, sending a load of saturated fats and sugars into our system, which the bad bacteria love.

They multiply when our bodies are stressed or when we’re affected by environmental pollution. These bad bacteria can overpower the good bacteria in our microbiome. This causes an imbalance, which not only affects our digestive health but weakens our immune system.

When our microbiome is out of whack, it can cause some discomfort in the form of tummy troubles, intestinal irritability, constipation – all things we’d rather avoid.

Getting the probiotics you need

The best way to keep your microbiome in good shape is to support it by replenishing it with “friendly” probiotic microorganisms every day.

Making healthy lifestyle choices is a great way to protect your balance, as is consuming foods with naturally occurring probiotics. You can also take a daily probiotic supplement.

For example, each dose of Nutrilite™ Balance Within™ Probiotic provides 6.3 billion colony-forming units (CFUs) of beneficial bacteria to bolster your microbiome.

One challenge with probiotic supplements is that probiotics can die before they even reach your gut. Look for probiotic strains specially formulated to arrive alive in your intestinal system and stay there to help push out the bad bacteria.

“Finding the right balance of the right probiotic strains at the right levels for digestion and immune health is key,” said Kristin Morris, a senior research scientist for Nutrilite. “We looked for strains that had actual clinical evidence of delivering those benefits. That was really important to us.”

The convenient powdered probiotic blend comes in single-serve stick packs that can be poured into a cold drink, sprinkled on cold food or poured directly into your mouth.

Want to learn more about Nutrilite Balance Within Probiotic, Stress Relief Probiotic and other Nutrilite supplements? Visit Amway.com today.