Antibiotics really wreck havoc on your gut. The gut is the second brain. This is why antibiotics can cause anxiety and depression as your good levels of gut bacteria go down. They also can lead to yeast and candida overgrowth which can lead to yeast infections all over the body. Antibiotics also deplete calcium, magnesium, potassium, as well as certain B vitamins (b1-thiamin, b2-riboflavin, b3-niacin, B5-pantothenic acid, B6, B9-folic acid, and vitamin K) so as well as looking after my gut, I knew I also needed to look after my vitamin and mineral levels during and after the course of antibiotics.

I recently took Macrobid because I really wanted to avoid taking CIPRO due to the severe side effects that come with CIPRO medication. Check my highlights on my Instagram where I talk about this.

I knew that I had to support my gut and that this was one of the most important things for me to do because having a leaky gut would make the antibiotic situation worse for me and take me longer to recover.

So, I focused on my gut health with a number of really good products and a 5-step routine every day. 

1. I started with a top quality probiotic

Antibiotics kill the good bacteria as well as the bad bacteria. Love Bug is my probiotic of choice and it is the probiotic that my good friend Dr. Will Cole promotes to help support the good bacteria that are getting wiped out. I take this one hour before the antibiotics. I’ve really seen and felt a difference in it, one week in. I was definitely less bloated and I trust that it is helping the good bacteria.

2. Gut support

After the probiotic, I then take Ion Biome, a product actually created by Zach Bush. I’m going to sound like a know-it-all when I say I saw this coming but The Rich Roll Podcast put Zach Bush and his product, Ionbiome, on the map back in 2018. Ionbiome helps to restore gut health and the microbiome through the intelligence of nature. Zach is a triple board certified medical doctor, and deeply understands the problems and side effects of big pharma. I spoke about Zach a lot on Agent and then Janny did a podcast with him after discovering him on Agent. This is why Zach follows me!

Ionbiome really helps the gut but also more so helps to get the glyphosate and pesticides out of your system too which have so many health effects that we don’t even really know about yet. It’s full gut support and all natural and soil derived, the ION* Gut Support product goes beyond probiotics to defend you from environmental toxins and diversify your gut microbiome naturally.

3. Collagen + my new supplement

After taking the probiotic and the Ionbiome, I’d always focus on my collagen intake. Collagen intake is important because collagen coats the gut lining and calms inflammation in the gut. holi (mane) is the best supplement to help heal leaky gut (you can read more here about it), particularly as it is such high quality, bioavailable collagen (types 1, 2, 3 *and* 4).

Antibiotics also deplete calcium in the body so holi (mane) also helps to replenish these lowered levels through the pearl powder in the product. You can read more about how incredible pearl powder is and why I formulate with it here.

I would drink my morning holi (mane) mixed with another supplement that I’m releasing in a few months. Some of you will know what it is already but I’ve been taking it since 2009 and I’m so excited to share it with you. Not only does it give you insane hair, skin, nails but it also increases the benefit of holi mane, helps you break down scar tissue and also helps to get rid of candida from within the gut. It also detoxes the liver, acts as a precursor to glutathione and is so good for your joints too. Stay tuned for this, I’m so excited to share this with you. It fits perfectly with holi (mane). 

4. Sheep’s yogurt

After the probiotic, Ionbiome, collagen and my new supplement, I would then take sheep’s yogurt alongside actually taking the antibiotics. Really good quality, raw, sheep’s yogurt helps to restock the good bacteria in the gut (because antibiotics kill the good bacteria too). It also helps to prevent a yeast infection (or overgrowth of candida albicans) which often happens when taking antibiotics. I’ll only do this if I'm in Europe though because even raw sheep yogurt from the best store in America hurts my stomach and is not great quality and not going to help the problem. 

5. Supplements + Lifestyle Decisions

As well as the steps that I would repeat above, I also focused on taking high doses of Vitamin C to help support my body at the same time. I prefer IVs but if you can’t get access to these then I would always go for Dr. Mercola’s Vitamin C and liposomal glutathione.

I also loaded up on magnesium to keep my bowels moving because antibiotics can back you up. The best magnesium for constipation is Magnesium Citrate.

Aloe is also amazing to help coat the gut too and work alongside the holi (mane) because it contains an impressive number of digestive enzymes and also something called acemannan. Acemannan is the main active ingredient in aloe vera and it’s a healthy sugar found inside the plant where you find the gel. It’s also an incredible help for protecting and fighting against leaky gut because it’s thought to be anti-inflammatory for the gut lining, as well as anti-bacterial, as well as immune boosting (which makes sense when you understand the gut-immunity connection. Leaky gut is a condition of increased permeability of the intestine because of compromised tight junction barriers and acemannan helps to strengthen these junction barriers. Because of the power it holds for leaky gut, I knew that Aloe was important during my antibiotics. To get my aloe in, my favorite drink is the Sunlife Organics Aloe Mint Water. As well as drinking aloe mint water, I also focused on taking in lots of high quality water too to keep my system flushing through and help my urinary tract.

Finally, as well as taking some high quality supplements to help me, I also focused on avoiding sugar because antibiotics create higher risk of candida and this sugar can drive this further. Sugar also lowers the immune system and makes leaky gut worse so it can negatively impact your immunity and your gut health, making it even harder for your body to fight off the original infection it was already fighting.

And for anxiety I also laid by the water and the fresh air calmed me really well. Lying by the ocean on a windy day is complete heaven for me and really helped me through this experience and to keep my anxiety low and my body healing. I swear by the power of negative ions from the ocean and the healing benefits that come from being by, or living near water, you can read more about that here.

So, if you have to take antibiotics, I hope that this 5 step process can help you to support your gut through the experience and come out the other side without any more damaging side effects than there needs to be. Most of the things are really easy to purchase online and you can get them pretty quickly so try to grab these products before starting an antibiotic journey. 

What would you add?

Jena x

***THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED OR REGULATED BY THE FDA.  WE ARE NOT DOCTORS, THEREFORE ALWAYS CONSULT WITH YOUR DOCTOR FIRST