probiotics

Options
fortunebc
fortunebc Posts: 24 Member
I'm fairly new so i don't know if this has been discussed lately, but I'd like to know if anyone is using a probiotic, and if you feel it's helped. I've read that some are specific for different things, like insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Did they help you with weight loss or better numbers? If so how do you use them?
«13

Replies

  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    Options
    I use them to help my GI system and because of the emerging data on how gut biomes affect many aspects of health. I take a probiotic capsule every evening, and I make a point to eat lactofermented foods most days.
  • professionalHobbyist
    professionalHobbyist Posts: 1,316 Member
    Options
    Anyone else ?

    I wonder too
  • bluefish86
    bluefish86 Posts: 842 Member
    Options
    Not sure how they effect weight loss, but my skin always seems to break out less when I eat fermented foods...
  • totaloblivia
    totaloblivia Posts: 1,164 Member
    Options
    What fermented foods are there apart from sauerkraut please?
  • randiewilliams72
    randiewilliams72 Posts: 119 Member
    Options
    I started to take a probiotic because this WOE got me bound up. So far so good. Just started taking them a week or two ago.
  • bluefish86
    bluefish86 Posts: 842 Member
    Options
    What fermented foods are there apart from sauerkraut please?

    Cultured (raw) dairy, water kefir, kombucha, preserved lemons, kimchi, most pickled vegitables....
  • Kitnthecat
    Kitnthecat Posts: 2,060 Member
    Options
    @bluefish, the above are all good choices, but I'll just add one point. Try to find the kind of sauerkraut that has live cultures, usually found in the refrigerated section along with the kimchi, or make your own. Then eat it raw, don't cook it. You want those live cultures to survive.

    It's also easy to make your own kombucha.
  • professionalHobbyist
    professionalHobbyist Posts: 1,316 Member
    Options
    Wow

    I was ignorant of fermented foods

    Did a Google search

    Interesting

    Thank you for sharing
  • bluefish86
    bluefish86 Posts: 842 Member
    Options
    Kitnthecat wrote: »
    @bluefish, the above are all good choices, but I'll just add one point. Try to find the kind of sauerkraut that has live cultures, usually found in the refrigerated section along with the kimchi, or make your own. Then eat it raw, don't cook it. You want those live cultures to survive.

    It's also easy to make your own kombucha.

    Thanks @Kitnthecat for mentioning that! I forgot to say that it should be unpasteurized...
  • DianaElena76
    DianaElena76 Posts: 1,241 Member
    Options
    On NPR this morning they were talking about a study (n=40) where probiotics led to positive mood outcomes, specifically reduced aggression and reduced rumination (using self-report inventories before and after--I believe it was a 30-day study). Obviously this isn't the most scientifically robust study, but it's interesting nonetheless.

    I took probiotics during pregnancy to keep things moving along. I am going to add them back in to my regimen for general health purposes.
  • jennybird99
    jennybird99 Posts: 60 Member
    Options
    I didn't know they helped with "moving things along." I took them before, along with kelp supplements for improved thyroid function and a good daily vitamin. I should probably start again, as probiotics can help lower inflammation, and that is why I'm on LCHF.
    (and to lose weight)
  • DianaElena76
    DianaElena76 Posts: 1,241 Member
    Options
    I didn't know they helped with "moving things along." I took them before, along with kelp supplements for improved thyroid function and a good daily vitamin. I should probably start again, as probiotics can help lower inflammation, and that is why I'm on LCHF.
    (and to lose weight)

    LOL, yeah. Remember Jamie Lee Curtis' Activia commercials? And the spoofs they did on SNL?
  • chaoticdreams
    chaoticdreams Posts: 447 Member
    Options
    I was taking them before LC to help with regularity and general well being. I was always less bloated when I took them regularly. I can't do fermented foods so I'll just stick with my tiny pill. :smile:
  • fortunebc
    fortunebc Posts: 24 Member
    Options
    Well i guess I'm going to try them. Do the capsules specify what bacteria they have . I'm going to have to educate myself. There's a lot of discussion about prebiotics too which is even more complicated. It's a lot of biochemistry, nothing is as simple as we think (I think). My DH is, was a biochemist, and I'd love to have him explain it all to me, but sadly he has had dementia for 8 years and is now in hospice care because of falls and brain bleeds, so there's no biochemistry left to discuss with him
  • fortunebc
    fortunebc Posts: 24 Member
    Options
    How do you make kombucha?
  • m_puppy
    m_puppy Posts: 246 Member
    Options
    fortunebc wrote: »
    Well i guess I'm going to try them. Do the capsules specify what bacteria they have . I'm going to have to educate myself. There's a lot of discussion about prebiotics too which is even more complicated. It's a lot of biochemistry, nothing is as simple as we think (I think). My DH is, was a biochemist, and I'd love to have him explain it all to me, but sadly he has had dementia for 8 years and is now in hospice care because of falls and brain bleeds, so there's no biochemistry left to discuss with him

    Well that has me teary! I'm very sorry to hear about your husband. It's such a heartbreaking disease.
  • m_puppy
    m_puppy Posts: 246 Member
    Options
    Any recommendations/plugs for the best probiotic? I've only taken a pill once and the stomach ache I was suffering from for 2 days went away. This was in June and I had decided that eating french fries was a perfectly acceptable thing to do before getting on a plane before vacation. (This is where I fail at planned cheats!)
  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    Options
    bluefish86 wrote: »
    What fermented foods are there apart from sauerkraut please?

    Cultured (raw) dairy, water kefir, kombucha, preserved lemons, kimchi, most pickled vegitables....

    Coconut milk yogurt and keifer, too. It's easy to make any lactofermented vegetables, along with sauerkraut. Easier for me to make it than to find it in the stores near me. (And I don't use the new fancy jars for it, just an old crock, a wooden pounder, and plate that fits inside the crock. Store in Mason jars in the fridge or garage in the winter. Cheap finds at a junk shop.)
  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    Options
    For those asking about which strains of bacteria to use, here's a note I jotted about recolonizing the gut after antibiotic use. I don't recall the source, I apologize, but it was a medical journal article looking at recolonization for patients with chronic C. diff colitis. (Proved to be helpful for many, but many others proceeded to stool transplants):

    Antibiotic gut recolonization: take for 2-6 months!

    Lactobacillus 50B cfu per day, separate from antibiotic

    Saccharomyces boulardii beneficial yeast, non-colonizing, twice a day

    Non-pasteurized (refrigerated) fermented foods, start with 1-2 teaspoons and work up to 2-3 tablespoons at each meal.

    Bone broth daily, up to 1 cup with each meal if possible

    Zinc and vitamin D supplementation if low

    Cod liver oil to balance omega 3s
  • minties82
    minties82 Posts: 907 Member
    Options
    What about fermented coconut oil? I recall seeing that somewhere.