probiotics

fortunebc
fortunebc Posts: 24 Member
edited November 21 in Social Groups
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?
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Replies

  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    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
    Anyone else ?

    I wonder too
  • bluefish86
    bluefish86 Posts: 842 Member
    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
    What fermented foods are there apart from sauerkraut please?
  • randiewilliams72
    randiewilliams72 Posts: 119 Member
    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
    What fermented foods are there apart from sauerkraut please?

    Cultured (raw) dairy, water kefir, kombucha, preserved lemons, kimchi, most pickled vegitables....
  • Kitnthecat
    Kitnthecat Posts: 2,075 Member
    @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
    Wow

    I was ignorant of fermented foods

    Did a Google search

    Interesting

    Thank you for sharing
  • bluefish86
    bluefish86 Posts: 842 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    How do you make kombucha?
  • m_puppy
    m_puppy Posts: 246 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    What about fermented coconut oil? I recall seeing that somewhere.
  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    Hmmm... I don't know if coconut oil will ferment. It's stable at room temperatures for years, seems pretty bacteriostatic if not bacteriocidal to me...
  • minties82
    minties82 Posts: 907 Member
    edited July 2015
    I'll see if I can find where I saw it. Might have veen a different fermented coconut product.

    Edited to add the link. Not sure exactly how you ferment an oil out? I gather it isn't pressed out. I usually buy my coconut oil from these guys.

    http://shysheep.com/shop/allergen-free/ancient-wisdom-3-25-litre-tub/
  • robert65ferguson
    robert65ferguson Posts: 390 Member
    I'm a Type 2 living in the UK and use Bioglan Biotic Balance which has 4 live species Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Lactobacillus Rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium Longum, Saccharomyces Boulardii. It has the advantage that it does not need refridgeration. I also try to eat fermented foods such as sauerkraut. For me the downside of LCHF has been a slowing down of the digestive process and probiotics and fermented foods have been a big help.
  • minties82
    minties82 Posts: 907 Member
    Are probiotics something that you continue to take for life? Or does the bacteria manage to maintain it's colony fairly well after a certain period of time?

    There are already so many things I have to buy all the time on keto, not sure about adding another expense that will carry on for years and years.
  • toadqueen
    toadqueen Posts: 592 Member
    I take PB8, a gluten-free (soy, egg, dairy, nut free too) probiotic that does not require refrigerator 2xs per day. A monthly supply costs me $16.49. I have not checked online. They started me on it in the hospital last fall. I do not eat fermented foods. I just cannot tolerate the taste of any of them. I think it helps with digestive health and weight loss because I now can move things along daily as opposed to about once or twice per week. I intend to take these for the rest of my life, but my intestines are compromised.
  • GSD_Mama
    GSD_Mama Posts: 629 Member
    I used to take VSL3 probiotics, they ship them in an ice pack within 24 hours as it should be refrigerated. You can probably find a better price if you google it.

    http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=vsl3+probiotics&tag=hydsma-20&index=aps&hvadid=28603172576&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=290015013561819360&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=m&ref=pd_sl_8l0130adf1_b
  • Kitnthecat
    Kitnthecat Posts: 2,075 Member
    fortunebc wrote: »
    How do you make kombucha?

  • Kitnthecat
    Kitnthecat Posts: 2,075 Member
    Kitnthecat wrote: »
    fortunebc wrote: »
    How do you make kombucha?

    oops, forgot to post my message. Just google how to make it and you'll get a sense of how it's done. I see in my local health food store that the price of my favorite GT's Kombucha is now $4.69 CAN or some outrageous price.

    All you need is some green or black tea bags, some sugar ( yes I know sugar is bad, but the fermentation process eats it up ) and a SCOBY- symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast to start the fermentation, and a glass container for brewing, like a big jar.

    Brew some tea, add sugar, let it cool and pour it in your big glass jar, add the scoby and some of the fermentation liquid from the last batch, cover it with a cloth that allows it to breathe, and leave it at room temperature until it ferments, looks bubbly, and you like the taste of it...not too sweet because it's not done, yet not too vinegary since you've let it go too far.

    I used to brew it, but my scoby suffered an untimely death, so I stopped. I was just given a new scoby by a friend, so will start brewing after my vacation next month. You can keep a scoby in a holding pattern in a jar in the fridge. When I'm ready to brew, I will remove it and let it do it's thing with some tea and sugar and the end result will be magic !
  • fortunebc
    fortunebc Posts: 24 Member
    m_puppy wrote: »
    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!)
    Kitnthecat wrote: »
    Kitnthecat wrote: »
    fortunebc wrote: »
    How do you make kombucha?

    oops, forgot to post my message. Just google how to make it and you'll get a sense of how it's done. I see in my local health food store that the price of my favorite GT's Kombucha is now $4.69 CAN or some outrageous price.

    All you need is some green or black tea bags, some sugar ( yes I know sugar is bad, but the fermentation process eats it up ) and a SCOBY- symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast to start the fermentation, and a glass container for brewing, like a big jar.

    Brew some tea, add sugar, let it cool and pour it in your big glass jar, add the scoby and some of the fermentation liquid from the last batch, cover it with a cloth that allows it to breathe, and leave it at room temperature until it ferments, looks bubbly, and you like the taste of it...not too sweet because it's not done, yet not too vinegary since you've let it go too far.

    I used to brew it, but my scoby suffered an untimely death, so I stopped. I was just given a new scoby by a friend, so will start brewing after my vacation next month. You can keep a scoby in a holding pattern in a jar in the fridge. When I'm ready to brew, I will remove it and let it do it's thing with some tea and sugar and the end result will be magic !

  • fortunebc
    fortunebc Posts: 24 Member
    @Kitnthecat
    Thanks for the kombucha directions, I'll give it a try. Hope it's magic for me!
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