Probiotic and Gut Health

Is your stomach tied up as tight as a bow on last year’s Christmas gift? Rumbling as noisily as the reindeer on a roof at Christmas Eve? The holidays bring in stress and over indulgence – too much food, too much drink – that can leave you miserable, but there is a way to help your stomach calm down and perhaps prevent it from getting stirred up in the first place.

Probiotics

Probiotics are made of good microorganisms that live inside your body, especially in your large intestine, known as gut microbiota, and can provide a number of health benefits. They create vitamins, resist gum disease, help with lactose intolerance and help control eczema and upper respiratory infections. They improve gut flora, help your body digest food, support the cells that line your gut and prevent bad bacteria from controlling your stomach lining. They can help control diarrhea, constipation, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), yeast infections and urinary tract infections. They even help break down and absorb medications.

Pretty amazing stuff...

And, although probiotics already live inside your body and eating a well-balanced diet with plenty of fiber helps it thrive, sometimes it gets thrown off-balance due to some medical conditions, to stress or to the use of antibiotics. You can increase the good probiotics in your system in three ways:

1) Eating fermented foods, like sauerkraut or yogurt.

2) Drinking fermented drinks like kombucha, fermented black tea, or kefir, a yogurt-like beverage.

3) By taking daily supplements.

How do you choose a good daily supplement?

Stores usually display their probiotics on the shelves of their health section and keep many of them in display refrigerators. Check the packaging to ensure that you choose a product that contains live and active bacterial cultures and that you select one that targets your specific issue: IBD, stress or immunity issues.

Once you begin taking probiotics, you may not see results for the first couple of weeks, and you may experience some gas, bloating or diarrhea. This is a result of bacteria producing more gas than usual and should clear up soon.

However, once your body adjusts, you may notice positive changes, including an improved digestion. The bonus is that you may also experience more energy and clearer skin. These are benefits that we can gladly celebrate post-holiday, in the new year.