Good bacteria needed. Probiotics? Sauerkraut?

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Spline Girl
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Good bacteria needed. Probiotics? Sauerkraut?

Post by Spline Girl »

Hi Everybody!

Sorry I have not been posting here for a while. Since I went GF/DF/SF in July, I have been mostly much better with some slips here and there, which take time to heal.

Well, today we got our much desired BFP (Big Fat Positive pregnancy test)! :) We are over the moon :) And I am already thinking about all the necessary for baby good bacteria in my guts. I don't think my balance has been restored completely and I want to see what else can be done.

So my question is: how do I try to restore the balance of bacteria and bring more good bacteria in?
My ideas:
1) I made sauerkraut (homemade: just fermented for 36 hrs the organic cabbage with salt and sugar). I have not tried it yet.
2) Simple google of GF/DF/SF probiotics gave me this
-- http://organic3.com/gutpro/
-- http://www.jarrow.com/product/535/Jarro ... ergen_Free
-- http://www.culturelle.com/digestive-hea ... c-capsules
-- http://www.customprobiotics.com

Did anybody have any experience with any of these? Any other recommendations? What else could I try?

Thank you very much!
Love and Light to all!
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tex
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Post by tex »

Hi,

Congratulations on the pregnancy verification. This is strictly my own opinion, and therefore it's unsupported by any random, double-blind research trials. And I'm sure that many probiotic fans here will disagree with me, but here are my thoughts on gut bacteria:

Are you sure that you need to try to change your gut bacteria balance? IMO our gut genome evolves based on 5 items, and it is restrained by these 5 factors at all times in our lifetime (no matter how hard we might try to change it by other means). All other influences are of relatively minor significance, (including probiotics, which are only transient inhabitants of the gut, because they cannot attach to the gut wall.) These 5 limiting factors are:

1. The gut bacteria we are born with

2. The gut bacteria to which we are exposed during our lifetime

3. Antibiotic use

4. Our diet

5. How well our digestive system performs

Remember, it is indeed a fact that probiotic bacteria can only reside in the gut on a temporary basis, because they cannot attach to the gut wall unless they evolved in a human gut. Probiotic bacteria most definitely did not evolve in a human gut. They evolved in stainless steel tanks. Therefore, they can pass through the gut, but they cannot stick around and reproduce on a permanent basis. Unable to attach, they are slowly flushed away. That makes them pretty much worthless for most practical purposes regarding long-term health benefits.

At this point in our lives, the most important factors (that can have a positive effect) are our diet, and how well our digestive system functions. Once our digestive system functioning is restored, and performing consistently, and we have determined the basic diet we will be likely to follow for either the near future, or forever, then there isn't much that we can do to positively alter our gut bacteria balance. Gut bacteria will quickly adapt to the way our digestive system works, and what we eat.

And IMO, any attempts to significantly change our total gut bacteriological genome in a positive fashion will simply lead to frustration and disappointment, because gut bacteria in general have evolved to adapt to their environment (just like all other organisms), and when that environment is significantly altered, then the laws of nature take over and the gut biome becomes hostile to certain species, and more hospitable to other species. And this will naturally force population shifts within that biome.

In our gut, the environment is defined by the way our digestive system performs, and what we eat. Therefore IMO, there is no way that someone eating a unique diet (such as most of us) will be able to successfully force our gut fauna to return to our original balance (demographic), because we no longer eat certain foods that our previous gut fauna evolved on. Our new gut fauna will evolve automatically (into an optimal balance to suit the biome), as our digestion improves (as we recover from MC) and as our diet is fine tuned.

At least that's the way that I see it. IOW, the old saying that we are what we eat, contains a lot of truth.

Tex
:cowboy:

It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Gabes-Apg
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Post by Gabes-Apg »

congratulations on the pregnancy...

Not many MC'ers have had good success with probiotics - some have.

i think it depends on the type/brand, and at what stage of healing you start them...
if you do a search of the archives you will get previous discussions and which brands/type were used by those who had success.

the same for fermented foods, some have great success, some dont benefit at all.

In some cases if you try and 'rush' a process, it can cause more issue than benefit.
The slow and steady approach works best for optimising gut health, following gf/df/sf diet, low inflammation gut healing eating plan, minimising stress and other triggers,
the bacteria will struggle to increase if there are too many toxins/metals or the villi is still damaged.

Once the baby is conceived there is limited to scope to 'enhance' things. Sticking with what works and being consistent is a good approach.
Gabes Ryan

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Polly
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Post by Polly »

Congrats on your pregnancy! Did you know that babies who go through the birth canal receive an optimum dose of their mom's gut bacteria. It is less optimal for babies born by C-section.

I think Tex' post is an excellent discussion of the state of the art regarding probiotics. Once we are able to inventory a person's gut bacteria and perhaps identify what is lacking, then we might have success with a replacement probiotic, as long as it has traveled through a human GI tract. I think this is a way off.

Polly
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Post by CathyMe. »

Hi I don't have advice but glad things are going well and congratulations on your pregnancy!
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