OT: suggestions for good probiotic supplement

[grumpygirl]

Hello To All- I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions for a good probiotic supplement that they like and have had any success with in terms of reducing gas and bloating!! I would love some input on this topic since I have tried the Pearls brand which is very expensive and didn't seem to do much good. Any thoughts?? Thanks everyone I can always count on you guys to give me some helpful information.... GG

[sylvie]

I'm a believer in probiotics and I use NOW's Acidophilus Three Billion. They don't have to ship cold and you don't have to refrigerate them. I got them after evaluating reviews on Amazon and decided upon them. I'm very happy with them. I don't think they have side effects. Hope that helps.

[Janknitz]

I'm a big believer in probiotics from REAL food. I make my own lacto-fermented sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, dill pickles, and beet kvass and consume them regularly. But they do take work and time to have an ample supply, so I understand supplementing.

Try to get at least some probiotics from food. If you must buy, yogurt is a poor source of probiotics, but it has some. Buy plain, full fat brands with live cultures. You can buy kefir at a health-oriented store like WF, look for some without added sugar and thickening agents. Bubbe's sauerkraut is fermented with live culture--don't throw away the juice because that's where a lot of the probiotics reside. A lot of people like spicy kim chee, which is also lacto-fermented. Add some to soup or veggies. Look for fermented dill pickles. It's a little late in most areas of the country to start your own. You can drink kombucha, too.

Beet kvass is delicious and very easy to make at home, and it's still "beet season". If anyone is interested I'll post the recipe. If you don't like beets, it's probably not for you, but I love beets. Same with sauerkraut--SO easy to make. Cabbage is available year round, and all it costs is the price of a head of cabbage and some salt. Bubbe's makes great sauerkraut, but the cost is astronomical. I can also mail kefir grains to anyone in the US, if you're interested in making your own (pm me)--then it only costs what the milk costs, and it's great having fresh kefir always available. (Take my grains, PLEASE--they double every week--HELP!). And it's easy peasy to make your own kombucha culture (SCOBY) from a bottle of commercial raw kombucha.

Now that I'm grain free and can't really bake bread anymore I had to have an outlet for my fermentation interests.

BTW, are you still eating grains? That may be the cause of the bloating and gas.

[SleepingUgly]

Is the gas and bloating from CPAP? Or food you are eating?

[sylvie]

I'm a big believer in probiotics from REAL food. I make my own lacto-fermented sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, dill pickles, and beet kvass and consume them regularly. But they do take work and time to have an ample supply, so I understand supplementing.

WOW! That is Awsome info, Janknitz. If you don't mind, I think it would be wonderful if you'd post the recipes for all, and in future. But no matter, thanks for that great info. I'm always looking for health food info.