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Subject: Probiotics solved my constipation problem!

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alexy User is Offline
Posts:170
Zoner
Zoner

04/21/2009 4:15 PM
Hi all,

I complained here --and off-list too, to doctors, pharmacists, other people, etc--about the severe constipation I was experiencing

One woman here said she tried probiotics and it solved her problem.

Guess what? I started taking probiotics and am still tweaking, but have gone off the two pills of ... senna something ... which was a fairly strong dose by the way. Compleely off them for weeks now. I had been worried because of the laxative effects of it on my body on a long term basis. I just take an ordinary probiotics supplement, it does the trick wonderfully.

CC and Sue, we were talking about what was going on with me ... it seemed odd to me that certain foods could cause that constipation, like fried cheese, but not others ... well, I've been boning up on probiotics, and it turns out that anti-biotics, certain anti-depressants (like the one I'm on), etc., etc., can kill the "friendly bacteria" in our guts. (One tidbit of information I picked up along the way: we have in our body more bacteria than we have our own cells!!! So we have trillions of cells, but we have MORE bacteria in us than those cells!)

Basically, I take probiotics to resupply the body with the "friendly bacteria" needed to help me digest my food and, er, pass them out easily the other end. LOL.

I'm sure increasing the fish oil would help too ... it was just too expensive. I take a cheap probiotics supplement and it works great.

So other people who get constipated or have other "digestive problems" might want to try probiotics and see what happens.

Sorry, I can't remember that person's name, who told me to try probiotics--can someone fill me in?

Alexy
Sue K User is Online
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Zone Expert
Zone Expert

04/21/2009 4:46 PM
Great to hear Alexy! Your increased thyroid levels probably helped address your constipation issue too. Glad your problem is solved!

sue

Lost 100 lbs 14 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil!


To view my before/after pics and meal photos scroll over this picture and click when the link appears.

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Karen User is Offline
Posts:868
Zoner
Zoner

04/21/2009 7:16 PM
Glad to hear your problem is so much better, Alexy!

Happy Zoning!
Karen
Cranberrycat User is Offline
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Zone Expert

04/21/2009 8:56 PM
I am really glad that you got that figured out!

I was thinking, too, that it had to be something else other than AA from the foods you were eating, because it just didn't seem to be consistent. Sure, you could have increased the fish oil, but you would not have solved the problem. What you needed was to restore the balance of bacteria in your body.

I am not sure who spoke up about probiotics, either. But, I know of another former Zone buddy who uses probiotics for her constipation, and she also has the best success with this approach (and she doesn't have a thyroid condition, either).

Cranberrycat

We don't own the earth; we borrow it from our children.


alexy User is Offline
Posts:170
Zoner
Zoner

04/22/2009 7:47 AM

Hi Karen, Sue, and CC,

Thanks!!

What I found interesting was that the probiotics had an immediate effect on me, and I got off my anti-constipation OTC meds within a couple of days of taking probiotics.

CC, yeah, you're right, it wasn't the AA, although that would have made a difference too ... it was so food-specific and medicine-specific.

Now I'm wondering ... does fried cheese kill the friendly bacteria? Is that why I used to get so constipated? Maybe it's a mixture of the AA and the lack of sufficient bacteria, though.

ANyway, thanks a million, all of you, particularly CC and Sue, for being so helpful!

Alexy
Sue K User is Online
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Zone Expert
Zone Expert

04/22/2009 8:16 AM
You're welcome Alexy!

sue

Lost 100 lbs 14 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil!


To view my before/after pics and meal photos scroll over this picture and click when the link appears.

Zone Dinner Party (link)
janet User is Offline
Posts:861
Zoner
Zoner

04/22/2009 11:00 AM
Alexy,
cheese is notorious for contributing to constipation perhaps due to the high calcium. Magnesium is the antidote in that case. (greens, chocolate)
But thanks for the tip on probiotics!
Karen User is Offline
Posts:868
Zoner
Zoner

04/24/2009 1:13 AM
Alexy, will you please tell me the name of probiotic you are on? I've been having a problem myself lately that I just blamed on stress. Well, I no longer feel stress, but my problem hasn't gone away. I can't go potty without the aid of an OTC drug (I usually end up taking it on day 4). I'd like to see if a probiotic will work.

Happy Zoning!
Karen
alexy User is Offline
Posts:170
Zoner
Zoner

04/28/2009 3:43 PM
Hi Janet,

You're welcome!! I'm coming across more literature about probiotics being good for "digestive problems," and mentioning constipation--but that was due to more intensive researching...

It's odd, though, that in all these years that I've had constipation on and off (depending on whether I'm on medicine, antibiotics, etc., and depending on what I'm eating), not one person has suggested that I might need probiotics!!

Fascinating re: the cheese being notorious for contributing to constipation, and I'll remember to take magnesium from now on whenever I have a lot of calcium.

However, it's odd still that fried cheese makes me VERY constipation, but I'm fine if the cheese is just barely melt, or if I just have slices of unmelted cheese. What's up with that? I can't figure it out ... however that particular problem has gone away now that I'm taking probiotics.

Alexy
alexy User is Offline
Posts:170
Zoner
Zoner

04/28/2009 3:52 PM
Hi Suzy/Karen,

I hear ya ... maybe the stress is affecting the "flora" in your stomach? I read by the way that our bodies has MORE bacteria than it has cells!! So you know all those billions of cells on your skin, organs, bones, etc? Well, ya got more bacteria living on you and feeding off you than ya got cells!! (Now, that's something to think about ...)

Mine is by a popular brand; I'm taking the Jamieson "natural sources" one-bacteria version right now, that's the "Lactobacillus Acidophilus Probiotic Complex" with 2 billion active cells per capsule.

HOWEVER, my research suggests that we're best off with a probiotic that contains at least two of the key bacteria (can't remember what they are), preferably four different types of key bacteria.

That's what I took previously, the four-different-types version (also by Jamieson) and I am in fact going back to that four-bacteria version, even though the one-bacteria version works quite well, it's a bit much for me at 2 billion per capsule, I need it at 1 billion per capsule, twice a day ... (Sorry, I can't find the empty bottle ...)

For you: fermented foods--yogurt for example--work very well. There's also ... I forgot the correct term for it, but it means "fermented cabbage," which sounds yeechy, but is supposed to be tasty. (And, you can make your own yogurt and other types of fermented foods by the way!)

I don't have a lot of yogurt in my diet because I'm trying to eat the carb-sensitive version of the zone diet ... so I take a probiotic instead.

Some yogurt are specially fermented to have billions of certain types of bacteria, and say so on the container itself, so you may want to look for them at the grocery store. See if they help you with your, um, digestive issue!!

The pharmacist hopefully would be able to suggest a better quality of probiotic for you to take if you would rather have a supplement.

Hope this helps!!

Alexy
janet User is Offline
Posts:861
Zoner
Zoner

04/28/2009 3:53 PM
alexy, frying the cheese makes it highly indigestible.....as when heating milk, you must try not to boil it...same reason. the proteins in milk don't digest well after being boiled.
alexy User is Offline
Posts:170
Zoner
Zoner

04/28/2009 3:57 PM
Thanks, Janet, for explaining that ... I didn't know that actually!

Good to know ...

Alexy
Sue K User is Online
Posts:8670
Zone Expert
Zone Expert

04/28/2009 3:59 PM
Karen, at tip, yogurt usually works well in the Zone diet of a person who tends to be more carb sensitive.

sue

Lost 100 lbs 14 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil!


To view my before/after pics and meal photos scroll over this picture and click when the link appears.

Zone Dinner Party (link)
John User is Offline
Posts:331
Zoner
Zoner

05/07/2009 9:32 AM
We use Enhanced Super Digestive Enzymes with Probiotics from Life Extension Foundation (LEF). It has helped my wife out tremendously with her sometimes digestive upset problems (as well as yogurt, daily).

And we both take about 1 TBL Chia seeds 3 times, daily. Nutrtious as well.
(Reasonably priced from Nutsonline dot com.)

She also eats a small dish of yogurt with All Bran Bran Buds and some defrosted frozen blueberries (wild Maine - yum). Only 1/3 cup is 13g fiber, one block Carbs, and they taste good.

~john
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janet User is Offline
Posts:861
Zoner
Zoner

05/07/2009 12:51 PM
consider switching to rice bran, John (for the wife), wheat (esp. the bran and germ) is generally very troublesome to those with digestive tract problems. (my own research, not Sears')
John User is Offline
Posts:331
Zoner
Zoner

05/07/2009 1:39 PM
Wheat was (is) not the problem. Fish Oil and vitamins are, even after a meal. By adding Super Enzymes w/... it has helped her.

~john
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<>< <>< <>< PTL Col 3:23-24 ><> ><> ><>
janet User is Offline
Posts:861
Zoner
Zoner

05/07/2009 2:08 PM
Good that you found that out.
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Dr. Barry Sears, PhD.Dr. Barry Sears is a leading authority on the dietary control of hormonal response. A former research scientist at the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Sears has dedicated his research efforts over the past 30 years to the study of lipids. He holds 13 U.S. Patents in the areas of intravenous drug delivery systems and hormonal regulation for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

A turning point in his research occurred in 1982. That year, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for discoveries of the role that specialized hormones, known as eicosanoids, play in the development of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, auto-immune diseases, and cancer. Since eicosanoids are only generated from dietary fat, Dr. Sears reasoned that one could apply intravenous drug delivery principles to nutrition in order to control these exceptionally powerful hormonal responses with laser-like precision. In essence, his approach treats food as if it were a drug.

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