Probiotics

[Biev]

Could pro-biotics possibly help (me with) the yeast? I was thinking the dry nose patches, but maybe also that could be related to dry eyes, bags under eyes, lack of saliva. I feel like there could be a systemic issue with all of these issues, but maybe not.

Wouldn't eating egg-yolks have the same negative affects a probiotic would? Putting bacteria into your stomach and hoping your body will adjust appropriately?

Maybe I should take probiotics after I finish taking antibiotics, to help compensate a bit...

[Oscar]

Probiotics is yoghurt with bacteria in it, right?

[Biev]

Well in the past since my mom was very pro-supplement I've taken acidophilus in capsules, but the past few years since yogurts with active cultures are becoming trendy, I've eaten a lot of those. I try to switch them around because the contents aren't necessarily the same (Activia has added bifidobacterium animalis and Yo-Plus has added bifidobacterium lactis, on top of whatever strain of lactobacillus their recipe uses, so I try to get a little of everything). But since I've started this diet I don't eat yogurt anymore, so... I don't know, what do you think? v(' ')v

[Biev]

I forgot to add, it doesn't have to be yogurt, yogurt is just the easiest. Anything fermented is basically probiotic food, as long as it hasn't been treated to kill the active cultures before it ships to the store. Miso, natto, raw milk cheese, properly pickled food, mayonnaise made with whey etc. The idea is to kickstart the cultures by adding for example acidophilus or yeasts, and let it ferment, this way good bacteria take up all the resources and make it hard for intruders to get settled : )

Sorry. I love bacteria. You may stop reading if you're bored ^.^;;

Personally I'd leave all of these foods on the diet, but hey, I didn't invent it ;o)

[Christina]

I used to make my own sauerkraut and raw goat milk kefir. And I also used to take probiotics at some point. None of these ever had such an effect on my well being as the Wai diet does. If the concern is, to have good digestion then the Wai diet supports that. If you want to build up good bacteria in your system, then the yolks and fish etc. help with that. And not using soap or antibiotics. Obviously you wouldn't be doing the Wai diet, if you ate dairy products or fermented veggies.

[MJ]

By the way, I know 2 people who are vegetarian. The interesting thing is that one of the vegetarians is fairly overweight and the other has put on a few pounds since she hasn't been exercising as much. In addition, both seem to get sick every couple months. I thought that was kind of interesting since being vegetarian is "supposed" to be more healthy in the eyes of the average person.

[Biev]

Actually it makes sense that you wouldn't see a difference Christina, theoretically you have all the bacteria you need already and ingesting more at random is nonsense. I'm only thinking of this as a way to rebuild the intestinal flora quickly after having taken antibiotics. Taking antibiotics leaves you defenseless, so the thing with relying on raw animal food to reinsert bacteria, is that you're equally open to the good and bad stuff. The idea is to get lactic bacteria and yeasts started first, this way they make it harder for harmful bacteria to settle in, by taking up their resources and also through their by-products.

Obviously it would be better to just stay away from antibiotics, but I don't have that luxury.

Come to think of it, I don't see how homemade mayonnaise with whey from a yogurt with active cultures (so basically just the bacteria, and not the milk) would be against the wai diet (plus it would help it preserve longer). I think kefir made from homemade coconut milk wouldn't be against the diet either...

[Christina]

Makes sense. I remember that you can make yummy fermented coconut water, too.

[Oscar]

I'm not so sure if taking random bacteria would even work for rebuilding after antibiotics, because we don't know which, and how much, bacteria we need.

[Biev]

That's the point, though. We eat random bacteria everyday, in fact this diet promotes eating as much bacteria as possible. Normally we can handle it because we already have a well established intestinal flora. The reason wai says not to eat the sample diet while taking antibiotics is that wiping out part of that flora leaves us more vulnerable to the bad bacteria, who can pretty much make themselves at home because there's less competition and/or the environment hasn't been made harsher for them.

We might not have an exhaustive list of all the bacteria we should ideally have, but we don't need one to know that, say, l. acidophilus is good to have. There's lots we do know about bacteria v(' ')v

The fact that we don't know how much we need is why I think it makes more sense to eat food where they're present in small amounts, rather than ingesting a large dose in a pill, and give our body a chance to find its own balance. Anyway, this is just for the sake of discussion, I think I'm the only one here who has to take antibiotics on a regular basis, and outside of that context this is all probably useless. I'm not saying everyone needs to start fermenting everything ;o)

[Christina]

As long as you are taking the antibiotics, it has no use anyway. The good bacteria won't be able to set foot. Just wait until after.

[Biev]

Of course.

[RRM]

We might not have an exhaustive list of all the bacteria we should ideally have, but we don't need one to know that, say, l. acidophilus is good to have. There's lots we do know about bacteria v(' ')v

We know something about bacteria, but not nearly as much as our body 'knows'.
So that when your defense has been ruined by antibiotics, we need to leave it up to our body as to how it wants to build up its defense again.
We cannot assume that it needs some extra l. acidophilus, for example, or any other bacteria.
What we need to do, is to be cautious and give our body time to rebuild its defense, and not to bother it with anything that might have an imbalancing effect.

[MJ]

I totally agree with what RRM said.

Personally, I would just start eating animal food right away. I don't really care if it gave me some diarrhea because my body couldn't handle the bacterial level at that time. I know my body would simply adapt and it would adapt quickly.

The funny thing is that when I have accidentally eaten spoiled food, I just tell myself that I am making my body stronger.

[MJ]

By the way, both of my kids got a high fever recently and dealt with it using rest and nutrition. I'm going to make another post in regards to this. But anyway, once again I did not get ill at all. My nanny who is also on the Wai Diet, also did not get ill.