Barfarama!
22 Feb
So, in case you haven’t noticed I’m wellness-focused, but not super-human (yet!). This weekend, 3 out of 5 of us here at my house got hit by a “stomach bug” marked by ongoing vomit, followed by lots and lots of laundry. I quickly ran to my vitamin stash and started frantically popping probiotics–thinking this would somehow keep the bug at bay. Great idea, you may be thinking. Except for the fact that most stomach bugs are actually viruses, not bacteria. And while probiotics = good, they can’t actually combat viruses. So, what’s a wellness bitch to do?
Not much. Save for counting on the healthy immune system I maintain by heeding my own WAKE UP calls and advice. Unlike the Zpak addict in my house…He’s facedown hugging the toilet, poor guy.
TIPS: Vitamin C. Kicking the sugar habit. Rest.
Feel better guys!
I always thought taking probiotics was good when you are barfing up your stomach lining, stripping yourself of all those good bacteria.. you need the probiotics for the recovery/healing process, no?
From what I’ve heard and read, probiotics ARE good to return your system to a good place after all that barfing or diarrhea for healing, as you mention. Just not at preventing the actual virus from attacking. Though having a heathy gut is definitely a move in the right direction in maintaining a healthy immune system.
But thanks to my friend, naturopathic doctor, Marda Sussman, I learned recently there are three types of probotics there: human-based, yogurt-based, and soil-based. Human is best, followed by yogurt,according to Dr. Sussman. Human is hard to come by and usually found in medical grade probiotics which you get from a doctor. Yogurt is the one you find in the refrigerated section of the store. And soil does not need to be refrigerated. So if your probiotics don’t need to be refrigerated, you might want to check with the company as to their source and with your holistic practitioner about their effectiveness.
I want to share a video that mentions some of the probiotic sources : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neHbUI2JiPw before, I used to eat yogurt and kefir that I buy at the stores, but after I watched the video, I switched to making my own yogurt. Sometimes I also get them from supplements. I’ve also read an article that it takes our body 3 weeks to fully get the benefits of probiotics (that means regularly having them every day) although I didn’t get the source of where the article got that info.