For many years I simply did not realize how powerful the probiotic bacteria that live in yogurt are. I have been eating it since young adulthood, when it became trendy in the Sixties, but I looked at it as a source of nutrition (calcium) and not as a tool in maintaining your health.
That all changed five years ago when I had a serious illness. I recovered from the illness itself all right, but while in the hospital two bad things happened to me.
One was that I was given nutrition through a stomach tube that was milk-based. This would not be a problem for most people, but I am seriously allergic to milk. I would have told the hospital staff about this if it had occurred to me, but I never thought about the content of the food supplement even when I began having “milk attacks.”
For me, that meant vertigo that became more and more severe. Trying to sit up or turn over became very uncomfortable, in that the spinning sensation made me reach for the bed rails for stability and I got queasy, as you do when your sense of balance is upset.
And it was after I began eating real food that I began to feel a steady burning in my stomach that I took home with me. I recognized it for a “bug,” some kind of bacteria that apparently inhabits the hospital kitchen. Comparing notes with the nurses revealed that none of them ate in the cafeteria because all of them had learned the hard way that there was something in the food there. But it was too late; I already had it in my system.
When I got home, I was too weak to go out and so I was forced to consider what I could possibly do to get rid of this painful disorder, whatever it was. I know that doctors usually prescribe antibiotics for this sort of stomach upset, especially when you discover that the over-the-counter remedies don’t help.
We have all seen many different kinds of yogurt in Tucson’s supermarkets. One kind that we don’t always find is soy-based yogurt such as Whole Soy and Silk. They can be found, though, at Whole Foods and Sunflower Supermarkets, as well as the smaller health-food stores in town.
Another yogurt marketed especially for digestive health, of course, is Activia, which is derived from milk. I wouldn’t object to Activia, only I can’t eat it myself. However, it is not organic, so I am afraid that it contains the hormones and antibiotics that infest dairy products in America today. For that reason the conventional yogurts on the shelf wouldn’t be my choice, even aside from my serious milk intolerance.
But I sent my son off to Sunflower for Whole Soy, which is not only derived from soy but also organic, as are Silk products. I discovered that if you dilute it with soy milk (organic whole milk for the milk-based organic yogurts), it makes a pleasant drink that can be sipped slowly over a period of time. This was helpful to me because I had been hospitalized long enough for my stomach to shrink. For a month or so after I got home, I couldn’t eat much at a time.
Well, cut to the chase: no renegade bacteria in my system, at least, could stand for 24 hours against that yogurt. I was over it in two days.
So my advice is this: if you have a persistent churning or queasiness in your stomach, treat yourself with probiotic yogurt. Organic yogurt is even available in the supermarkets like Fry’s and Safeway. The Activia commercial suggests a cup a day, and that is working out perfectly for me even though I use another product.
That brings us to another breakthrough: Good Belly. This product is generally available only in health-food stores in the juice section, but it is a probiotic compound. It looks like various juice flavors, tastes like them, but it packs the probiotic punch that clears a path through your digestive system like the typical yogurt.
I have had frequent occasion to recommend yogurt to friends who complain of digestive upset or flu-like feelings, especially if they don’t run their course and disappear over a week or so. And I recommend Good Belly because you can avoid sitting down and eating yogurt with a spoon and just drink a glass before a meal or at some point during the day.
Many is the time that I have even pulled over while driving around, popped into a health-food store for a package of six Good Belly shots, and done a shot in the car when I am feeling under par. I’ll feel better by the time I get to the next stop light.
This is all part of the maintenance of good health. If you keep your probiotics handy—and you can even stock them in pill form for instant consumption—it will be a long time before you reach for antibiotics or antacids.
And by the way, when you are treated with a course of antibiotics for a specific condition, it is very important to consume yogurt when the treatment comes to an end. This will rebuild the healthy bacteria in your digestive tract and you’ll find that you bounce right back to the customary high level of energy that you will be enjoying soon, if you haven’t begun to feel it already after converting to clean eating and cooking habits.
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