Probiotics can be excellent for your health, but they may be the last thing you actually need.
When it comes to fixing your digestive problems it’s likely there are other priorities to address first before taking probiotics.
My patients make great healthy choices that enhance their wellbeing. When it comes to buying probiotics or any supplement for that matter it’s important to ask yourself a few questions.
1. Do I need it?
2. Is it going to give me the results I desire?
2. What type should I get?
3. Is it going to suit my individual needs?
New patients arrive and tell me they have been taking probiotics and still feel unwell.
The gut can suffer collateral damage for many reasons including poor diet, prolonged stress, medications, illness, time in hospital and C-Section birth.
I frequently help patients repair their digestive system and I do so in a very particular manner because there are typical issues like toxicity, inflammation, poor absorption and germ overgrowth that can not be corrected with stand-alone probiotic treatment.
Until gut health is returned to a state of balance, popping probiotics is like thrown lawn seed onto a weed-covered, desiccated patch of earth. It’s unlikely to give you the beautiful results displayed on the packet.
How to work out what your gut needs can be overwhelming.
The digestive system should be treated as a whole but evaluated in key sections.
Stomach acid and digestive enzymes need to be adequate, absorption in the small intestine needs to optimal and metabolite production in the large bowel provides a feedback loop to your brain which helps regulate immune, energy, detoxification and other key functions.
Probiotics affect that last aspect, and if there are issues further upstream that have not been resolved it is unlikely they will provide relief.
Start with your diet and begin with paying attention to what you eat, how you eat and when you eat.
Developing mindfulness around what goes in your mouth can be enlightening.
Keep a diet and symptom log that helps you connect how you feel, how you sleep, what your moods are like if your allergies improve or get worse with the foods you are eating.
Then seek out a qualified health professional to evaluate all the components of your digestive system and design an appropriate course of action that may or may not include probiotic therapy in.
I guarantee that working this way will yield you great results.
