#probiotic foods for kids

[ratwars]

The face of a baby who is dramatic and stressed and costing me 600 dollars but that is fine.

[vaor]

things i wish i had known when i escaped my family household and couldn't ask my parents for help

invest in a good mattress early on. there are many other ends you can save on - sleep is not one of them. this is key to how much energy you'll have throughout the day

you don't need a bedframe but you do need a slatted bed base (even if it's just pallets)

opening a bank account is easy

there's youtube tutorials for everything. how to install your washing machine, how to use tools, fixing stuff around the place. channels like dad, how do i? are a godsend

change energy provider as soon as your old deal runs out. you'll get better offers elsewhere and avoid price gouging

assemble a basic first aid kid at home: painkillers, probiotics, alcohol wipes, bandages, tweezers, antihistamine tablets - anything you might need in a pinch

and an emergency toolkit: flashlight, extra batteries, a utility knife, an adjustable wrench, multi-tool, duct tape

set your fridge to the lowest temperature it can go. the energy consumption is minimal in difference and it'll give you +4/7 days on most foods

off-brand products are almost always the same in quality and taste, if not better, for half the price

coupons will save you a lot of money in the long run

there's no reason to be shy around employees at the bank/laundromat/store; most people will be happy to help

vegetarian diets are generally cheap if you make food from scratch

breakfast is as important as they say

keep track of your budget in a notebook or excel file - e.g. rent, phone and internet bills, food, leisure so you'll have an overlook on your spending over the months

don't gamble

piracy is okay

stealing from big stores and chains is also ethically okay

keep medical bills and pharmacy receipts for tax returns

also, file your tax returns early

take up a hobby that isn't in front of a screen. pottery, music, going for a run every now and then, stuff that'll keep you busy and sane

and most importantly... you're allowed to get the stuff you want. treat yourself to the occasional mundane thing. a good scented candle. a bath bomb. that body lotion that makes you feel like royalty. the good coffee beans.

you're free and you deserve to be happy.

[ekahealth]

Plant-based supplements for kids gut health

Reimagining Children’s Health with Probiotic supplements

Are you tired of medicating your child for constipation, gassiness, and tummy pain? Introducing Eka Health plant-based supplements for kids.

Our Quality Assurance Pledge: Quality Above All

We are dedicated to delivering only the highest quality products to your family. Our ingredients are handpicked from trusted farmers and processed in-house, ensuring the purest, most potent extracts. Each batch of our supplements is rigorously tested for safety and efficacy before reaching your home. When it comes to your child’s health, we leave no stone unturned.

Made in the USA

Manufactured in the USA, our plant-based supplements for kids. strictly adhere to top industry standards. Our facilities maintain stringent quality control, providing reliable and trustworthy solutions for your child’s gut health and well-being.

Kid-Friendly supplements

Addressing the challenge of medicine intake in children, our products are not just all-natural but also fun and tasty. Designed to make the experience enjoyable, we turn a routine task into a pleasant daily moment.

Backed by Rigorous Science

Our products are thoughtfully formulated by a pediatric gastroenterologist and mom. Leveraging her medical expertise and maternal insights, she creates gentle yet effective plant-based solutions for children’s digestive health.

From Plant to Pill

Our premium plant-based ingredients, free of sugar and gluten, are sourced from our network of trusted farmers. These are then processed in-house, creating the purest, potent extracts, ensuring a high-quality, unadulterated probiotic supplements.

Why Eka Started EKA Health

EKA Health, founded by twin sisters Navneetha and Namritha, harnesses the power of plant-based supplements and technology to provide safe, effective, and natural solutions for children’s digestive issues, leveraging their family’s decades-long expertise in alternative medicine and a dedication to continual improvement and innovation.

Natural Remedies For Constipation In Kids

Constipation can be frustrating for kids, and while many children experience it, the good news is that it’s a common and often a temporary problem that can be treated. If your child is constipated, they might have difficulty passing stools or are passing dry, hard stools less than three times a week. Symptoms can include abdominal pain, bloating, and straining during bowel movements. While medications are available to treat constipation, there is also plenty of natural constipation relief suitable for kids that can help alleviate their symptoms and promote healthy bowel movements. Here are some of the most effective.

Encourage fibre-rich foods

One of the most effective natural remedies for constipation is to encourage your child to eat more fibre-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Add more fibre to your child’s diet to keep things moving in the digestive tract and help prevent future cases of constipation.

Stay hydrated

Another simple but effective way to help prevent constipation in kids is to ensure they are drinking enough water. Dehydration can cause hard stools that are challenging to pass. It’s essential to encourage your child to drink plenty of water throughout the day and avoid sugary beverages that can further dehydrate them.

Regular potty times

A lot of kids get too busy to bother sitting on the potty. They often ignore the sensation to poop either because they are busy, dont want to stop playing, or are just scared to poop. So carve out some potty sitting time for your child. About 30 minutes after meals is ideal, as it is the natural time for the body to evacuate. Let them sit for a few mins. Make it fun, read a book, talk to your child. They may not always have a bowel movement but it builds the habit

Fixing potty posture

Squatting is the most natural position for having a BM. when sitting upright there is a kink in the lower portion of the colon so one has to strain harder. The squatting position makes the colon straight making it easier to have BM. For little kids and toddlers use a toddler potty that allows the child to have their feet flat on the ground. For older kids use a stool or squatty potty.

Exercise regularly

Physical activity keeps the digestive system moving and promotes regular bowel movements. If your child isn’t getting enough exercise lately, encourage them to play outside, go out for a walk, or participate in sports. Exercise can help stimulate the bowels and promote healthy digestion.

Use natural supplements

In addition to making dietary and lifestyle changes, you can also consider using our prebiotic supplements for kids to help alleviate your child’s constipation. This is a gentle and effective solution for kids who are struggling with constipation. Constipation can be a stressful and uncomfortable experience, so no matter how you choose to treat it, it’s essential to provide your child with reassurance and support. Encourage them to talk to you about their symptoms and help them understand that constipation is a common and temporary problem that can be treated with the right remedies. With these simple but effective tips, you can help your child maintain healthy gut health and overall wellness.

[openmindcrimecook]

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[rhinexstone]

Thinking about Spock’s digestive system again,,

If Vulcans evolved to eat meat then evolved to be herbivores again they probs have a longer intestinal tract that’s similar enough to a humans. But the gut biome, the bacteria in his gut, that’s probably ALL OVER the place since his mom prob ate more human food than Vulcan during pregnancy and breast feeding

But then Spock himself loves Vulcan food and grew up eating plenty of that as a kid, but honestly since he’s a mamas boy also treated himself to plenty of human food

But then BAM joined the federation and it’s JUST human food, maaaaybe some Vulcan food that’s been roughly made in a replicator or shipped from Vulcan

So I can only imagine Spock having to take so much probiotics, supplements, yogurt, and futuristic lact-aide especially in the start of his starfleet career because his stomach was not ready for the change

Idk it’s just funny to imagine spock having like a horde of digestive stuff in his quarters and one day Jim gets like an upset stomach and Spock shows him his bounty of space tums and replicator prune juice

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

And because...

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WOO!

129 for 🔼:

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“I mean, couldn’t Eddie and I take a look at it first?” Buck asks. “I can change tires. Had to do snow tires back in Pennsylvania.” 

She thinks of them both changing her tires, all sweaty and greasy, and… 

God, she needs to get a grip. A cool glass of water and a fucking grip. 

“Did you just volunteer my soon-to-be ex husband to fix my car for me?” Shannon smirks.

“And me!” Buck protests. “I’m also handy!”

“I don’t doubt that,” Shannon laughs. “That’s not the part that surprised me.”

“Oh? Eddie? Pfft.” Buck waves a dismissive hand. “He’ll do what I say.”

It’s that easy, is it? Getting Eddie to do whatever you want? Someone teach her the fucking trick.

“It’s all just bad timing,” Shannon switches the subject. “Car wise, I mean.”

“Is it ever good timing?” Buck asks. 

“Well, no. But I had things I needed to do, you know?” She sighs. 

“Anything I can help with?” Buck asks. 

“What? No,” Shannon laughs nervously. She is not asking him to drive her around to pick up prenatal vitamins and probiotics and all the really fun pregnancy stuff she’s running low on. 

“Seriously!” Buck insists. “I have nothing to do after physio.”

“I’m sure you do,” Shannon replies. 

“I really don’t,” Buck says. “My days are filled with exercises, reality television, and cooking more food than I have people to feed, just to pass the time.”

Something about that is very sad, she thinks. He isn’t the sort of person who shouldn’t have enough people around to fill his home. He isn’t meant to be lonely. She might not know him well, but she knows that. 

“Okay,” she relents. “If you are okay driving me to the pharmacy, the dry cleaners, and a maternity clothing store, I would be very grateful.” 

“No problem,” he smiles. She swears there’s a fucking twinkle in his eye.

Shannon is well and truly fucked. 

🔼

Weirdly, Buck enjoys doing errands with Shannon. She’s fun and chatty and witty like usual. But more than that, it just sort of takes his mind off things. 

His leg is fucking killing him, and he knows he’s been doing the exercises like twice if not three times as much as usual. He wishes he wasn’t in so much pain. He wishes he was further along in his progress. Even though, by all accounts, he’s ahead of where he’s expected to be. He’s just been feeling time so acutely lately. Almost three months since he left. What if three more pass and he’s not back? What if they have to find a permanent replacement?

His brain has been noisy for days. Louder and louder. He can’t really quiet it. And yet, for some reason, hanging out with Shannon does the trick. He feels helpful again, for one thing. Like he’s not just wasting his day away alone. For another, the conversation just keeps flowing so naturally between them that he doesn’t have time to think about anything else. 

They talk about a lot of things. How annoying physio is. Favorite movies of the past decades. Their favorite music. The differences between growing up in Texas versus Pennsylvania. Unlike Eddie, Shannon didn’t just live in El Paso. 

“I was born in Santa Fe, actually,” she says as they’re driving from the drugstore to the dry cleaner’s. “Then my dad left when I was little, and my mom just sort of followed the work she could get. El Paso, Kemah, Dallas, you name it.”

“Wow,” Buck exhales. “I moved around a lot in my early twenties. Like as far as Peru. But it must be way harder doing it as a kid.”

“Yeah, but I always had my mom,” Shannon says. “She had a good way of making everywhere feel like home. An optimism, you know?”

“She sounds like she was a good mom,” Buck replies. 

Shannon nods. “She wasn’t perfect, but… Yeah. I mean, I always knew she loved me. And she did her best. She was a really good mom.”

Buck thinks there’s some sort of tragedy in that. His own perfectly healthy mother has no interest in him. Her perfectly good mother is dead. 

“I’m sorry, Shannon,” he tells her. 

She smiles a little sadly and shakes her head. “Thanks, it’s… It is what it is.”

Buck nods. 

“I’m sad she won’t get to meet my daughter,” Shannon admits. “I’ll have to find a way to honor her in the name somehow.”

Buck smiles. He hasn’t heard anything about Little Diaz’s name yet.

“You’re going to name her after your mom? I love that!”

“Oh,” Shannon replies a little nervously. “I don’t know. I haven’t even talked to Eddie about it yet. Plus, her name was Janet. I don’t know if I want to name a 2019 baby Janet.” 

Buck chuckles. “Fair. It’s a tiny bit dated. Middle name?”

“Maybe,” she says. “I’ll just have to get creative, I think.”

When they get to the maternity clothing store, she insists Buck stays in the car. 

“I need to size up my bras,” she admits. “You do not need to be there for that.” 

“Understood,” he says, nodding curtly. 

But it’s too hot to sit in the car, so Buck walks to a coffee shop down the street to grab an iced beverage while he waits. As he does he thinks. He thinks about what Shannon said in the car about wanting to honor her mother, but not knowing how. He agrees Janet is an outdated name and he doesn’t think Eddie would ever go for it. But there’s got to be something she can do.

So, Buck gets ahead of himself. A usual problem of his.  

He doesn’t know why he’s like this exactly. But he is. He likes being of service

[cameronfrye666]

How I Unf*cked Myself (a digestive health story)

TLDR (yes a very long TLDR, but this post is proportionally long)

Chronically fatigued and sick as a kid

Repeated courses of antibiotics (probably 20+) and 2x Epstein-barr infection between age 8 and 17

Around age 18 started noticing really weird food intolerances

Couldn’t drink alcohol without insane hangovers lasting 2 weeks+

Couldn’t consume foods high in refined sugar without going into days-to-weeks long episodes of hyperactivity, insomnia & extreme stress

Felt relatively shit eating most carbs

Tried fixing with diet change and vitamin / mineral supplements. Helped some symptoms but didn’t fix the issue.

Tried fixing with various probiotics. Incredibly mixed results - eventually found a regimen that worked for a period of time but, again, didn’t fix the issue.

After a hellish reaction to prebiotic fibre supplements, consulted a gastroenterologist and was diagnosed with Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, Gut Dysbiosis and an active H. Pylori Infection. Significant Improvement of symptoms following:

10x 14 days Rifaximin (550 mg 3x daily)

H. Pylori Eradication Regimen (one week amoxicillin, clarythromycin, metrodinazole and omeprazole)

2 years of:

Keto / SCD Diet

Either Candibactin AR&BR, FC-Cidal, Dysbiocide & ADP supplements, or Allimed Neem & Cinnamon, alternating every 2 months between them (two caps of each product 3x daily).

Occasional use of natural motility agents depending on symptoms (ginger / artichoke formulations and iberogast). 

This whole process sucked beyond description, if you have gut / digestive issues it is probably affecting your general health & wellbeing more than you realize. 

Intro

I don’t really have anything left to say other than that it was a more painful experience than I think I could ever accurately describe. Gut health seems to be one of the last remaining big frontiers of human health, and I hope they figure it out so no one has to experience this again. I am still moderately lost in the issue but it has at least gotten a lot better recently.

Story

The Descent

February 4th 2012 is a day that I will likely never forget for the rest of my life. I woke up from a relatively short and disrupted sleep around 10am. A close friend of mine who had slept over the night before was sitting on the living room couch watching The Social Network with my dad. It seemed a sensible, logical thing to join them. So I sat down on the couch, and all of a sudden, I couldn’t.  It's hard to explain exactly why I couldn't, but I just felt this immense inability to relax and settle down. Every bone in my body was vibrating, like this immense persistent energy rush. 

I had also had a fair amount of red bull and other sugary soft drinks as mixer the night before, so I chalked this feeling up to a sugar / caffeine spike and decided to try and get on with the day. I had some breakfast, got showered etc., attempted to do some school work and participated in a family Sunday dinner. By about 10pm it began to become clear that this feeling of immense overpowering stress was not dissipating; if anything, it had gotten worse.

The next two weeks were an incredibly disorienting, painful and confusing experience. Rather than alleviate, the symptoms more or less persisted, although they would ebb and flow throughout the day. I started to notice that I felt the best first thing in the morning (important to note that "best" is a very relative term here) and worst from the late afternoon into evening, with a notable spike directly after dinner hour. I was living in a complete fog. I lost all emotional contact with the world around me. All I felt all day was this persistent restlessness and stress and a complete inability to get rid of it no matter what I did (showering, watching movies, lying down in bed etc.). I just felt like someone had mainlined adrenaline into one of my veins and wouldn’t turn off the tap. It is the most excruciatingly painful thing I have ever experienced, or think I am ever likely to experience. In some way, it is almost impossible to explain in normal words. 

It was at the end of these two weeks that I finally decided to consult a doctor. Everyone here will likely be unsurprised to hear that he suggested I was suffering from a temporary bout of anxiety. Although I have certainly been anxious about my fair share of things in the past (studies, personal relationships etc.), I could feel that this was something quite different. On top of that, there was just nothing in my life bothering me at that time. I had great friends, had already been accepted to the University of my choice and was staring down the barrel of four months of school where my academic results didn’t matter anymore and then a three month summer break. I was offered some tranquilizers or anti-anxiety meds for my symptoms, but I wasn’t really interested in trying them as I wanted to get to the root of whatever the issue was. 

The only other suggestion he had for me was to maybe take a look at my diet. He noticed I was twitching a lot and I offered that I had recently suffered some bad muscle cramps as well, so he suggested that after a bout of mononucleosis earlier in the year and a long winter with little sun, I may be deficient in a few things. He prescribed me a short course of magnesium and vitamin b-12 supplements and sent me on my way.

Over the next month, with the supplements only sort of helping and with me still watching my life essentially completely fall apart around me (barely able to attend school, permanently unwell, chronically stressed, insomniac etc., almost complete loss of social life) I consulted a few more doctors. They more or less all had the same response: you can try antidepressants and/or tranquilizers, but otherwise, sorry, we can't help you. A few also questioned the nutritional supplement prescription.

It was at this point that I started to feel I was more or less on my own in whatever this was.

Part II: Ascent #1

The three months following the initial onset of my symptoms were probably some of the worst of my life, which, considering everything I’ve experienced over the last decade+, is really saying something. I was in a completely emotionally disconnected state, basically felt only stress on a daily basis, and had no idea what was going on.

The only real nuggets of information I had that I trusted were that (i) it might be nutrition-related and (ii) caffeine and/or alcohol were clearly bad for me. I started doing a load of research into what causes nutritional deficiencies and imbalances, how to correct them, and what a healthy diet looks like. Prior to this I had been more or less unconcerned about what I ate or drank in a day, although my diet was reasonably healthy mostly just due to my mother's cooking.

My readings on diet led me to make a few changes. First, I changed from a magnesium oxide supplement to magnesium bisglycinate, for better absorption. Then, I switched to an entirely refined-sugar free, whole grain diet high in unprocessed meats and vegetables. Lastly, I started taking almost nightly electrolyte salt baths (either epsom salt or dead-sea salt).

Although none of these changes cured me by any means, very slowly, I started to feel somewhat better. I could feel moderate improvements on a daily basis. Some days were better than others, but overall things were on an upwards trend. From this point onwards I became almost completely convinced that my symptoms were the result of a nutritional imbalance and that I would cure them through diet and supplementation.

Then, something very strange happened, which, in retrospect, should have pointed me in the direction of my ultimate diagnosis. I went into hospital to have my tonsils removed (as mentioned I had been very sick as a kid), and when I came out later the next day I had a very strange level of emotional clarity. Somehow everything was less painful, and although the crazy stress symptoms weren't totally gone, the improvement in just 36 hours felt drastic. At the time I thought maybe it was painkillers I had been given, perhaps the IV drip they put me on post-op? In retrospect, it was most definitely the high-dose amoxicillin I had been taking since the operation for reasons I can explain later on.

Part III: Stasis #1

That summer things more or less stabilized. Nothing was ever quite as good as the days and week following the tonsillectomy, but the insane debilitating stress didn't come back either, so overall I couldn't complain. From a mental point-of-view I was sort of able to return to normal life other than having to watch my diet and avoid substance. I started university in the fall and was successful despite the obvious social constraints that came along with my new health regimen.

The years following this were pretty up and down. I was able to get through my university courses, have some semblance of a social life, and never returned to the manic stress state of my initial descent. That being said, I never felt "quite right" again. It is hard to place, but my health just still felt very poor. I had low energy, slept a lot, often felt quite irritable, and had very poor performance in sporting activities despite previously being a strong athlete.

The main salient point that came out of this period was that I started to notice that high-sugar foods could bring on shorter-term episodes that mimicked the time period of the original onset of my symptoms. In one instance, I almost failed a university exam after consuming a jelly-filled donut the day before and becoming almost literally incapable of processing information for a few days afterwards. Suffice to say, I completely cut sugar from my diet from this point onwards.

I also tried a few Myers' cocktail IV drips (basically a mix of magnesium, calcium and b-vitamins) during this time period as part of my thinking on the issue being caused by nutritional deficiency. I would feel pretty great for a few days following them (improved sleep, able to focus while studying, good energy for exercise) but then go back to my same poor-health state afterwards. This only compounded my belief that the issue was purely nutritional in nature. Alongside this I consulted some nutritionists and diet specialists, and they recommended me some further supplements and dietary changes, but none of it made that overwhelming of a difference compared to the changes I’d already made. 

Part IV: Descent #2

For four years life went on in the position described above, at least from a health point-of-view. I had found a regimen that kept me functional and stable, and for the most part stuck to it and tried to forget about it all and get on with life. It was great to find some stability, but at the same time as an early twenty-something in University, having to stick to a pretty strict diet and lifestyle just wasn’t all that much fun.

So somehow I got the idea in my head that having found this stability, I must actually be cured of whatever it was and could go back to eating & drinking whatever I wanted. I got an 8-month research placement in France in 2016 and decided that I would just let loose and enjoy myself during that time. Upon arriving I quite quickly returned to being totally free with what I consumed, although perhaps still went light on very sugary foods. For the first few weeks, I felt great. I mean maybe not totally physical well, but it was just so mentally liberating to not think about this stuff anymore. I had a lot of fun going out with my new roommate, going on dates and just living life in a more free way. 

Around the second month of being there I started to notice some chronic unwelness creeping back in. My sleep was starting to become quite poor, I had terrible focus at work and wasn’t accomplishing much, and would feel really unwell after most meals. I ignored it for a while.

By the third month, it was almost panic stations again. I don’t know why I didn’t react to this sooner, probably I was just trying to deny how bad it was getting again, but by mid-March (I had started worked in January), I was bordering on being physically non-functional again. I couldn’t do much other than spend most days in bed when I wasn’t at work, felt constantly agitated, was achieving essentially nothing on a daily basis (thankfully I was working in a French R&D centre where very little was happening at the best of times), and just felt constantly ill. It was not quite the return to the extreme stress of the first episode but I was still really unwell and uncomfortable most of the time. 

I wasn’t really sure what to do, but I knew I really didn’t want to do another 6-months of diet control just to get back to a sort-of sufferable health state, so I started coming up with ideas for a quick fix. The only thing I really had was that those IV cocktails had made me feel pretty great, and since I was still in this mode of thinking it was all due to nutritional deficiency, I hoped that might be an easy solution (the logic being that alcohol and poor diet had lowered my micronutrient levels and I could just reverse it). It seemed this wasn’t available privately in Paris, so I went to London for the weekend just to get one. 

What happened after that infusion is one part of this story that I still do not understand whatsoever. Within hours of getting the Myers drip, rather than feeling great, I felt catastrophically unwell. I did not sleep that whole night and for most of the rest of the weekend, and returned to Paris in a complete fog. The feeling persisted for some weeks. I have a few ideas of what it could have been - too much B-complex which can give you energy rushes, some kind of micronutrient overdose / toxicity since I was still taking lots of supplements on top of the IV at that time, or some kind of immune reaction - but really I don’t know. Suffice to say I never took one again.

Part V: Ascent #2

The terrible reaction to that IV drip started to put the idea in my head that maybe this whole thing wasn’t just related to nutrition and / or a micronutrient deficiency. So I started doing a lot of searching online about what else can affect digestion, intolerance to certain foods, and associated unexplained chronic health symptoms. The thing that kept on coming up was the gut microbiome. I had heard of probiotics before, and knew that yoghurt was supposed to help your digestion, but outside of that I was pretty uneducated. All I could really tell was that it might be worth a shot trying a probiotic supplement to see if it would help.

So, being me, I went online and found the strongest, highest-dose probiotic supplement I could find, or at least on amazon.fr . It was the Renew Life Ultimate Care probiotic with a dose of 200 Billion live cultures (I didn’t know about vivomixx and other 400Bn+ clinical products at the time). The night it arrived, I popped a dose and went to bed, and then another first thing in the morning. By the time I had eaten breakfast and arrived at work around 9am, I felt violently ill. I was sweating, had a pounding headache and felt like I was going to vomit at any moment. I managed to hold it together for the morning, barely managed to stomach lunch and then went home as soon as people started to leave (around 4pm). 

I immediately went to google and started searching for what could cause this, and the main thing that came up was something called the Jarrisch-Herxheimmer reaction. I’m not sure what the clinical validation for this is, but the general understanding is that when something starts killing off pathogens in your body (which probiotics will do when they enter a pathogenic environment), they release toxins and inflammatory cytokines (can do a search yourself) into the body / bloodstream and you feel really unwell. Basically you are starting a fight between good & bad bacteria in your body and you feel the effects of it.

In some sense I was kind of excited that this had happened. The fact that I felt so violently unwell from taking probiotics perhaps pointed to the fact that I did have some kind of gut issue, which was a potentially useful revelation, although in the meantime I still felt horrendously ill. Most advice indicated that the reaction was temporary until you got “over the hump” but by day 7 I was still sick and things were only getting worse, so I stopped taking the pills altogether. 

After looking into how I could manage this better, it seemed like low-dose pills or small amounts of probiotic foods could be a way to manage the reaction while still improving, and as there was a health food store on my street, I decided to start experimenting with Kefir. The first night just to see I drank 2 cups of the stuff and of course felt violently ill again. I then embarked on a months-long journey of upping my dose from just tea-spoons to being able to tolerate about 1/2 to 1 cup per night. 

Within about six months I was able to dose freely with Kefir, and was eating other probiotic foods like sauerkraut and kimchi, all to positive effect. I managed to return to school following the end of my research placement, and although I still didn’t feel great, I would say I had made it back to another “stasis period”. 

My next hypothesis for improvement was to switch from probiotic foods to a supplement again, although just because it was simpler to take than cups of kefir and / or plates of sauerkraut every night. I experimented with quite a few that I found online. I tolerated most of them that had a dose of 100Bn bacteria or less, although somehow still felt better eating the fermented food. Eventually, I tried the Renew Life Mood & Stress probiotic (no longer in production) because it had some strains that were clinically proven to reduce stress levels, which had been one of my main symptoms in bad periods, and it seems to work quite well. I wouldn’t say it completely changed how I felt on a daily basis but it kept me stable to the point that I could stop having to drink Kefir all the time and things felt mostly alright. I felt as if I had found the answer at least for a little while.

Part VI: Stasis #2

This period was the longest in this whole mess. For six years from 2016 to 2022 I just took my daily probiotic supplement, kept a fairly clean diet, and once again got on with life. In this time I graduated from University, moved cities within Canada, and then moved to London to found a start-up which I am still a director of (it has nothing to do with gut health). Until 2018 I would occasionally drink when social engagements came up, but I still always felt somewhat sick after. After feeling ill for almost two weeks after drinking heavily at a company Christmas party, I gave up alcohol entirely. I also never really returned to high-sugar foods for how unwell they had made me feel in the past and also just lack of need (I always found not drinking much more socially inhibiting that not eating deserts and the like). 

It was in the spring of 2022 that, after 5-6 years of stasis, I once again became fed up with the whole thing. I was a young professional in my late twenties at this point and just didn’t understand why I had to take a probiotic supplement (of which I could only tolerate doses on the lower end) and eat a strict diet just to feel somewhat normal. I had considered longer-term solutions like getting a Fecal Microbiota Transplant to try and solve the issue once and for all, but most things like that were only offered privately, were expensive and the providers that did exist seemed a bit suspect (most FMT-type treatments are only available in clinical trials or for C-dificile infections at the moment). 

Somewhere in here a nurse I spoke to at an FMT clinic I had called told me to try going keto and see if it helped. I did it and felt pretty awesome for four months but lost a ton of weight (I was already very skinny) and found it very hard to maintain (especially socially). I eventually gave it up returned to a whole-grain high-protein diet. 

Part VII: Descent #3

After considering various options of how I reasonably could take action to improve my health and general life condition, I came up with the solution of finding a Nutritionist experienced in gut health issues. I had spent a lot of time avoiding medical professionals after my initial bad experiences with doctors and nutritionists either not being able to help or actually being actively unhelpful by questioning all of the symptoms and whether my reactions to foods were just psychosomatic, but I decided it was time to try again. I found a registered dietician in London who also had a PhD in gut microbiome research, which seemed like a great fit.

I shared my whole story with all of my symptoms and current condition, and although she had some questions about my sugar reaction and some of the weirder extended stress symptoms, she mostly accepted the story and that I clearly had some kind of untreated gut health issue. Her recommendation was that my diet was already positive (although could try introducing a few more carbs) and that the probiotic I was taking was as good as could be recommended by current knowledge in the field (noted that it is generally quite personal which ones work for some people and others not, and they don’t really know why). 

In terms of path forward, she recommended that I try introducing some more prebiotic foods and potentially a prebiotic supplement. Going down the list of my daily diet, it was already quite prebiotic / fibre-heavy, so we decided to try a supplement. The idea is that the prebiotic fibre helps feed and grow more of the probiotics you are taking in the supplement, and will improve your gut health. 

I started taking a daily dose (12g) of inulin, the best-validated prebiotic supplement available. The first few days I didn’t feel great and had pretty upset digestion, but nothing crazy. After about 3-4 days, I started having a reaction similar to the first time I ever tried high-dose probiotics. I felt pretty spaced out, generally ill, and hadn’t much appetite or desire for food. I interpreted this as being another Herxheimer reaction, so decided to stick with the supplementation. After about 1 month I still felt really unwell. Most days were a struggle to get through, I was in a total fog, and felt a lot of the extreme stress sensitivity of my initial low-points creeping back in. I spoke to the nutritionist and we decided that I would reduce my inulin dose or stop taking it all together. I reduced my dose by 1/2 and then by 1/3 but still felt increasingly unwell, so two weeks later stopped taking it all together. 

The next month was very uncomfortable. I felt quite ill most days, had general nausea / feelings of disorientation, wasn’t really tolerating most foods, and wasn’t sure what was going on again. In a last ditch, I decided to stop taking all supplements (at this point just my daily probiotic). For about two weeks after stopping the probiotics I didn’t feel all that different, but then somewhere around 12-14 days in, things started to go seriously south. Day by day, or even hour by hour at one point, I started to feel things degrading at first back to the all-day stress symptoms I had in the very beginning of this whole journey, and then to a version like 100x worse than that.

At one point I didn’t sleep for almost five days. My heart was permanently bounding out of my chest, and I was just in excruciating pain every single minute of the waking hours. I had to quit my job for a period of time, and my life was otherwise completely turned upside down. Without going into too many specifics, as I have tried to focus at first on the health aspect here, this is also the closest I came to thinking that perhaps life had just not really worked out for me and it was time to consider giving up on it. For whatever reason I still don’t completely understand, I stuck with it and suffered through the worst.

The greatest intensity of these symptoms lasted for about a month. I went back on the keto diet just because I had felt well on it in the past and didn’t really know what else to do, and after 5-6 weeks I was able to return to work, although only part-time, and somewhat get a handle on my life. I still felt pretty unwell most of the time, and had become quite isolated personally and socially because of it, but at least it felt like the adrenaline tap had lowered a bit and I could mostly suffer through each day. 

From a health-hypothesis point of view, I was a bit at wits end. I had contacted the nutritionist again and although she agreed the prebiotics can cause an adverse health reaction in some individuals for reasons not well understood, she didn’t really accept most of what I was saying around the extreme stress symptoms returning, and seemed a bit doubtful of me and what I was presenting. I decided that was about as far as we could continue together. Although I don’t deny I was in a terrible mental state at that time (which would be the case for anyone given the circumstances), I was completely convinced, and am unwavering to this day about the fact that the principal source of my issue was a serious, unadressed physical condition.

Part VIII: Ascent #3

All I felt I really had left was to go to a hospital and just accept whatever treatment they proposed (whether tranquilizers, sedation, some other drug or therapy I wasn’t aware of) or lay it all out for an experienced gastroenterologist / digestive specialist and just see what happened. I had often thought of seeking a specialist doctor, but was wary as pretty much all GPs and other doctors had been quite dismissive of my symptoms and assumed condition in the past. Here, however, we were quite literally in the “nothing to lose” position. With how things had gone the last months and my current life situation, I felt that if I didn’t fix this once and for all there was quite little point in continuing to live. 

Luckily, I am at least somewhat a person of means, and in the UK there is quite an availability of private medical specialists who will see you for a cash fee. I went to one I had found from a private doctor review website who seemed to have some experience in chronic digestive and gut health issues. I explained to him this entire story, perhaps not quite in such detail and with such emotional weight around specifics of how bad it felt, but largely my reaction to certain foods, how I had tried to manage it over the years, and my current situation. 

Firstly, he broadly accepted most of what I was saying, which was quite relieving in the first instance. His answer, although inconcrete, was that digestive health is, even for him and other experts, a very poorly understood area. He couldn’t say exactly why this was happening to me, but if I had the time and money he was willing to start looking into it with me and see if there were any potential solutions. For the first time, I felt as if an established member of the medical community was accepting their own blind spots in whatever this issue was , and willing to try and help.

His first suggestion was to run some tests to rule out more common and well-understood digestive disorders like Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. These all came back negative. Upon these results, he suggested that given my reaction to the prebiotic fibre and previous reaction to carbs and high-sugar foods, the most likely explanation was a chronic case of Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO.  The way to diagnose would be a sugar or lactulose (another prebiotic) breath-test, and the treatment being a course of a choice of antibiotics to wipe out the overgrowth and try to correct the dysbiosis (gut microbiota imbalance). 

I was quite open that I didn’t really feel comfortable trying a sugar or prebiotic-fuelled test at that time, given how precarious my health and life position was and my previous reaction to both of those substances. He suggested that since the point of the test is to see if either the sugar or lactulose cook up any bad bacteria and produce gas, and I had already shown a very negative anecdotal reaction to both with associated gas production, he was happy to just prescribe an empirical dose of the antibiotics. 

This is now going back a bit, but as a child I was given a tremendous amount of antibiotics. I am fairly convinced that that is what caused all these issues for me, or was at least the main contributor. So naturally I was a bit wary of another doctor giving me more antibiotics, although I trusted this new one quite a lot. I eventually found online that there is some validation of natural antimicrobial and anti fungal substances being helpful in treating overgrowths and gut dysbiosis, so I decided to explore those options first. They are mostly all formulations of herbal oils and concentrates. It’s the sort of thing I would have been quite skeptical of before all of this started, but at this point I had had so many unexpected negative and positive reactions to different foods, supplements and treatments that I was more or less willing to try anything.

The best validated one is called Candibactin. It’s a combined treatment of mostly Oregano Oil and a Chinese Herb called berberine. I ordered some online and decided to give it a whirl. By my third dose, I was having an extremely intense version of what I experienced when I first took probiotics. Persistent headaches, sweating, lack of appetite, general unwellness and pain. It felt like an extremely intense flu and at some point I felt like I was spiking a fever. I chalked this up to the Herxheimmer reaction again and stuck with it. Once again, by about day 7, the symptoms were still extremely intense and I had to give up on the treatment. Interestingly, although I was in extreme discomfort, my digestion had normalized in this time (I will spare you the description). I didn’t really know what to make of this but it is interesting that the supplements had at least done something. 

Following the experience on the herbal supplement which I had no desire to repeat for the moment, my symptoms somewhat stabilized although didn’t return to what they were prior to starting them. I wouldn’t say I felt notably better or worse but just “different”. I decided it was time to give the pharmaceuticals a go and see if I could tolerate them or if they were helpful in some other way, so I took a two week course of Rifaximin (the drug they give for SIBO). Being on Rifaximin was an extremely painful experience, but not quite as bad as the herbal supplements so I managed to push through it and by the end it had had quite a positive effect on me. I still didn’t feel great after the Rifaximin, and continued to work only part-time, but it had definitely done something. 

Somewhere in here I also commissioned a microbiome stool test, which showed I had a quite significant dysbiosis (low levels of lactobacilli with almost undetectable levels of bifidobacterium, and a strong overgrowth of H2S-producing pathogens). It also showed I had an active H-Pylori infection and extremely poor absorption of fat and other macronutrients. Off the back of it the gastro prescribed me a triple-course of antibiotics to clear the H-Pylori and attributed the poor absorption to persistent SIBO. The triple-therapy for H. Pylori was a horrible experience and I actually ended up in hospital and was told to stop taking one of the drugs (Flagyl / Metronidazole) because it was giving me tinnitus, insomnia and general disorientation, which apparently can be a side effect, but the treatment otherwise worked. 

After this latest course of antibiotics, I was, as before, not in a life-ending position, but my health was still quite bad. I was not accomplishing much at work, and I had essentially no social life. I decided something had to change, so I told my work I would take two months off after Christmas and do whatever I needed to do to solve this thing. The two remaining options I had before me were to try the herbal formulations again, or eat a completely liquid diet for 2-3 weeks to try and starve the pathogenic overgrowth (actually a clinically validated method of treating SIBO).

I first tried a fat-based version of the elemental diet first (most are sugar-based and I didn’t want to test that again), but it caused extremely painful stomach-burning feelings, which apparently can be caused by caprylic acid in the MCT oil it is primarily composed of, and I stopped after two days. After meditating on it for about five days I decided to just re-start the herbal formulations and endure whatever pain it caused me until this thing was hopefully cured. 

So began two years of varied supplementation and antibiotics. I switched off the Candibactin formulation at one point to another called FC-cidal & Dysbiocide, as is recommended to avoid building resistance, although this is less common with the natural products, and also took multiple further courses of Rifaximin as things weren’t progressing as quickly as I’d hoped. The experience was painful but in different ways than it had been the first time around, and also took a lot longer than I expected, although I suppose after 10 years at it that shouldn’t have been surprising. I am not entirely sure why being on the herbals the second time around was less extreme than the first. I don’t know if they were less effective than at the first exposure, or that something about my situation had changed, but it was different in some way. It’s also worth noting that pretty much the whole time I was taking the herbal supplements & Rifaximin I stayed on a Keto or SCD diet (specific carbohydrate diet, basically no starches and reduced carb), although I’ve moved off this in recent months as I’ve started to feel better.

Part IX: Today

Something seems to have worked. I can’t point to it concretely or specifically, I am not a microbiologist or a gastroenterologist, but my life feels so much better now than it did when all this kicked off, and I feel very positive about the future. I am actually back on a 3-month course of Rifaximin that my gastro has prescribed me at the moment to see if we can totally kick the issue, and will probably follow-up with some kind of diet / supplement regimen for some time after that, but either way my symptoms are so much improved by what I've done in the last two years that that feels like a success. I can't say that the problem is gone forever or would never come back but I definitely understand it a lot better and have a lot of tools to make sure that my life doesn't fall apart again like it did those last three times.

I still don’t really know what this all means to me personally. The process of getting better (trying the prebiotic, having my health collapse, taking the various pharmaceutical & herbal antibiotics) almost destroyed me as a person. At some point I had distanced myself almost completely from my job, my girlfriend at the time, most friends and pretty much any semblance of a normal social life or any life at all. For the better part of a year life was really just an existence of suffering every day and hoping to make it to the next one. Despite that, and that of course things always can or could have gone differently, I unfortunately feel as if at a high level I had no other choice. I was completely unwilling to spend the rest of my life living below my full potential of enjoyment, and was always going to do whatever it took to get there. I am sometimes shocked that I managed to survive all of this, but I am here, still living and will try to deal with whatever the experience has done to me in the same way I dealt with the issue itself: by living it, experiencing it day by day, not turning away from it, and knowing that no matter how dark the world can become, so long as you are still here, it is not really over. 

Although the physical symptoms were and have been excruciatingly painful, one of the most difficult things about this whole experience has been the level of misunderstanding and invalidation, both from the medical community and from some friends, family, other personal acquaintances and the general public, around what happened to me. I understand that it is a difficult story to follow, but unfortunately it was all very real and somehow I managed to find a route out of it for now. One day the medical community will figure this out and understand what happened to me and others like me (because they are also out there in very sad corners of the internet - links below), and share it with the world to build our collective understanding and compassion. Until then it is strange to be one of the few people to know all of this and what this experience feels like and has felt like, but I am trying day by day to come closer to people and understand why we aren’t yet equipped as a society to address these kinds issues on multiple fronts. I don’t blame anyone for not understanding what was happening to me, but the few who did and were willing to listen at the time are angels and I’m not sure I would have gotten through it without them.

Eventually I hope I will fully recover from all of this. Physically, mentally, emotionally, because it has touched every aspect of my life over the last twelve years. Until then I am just here living every day in this strange situation of being a survivor of such a horrible, confusing and largely misunderstood problem. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/ibs/comments/jpkol3/how_probiotics_destroyed_my_health_long_storyrant/

[ceeveganglutenfreebaking]

Delicious Vegan Gluten-Free Back-to-School Lunchbox Snacks

Back-to-school season is upon us, and that means it's time to start thinking about lunchbox snacks. But what if your child has dietary restrictions, like being vegan or gluten-free? Don't worry, I've got you covered! In this post, I'm sharing 5 delicious and nutritious vegan gluten-free lunchbox snacks that your kids will love.

**1. Energy Balls**

These energy balls are the perfect way to start the day or refuel after a long morning of learning. They're packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fats to keep your kids energized throughout the day.

**Ingredients:**

* 1 cup pitted dates, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes

* 1/2 cup almond butter or other nut butter

* 1/4 cup rolled oats

* 1/4 cup shredded coconut

* 1/4 cup chia seeds

* 1/4 cup ground flaxseed

* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

* Pinch of salt

**Instructions:**

1. Drain the dates and add them to a food processor along with the almond butter, oats, coconut, chia seeds, flaxseed, vanilla extract, and salt.

2. Pulse until the mixture forms a sticky dough.

3. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and store in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving.

**2. Mini Veggie Pizzas**

These mini pizzas are a fun and healthy way to get your kids to eat their veggies. They're also a great way to use up leftover veggies from the fridge.

**Ingredients:**

* 1 whole-wheat pita bread, cut into 4 wedges

* 1/4 cup marinara sauce

* 1/4 cup shredded vegan mozzarella cheese

* 1/4 cup chopped vegetables (such as broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, and onions)

**Instructions:**

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Spread a thin layer of marinara sauce on each pita wedge.

3. Top with shredded vegan mozzarella cheese and chopped vegetables.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

**3. Fruit and Nut Bars**

These fruit and nut bars are a delicious and portable snack that's perfect for on-the-go. They're also a great way to get your kids to eat their fruits and nuts.

**Ingredients:**

* 1 cup dried fruit (such as raisins, cranberries, and apricots)

* 1/2 cup chopped nuts (such as almonds, walnuts, and cashews)

* 1/4 cup chia seeds

* 1/4 cup maple syrup

* 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

**Instructions:**

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture forms a sticky dough.

2. Spread the dough into a rectangular pan lined with parchment paper.

3. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before cutting into bars.

**4. Hummus and Veggie Sticks**

Hummus is a delicious and versatile dip that's perfect for pairing with veggie sticks. This snack is packed with protein and fiber, and it's a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies.

**Ingredients:**

* 1 cup chickpeas, rinsed and drained

* 1/4 cup tahini

* 2 tablespoons lemon juice

* 2 tablespoons olive oil

* 1 clove garlic, minced

* 1/4 teaspoon cumin

* Pinch of salt

* 1 cup chopped vegetables (such as carrots, celery, and cucumber)

**Instructions:**

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

2. Serve with veggie sticks.

**5. Yogurt Parfaits**

Yogurt parfaits are a classic lunchbox snack that's both healthy and delicious. This vegan version is made with plant-based yogurt and is packed with protein and probiotics.

**Ingredients:**

* 1 cup plant-based yogurt

* 1/2 cup granola

* 1/4 cup fresh fruit (such as berries, bananas, or mangoes)

**Instructions:**

1. Layer the yogurt, granola, and fruit in a reusable container.

2. Enjoy!

These are just a few ideas for vegan gluten-free lunchbox snacks. With a little creativity, you can come up with endless possibilities!

Comment below which one you will be trying out

[rejectedfables]

others products should come with toys included, not just cereal and bars of soap and fast food kids meals. As a society, as adults, we should demand more silly little prizes. There should be a funky plastic animal wearing sunglasses inside pharmacy pill bottles. Polly Pocket should sign a contract with hardware stores so you get a lil buddy when you buy nuts and bolts. Add fun colored maze puzzles to the packaging of probiotic yogurt and/or beer. Put a complimentary little dinosaur in boxes of tampons. Life should be fun

[raiha-storm65557]

Prompt #9

“Get out! I don’t have time for this!” Sidekick practically yelled at Villain who was sitting on the window sill before turning their head back to their notes. It was already enough that Hero was bothering them all day about doing their paperwork for them, they really had no patience left for Villain. Villain was shocked, the meek little thing could actually stand up to them. And that all on their own! But Villain was no fool, they knew a stressed out person when they saw one, “Alright, let me take a look.” They mumbled while shuffling over to Sidekick and looking over their head at the notes the kid was so closely studying. “Probiotics, prebiotics, omega 3 fat-acids, overdosage… what do you need all this for?” the criminal asked confused about what kind of crime fighting this could lead to. “It’s for my exam tomorrow!” Sidekick exclaimed annoyed at the Villain, “that stuff is in your food, you know!”. They were dumbfounded at that answer, they didn’t expect Hero’s little friend to be studying in the culinary fields.

Guess who forgot to study for their exam tomorrow

[always-a-slut-4-ghouls]

Me, opening up a packet of the stuff the vet gave me: “I hope this probiotic powder doesn’t put my cat off his food. Can’t really help with his digestion issues if he doesn’t eat it”

I spill some because my hands can have problems with stability

My cat: *licks the stuff up like a kid who just discovered what powdered sugar was*

Me: “is this flavored?”

My cat: begs me for more powder and momentarily forgets his food

Me: “this has to be flavored”

[thetoaddaddy]

a random confession for munday

I honest to god hate yogurt so much. The fermented taste just tastes rotten to me. Like im eating rotten thick milk. I bought coconut based yogurt once to give er a shot and it was still a nope. They focused hard on that nasty ass rotten fermented taste. Greek yogurt, flavoured probiotic ones, high fat, low fat, dairy alternatives, it don’t matter it all tastes like expired rotten nasty ass milk to me.

oddly enough i do like sour creme. Like a small amount. I’m a minimalist dipper. I like me a smidge. Too much and I can’t handle too much of the bubbly fermentation taste. The Ukrainian genes kick in a little there, gotta fuck it up with sour creme with fried kubasa and perogy. It’s something about that in between yogurt taste I just can’t handle. Yogurt in things I don’t mind. Like tzatziki, dill dip, or naan bread. Mostly cuz the superior garlic hides that taste i hate.

am I alone in my hatred for yogurt? I feel like when i tell people i hate yogurt i’m met with shock and awe. Then I get treated like a child for not liking it. I’ll fuck it up with some weird foods but I can’t do yogurt. I don’t think I’m that picky an eater. We all got preferences. And I’ll try anything once, twice if it’s been something my child self hated but I’ll see how my adult pallet handles it. It’s quite the privilege to have these kinds of preferences and options.

I also get flack for mushrooms. I don’t like em. Loved them as a kid but now I just dislike it. Cooked mushrooms are gross. Raw ain’t so bad. They’re so rubbery and taste like dirt. I hate ketchup too. What a way to ruin the flavour of a dish by putting ketchup on it. Like do you just hate food where you feel the need to put sweet tomato vinegar sauce on it? You’re unhinged with the pallet of a 3 year old.

but to redeem myself I did start trying beans more. It’s a texture thing I’m trying to adjust to but I find I don’t mind it in things like chili. I’m curious to try a burrito with beans sometime. But beans and toast is fucking wild British people scare me with their mushy ass food.

[sidewalkchemistry]

Have Fresh, Vibrant, Nutritious, Varied Food to eat all year long 🦌🌲 (read below) 🌲🦌 Friendly for those in SHORT GROWING SEASONS, with BROWN THUMBS, in SMALL SPACES, and even IMPATIENT attitudes

(feat. one tiny thief ��� did you catch that?)

It gets properly cold where I live and I like to keep my space cool, so not many plants last the entire year with me. These are some easy foods I grow and nurture even when it gets frosty 🥶 They are also very NUTRIENT DENSE so that your nutrient profile won't have to suffer just because it's gotten cooler. The best part is NO SOIL is NECESSARY, so you don't have to worry about any mess. And you get to eat what you've grown within just a FEW DAYS, so you can switch it up all the time.

Winter Gardening Projects (to have vibrant plant foods for your kitchen even in the winter) 🌾🌱🦠🧅

🌾Microgreens (some are even safe & healthful for pets, like wheatgrass)

🌱Sprouts (very kid friendly project. my favorites have been fenugreek, lentils, buckwheat, alfalfa, and chickpeas. i wanna try herb sprouts soon!)

🦠Probiotic Drinks (yes I consider this part of my garden too! Good options are coconut water kefir, drinking vinegars, ginger bugs, and kombucha)

🧅Veggie Scrap Regrowths (like green onion/scallions & leeks)

[healthwhistle]

[howlingblaster]

My body just does NOT process food so i honestly think i get very little nutrition from food aside from life sustaining calories which, let me be clear, i am grateful for.

Anyway, all this to say: I went to walled greens to get probiotics but when I got there I realized the kid’s daily vitamins also had probiotics AND vitamins AND came with more gummies for the same price.

Hot tip: your stupid idiot adult body has no idea its eating childrens branded gummies and they are cheaper than adult ones

[shubhragoyal]

Best Foods to Eat When You're Pregnant - Dr. Shubhra Goyal

When you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, it is very important to treat your health seriously and plan your diet properly. A nourishing diet is necessary to preserve the health of your unborn child from conception on.

As soon as you find out you're pregnant, it's normal to start reviewing your eating habits. But like many other people, you might be tempted to consult your mother or friends, the internet, or your past pregnancy practices for guidance. You might be surprised to learn that every pregnancy is unique. The body may react differently to physical or hormonal changes that may impact pregnancy depending on your age or surroundings.

You should place a specific emphasis on whole foods that give you more of the nutrients you'd need if you weren't pregnant while developing a healthy eating plan, such as:

Vitamins, minerals, and lean protein

Wholesome fats and complex carbohydrates

Fluids and fibre

To help you meet your nutrient goals while you are pregnant, here are some foods that are incredibly nutritious.

1. Dairy items

To meet the demands of your growing foetus throughout pregnancy, you must consume extra protein and calcium. Milk, cheese, and yoghurt should be included in the menu. Dairy products contain two sorts of top-notch proteins: casein and whey. The best source of calcium is dairy, which is also a good source of phosphorus, B vitamins, magnesium, and zinc. Due to its higher calcium content than the bulk of other dairy products, Greek yoghurt is particularly helpful. There are some types of bacteria called probiotics that help with digestive health. You might be able to handle yoghurt, especially probiotic yoghurt, if you have a lactose intolerance. There may be an entire variant of yoghurt parfaits, smoothies, and lassis waiting.

2. Legumes

Lentils, peas, beans, chickpeas, soybeans, and peanuts are counted in this category of foods (a.k.a. a tonne of awesome recipe ingredients!). Legumes are excellent plant-based providers of calcium, iron, folate, fibre, protein, and other nutrients that your body needs more of while pregnant. The most important vitamin is folate (B9). In the first trimester and even earlier, it is essential for both you and the unborn kid. It might be challenging to meet the recommended daily intake of 600 micrograms (mcg) of folate by cuisine alone. However, including legumes can help you get there if your doctor recommends supplementation.

Legumes typically include a lot of fibre. Some varieties also include high quantities of iron, magnesium, and potassium. Consider including legumes in your diet with recipes like hummus on whole grain toast, black beans in a taco salad, or lentil curry.

3. Eggs

The perfect health meal, those wonderful, edible eggs have a tiny amount of practically every vitamin you require. Roughly 80 calories, excellent protein, fat, and a wealth of vitamins and minerals may be found in one large egg. This essential vitamin choline, which is needed during pregnancy, is abundant in eggs. It is vital for a baby's brain development and helps to prevent improper spine and brain growth. Approximately 147 milligrams (mg) of choline can be found in one entire egg, which brings you closer to the current daily choline intake recommendation of 450 mg.

4. Broccoli and leafy vegetables

It should come as no surprise that broccoli and other dark, green veggies like kale and spinach are incredibly nutrient-dense. They can frequently be sneaked into a range of cuisines, despite the fact that you might not appreciate eating them. Fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin A, calcium, iron, folate, and potassium are a few benefits. They are a veritable treasure trove. Because of all the fibre they contain, green vegetable servings are a good way to enhance vitamin intake and prevent constipation. Additionally, vegetables have been associated with better weight of the infant post birth.

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