PROBIOTICS: THE RESET BUTTON TO A HEALTHY GUT
I have been taking probiotics for a very long time. Many people are skeptical about supplements and vitamins, but probiotics are that type of supplement that are vital for your wellbeing.
The word supplement sometimes is misguided with artificial or unnatural connotations. But in today you can supplement your body with very natural and beneficial supplements that will enhance your wellbeing and metabolism.
One of the biggest counterarguments against taking any supplementation is that you could acquire them directly from foods. Thats a good point, and ideally it is what we would want. But there are a few inhibitors that pushes us to seek help from man-made supplements in order to be healthy.
Why do I think taking supplements and specially probiotics are so important? (At least for me)
1. Sadly the food we ingest these days are not as nutrient-rich as it was in the past. A lot of the food we eat have been altered by chemicals that come from the soil. But the food is not the problem, the soil is. The soil where the food grows is far way too exploited and as a consequence, it is mineral-depleted to comply with that our bodies need.
2. We need to take into consideration dietary options. Today we have more unhealthy, artificial , chemically altered and preserved food options that we had in the past, and eating healthy is more expensive. Because of that, we are dealing with more upset stomachs and developing more intolerance to certain foods. Artificial and preserved foods are everywhere to be found and extremely accessible, and even though there is a big wave of self conscious eating, we give in too fast to unnatural foods that our body does not recognize or work well with.
3. Probiotic-rich foods are hard to find. Yogurt, for example, is one of the best sources of probiotics. Probiotics are friendly bacteria that improve you gut health. It is important to nourish our bodies with probiotics because they deal with your digestive system and nothing is more comfortable that having a healthy and happy gut. In my opinion, the gut is the gateway to health. An unhealthy gut causes more than just stomach pains, gas and diarrhea. In fact, your immune system and your gut are closely linked. If I remember correctly there is up to 70-80% of your immune system in your gut. So it is kind of a big deal. And to me, yogurts are not the healthiest, best way to fuel your body with probiotics. At least not all yogurts.
One of the main reasons is because not all yogurts contain live probiotics. In most cases, the live bacteria has been killed during processing. <OUCH> Milk and live active cultures is all you need to make yogurt, but there are so many added sugars, artificial sweeteners and thickeners added to yogurts making them (some times) not a safe snack anymore. And thats the other reason…
In my case, being severely intolerant to the protein in milk, yogurts are out of my equation. However, there are a list of non-dairy yogurts as well that include live active culture in them. In fact, non dairy yogurts may have more noticeable benefits since you won’t be dealing with lactose maldigestion symptoms. This could be something you ought to look at.
MY VISION
The way I see it is that, having a hectic schedule, straining my body to the limits in terms of physical activity, lack of sleep, high volume of traveling and the intolerances I have to gluten and dairy; it is a no brainer for me to take probiotics at night. It is one way for me to make sure I am supplementing my body with the right amount of probiotics every day. Probiotics make your digestive system constant and regular, and it is what the human body should do.
There are other types of foods besides yogurt that are rich in probiotics, but it’s even harder to obtain. Pretty much all naturally fermented foods contain live bacteria. But who eats fermented foods? You could have Kombucha but I have met a single person friend of mine that drinks it on the regular. I never had Kombucha to be honest, so I cannot tell.
WHICH PROBIOTICS I USE NOW
I have taken probiotics for many years. I haven’t been very constant in the last few years, but I definitely have been this year, specially since after the injury. Since taking probiotics, I have seen a before and an after. I started with Probioseus for a restoration of my gut health. At some points it was uncomfortable, specially because I was taking them in the morning and one of the ‘side effects’ of probiotics is that it can give you gas and stomach discomfort. But that’s normal, it is the period meanwhile you restore your gut.
After that, I decided to search for other brands and listened to more specialists’ recommendations. Like I mentioned before and several times through out this year; the injury opened my eyes. The struggle of being a victim in your own body made me realize I needed to take action. And so I dissected all areas that I, as a professional athletes, could get better at: Mental, Physical, Technical, Nutrition and Rest.
I was lucky enough to run into a very special probiotics brand named Peptiva. It all started word to mouth, and at first when I heard about them, the first thing I did was consult with my doctors and nutritionists. The one thing that makes this brand so special - and that it caught my attention- is its unique combination of sleep support ingredients and a pretty high number of probiotic count. Not only the brand was reinforcing me the values and benefits of taking probiotics at night - which I have been told by my sport medicine doctor and nutritionist, but it was actually going to make me sleep more profoundly at nights.
Peptiva has two types of products, the sleep support probiotic or the regular version. The regular version has more probiotic count than the sleep support. I have tried the regular one since I was pretty interested in trying the one with sleep support ingredients since the beginning. I am a very light sleeper and the fact that I am very emotional doesn’t help either. I deal with anxiety and emotions constantly and I find it very hard to go to bed or even sleep deeply.
As an athlete, I keep listening how rest is one for the most important areas one should learn in order to perform at your highest. The word ‘rest’ is easy to understand but harder to act on it. Bluntly, I dont know how to rest. When I take some time off I often feel like I am wasting time, and at nights, instead of shutting off I began the race of thoughts in my head. I needed something that could help me, but that I wouldn’t become addicted to.
After taking it for several weeks in a row, I never noticed drowsiness the morning after. And that was supper important for me as I wouldn’t know how to train and practice feeling sluggish. What I noticed is that I sleep more profoundly at nights, and that 30-40 minutes after taking the pill I start feeling in a state of relaxation and coziness. This I actually like a lot, because I will always struggle to fall asleep and I will start using my phone a lot at nights.
In terms of regulating my digestive system, I found that I am being more regular in going to the bathroom. I haven’t struggle with gas to be frankly honest with you. And I have seen an improvement in my bloated stomach. So overall, I only have good feedback from this probiotics. And if you start taking the, I would love to listen to your feedback as well.
I started learning this on the go but, Peptiva is the ONLY probiotic brand that uses the unique combination of high quantities of live bacteria with sleep support ingredients. So it is really hard for me not to remember to take my probiotics because it does not only help my gut health but also it helps me regulate my sleeping hours to be fresh and rested in the morning. At the end of the day, probiotics are probiotics. You can probably find many other brands equally as good but I doubt you will find one equally as efficient and original as this one.
My main goal in supplementing my body with probiotics is to maintain a healthy gut. But it doesn’t help if you take probiotics but are involved in other actions that hinder the wellbeing of your gut. For example, not getting sufficient amount of sleep has negative impacts on your gut health, as well as stress levels, a high-sugar diet and poor hydration.
Another thing to mention is that, for any probiotic you take you must now that because they are leaving organism they flourish with water, food and warmth. So when taking probiotics, make sure you drink a lot of water and avoid taking them on a fasted stomach.
Anyhow, this is the kind of stuff I like to share with you guys. Stuff that I have had to learn the hard way and through my own experiences. I would love to learn from your own experiences too. Do you take probiotics? What kind of yogurt or probiotic-rich foods you take to suppress the need of taking probiotics supplementation? Do you suffer from bloated stomach and unhealthy gut discomforts?