Probiotics can often be dead way before you even take them. Most probiotics are temperature sensitive and after shipping, stocking the shelves, etc. the majority of what bacteria were there originally would have died. For good probiotics, it's best to make them yourself.
A good fermented food will improve digestion, and give you the bacteria you wanted from the probiotic. I personally make pickles regularly and they're absolutely amazing. I've never liked pickles until I started making my own. They're also very cheap, much cheaper than the store bought pickles which aren't even real (fermented) pickles. They're made with vinegar. And much less expensive than the typical probiotic sold at the health food store.
In the display your culinary creations section there's a thread on fermented plant foods, animal foods, and high meat. I personally use the recipe from Mark's Daily Apple for pickles except I only use sea salt, distilled water, fresh dill, and cucumbers. I've never had a bad ferment using that recipe, they're always delicious and crunchy (addicting).
I've also experimented a little with fermenting honey. My most recent experiment was 1.5 cups of raw honey, to .5 cups distilled water mixed up very well and left outside. It did a lot of bubbling, but the bubbling has ceased.
Any way! Fermented foods! Better than probiotics, and better for gut health.
Mine are not the refrigerated kind, but they must have lost their power somehow. I started taking 4 a day and my problems are improving again....hm.
I tried some fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut before, but they did not help all that much. Maybe because they weren't home made? Or just not the right type of bacteria?
My husband made kombucha tea, which turned out too vinegary. I wonder if it could be useful still though?
I will try the recipes thank you!
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Little update on my parasite cleanse.
I don't feel horrible but in the evening I will often feel a little weak or sick often with a headache or stomach pains. I can definitely confirm that I have parasites now. At first I had little white worms in my stools, just a few but they look exactly like hookworms
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookworm , or maybe pinworms...but from the symptoms I think hookworms might fit better?
Since yesterday I have also been seeing little white eggs and my stools started changing in consistency and odor. I also found something that looks like flukes and all sorts of little pieces and things that I can't describe...it just looks very different.
My doctor had tested me for parasites over a month ago, and it came back negative...I think the tests might not be very accurate. I talked to my mother about this and both her and my sister had parasites before...the white worm kind.
I am keeping an eye on my sons diapers too. I read that breastfeed children will be going through the parasite cleanse too.
