Posts Tagged ‘Probiotics’

I think most of us have heard about probiotics these days.  Between commercials with Jamie Lee Curtis discussing benefits of eating Dannon Activa to the supplement aisle at Whole Foods, you cannot escape probiotics. So what are they, exactly?

Your body contains billions of microorganisms and bacteria. Probiotics are beneficial,  “friendly” bacteria that assist your body in warding off harmful bacteria,  aid in digestion, and boost our immune system. People suffering from Crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome also find probiotics helpful in controlling flare ups.

That is not the only benefits of probiotics that have been researched and confirmed.

The Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide reports on probiotics:

Some digestive disease specialists are recommending them for disorders that frustrate conventional medicine, such as irritable bowel syndrome. Since the mid-1990s, clinical studies have established that probiotic therapy can help treat several gastrointestinal ills, delay the development of allergies in children, and treat and prevent vaginal and urinary infections in women.

I got Lyme disease last summer, but caught it in time to get on antibiotics. The doctor told me that these 3 weeks of twice daily powerful antibiotics would wipe out all the bacteria in me, good and bad.  He recommended that I take probiotics everyday to ward off getting sick and yeast infections because my defenses would be wiped out. I jumped on it and had no problems throughout my course of medicines.

This March marks one year since I have not gotten sick. That includes colds, flu, and intestinal distress. I have not had any vaccinations this past year, either. In one week last November, my daughter & husband both got the regular flu. That same week my 5 year old Max came down with swine flu symptoms (2 days after his first live swine flu vaccination, of course!)  for over a week that his doctor, over the phone and without a test, said sounded like it was, indeed,  the swine flu, which was also going around his kindergarten school. He recovered after about 9 days with it, but it was a long haul for the little kid. I did not get sick from any of it. I have also flown 3 times this past year and have not gotten sick. I credit a clean diet and probiotics.  I travel with probiotics to ensure that extra barrier between me and the bazillion germs I am exposed to when flying.

After that bout of sickness in our house, I started to look around for a children’s  probiotics that were chewable. I had been taking probiotics, but clearly the kids needed some, too.  Give them yogurt? Sophie likes yogurt, but Max does not, and the problem with yogurt is that while you can get good probiotics from it, it isn’t enough. Kids are exposed to so much throughout the day, second hand smoke, pollution, as well as other children that are sick, that their young immune systems are bombarded with challenges that a little cup of yogurt is hard pressed to battle.

Max also has eczema. It used to be on his elbows, legs, and his bottom.  Since he outgrew his peanut allergy two years ago, his eczema began to fade. Except for that annoying patch on his bum cheeks. No one wants to watch my boy with his hand down the back of his pants endlessly scratching at that patch of itchy, red, scaly skin on his bum cheeks. Really.

Then along came Vidazorb! I read about them on my friend’s Smiling Green Mom’s blog, and the amazing turnaround her son Ethan had after taking them for his horrible eczema. I saw pictures. I saw their story on  Fox news. My son’s eczema was never that bad, but if Ethan could recover that well from taking probiotics from Vidazorb, I was going to try them, too. I do not use prescription medication for it, I try and use natural options like shea butter to help ease that maddening itch.

Vidazorb is a high quality, chewable probiotic that is shelf stable, meaning you do not need to refrigerate it. It has billions of those helpful little bugs. Yes, billions! You need billions of the buggers to get the desired gut microflora &  health benefits that probiotics can offer.  The number of good bacteria in your probiotic matter. You would need to eat over 25 servings of Activa yogurt to get the same amount as a daily dose (3 chewables) of Vidazorb probiotics. I don’t want to eat that much yogurt, do you?

We have all been taking Vidazorb this year.  The kids like the taste. I do, too – they grown up version is chewable – why should kids get all the good stuff?!

Since November, my kids have not gotten sick at all. Not once! I can’t believe it myself, with everything that is going around. There have been a couple of rounds of stomach flu that has passed us by, thank goodness.  Standard issue colds, haven’t gotten those, either. Right now I am looking at a notice for strep throat in my Max’s kindergarten class. I toss him an extra Vidazorb just to be safe in his snack pack.

And Max’s eczema patch? I wish I could post a picture of his improved bum cheeks!  But I can’t post a picture of his bum cheeks so I will just tell you that we didn’t realize he was getting better because he just stopped scratching and complaining, so it fell off of our radar. I said the other day, “Max! You haven’t been scratching your bum!” He simply said “I know. Because it doesn’t itch.”  As simple as that.  His patch is almost no more! I love not having to tell him it isn’t polite to be scratching your bum in public all the time.

I made sure to take Vidazorb with us on a February weekend trip with the children to New York City. No one got sick from that trip, either. Surprised? So was I!

Vidazorb is kind enough to give the first five readers of this post a FREE bottle of Belly Boost! Just fan them on Facebook and be sure to leave a comment saying why you want some Belly Boost for your children and that you read it here on Live Green Mom, so they qualify the right people for this gift!  Thanks, Vidazorb! Even  if you don’t win the free bottle of Vidazorb, fan them anyway over at Facebook. You never know when they are going to post informative news, give aways or specials. As a bonus for Live Green Mom users, use CLGM40 at checkout for 40% off your Vidazorb order until the end of March.  Sweet!  Follow them on Twitter, you never know when they will *tweet* a special.

Have you had success taking probiotics? I’d love to hear about it!

UPDATE! March 18, 2010

I just got back form the pediatrician’s office with Max, who had his 6 year old well check up. His doctor said that he absolutely believes that Max had the swine flu back in November, even though they did not test him for it.  He also pointed out that max hadn’t been to the pediatrician since his last well check when he was 5!  Wow, I hadn’t realized that a whole year had gone by without the need for a doctor visit. Life has changed for Max since he outgrew his peanut/nut allergies and I’ve worked on adding healthier, organic foods and supplements like probiotics. His pediatrician agreed that Max’s eczema has indeed, begun to fade away and we could probably look forward to him, at some point, being eczema free. Yay!

On another note, to be on the most honest side, three days after I posted this, I got sick. Yep, I jinxed myself! Max came home with a stuffy nose, the day after that strep throat notice came home from his class. I gave him extra probiotics, not knowing what this stuffy nose could turn into. Then my husband got the stuffy nose, then me. Fortunately, that’s all it is – a stuffy nose. Weird, since we don’t have allergies. I still consider a year a good stretch to go without getting sick.