I see a lot of digestive problems in my private practice. No surprise, considering that every year approximately 70 million adults in America suffer from tummy troubles such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, constipation, and numerous other symptoms that cause discomfort or worse.
This is serious because poor digestion can also be at the root of a bunch of other problems. You may experience things like: fatigue, skin rashes, headaches, poor concentration, and moodiness. Because of the symptoms, you may not even think they have anything to do with your digestive problems.
Doctor’s orders: Get serious about your digestive health!
Digestive Problems Increase with Age
Now, if you don’t want to get sick (who does?) and you want to delay aging (who doesn’t?), then a healthy digestive system should be your priority.
As we age, our digestive system slows down. Because of this, you may experience inflammation which can wreak havoc on your entire body. Therefore, if any part of your digestive system becomes inflamed, you may experience annoying, even painful symptoms, which can become chronic if left untreated.
So, you need to be aware of the signs of an aging digestive system. The symptoms can be minor or even life-threatening and you may experience things like chronic constipation, GERD, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, not to mention colorectal cancer.
Solve Digestive Problems with Probiotics
So, if you’re looking for a solution to your digestive problems, you need to focus on long-term relief, not short-term fixes. Today, most digestive distress remedies focus on treating the symptoms (providing short term relief), and they upset the balance of bacteria in your gut. This can lead to incomplete digestion of food or to more serious disorders.
That’s where probiotics come in.
On every cycle of the 17 Day Diet, you should have 2 servings of a probiotics a day.
To maintain health, a probiotic count of 5 to 10 billion is adequate. Now, that may sound like a lot, but consider this: a typical 6 ounce serving of yogurt contains around 17 billion probiotics!
Did you know that one of the easiest and tastiest ways to get in your probiotic serving is by eating yogurt?! Yes, it really can be that easy.
Now, when buying yogurt, look for plain, probiotic greek yogurt with 4-5 active cultures listed. You want to get a yogurt as low in sugar as possible. I recommend a max of 6 grams of sugar per 6-ounce serving.
Don’t worry you don’t actually have to eat the yogurt plain. You can sweeten it up with some fruit, cinnamon, Stevia, or even sugar-free jam.
Probiotic Alternatives
Now, if you don’t like yogurt, try one of these instead:
*Kefir: similar to a drinking-style yogurt; great for making smoothies (1 cup = 1 serving)
*Low-fat acidophilus milk (1 cup = 1 serving)
*Yakult (small 50-calorie bottle = 1 serving)
*Breakstone LiveActive cottage cheese (1⁄2 cup = 1 serving)
*Reduced salt miso dissolved in low-fat, low-sodium broth (1 tablespoon = 1 serving)
*Tempeh, a fermented cake of pressed soybeans (4 oz. = 1 serving)
*Sauerkraut (1⁄2 cup = 1 serving)
*Kimchi (Korean fermented cabbage) (1⁄2 cup = 1 serving) you’ll find it in Asian supermarkets or natural food stores, and some mainstream grocery stores now too. Enjoy it as a side dish with meals.
*Probiotic supplement
With all the choices, there’s no excuses not to get your two servings of probiotics a day. This single thing can improve your health and help you ditch those digestive problems for good!
