So next on our list of the foundational five, we've already talked about multivitamins, we've talked about fish oil. This video, we're gonna talk about probiotics. And the next couple of videos we'll handle vitamin D and magnesium. So probiotics, those are the good bacteria that are supposed to be in our gut. Now, a couple of misconceptions about probiotics. Many people feel that when you take a probiotic, you are trying to colonize the gut with what you're taking. I mean, it wouldn't be bad if that happened. I think probably a little bit of that happens. But by and large, the reason you take a probiotic is that on its way through your system, while it's temporarily in there, it changes the environment somewhat. Those bacteria that you put in there, and sometimes nutritional yeast that you put in there, they ferment your food on their way through, and the byproducts of that fermentation set up an environment that's advantageous for your normal flora to kind of grow back and flourish.

(01:08)
And it's an environment that's hopefully not advantageous to the bad guys that you may have in there. Now conceptually, think of your microbiome, kind of like grass in your front or backyard. On a good day, you've got lots of good, healthy grass. It's well watered, it's well nourished, it's nice and green, it's freshly cut, like it looks great. But if you really get down there and dig through it, you're gonna find a few weeds. Everybody has a few weeds. It doesn't matter. They're largely irrelevant. But if something happens to a piece of your yard, let's say one of your sprinkler heads goes bad, and that part of the yard starts to dry out and the grass gets less healthy, now the weeds can take over that patch, and now you've got a weed problem. The weeds were always there, but they were at a disadvantage because the grass was so healthy.

(02:01)
So with probiotics, what we're trying to do is keep the grass really healthy so that the few weeds that are in there can never really take over. That's the goal of a probiotic. So as you take probiotics and they move through and they create the right environment, you want your grass, your sod, your natural microbiome to start to flourish and grow and take over and be strong to kind of competitively push out, um, or tamp down the weeds or the bacteria, whatever that you don't want in there. You'll never likely be completely free of that stuff. It just won't have a meaningful impact on you because yours is so strong. So understanding that, um, probiotics, probiotic supplements are a way for us to replace fermented foods in our diet. We u likely used to eat food that had a lot more bacteria on it. Um, and it wasn't necessarily the pathogenic bacteria that our food tends to get on it.

(03:08)
Now, because we lived in a very different environment, there weren't as many chemicals, there weren't as many antibiotics used. Um, there wasn't a lot of sterilization. It, it was just different, right? So now we've lost our palate for fermented foods. Some people still eat kimchi and sauerkraut and stuff like that. But the way we produce it now, unless you make your own most likely, or maybe get it at the farmer's market, what happens is they produce it, they ferment it, they create this fermented product, then they have to irradiate it to sterilize it, and then they have to sprinkle a little bit of live culture in it and then sell it to you. It's not, it's not truly a product of fermentation that you're eating. It is a, um, stabilized and sterilized fermented product, um, that's not quite as vibrant as it likely would've been a hundred years ago.

(04:00)
Um, and we don't eat 'em much anyway. And I know some of you are like, I eat kimchi, I eat. So that's great, and that, that means you likely are less in need of a probiotic. But by and large, the, the vast majority of the population, the only fermented product they eat is gogurt or yo play yogurt or something like that. That is basically, and it's like melted ice cream with a thickener in it, and they sprinkle a little probiotic in it. So when you take your probiotics, you want them to move through, create a better environment, so on and so forth. So a couple of probiotics that we recommend, uh, at the office and, and typically when we're dealing with intestinal issues, we do what's called a four R program. We remove whatever's offending it. We replace whatever digestive enzymes you're not making on your own.

(04:47)
We re inoculate with the good bacteria of the probiotics, and then we, we repair, we heal the lining of the gut. So it's an integral step in rebalancing, rebooting, rehabbing the, the lower digestive tract. And that has implications in all manner of inflammatory processes, everything from autoimmune issues to immune system function, keeping you healthy, uh, as we, as we come into flu and cold season in the fall, uh, which down here in Texas can't come soon enough. Like it's way too hot down here anyway. Um, so it's an integral part of that. But even on its own, um, one of the products I use is from standard process. I don't have it to show you poor planning on my part. Um, we'll be getting more tomorrow, but I'm making the video today. But it's a product called Proin Biotic, P R O S Y N B I O T I C.

(05:43)
Pros, sin biotic, uh, it's capsule, um, dosage for me. I normally put an average adult on like three a day, one in the morning, two in the evening, something like that. Um, if we're actively working on things, um, if we're going through a four hour or, um, if they've recently had some upset or they took an antibiotic or something like that, we're gonna be doing three a day. I do two of 'em at night just because I like the idea of them going into the digestive tract and sitting still undisturbed all night long until they finally eat in the morning and things start moving again. Does that really make a difference? Is there a bunch of evidence behind that? No, but to me, in my mind, it makes sense. Um, so that's typically how I'll do it Now once people are stabilized, right? And that's really what we're talking here in this foundational five is people that are healthy, they don't have major issues, they've been through whatever they've been through, and now they're just looking to be healthy and maintain and not get themselves in trouble again.

(06:40)
Probably looking at just one or two a day. And in all honesty, I tell people at some point you can take your probiotics kind of like you would've eaten fermented food. Um, some days you have a bunch of it, some days you don't have any of it, like it goes back and forth. It's kind of random. You take some, you don't take some, maybe three or four days a week you throw a couple capsules in there and maybe you take a few days off here and there it becomes kind of random. Um, also you can switch back and forth between a couple of products. You wouldn't always get the exact same blend, um, of probiotics if you were eating, uh, a fermented diet, like some days you'd get one blend and the other days you'd get another blend. So having a couple of different probiotics and either running through one bottle and then switching to another or having a couple of bottles around, just kind of going back and forth.

(07:28)
I think there's a lot of sense to that, especially when you get to maintenance. Um, but pro symbiotic is definitely one of the ones I use. Now, when you are looking at a probiotic, and you will see this in both of the ones that I recommend, it's a multi strain product. You will see some biffidobacteria, you will see some lactobacillus bacteria, um, and sometimes you'll even see something called Sacchromyces Boulardi, which is a yeast. Um, we use that a lot of times it's part of the pro antibiotic, but we use that a lot of times when somebody is taking an antibiotic, a lot of the bacteria will be killed off by the antibiotic. Probably not all of it, but some of it will. But the sacchro myces will survive that. It's kind of immune to antibiotics, so it does keep the environment decent even while you're taking an antibiotic.

(08:17)
Um, and then it does a good job of helping you replenish that afterwards. So, so you should get a multi-strain product. If you buy a probiotic product that is just lactobacillus or just biffido, you can imbalance yourself. Um, there was a big push in the industry years ago, probably 10, 12 years ago, to try to measure everybody's microbiome and find a customized probiotic that fills in the gaps but doesn't, you know, like it fills in the valleys but doesn't accentuate the peaks, right? Like if you've already gotten a lot, bunch of lacto, we're only gonna give you biffido, um, really didn't pan out. They tried. Um, there was actually a company that made like eight different probiotics because they were high or low in, in this blend or that blend or this blend. And, and they were really trying to fit that spot in the market.

(09:02)
As we became able to test our microbiome, the whole thing fell apart. It, it, it seems to be much better to just put a general product in, support the right environment, let your body regrow its own balance and be content with that. Um, the other product that I use is called Probiotic Synergy. Very similar name. This one is Designs for Health, the Pro Symbiotic with Standard Process. I don't know if I mentioned that. The probiotic synergy is from Designs for Health and it comes in two forms. You can get it in a pearl, which is a small round, I mean just basically a little sphere that you can take. Um, or it comes in a powder. And that's really nice because a lot of times with infants or children, we need to use a powder. Now you can open up a pro symbiotic, but that's too much a lot of times for what we want to do with that infant or that toddler.

(09:56)
So you end up opening it using half of it and pitching the other half. Whereas if you have powder in a jar, you can just take a little bit of it out, it's a lot less wasteful. Um, mix it in apple sauce, mix it in yogurt, mix it in breast milk for that matter. Um, and you can start to inoculate the gut and, and set up the right environment in there. Um, when infants are born, hopefully they get some probiotics from mom, but if it's a c-section that's limited. And so for those children, it's very important early on, um, to start to establish an appropriate normal flora and don't let it just randomly develop from the crappy foods that they eat, you know, through their childhood years. Um, anyway, that's getting a little bit off track. So, so those are a couple of probiotics that I recommend here.

(10:41)
Um, and then of course, fermented foods, like there's nothing wrong with doing those. Um, so, so that's what I do for probiotics. And now you kind of understand why I think most people would benefit from having some amount of probiotic coming in on a regular basis. Uh, there may be times when you do a full on dose of it, even up to four a day on the Pro Symiotic, or maybe two or three a day on the probiotic synergy. Um, but I think a lot of times you're just gonna randomly put it in here and there or you know, you didn't eat real well over the weekend or you know, you're going out of town, um, to a new environment. Maybe you're going outta the country for a couple of weeks. So a week or two ahead of time you load yourself up with some probiotics and make sure that you've really kind of fortified everything in there so that you're more resistant to trouble, um, as you go on your trip, uh, where, like I said, if you have to take antibiotics or something like that. So just be aware that that's how you would use probiotics. So that takes care of number three out of the foundational five. Next couple of videos we're gonna talk about vitamin D and Magnesium. So wherever you're finding this video, look around, you'll see those as usual. You can call My Office Information's on the website and we can set you up with these or go to my website. The upper right corner, there's

A menu item that says Store. You can click on that and get to either standard process or designs for health, um, and be able to order directly from them. You'll see both probiotics pretty easily in there. Pro symbiotic for standard process probiotics, synergy for Designs for Health, and that one's the one that comes in the powder. Uh, if you don't want to swallow a tablet or if you have a child, can't. Um, anyway, so there you go. Uh, if you have any questions about probiotics, give the office a shout. Uh, we'll be happy to help you out with that. Have a good one.