Walking through the aisles of my local health food store, the Williamson Street Co-op, I’ve often been tempted by the claims of exotic yoghurts and “probiotic” drinks like Kefir, that contain strains of Lactobacillus and a number of other “good” bacteria. It turns out a number of these bugs produce and release into our gut neuroactive compounds such as GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, and serotonin, a mood regulator. Dinan et al. do a review article on what they term psychobiotics (organisms that alleviate psychiatric illness)
this is a mixture of probiotic food and anti inflammatory food and supplements…that i take .
they heal the stomach ( our second brain )…which helps calm our ’ big ’ brain in the head.
yakult…first thing in the morning
tumeric
coconut oil
serrapeptase…pill
unhulled tahini paste
sauerkraut
fermented tomato products…organic
organic apple cider vinegar
pure lemon and hot water tea
green tea
hawthorn berry tea
pau d’arco tea
american indian tea
ginger tea…nettle tea
a tonne of yoghurt and soft cheeses
tofu
king oscar wild sardines…very high in omega 3s’
triphala…3 herbs…indian…pill
garlic…etc
hope this helps
take care
The meds are likely the #1 issue, esp. if you have to take Cogentin along with them. BUT… if you still eat / drink dairy products, you might want to take a month off to see what happens. Every dietitian I know says most people should stop dairy by age 50 if they have been on anti-pyschotics or anti-BIOtics for any length of time.
Actually, it seems like some (many?) who are otherwise lactose intolerant can eat aged cheeses and not get the awful bloat and tummy gas symptoms typical of eating other forms dairy products. (I am one of them.) One has to experiment.
I started taking probiotics because they help with my diverticular disease. I started with yogurt and didn’t notice it helped that much (yogurt bacteria isn’t that ‘bioavailable’). I started buying the fancy referigerated ones and noticed that my gut was immediately better. I also noticed I was having less anxiety and my mood swings were less extreme.The problem was that this was expensive. A friend tipped me off about the following:
Homemade fermented sauerkraut made with raw cabbage is LOADED with probiotics. I brew my own now and get the same benefit I did from buying probiotics for pennies on the dollar. A word of warning – don’t try to live on this stuff. Cruciferous veggies contain goitrogens. Cooking cabbage removes anywhere between 75-90% of them. Fermenting raw cabbage doesn’t remove any at all. Goitrogens prevent the uptake of iodine by your thyroid, so if you’re going to consume a lot of fermented crucifers, have your doctor check your thyroid if you start feeling ‘off’. I limit myself to a cup per day and use it as a condiment during meals or a small snack between.
