help with gut bacteria, suggestions please?

[aramaya]

Hi, I was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer last year, took some meds and the pain went eventually, i have had the pain since but it was suggesed to me that I have gut bacteria, basically my stomach seems to make so much noise, I mean sometimes like a washing machine, lol..im not hungry, I drink enough water 2ltrs daily, but some days esp in the morning my tummy is really noisy, lol.I never noticed this before lc, but thats no surprise as it was never empty!!!..I know that the noise is probably it just digesting , I dont have bloat or gas, just the whirling...but I thought that adding some good bacteria maybe would help.I looked on line and its like a minefield to me, most well known probiotics are full of carbs and sugar they also do not seem to have anywhere near enough good bacteria to reduce the bad, this is let alone which bacterias I need!!!!..i dont eat dairy and the thought of taking a live yogurt based culture I find a bit scary for my tummy...so any advice, help would be great..thanks.

[Maddy80]

I read something somewhere (but can't find it now) bout how sauerkraut is a good non-dairy source of probiotics, miso soup too. Also, the fermentation process involved in making sauerkraut is supposed to release and anti carcinogenic too.

[WereBear]

In my neck of the woods (New England, USA) the health food stores have capsules under refrigeration, these are just probiotics, no fillers, and I got good results in a week!

If you took antibiotics for the ulcer, this killed your "digestion colony." Time to repopulate!

Another thing I did to help my digestion heal (going gluten free was a big part of this) was start a course of Betaine HCL to get my stomach acids back in balance. Now I'm digesting like a champ!

[aramaya]

Thankyou very much for the advise..Saurkraut!!! Ill have a look at that:).
Wearbear, im going to have a look in the health food shop for some capsules they sound good..and ill check out the betaine, thankyou hopefully these will sort me in a week like they did for you, good news I cant keep sounding like a washing machine..lol...
Thanks ladies:)..

[rightnow]

Saurkraut and yogurt -- but bear in mind this is only "active culture" stuff -- most of what's in the store won't do much for you if anything.

There are some non-refrigerated very effective probiotics such as 'Pearls' (search amazon), Digest Gold or Trimazyme are both very good digestive supps.

However no supps can compare with a big ol' dose of kefir or something like that, I expect.

PJ

[aramaya]

Thanks rightnow..I just looked at kefir,, the benefits sounds great and its very easy to make, i could use coconut milk...although if im honest when looking through the making process and the thought of something which is fermented like yogurt and cottage cheese texture makes me feel sick, I cant explain it, ive never been able to eat yogurt ive tried and had to run to the toilet within an hour....I must have a problem with fermented products so by what ive read I need something to kill the yeast bacteria and break down the lactose,????..but at the moment I think trying to drink it in that texture would make me feel sick.....!!!..maybe if I try some capsules first then see if it helps to get up to taking kefir...!!...
Thankyou.

[JEY100]

Fermented vegetables are popular in the traditional foods world. Supposedly easy to make, look at Weston Price info and recipes.
http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/lacto-fermentation

But our farmers market has a lady who does all the work for lazy 'ole me. My new favorite is sour beets, in small shreds to add to salads. Latin American curtido is good and spicy. There is a world beyond regular sauerkraut, all fermented without sugars and full of good bacteria.

[indie]

If milk based probiotics dont agree with you, maybe you would like Kimchi?

Its a Korean fermented vegetable mixture that you eat in small doses with your food - kind of like a relish.

[Cocoatime]

Everyone has really good advice. I also second the sour beets recommendation, and sour beet juice. I've found that a lot of probiotic foods are pricey when you buy them, but you can make them yourself at a low cost (and the taste is much better). Real sauerkraut is amazing, and it's easy to make if you want to get into that. If you can get your hands on kefir grains, you can make your own water kefir, which is a probiotic fizzy drink that tastes kind of like soda, but it's actually healthy. Not sure if you like Kombucha, but if you do, that is a good thing to start drinking.

I have a friend who is serious about her probiotics, and she swears by the GAPS system and the supplements they offer. They can be kind of pricey, but it's something to keep in mind if you want to get serious. http://www.gapsdiet.com/Bio-Kult_Probiotic.html

[aramaya]

Wow thanks everyone..:).this site is so full of knowledgable people...
What I find interesting is I havent eaten yogurt, milk or vinegar products par chutney for about 20 years, and these are the things that create good bacteria...I havent worked that out in my head yet but its interesting to me...
Today I rang around some health food shops and looked at all the great links everyone has put up...I found some probiotics tgat have a large amount in them that need refrideration and some granules....so I thought I would take these straight away and then look at making some sort of saurkraut, and start adding something like this or the pickled beets into my diet in a week...
Oh and cocoatime I like the sound of kefir just in water....looking at the suggestion of kefir it sounds good so I may be able to take it far easier in water....
I appreciate all the advice and suggestions, ive never had a bad stomach before this last year and it will be great if some of this works....:).