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Ninety-nine point five percent of the focus of all fitness and nutritional information for muscle gain and fat loss revolves around weightlifting, energy systems work (cardio) and dieting. You can …
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Great article!

I started using probiotics a few months ago and I love the effects it has on my gut.

yeah, whether you take the pills or just make sure that you eat sufficient quanitites of yogurt and fermented foods, it really helps your whole digestive system run a lot cleaner. you should notice that you are less gassy, you crap won’t stink as much, and you should have more energy as wel (also dependant on the quality of the foods you are eating)l.

  
Nice Pete.. Very detailed!! I have 0% fage yogurt a few times a week. 
 
What good probolics do you recommend??
 
Also, I went to a Gastroenterologist and he told me that it is unnecessary to take probiotic because our body already produces it naturally.
 
Then again… I question most doctors, I now believe in the holistic approach (in many cases not all)…
 

our bodies do naturally produce and collect good bacteria as your doc said, but our bodies also aren’t naturally evolved and adapted to dealing with all the crap food we’ve been ingesting over the past few decades. it might be excessive to take probiotics in a pill form, but if you aren’t getting them from good food sources such as yogurt and other fermented foods then i would recommend it.i prefer to get them from food sources as with most things, cause supplements aren’t regulated so you can’t ever really be sure what you’re getting without independent testing.

it’s similar to the multi-vitamin/whole foods debate. yes your body will make them, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to give it a little help and cover your ass just to be sure.

Pete,
what about prebiotics? From what I have read and researched they work synergistically with probiotics to extend and augment the health benefits.
Sean

hey sean, great question.

prebiotics do help augment the effects of probiotics, whether you are getting enough from the foods you are eating or need to supplement them.

for those who don’t know what prebiotics are, they are non-digestible soluble fibers, sometimes known as “fermentable fibers”, such as inulin and oligosaccharides. high fiber foods contain them so if you eat your fruits and veggies, particularly bananas, onions, garlic, flax, whole wheat grains, barley, and dandelion greens, you should be getting plenty. the good bacteria in your gut feed off of these nutrients and that is why they are beneficial.

if you don’t eat a ton of the foods i mentioned (there are others as well) above it wouldn’t be the worst thing you could do to add a prebiotic supplement to your probiotic one.