Which probiotic do you need for your GI issues?

Dr. Heather: [00:00:00] Hey, welcome to the love your gut podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Heather Finley. I know what you’re thinking. How am I supposed to love my gut? When all it does is hold me back. I thought the same thing before I found my own relief from my own gut health issues. I dedicated my life to getting to the bottom of my own gut issues so I could help women just like you transform theirs.

Now I’m here to guide you through your own gut health journey. We do this through identifying your root causes and making sustainable and transformational changes. As a result, you can unleash your true potential. My goal is to empower you with the information and tools you need to love your gut so it loves you back right here on this podcast.

Okay. Y’all we are back.

Picking up this mic again. I know that many of you have messaged me asking what happened to the podcast. When are [00:01:00] you coming back? I did not plan to take this long of a podcast break, but here we are. I think the last published episode that I have Was in December.

It is now the end of August. So again, definitely planned on only taking a few months off, but there has been a lot going on in the

Dr. Heather: meantime, which is why the break has been longer than expected. So just some quick life updates, and then I really want to get into. Probiotics. One of the most common questions that I get is should I be taking a probiotic for my GI issues?

Why do probiotics make me feel worse, et cetera. So if you’re curious about probiotics and how they might help you or when would be a good time or what type of probiotic to take, you are definitely going to want to tune [00:02:00] into this episode. But really quick, just some life updates. So many of you probably already saw, but I announced on Instagram recently that I am actually pregnant, hence the extremely long break.

Right when I planned to come back to the podcast, I found out I was pregnant at the beginning of the year or a couple months into the year. And I was so sick. So it was just one of those things where I needed to do. What I needed to do to keep the business running and all the extra stuff, just had to take a break.

I then spent the summer working, but working a little bit more strategically as I had children home with me from school, which was honestly just so So great to be able to have the flexibility to spend extra time with my kids this summer, especially knowing that there is a baby coming. So I am due in November.

[00:03:00] No, we do not know what we are having. We are the crazy people that never find out. So this is baby number three. I know many of you followed along last year, last fall, I experienced a loss and that actually. Started this cascade of other crazy things. And so anyways, that could be an episode for another time, but I am just so grateful to be where I’m at.

I am now it’s 28 ish, 29 weeks. So we are getting close. We are like 10, 11, 12, maybe 13 weeks away. I tend to cook my babies for quite a long time. So do at the beginning of November, middle November. But definitely expect that I may not have this baby on time, although you never know.

It is the third. We shall see. But I’m excited to do some polls on Instagram and see. What you guys think, is it a girl or is it a boy? Will I be on time? Will I be [00:04:00] late? All that kind of fun stuff. So we’ll keep you posted on that. Probably plan to do at least some kind of pregnancy and GI episode, because I do get lots of questions about that.

Pregnancy, constipation, UTIs, all that kind of stuff, but let’s get started with probiotics. So I’ll share with you just a personal story. I remember when I got my first clinical job, I was working at a hospital. So it was a very young, new dietitian. My GI issues were at their absolute worst. And honestly, this is when probiotics were not.

Really talked about. It was, they were a new phenomenon which is probably aging myself, but here we are. Probiotics were a new thing. And I remember sitting at my hospital job, I was like browsing the health related news. And I came across this article about soil based probiotics and they were touted to be [00:05:00] this like miracle cure and, reduce your bloating and.

Improve your constipation and all this kind of stuff. I had also just found out that I had thyroid issues and I think that’s actually how I stumbled upon the blog was because I was looking at like natural alternative treatments for thyroid issues and how I could support myself. So through that rabbit hole ended up on this article about soil based probiotics.

Of course, being that I was completely desperate to feel better. I ordered these probiotics online. I remember they came in. I was so uncomfortable after taking them. And I honestly hear this story from clients all the time. There is a huge misconception online that taking a probiotic is the key to fixing your gut issues.

If you’ve had GI issues for really any amount of time, you probably already know this, and it’s a bit more complicated than just taking probiotics or, taking [00:06:00] this pill which is what we work with all of our clients on. But I remember taking this probiotic. I was So miserable. I was so bloated.

I had tons of gas. I was like, I don’t know if I can continue taking this. And to be honest, I don’t really remember what I ended up doing. But definitely remember just the discomfort that I felt. And like I said, this is something that we hear a ton. So I want to dig into Why that is how to prevent this when you should take probiotics and all that kind of stuff.

So first let’s start by just defining a probiotic. Probiotics are live microorganisms that when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit to the host. So what that actually means is they are live bacteria or organisms that help to improve your health. And you typically ingest them.

Either via supplementation or many foods contain probiotics and I’ll get [00:07:00] into all of that, but probiotics, there’s trillions and trillions of bacteria in your gut. You have anywhere from two to five pounds of bacteria in your gut, which is pretty crazy. Lots of different types and everybody’s got makeup is different.

So you might have different types of bacteria than somebody else. And same thing with probiotic supplementation. If you go to Whole Foods and you see a probiotic on the shelf, you have to read the label because it might contain strains that are completely different than the one that’s next to it.

The thing that gets confusing for a lot of people is the difference between prebiotics and probiotics. So I want to define prebiotics. Prebiotics are the non digestible food ingredients that selectively stimulate the growth of Beneficial microorganisms in the gut. So some common sources are fibers like inulin resistant starches.

So like cooked and [00:08:00] cooled potatoes, cooked and cooled rice, garlic, onions, bananas, asparagus. The interesting thing about this is a lot of the foods that most people eliminate when they have GI issues are prebiotic foods because they are fermentable fibers. But prebiotics are essential to proper gut health because they feed the good bacteria.

And help them to thrive in your gut. So I think it can be argued and the literature shows this, that prebiotics are more important than probiotics because they’re the actual food source. And without the food source, probiotics are not going to survive. The last definition that I want to give you is a symbiotic.

You’ve probably heard of seed. It’s a really popular symbiotic that a lot of influencers talk about on Instagram. This is in no way shape or form sponsored by seed. I’m not endorsing them. I’m just using it as an example, but seed is an example of a [00:09:00] symbiotic. It is a combination of probiotics and prebiotics that are designed.

To synergistically improve the survival and activity of beneficial microorganisms. So basically what this means is that a symbiotic contains the food source. So the prebiotic as well as the microorganism. So the probiotic, so this can be a great option. If you don’t consume prebiotic fibers regularly, but it can be a lot for somebody with GI issues to start taking a symbiotic, like right off the bat.

We hear that from clients a lot. We’re like, Oh, I got Instagram ad targeted for this symbiotic. Maybe it was seed, maybe it was something else. And it destroyed my gut. A lot of times it’s because it’s just too much and the dose is too strong. So let’s talk about why probiotics will not fix your GI issues.

The reason [00:10:00] that probiotics will not fix your GI issues is gut issues are often multifactorial. They involve a lot of different steps. If you think about your digestion, it starts really with your thoughts about food and salivation. And food goes all the way through your digestive tube, from your mouth all the way to your rectum.

where everything exits. So one of the things that my team and I would boast are really good at is evaluating all the steps of digestion, looking at things like low stomach acid, poor digestion, whether that’s from a liver gallbladder standpoint or a pancreatic standpoint, looking at gut motility, looking at gut brain disturbances, looking at bacterial imbalances, There are a lot of steps of digestion that have to happen before food ever ends up in the colon where [00:11:00] the primary amount of your probiotics are housed.

About 70 percent of your bacteria is housed in your colon. So this is why, or one of the reasons why you may take a probiotic and feel horrible because there’s a lot of. Steps of digestion that have to happen before your food ever ends up in your colon. So we want to really consider this like North to South digestive process, starting with like proper chewing, relaxing at meals, meal hygiene is what we refer to this as salivation, Then stomach acid production and secretion enzyme production, then bile flow for fat digestion.

Speaker 2: Interrupting this episode really quick to ask you what your plans are on September 4th. I am hosting an absolutely free training called three secrets to optimize your gut [00:12:00] health, hormones, and energy. So I love for you to join me. The link to join is in the show notes below, but if you are looking to finally understand exactly what’s causing your GI issues, your hormone issues, and your low energy, you definitely want to be there.

I also have some amazing giveaways for those of you that can join live. I’ll be giving you my free. Free beat the bloat guide that usually is just available to clients. So go ahead, click the link in the show notes. And I would love for you to join us next Wednesday for the free training……

Now, back to the episode.

Dr. Heather: Then we get to the small intestine, then we get to the large intestine. So probiotics are going to be more effective once these foundational aspects of digestion are addressed because without proper digestion foods, food ends up undigested in the colon. It ferments, it overgrows, it causes gas production.

[00:13:00] And that’s what leads you to feel extremely uncomfortable. So probiotics are something that we got together, use with our clients quite often, but actually not till later phases of healing. So it would be pretty rare for us to meet with someone for the first time. Yeah. And put them on a probiotic, unless it’s for something really specific, like a UTI or whatever it might be.

We may use kind of some of the like fighter probiotics, like Saccharomyces boulardii, for example, which technically is a yeast, not a probiotic, but we’re just going to lump that in there. Or who 58 is a spore based probiotic that we use. And I’m going to talk more about these later on. But both of these have more kind of antimicrobial properties, and that can be beneficial in early phases of gut healing.

But we’re not necessarily going to use some really robust like spore based probiotic or anything like that in the beginning, because like I said, it’s [00:14:00] just too much. So the question becomes, what about probiotics in food? Are they beneficial? So I want to first define what actually is a probiotic rich food, because there’s a lot of confusion.

A lot of times people think that if they drink kombucha or they eat sauerkraut, they’re getting a probiotic rich food. And you may be getting probiotics from these foods, but technically by definition kombucha and other fermented foods, although they may contain live bacteria, they don’t always meet the definition for a probiotic because the strains have not been proven to confer a health benefit to the host.

So if we go back to the definition of probiotics, they have to confer a health benefit and you cannot guarantee the amount of probiotic. That is available when consumed. When you’re drinking your kombucha or whatever it might be. So there’s still beneficial for lactic acid, [00:15:00] overall gut health.

I’m not saying don’t eat these foods. However, these would not be considered probiotic rich foods. Whereas something like yogurt, something like cottage cheese, these can be. Most often classified as probiotic rich foods because we know what probiotics are in them. It’s on the label. If you look at your yogurt label, it should say like lactobacillus or something along those lines that you probably can’t pronounce.

So these would be considered a probiotic rich food because we can see what probiotic is in it. We know how it was made, et cetera. So you don’t know exactly how much you’re getting. Of course a probiotic supplement is going to be a bit more consistent. For that reason, but it can be really beneficial to consume both fermented foods and probiotic rich foods.

Even if you’re just consuming [00:16:00] little amounts every single day, let’s talk about four reasons why probiotics are making you feel worse. So you can troubleshoot your symptoms here. The first reason is low levels of beneficial bacteria. So I mentioned that you have two to five pounds of gut bacteria.

And, or bacteria in your gut, if you have too few good bacteria or you have too many unwanted bacteria, so both of these could be described as dysbiosis. This can make the process of introducing probiotics extremely overwhelming to your system. This can lead to lots of symptoms like bloating gas discomfort.

So you definitely want to either a introduce the probiotics. Extremely slowly. I’ll talk about this more at the end of the episode or wait until you’ve addressed the imbalances in the gut. We tend to like starting with a [00:17:00] fiber source that is not as fermentable. So something like sun fiber regular girl fiber, et cetera, is usually pretty well.

Tolerated by our clients in a really small dose, like an eighth of a teaspoon at a time, because that’s going to encourage the growth of beneficial bacteria. And we can do that before we introduce a probiotic. So that’s kind of part reason number one and two. So you either have low levels of beneficial bacteria, or you have an overgrowth of bad bacteria.

This could also include things like yeast. So if you have SIBO, CFO Candida probiotics can exacerbate your symptoms. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re doing harm. It just means that your gut isn’t tolerating it, but it doesn’t mean that you’re like necessarily making things worse. The third reason would be histamine production.

So if you struggle with breaking down histamine, which [00:18:00] a lot of people do, fun fact, we’re One of the enzymes that are the main enzyme in which you break down histamine DAO is produced in your gut lining. So the worse off your gut is, or the quote unquote leakier your gut is, the less DAO you’re going to produce, the more issues you might have with histamine, which could result in like headaches, rashes, allergy type symptoms.

But some probiotics. actually produce histamine, which can trigger symptoms like headaches, anxiety insomnia, digestive distress, if you are a sensitive individual. So there are specific probiotics that are low histamine. One is the pure encapsulations 50 B probiotic. Spore based probiotics are typically okay for Those that have trouble with histamine.

I’ll talk about spores in a little bit. And then the last reason is this overload of fermentation. So if you take [00:19:00] too many probiotics, this can lead to a lot more fermentation in your gut, causing gas, bloating, cramping, again, not necessarily a bad thing because we want fermentation in the gut, but you low and slow is the motto here.

So you want to gradually increase your dose. So those could be some of the reasons that probiotics are making you feel worse and could indicate the potential need for you to take a step back, work with somebody, address the underlying other gut issues that you have. And then you can repopulate your gut with beneficial bacteria in a later stage.

I want to take some time to break down spore based probiotics and their role. So I mentioned at the beginning how I came across the article that was talking about soil based probiotics and tried them and, had a really bad experience. And, since [00:20:00] then have. Had a much better experience with spore based probiotics, but spore based probiotics are pretty hot on the market right now.

And for a good reason, in my opinion some examples of spore based probiotics are bacillus coagulans, bacillus subtilis. There are five main spores. You may have heard of the brand microbiome labs again, not sponsored, just mentioning this. They have a product called mega spore biotic. This contains the five main spores.

But spores are really popular because they can they can survive the acidic environment of the stomach and effectively colonize the gut. They can also really support the immune system and help with short chain fatty acid production and support inflammation. And the reason that there can be a little bit of controversy, I would say around probiotics is there’s been a lot of research showing that there’s a let’s say you did go to whole foods and you [00:21:00] went to the refrigerated section and you bought a probiotic.

Maybe you bought like the most potent one that was there, but it has to be refrigerated. Knowing that the stomach is highly acidic, do these probiotics actually survive the acidity of the gut? Are we wasting our money? Are you literally flushing money down the toilet for lack of a better analogy? Are these things actually helping you or is it just a waste of money?

And so there’s a lot of controversy. Of course, it’s going to depend on the brand. Of course, it’s going to depend on the person, et cetera, but spores are having their moment because of how they can survive the harsh environment of the stomach. This is also why perhaps you’ve maybe taken a probiotic before and noticed no benefit.

Maybe it’s not even surviving your gut at all. Maybe it’s not doing anything. So spore based probiotics are often used in cases of gut [00:22:00] imbalances or dysbiosis, as we like to call it, or when there’s a need to like repopulate, reset the gut, whether you’re going through some kind of gut healing protocol, whether this is like after antibiotic use, et cetera.

Just to go a little bit further on this probiotic analogy. So I always like to explain probiotics like this. So a live and active culture probiotic. So this would be most likely a refrigerated Probiotic, not a spore. These are like those found in yogurt. They may not colonize the gut long term, but they do provide benefits while they are present.

So they can help with managing really acute symptoms like traveler’s diarrhea, constipation. Stress, et cetera. So an example of this would be Saccharomyces boulardii. Again, it’s a yeast strain, but this is really beneficial for travelers, diarrhea, or [00:23:00] preventing yeast infections while you’re on antibiotics.

So these live and active culture probiotics. They act more like travelers. So they enter your gut, they eat the food, they take a picture, they see the sites, and then they leave. Whereas a spore based probiotic kind of acts more like a colonizer. So it’s going to come in to your gut, it’s going to pitch a tent, and then it’s going to continue pitching tents.

And obviously pending. That it has a food source, Allah, a prebiotic, it will stay for much longer and it has the ability to shift the culture of the gut, if that makes sense. So like I mentioned, the live and active cultures, these strains are very important to understand because there’s tons of different strains, but the strain matters.

So if you have a UTI. You would want to [00:24:00] use the strain Lactobacillus rudery, or there’s other strains that have been researched for this. Or if you have traveler’s diarrhea, you would want to use, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, you would want to use Saccharomyces boulardii, etc. So it’s very important to keep in mind that part of the reason that probiotics either aren’t working for you, or are causing symptoms is you haven’t matched the strain to the condition.

Whereas with spores, you’re just overall overhauling the gut. So let’s talk about some of the common symptoms with both and then how to troubleshoot. So the main symptom is this like Herxheimer reaction. So maybe you start feeling bloated, you start feeling tired, crampy, fatigue, et cetera.

Sometimes you can have a temporary worsening of symptoms due to the die off of harmful bacteria. So again, just because you’re having symptoms doesn’t necessarily [00:25:00] mean that it’s a bad thing. So making sure that you’re staying hydrated. Making sure that you’re having a daily bowel movement, sweating every day, opening your detox pathways, eating lots of foods to support your liver can be really helpful, getting enough sleep, all of that.

And then consider just lowering the dose. So a lot of times with spore based probiotics, when we introduce these with clients, we have them go really slow. We may have them take like a capsule. Every other day, every third day, or maybe we have them open a capsule and we have them mix it in with yogurt or applesauce or something.

Sometimes we have clients that are so sensitive that we literally have them open the capsule and lick the powder. And that’s their dose for the day. So just because you’re taking a small amount doesn’t mean that it’s not effective. It’s really important to. Start with a low dose and making sure you’re taking it at the right time, especially spores they’re activated by [00:26:00] stomach acid.

So it’s better to take them with a meal. And slow is the motto. So let me walk you through some of my favorite probiotic options, just to give you some ideas. So the first one is a spore based probiotic. It’s called who 58. This is a specific spore based strain that is known for its resilience.

And it’s ability to support gut health and harsh environment. So this specific sport kind of acts like an antimicrobial. So it’s a natural antibiotic. It helps to kill off unwanted bacteria. This can be great. If you have SIBO, if you have dysbiosis, if you have H pylori, if you have something that you know of in your gut that needs to not be there.

The next option is something called restore flora. This is one of the most commonly used probiotics by our team, especially in beginning stages. It actually does have the who 58 strain in it, but it also has Saccharomyces boulardii, which you’ve heard me [00:27:00] mention a couple of times in this episode, which can be really beneficial for.

Antibiotic use, managing gut dysbiosis h Pylori, et cetera. The big gun that we use a lot is MegaSpore Biotic. This is the one that I mentioned that has all five spores. It’s the only product that I’m aware of that is on the market that has all five spores. There are other products that have three spores or four spores, but MegaSpore Biotic has all five, which is really great.

So it’s really popular. It can help just recondition the gut. This is the one that people tend to have the most trouble with. So please don’t just go by this and take the full dose and hope for the best. You definitely need to make sure that this is right for you. And then of course we have. Live and active culture probiotics that would be used for specific circumstances.

So like I mentioned, maybe we would use a Bifido probiotic Bifido bacterium [00:28:00] probiotic therabiotic factor four is one that we use a lot for constipation because it has a lot of Bifido strains in it. Maybe we will use like the Jero women’s vaginal health. Probiotic for somebody with a UTI, maybe we would use flora store for travelers, diarrhea or antibiotic induced diarrhea.

So you definitely with the live and active culture probiotics want to match the strain to the condition. So just keeping in mind, as you’re digesting the information from this podcast, that gut health is highly individualized. Probiotics are also highly individualized and personalized.

And so it’s really important to consult a healthcare provider before starting a probiotic. Not everybody needs to be taking a probiotic constantly. That’s one of the questions that we get a lot is should I just take spores for the rest of my life? We like to rotate them in and [00:29:00] out so that you’re not taking them all the time.

If you eat enough, fibrous prebiotic foods, you should support the growth and kind of maintenance of bacteria in your gut. However, there can be circumstances where adding in spores or live inactive cultures can be really helpful. So it’s helpful to work with somebody assess what’s going on in your gut, use specific strains for specific things et cetera.

So I hope that this is helpful. I would love it. If you would send me a message with any questions that you have let me know how you enjoyed this episode. If you want to leave a rating and review if you’re happy that the show is back, I’d Please, I would love it if you would do that and I will catch you next time on the next episode of the love your gut podcast.

Thanks for tuning in.

As always, please note that this episode or [00:30:00] anything discussed on this podcast is not a substitution for medical advice, and you should always consult your health practitioner before trying anything new

Speaker: Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the love your gut podcast. I’d love to help you understand why you’re bloated. And so that is why I have created my free quiz. Why am I bloated in this quiz? You will learn what could potentially be causing your bloat and what you can actually do to fix it.

So if you want to learn why you’re bloated and how to fix it, visit drheatherfinley. co backslash quiz, or visit the link in the show notes. I’ll see you next time.

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