Re: Bifidobacterium bifidum

[Guest guest]

Pam,

Some people may be okay with bifidus. But many, many people (myself

included) react badly to it. The reason for this is that bifidus is an

opportunistic bug which will overgrow if given half a chance, and yes,

you can have too much of a good thing. And when you do, it becomes a bad

thing, because it's out of balance.

You're correct that most of the information on the web about probiotics

is by people who are selling it, and who therefore have a vested reason

for us to believe that this new! nifty! highly required! strain of

probiotic is the! one! we absolutely! must! Have! (And yes, all those

exclamation points are intentional.)

Yes, I'm sure there's new research out there. But I look at the fact that

" new research " proved that the Haas diet was completely

unnecessary, and that the only thing people with gut issues needed to do

was avoid gluten. In fact, they went and redefined " celiac " as

" gluten intolerant, " instead of the wider definition it had in

Dr. Haas' time.

" New research " has demonstrated conclusively -- ask any

gastroenterologist! -- that diet has nothing to do with gut

disorders.

I came to SCD full of skepticism. I didn't think fanatical adherence was

necessary. I didn't think a number of things Elaine recommended were

necessary. By trial and error, I discovered they were -- when I say that

I made nearly every mistake it was possible to make on the diet during my

first year, I'm not kidding. Some of them were through failure to fully

understand the parameters of the diet. Some of them were failure to read

labels accurately. And some of them were because I set out to prove

Elaine wrong.

Every time I tried to prove Elaine might be wrong, I ended up proving her

right.

Tried the bifidus because there were people raving about how great it was

and that Elaine hadn't paid attention to modern research -- and spent

most of a week recovering. Why don't some people react to it? Maybe

because it's like so many other things that we don't react to until they

are unmasked. I don't know. I know I reacted badly to it. I've known many

other people who reacted badly to it. I've known people who chose to use

it, didn't perceive any difference, chose to stop using it, and got

better.

Tried very hard to come up with an SCD ch-c-l-t-. Didn't work. It wasn't

the sugar or the milk powder. It was the ch-c-l-t- itself which was the

problem. It wasn't until some years later that I found research which

explained WHY c-c-- and ch-c-l-t- was illegal. I just learned to live

without it, although cocoa butter and my new brownie recipe is darn

good.

What I look at is that the lack of bacteria in your gut indicates an

imbalance. Until you correct that imbalance by healing your gut, you're

not going to be able to get or keep an appropriate balance of bacteria in

your gut.

My personal opinion is that the way to heal the gut is to follow SCD, as

written.

Given my personal track record of trying stuff out and finding it didn't

work, and delaying my own healing, I can only say that once I decided to

actually do SCD the way it was written, well, I'd been doing quite well.

But I had a big leap forward in healing when I did it the way it was

written, with allowances for personal tolerance, like my inability to

handle carrots.

There's a tremendous amount we don't know about probiotics. Elaine chose

the ones most likely to help and least likely to overgrow. The choice of

using s. thermophilus, l. bulgaricus, and l. acidophilus in our yogurt,

with l. acidophilus as a supplement has a sixty-year track

record.

If, after healing, you choose to add supplements which aren't SCD, well,

that's your department. It's your choice to follow the naturopath's

recommendation on probiotics.

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

At 08:42 AM 9/23/2010, you wrote:

Okay, first off, I am not questioning that Elaine says not to have

Bifidum! I simply want to understand, to a deeper level, why we shouldn't

include these bacteria. I've read what Elaine writes on BTVC and

understand what she says. I've also read a lot on the Internet this

morning that touts bifidum as being one of the " friendly "

bacteria. Granted, many of these sites were from places pushing

probiotics, and all said basically the same thing (like they were reading

off the same script!). I saw some studies done though, that seem to say

we need bifidum in our guts and that it helps with digestion of

carbohydrates. So, how is it that bifidum is NOT GOOD for people on SCD

(granted that " normal " people might be fine with it)? Do we

need a small amount to naturally be in our gut, but this is an

opportunistic bug that will OVERPOPULATE if we let it, which would cause

adverse reactions? Do we stick with Acidophilus because we know it's the

safest one? How long ago did Elaine do her studies on bifidum, and is

there a chance that new research has been done since she's died?

I'm looking to get off the probiotic I'm on, which includes two strains

of bifidobacterium (bifidum and lactis). Since my Naturopath (who I've

been treated by since just 2 months after starting SCD) has Crohn's, I

chose to follow his regimine even though a few things in the supplements

were illegal. I'm leaning towards though just going the acidophilus

route, because we know that I need that (stool test came back almost nil

on this bacteria in my gut!). However, I like to have LOTS of information

when making a decision, so any help in this is much appreciated!

Thanks!

Pam

www.newfoundsun.wordpress.com

[Guest guest]

Thank you Marilyn for the time it took to write a response. I first off wasn't

aware that the three bugs that are SCD recommended are the ones to least likely

to overgrow. Good info. I also like how you stated that modern research has

said that diet has nothing to do with all of this. HAHAHAHA!!!!

I made the decision today to go off of the 3 supplements that have illegals, for

the next 3, weeks until my next check-up. I would think that, if they were

causing some of my " minor " problems, that I should see a difference in that

time. My problems have not gotten worse in the 8 months that I've been on them,

but they've not gotten better either. Other than those supplements and the

occasional tsp of cream in a cup of coffee, I *think* that I'm am adhering to

the diet as best as my knowledge base allows right now. I have hope of feeling

even better after taking these things out.

I have wanted to take them out for a couple of months, but think I just lacked

the courage. I grew up in a medical world, and so anything not along the " main

medical thinking " is hard for me to swallow. Your information has helped me

feel good about my decision....that I'm doing the right thing for myself. Thank

you.

Pam

www.newfoundsun.wordpress.com

> >

> >

> >Okay, first off, I am not questioning that

> >Elaine says not to have Bifidum! I simply want

> >to understand, to a deeper level, why we

> >shouldn't include these bacteria. I've read what

> >Elaine writes on BTVC and understand what she

> >says. I've also read a lot on the Internet this

> >morning that touts bifidum as being one of the

> > " friendly " bacteria. Granted, many of these

> >sites were from places pushing probiotics, and

> >all said basically the same thing (like they

> >were reading off the same script!). I saw some

> >studies done though, that seem to say we need

> >bifidum in our guts and that it helps with

> >digestion of carbohydrates. So, how is it that

> >bifidum is NOT GOOD for people on SCD (granted

> >that " normal " people might be fine with it)? Do

> >we need a small amount to naturally be in our

> >gut, but this is an opportunistic bug that will

> >OVERPOPULATE if we let it, which would cause

> >adverse reactions? Do we stick with Acidophilus

> >because we know it's the safest one? How long

> >ago did Elaine do her studies on bifidum, and is

> >there a chance that new research has been done since she's died?

> >

> >I'm looking to get off the probiotic I'm on,

> >which includes two strains of bifidobacterium

> >(bifidum and lactis). Since my Naturopath (who

> >I've been treated by since just 2 months after

> >starting SCD) has Crohn's, I chose to follow his

> >regimine even though a few things in the

> >supplements were illegal. I'm leaning towards

> >though just going the acidophilus route, because

> >we know that I need that (stool test came back

> >almost nil on this bacteria in my gut!).

> >However, I like to have LOTS of information when

> >making a decision, so any help in this is much appreciated! Thanks!

> >

> >Pam

> >www.newfoundsun.wordpress.com

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Marilyn, would you send this recipe? I've never seen it posted or maybe I missed it. I need to make something other than comfy belly's strawberry shortcake bc I have NO control with that and I need a little treat. although cocoa butter and my new brownie recipe is darn good.Thanks

>

>

[Guest guest]

Yes, please post it!

Pam

>

> Marilyn, would you send this recipe? I've never seen it posted or maybe I

missed it. I need to make something other than comfy belly's strawberry

shortcake bc I have NO control with that and I need a little treat.

>

> although cocoa butter and my new brownie recipe is darn good.

>

> Thanks

>

> > >

> > >

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

At 12:36 AM 9/25/2010, you wrote:

I have wanted to take them out

for a couple of months, but think I just lacked the courage. I grew up in

a medical world, and so anything not along the " main medical

thinking " is hard for me to swallow. Your information has helped me

feel good about my decision....that I'm doing the right thing for myself.

Thank you.

Pam,

I grew up as a researcher, and a historian of the field of

medicine. So yes, I fully understand what you mean when

encountering something outside main stream medicine.

My reaction is to dig in and try to determine the reasoning behind a

statement. And I try to see where " what everyone knows " might

have its good points or its bad points.

Because I'm skeptical by nature, I've tried most things, and, as you'll

have seen me say multiple times, every time I try to prove Elaine or Dr.

Haas wrong, I end up proving them right.

It's kind of like the discussion we had awhile back about the so-called

" 2% rule " that manufacturers don't have to list an ingredient

if it's less than 2% of the total. Some serious research on the part of

folks on this list determined that there isn't really a 2% rule as such,

but in the course of the digging, we found out that darned near anything

can be called a " processing aid, " and that " processing

aids " don't have to be mentioned in the ingredients, because they're

not ingredients. Uh-huh. Right. They dust every slice of luncheon-sliced

meat with corn starch, to keep it from sticking together while they slice

it and then say there's no starch in our lunch meat....

<sigh>

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle