hey! i know dairy is not good for us. i was vegan for a bit a while ago, now i am just trying to heal some tummy problems and starting my raw journey.

I have bad mucus and i do believe cutting out dairy helps this... but some people say yoghurt (organic/unsweetened) has probiotics that can help your flora gut and help weak tummies.

Does anyone have any advice on this? ... I havent eaten yoghurt for a while, But have just started eating it again (natural) just temporary to see if it can help aid digestion.

This might sound like a stupid question on a raw food forum, I am aiming to be mostly raw, and am loving my raw journey but i have ALOT of clearning out to do! So I was wondering if yohgurt would help at all along the way... or should i just leave it alone?

How about some fermented foods instead? I've got a fermenting jar called The Perfect Pickler that makes great living "pickles" in about 4 days.

Agree with coco--homemade sauerkraut is awesome, as is homemade or storebought kombucha, or water kefir. Bonus--unlike dairy, cultured plant foods are not mucus-producing!

Neither, I believe, are they acidifying to the body (a process that leaches alkaline minerals like calcium from the bones).

coco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Neither, I believe, are they acidifying to the
> body (a process that leaches alkaline minerals
> like calcium from the bones).


Neither? They? do you mean dairy products? and what do you mean by acidifying. Raw Keifer and Raw Yogurt is extremely alkalizing and full of calcium although we are talking about store bought stuff.


Gems, animal products cause disease, and imo should be used sparingly only in an emergency and only by people in very good health. Unfortunately in our society it is not always easy for us raw vegans to get by. Coco had some good advice and imo Raw Sauerkraut is the best or just use some probiotics. People with such issues should take them three times a day generally two pills or too bowel tolerence, get a good fiber too!

Sorry for the confusion, yes I did mean dairy products are acidifying to the body. I couldn't tell you if raw dairy is different because you simply cannot easily get raw dairy of any kind or even real research on it. Maybe Ron Paul knows, lol!
When you think about it though, how odd is it to consume the breastmilk of another species? Doesn't that seem like a strange thing to do? The idea of a grown cow nursing from my breasts is just too bizarre to even really conceptualize :/.

"Raw Yogurt is extremely alkalizing" My quote

Your quote coco, "I couldn't tell you if raw dairy is different because you simply cannot easily get raw dairy of any kind or even real research on it"

There is research on it and they sell it in powdered form to alkalize you and as a general nutrient/protien.

Hmm. I'm sure there is a better choice than the powdered breastmilk of another species. I'm thinking I'll go with green juice/smoothies myself.

If you're interested in adding probiotics to your diet, you can prepare 100% vegan kefirs using just water, coconut water, coconut milk or other nut milks. Probiotics are actually just good bacteria that ferment the sugars in whatever product you add them to, so they dont necessarily need animal milk to work their magic.

Below you may findsome neat recipes that can help you prepare your own probiotic drinks:

[rawfoodhealthwatch.com]
[rawfoodhealthwatch.com]

If you try them, let me know how they turn out!

Keeping it raw at [rawfoodhealthwatch.com]

Despite the fact dairy contains calcium, the acidifying nature of it causes higher amounts of calcium to be passed through the urine, as the body leeches minerals to neutralize it. The countries with the highest rate of dairy consumption also have the highest rates of osteoperosis.

Three yummy non-dairy amazing probiotic alternatives not yet mentioned: kombucha, kimchi, and miso. <3

Dairy is also associated with lots of other negative symptoms, like impaired brain function. =\ Even if there are some probiotics in yogurt, it's not worth -everything- else that comes along with ingesting dairy products.

If you absolutely love the texture/taste, there is a slightly more involved alternative: scrape a young coconut and blend with fruit of your choice, plus a few caps of acidophilus. Dehydrate for 8-10 hours... and you will have THE BEST YOGURT ever. You can also blend acidophilus with soaked nuts and water to desired consistency, and leave on the counter 1-2 days in a dish to ferment, you'll end up with something cheesy/like yogurt (try adding sea salt!).

Good luck!

wow thank you so much i love this forum... all the info above is so helpful and i will take it on board. i eat alot of fruit veg (fiber) and take acidiphilus capsules... i was taking 4 after dinner... does anyone else have any recomendations... someone said i think 2 caps. 3 times a day? with meals?

phantom... "You can also blend acidophilus with soaked nuts and water to desired consistency, and leave on the counter 1-2 days in a dish to ferment, you'll end up with something cheesy/like yogurt (try adding sea salt!)." .... sounds lovely! gona try it!

thanks everyone ... i agree that it feels wrong to drink another animals milk, and was strict vegan before... but now im focusing healing my 'IBS' problems.... then step by step i can adjust my body to a raw vegan diet listening to my body as i go i will get there

gems,

I would say take probiotics on an empty stomach, preferably first thing in the morning and before bed. Taking probiotics after a meal is counterproductive, I think.

My boyfriend, who is also healing his digestive tract, prefers fermented food to any other option because the food goes to the colon, and he feels like that delivers the probiotics most effectively. Otherwise, I would second taking capsules on an empty stomach.

When I was pregnant my midwife told me that even yougurt that says it's probiotic, really doesn't have that much in it. She said they only have enough to say it's in there.

I brew kombucha at home.

Thx for those recipies vegmichelle.. cool

Rzman - Can you tell me where you got the info that yoghurt is 'extremely alkalising' please? I knew that cow's milk is slightly alkaline, as is human milk (which by the way, sets a good precedent that our diet should be made up of alkaline foods for life). Anyway, I was under the impression that every other dairy product, such as yoghurt and cheese were very acid???

thanks for the info on probiotics.... its interesting you say to have probiotics on empty stomach, because on the container they come on it says take with meals... i really dont know!

does anyone know what the probiotics actually do, and then is it best to take on an empty stomach (to help build up good bactiria inside) or with food (to help break down food)...

gems,

Are they probiotics or digestive enzymes? Probiotics don't help break down food as you are eating; digestive enzymes and acids do.

I would definately stay away from most yogurt,especially if it has aspartame and corn syrup.
Most do.

Or gelatin. Even unflavoured yogurt has that stuff in it, blech!

All great info for gems! I did say two capsules three times a day for most Probiotics especially with IBS or and constipation. And remember constipation can be just going one time a day! It is healthy to move the bowels more than once a day. Also, do a high quality Probiotic like Primal Defense! Even more important imo is to do a bitter herb or some-kind of herbs before you eat so as to compeletely digest your food. Good bacteria like well digested food! lol, the bad guys like the undigested food. I'll give you this simple formula that is really good for digestine and many other kinds of health challenges. It's simple and cheap, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1/8 tsp. turrmeric, a pinch of cumin, and a pinch of corriander. These should all be powders and put this in warm water and drink 1/2 hour before a meal three times a day. Also should be fresh and organic, it's cheap if you have a store with Frontier bulk herbs.

If you take good care to digest your food and have a good diet with multiple bowel movements a day you can cut back on the probiotics to the recomended dosage, or preferably not at all. Healthy people don't need probiotics imo and they are not cheap. PS don't take anything with Gelatin tablets.

I think the reason probiotics should be taken with food is to aid them getting to the small intestine without them being broken down by the acid in the stomach. By including food you introduce another substance for the stomach acid to work on. As I understand it probiotics are only as good as the capsule they are in - ie - they have to be able to withstand the rigours of the stomach acid to reach the small intestine. There is a lot of rubbish sold as probiotic which actually probably gets destroyed in the stomach. (this is my experience in the UK - you need a slow release capsule, not some milk drink with probiotics added - someone's laughing all the way to the bank)

thank you the probiotics i have, is holland and barrats (uk) acidiphilius. ok i will recomendations above

What about raw goat kefir only sweetened by honey or maple syrup? (Not advocating for animal products but if someone wants to take fermented foods, this is an option, of course).

You could make your own grain based, dairy-free yogurt in order to keep the good bacteria. Check out this website for the recipe: [vegpeace.org]

Gems - i don't know about the Holland and Barratt probiotics.

I use OptiBac for daily well being and am having great results with them. They do one specially designed for IBS etc

[www.optibacprobiotics.co.uk]

If you are having problems with IBS (and I have too in the past) I would avoid too many nuts or sprouted seeds /lentils anything like that - they are so very difficult to digest. That was my experience anyway - My tummy would swell up like I was about to give birth and the pain was horrible.

I agree with a comment above that a healthy person doesn't need probiotics but they are a very helpful tool on your journey to great health.

thanks flipperjan! and i will check the link miriamkb. thanks

What a great forum for cool healthy recipies

banana who Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What about raw goat kefir only sweetened by honey
> or maple syrup? (Not advocating for animal
> products but if someone wants to take fermented
> foods, this is an option, of course).

You can do this but you risk terrible sickness or even undetected pathogens entering your body. Also with IBS I would avoid sugar until stronger, Fungas could be and probably is part of the issue.