My health isn’t something I normally blog about here on my personal blog. I did talk briefly about my alcohol consumption when I hit a wall a couple years back, but I just made another discovery that I think is worth writing in my journal. I have always had a sour, upset, and sensitive stomach. I feel like about 25% of it is my body, with 75% of it being the abuse I’ve inflicted on myself by what I eat and drink. Most days my stomach feel pretty bad, and is something I have usually referred to as the yeast beast in stomach–a beast I’ve fed a steady diet of beer, bread, and meat over the last 25 years.
I’ve heard stories about probiotics on the radio and in the news, but a couple weeks back my daughter shared a story with me of someone she had talked to who had drank beer for years, had stomach problems, and had found relief by taking probiotics–telling me it reminded her of me. After a week of thinking on it I found myself standing in front of the yogurt aisle, looking at the probiotic kefir drinks. I bought a small sampler of one of the honey flavored drinkable yogurts, which is a little weird to choke down at first. However, immediately after drinking the first one, my stomach felt better. I would describe it like a fire extinguisher coating my stomach with foam, suffocating the fire.
Now, after five days of drinking probiotics I continue to notice a significant difference in how my stomach feels. It isn’t some miracle cure, as I think the damage I’ve done will take years to heal, but I feel like I’m able to push back the yeast beast a little each day, and give my stomach a break. Honestly, I can tell the beast is under assault because tries to fight back, but with regular shots of probiotics I am able to maintain the upper hand, where historically I feel like I have been regularly losing the battle. Giving me hope that I can begin to change how my stomach feels, and with some additional changes to my diet, begin to put myself on a more sensible, and healthier track.
I’m definitely not someone to ever feel like I have the fix that others need to adopt. I’m just sharing as part of my own narrative, but if someone else struggles with the same thing, it might be something to consider. I’m not a fan of drinking yogurt. I do not like drinking milk. However, the benefits here are seriously outweighing the downside. We’ll see how things go after a couple of weeks, or months. If things continue as they are I feel like I might win this war against this beast that lives in my belly. Something I’ve fed and was letting grow into something that could easily become life threatening at some point in my life. I never would have thought something as simple as live yogurt would be the fix–sometimes I really am my own worst enemy.
