Why I WILL Have Fermented Foods on My Blog – Probiotic Experiment Update

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I was told I was allergic to fermented foods. But an expert in probiotics challenged me to take huge doses of fermented food probiotic to clean up my gut. Find out what happened next.

So, it’s been 10 days since I last wrote about probiotics and fermented foods.

I’ve started my experiment by taking more heavy-duty probiotics, and I’m here to give you an update on how my gut and fermented foods are getting along.

Keep reading to get all the juicy details :).

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My Experiment with Fast Tract–Liquid Fermented Food Probiotic

At the end of Why I Don’t Have Fermented Foods on My Blog, I told you that I was ordering more of the heavy duty liquid probiotics, Fast Tract.  I was still feeling a little timid about taking 1 whole bottle per week, so I ended up ordering just two bottles.

I decided to try a gradual step up in taking the Fast Tract to make sure I wasn’t overwhelming my system, and to hopefully avert intense die off, if that was, in fact, what I was experiencing.

Keep in mind, that the recommended daily dose for Fast Tract is 2 Tablespoons, and Czerral (the maker of Fast Tract and InLiven) recommended that I take 1 bottle each week for a total of 4 weeks.  That equates to 8.5 Tablespoons per day.  Wow–that’s more than 1/2 a cup. Yikes!

Here’s the play-by-play on how it’s going.

Step One – Waiting

When I wrote my post, I only had one bottle of Fast Tract.  I was taking a tad than the recommended daily dosage (2 tablespoons) every other day, alternating with a daily dose (1 heaping teaspoon) of Miessence’s Powdered Superfood Probiotic, InLiven.

I held pretty steady at those dosages and felt pretty much the same as I did at the end of my post.

Except that my ears weren’t itching when I took the Fast Tract or the InLiven anymore. And overall, the itching was pretty minor.

When the ear itching was bad, it was sometimes on and off, but happened almost every day. Some days it was almost constant and for some long stretches it would itch all day, and the insides of my ears were continually peeling.

On the Fast Tract / InLiven daily dose regimen, I now had minimal symptoms.

Step Two – Gradual Increase

The Fast Tract arrived on 5/20.  Here is what has been happening since:

5/21 – 3 Tablespoons of Fast Tract

  • Lots of gas and a very “gurgly” stomach.
  • Itching ears immediately after taking Fast Tract.
  • Not hungry pretty much all day after breakfast. My appetite has been an issue on and off for the past few months, but this day I felt notably “full” all day.
  • Loose stools

5/22 – 4 Tablespoons of Fast Tract

  • Lots and lots of gas and much more intense “gurgling.” To the point that I feared it might keep me up at night, but it didn’t.  I do take supplements to sleep, some of which I’ve listed in Natural Sleep Helps. There are more I’ve found, but that’s an item for another post :).
  • Nauseous and greatly fatigued in the afternoon. I suspected detox so I took some Liver Support (listed in my Store soon) and zeolite.  The nausea and fatigue went away quickly so it appears to be detox for sure. Zeolite is in my Store and there’s more on this post about Metal Toxicity.
  • Not hungry all day.
  • Loose stools again.
  • Almost no itching in ears.

5/23 – 5 Tablespoons of Fast Tract

  • Itching ears in AM and some at night as well. Some peeling in both ears.
  • Some feminine itching.
  • Fatigue and nausea in the afternoon that again was resolved by Liver Support and zeolite.

5/24 – 6 Tablespoons of Fast Tract (really getting up there)

  • Small amount of ear itching after taking but almost none since then.
  • Heavy fatigue in the afternoon, alleviated by detox supplements.
  • Constipation.  (Not bad constipation, but I think I prefer loose stools.  Sigh.)

So that’s where I am as of today. Feeling full but amazed that I am able to handle this much fermented food.

My ears feel better and I am pretty convinced that what I am experiencing is die off.

This is all pretty fascinating to me.

I am going to keep stepping the dosage up ’til I reach the 8.5 Tablespoons and then I will take that every day for a total of 4 bottles (which means I guess I will end up buying one extra bottle to get the full daily dosage into myself over a 4 week period.)

Conclusion

Thus far, it still seems to me that I am having to die off and that I am not allergic to fermented foods, as I had thought for so long.

So–Czerral was right. Now, what this means for me and candida and the future, I don’t know yet, but I am more hopeful than ever that this is the next big step in my healing.

I’ll give you another update this coming week in addition to letting you know how my family is going on InLiven since I decided to put them all on it to see what their results would be.

Here are the other 2 parts to this series:

Why I Don’t Have Fermented Foods on My Blog – Part One
Why I Don’t Have Fermented Foods on My Blog – Part Two

Probiotic Teleseminar

Remember I mentioned in my last post on fermented foods and probiotics that I’ve arranged for a teleseminar interview and Q&A with Czerral, the maker of InLiven (fermented superfood probiotic) and Fast Tract (liquid super-strength probiotic).

It will take place on Thursday, May 30 (that’s next Thursday), at 9pm EST.  

Update – you can still listen to the recording here.

I will interview him for a bit and then we will open up the phone lines for you to ask Czerral your questions about probiotics and gut health.

What an opportunity!

Even if you can’t make the live teleseminar, make sure you still sign up because you will get a recording of the entire call.

It’s going to be chock-full of great information, like:

  • What probiotics are
  • What types of probiotics work best
  • Why we need probiotics–or does everyone need them really?
  • Do you really get what you pay for with probiotics?
  • Do bacteria counts matter?
  • and more

After the call, there will be a great giveaway with two winners.

One will win a tub of InLiven, and another will win a bottle of Fast Tract.

Miessence was generous enough to offer these gifts to my great readers.

If you’d like to check these products out ahead of time, here is a link to InLiven and here is one to Fast Tract. Now before you click over there, I know they are expensive. But first of all, health is crucial.  My practitioner says that she considers spending on health products to be like “paying the rent” for living.

I’m really starting to loosen up about spending for health as I am learning more about what is working and what isn’t.

And Miessence gives you plenty of ways to save money on products–from 20-40%. I signed up as a rep to get my products at a discount because I never pay retail if there’s an ethical way around it :). (The links in this post are to my Miessence store.) And with Miessence, I love their products, their focus on organics, and their practice of sustainability.

Plus–they aren’t pushy like most direct sales businesses.

I really hope you all will join me on the call. I’m learning so much and it is a blessing to share it with all of you.

Oh–when you sign up, you will be doing so on Lacey Swartz’s website, KV Organics. Lacey has become a dear friend and she has been with Miessence for a long time. She will be joining us on the call and will be handling the bulk of registrations and the teleseminar back office work because she knows I am just swamped right now.  Thanks, Lacey!

See you all in the next post when I’ll give you an update and tell you more about how my family is doing.

Come and read The Straight Poop About Probiotics and Find Out What Happened Next!

Will You Be Joining Me On the Call?

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67 Comments

  1. $90 for a bottle of probiotics? Is this a one month supply?? This is the most expensive probiotic I have ever seen and I used to buy VSL3 which was $70 a bottle

  2. I have histamine problems when I eat/drink any lactobacillus strains. I can tolerate some sauerkraut (makes me tired in the afternoon with smelly gas), but l.acidophilus gives me heartburn and the beginning of a high histamine response. I’d like to introduce more lactobacillus strains but not at the result of my throat closing. Any ideas for those who are histamine intolerant? I have a high fungal dysbiosis and some bacterial dysbiosis as wrll and cant seem to get out of this funk very quickly.

  3. Holy crap! Is one 750 ml bottle of Fast Track really 87 dollars, retail price? If not, whew! If so, I urge you and anyone reading this to look into Body Ecology as they have a nearly identical product, in the same exact size and bottle for TWENTY DOLLARS!

    I got really excited when I read your post because I am a health nut and have never heard of this company, now I see it is just like all the other MLMs out there (I have been a part of many of the years). Good products? Yes. But if the price is 87 dollars or even half of that you are not paying for the product, you are paying to make other people’s pockets deep.

    1. Hello “Concerned”. I’m assuming that this isn’t your correct email, but I will respond regardless. At quick glance there are big differences. The Body Ecology product has only 1 strain of bacteria in it while the Fast Tract has 13. Also the Fast Tract has been batch cultivated by hand for 25 years to survive heat, cold, stomach acid, caffeine, alcohol, etc, etc. They work better! And it’s made from certified organic superfoods as well and more of them than this product. Also everyone can get a discount at Miessence starting at 10% depending on how much you buy. So that all depends on your priorities but I get your concerns. I have never tried the BE product. Maybe I should. I can tell you that the Fast Tract is very powerful. I took is again this winter and was shocked at the results. Hope that is helpful.

      I too am very wary of MLMs. Many make ridiculous claims and are frankly unethical. This company is small and very very careful. I respect them immensely.

  4. I checked out your links for the InLiven and Fast Tract. I found an informative brochure for the InLiven, but I wasn’t able to find one with info on Fast Tract. I am wanting to take these to my practitioner to see what he thinks. Do you have a link to Fast Tract brochure?

    Also, I was wondering a couple things. Did the maker of these products ever confirm if you were experiencing die-off symptoms when you took the fermented products? How are you doing with Candida and adrenal issues today? What has helped you the most?

    1. Hi Hayley! I’m sorry but it appears that the brochure for Fast Tract is no longer available. I am working on it but haven’t found anything yet. Could you do a screenshot of the information on my Miessence site and take that to your practitioner?

      I wasn’t able to confirm anything w/ the maker of the products– it was his hypothesis. Since the symptoms decreased as time went on that is what I suspect was happening — if they were histamine they should have increased, I think. I am much better now, but I still keep to a fairly (sometimes strictly) low carb diet – for various reasons. I still have work to do. My previous practitioner is on maternity leave and I hope to work with her again soon. I am also working with a homeopath and am hopeful about both of them. I think my candida is particularly stubborn and was around for a very very long time before I got sick. In fact, with all of the sugar that I ate and antibiotics that I took I’m surprised I was as well as I was for as long as I was.

      I think my work w/ my past 2 practitioners helped the most. Working on the gut and thyroid and liver support.

  5. Hi Adrienne,

    It’s been a year since the last comment on this post; I’m curious how you are doing with fermented foods?

    I myself would love to incorporate them; however, the next day I itch similar to you but also feel wiped out – literally. Weak arms with the inability to do anything physical. Dairy and gluten have a similar reaction as well. I want nothing more to eat these foods as I believe in their therapeutic properties for health.

    So… How are you doing? 🙂

  6. HISTAMINE INTOLERANCE.

    Hi there,

    I found and brewed kombucha and kefir recently. For the first few days, taking kombucha in the morning and kefir at night, my life finally felt complete. No more constant stomach issues, no more pounding migraines, no more desperate searching for that “magic pill” to cure my dietary issues – because I had found it. And it barely took 48 hours to have full effect.

    But alas, it was not to be.

    I am stubborn like you. I was determined to make fermented foods a part of my diet. But, my symptoms were difficulty breathing, nausea, anxiety, confusion, and panic attacks. I read up online, the symptoms indicated “histamine intolerance”, but I continued several days after these symptoms persisted (that’s how much I really wanted these probiotics to cure my digestive issues), until that one morning I thought I was finally going to die from suffocation. I checked myself into the nearest emergency room (explaining to the doctor what “histamine intolerance” is was another frustrating story). After some muscle relaxant injection to help with my breathing, and Xanax for the anxiety, I went back home and slept it off. Its been a few days now, and I am still recovering.

    Anyway, I’m not one to usually leave comments, but I felt I had to share. My stubbornness almost made my head explode and my lungs collapse. That’s what it felt like. Do check for histamine intolerance before trying anything drastic. And if you do get an allergic reaction, I found that taking effervescent vitamin C, or putting a dab of salt under your tongue (its a natural antihistamine, sea salt is best but table salt is ok in an emergency) does help. It helped me. I got those suggestions from the many resources on the net for handling histamine intlerance.

    My experience was deeply unpleasant and frankly, very frightening. I do hope, and pray, that someone finds a way for those of us with histamine intolerance to get in on the fermented food fun. It seems like such a good road to dietary health. In the meantime, a low histamine diet, I guess, is the way to go.

    All the best, and take care!

  7. I would like to know how it is going for you and your family introducing fermented foods into your diet. I started over a week ago, introducing milk kefir and water kefir(for the dairy allergic members). Out of 5 in our family only one person has not had any negative symptoms. The rest of us have experienced one or more of the following symptoms: headaches, nausea, colds, foggy head, feverish, irritability, vaginal yeast infection (never had them before), sore red and stingy eyes, unusual fatigue or tiredness, general feeling of being unwell.. In my battle with Candida for the last 15yrs i have made great gains, now rarely getting ill, feeling like i had in fact overcome the overgrowth of Candida. I have been religiously making green drinks with only high impact ingredients, no sugars, fruits or sweeteners.. They have made me well again (along with numerous Candida killers). But my desire to improve my family’s (already good) health has led me to try fermented foods to reach even greater immunity. I didn’t expect these negative symptoms…maybe i shouldn’t be trying to fix what is not broken. But I am wondering is this some sort of reaction because we havent been eating fermented foods …will it go away…how long can I expect it to take…are there some people that shouldn’t consume fermented foods…how much is too much of a good thing…how long do I experiment on my children before calling it off…lot of questions. Hope you can answer some. Thanks!