Why I Don’t Have Fermented Foods on My Blog – Part One
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Seeing as Whole New Mom is a blog that mainly talks about health and related topics, you may be wondering why I’ve never done a post about fermented foods.
I’ve got posts about going sugar-free, about the dangers of gluten, and about heavy metal toxicity and the burden of toxins on our health.
But no posts about:
- homemade sauerkraut
- kombucha
- water kefir
and all that cultured stuff.
Read on to find out why–and hang with me. This is one of those longish posts with lots of info.
Remember my series on Candida and Gut Health from a while ago? If you didn’t read it, hop on over there. You’ll get to see up close and personal the way that candida wreaked havoc on my body and my life.
Candida is essentially a term to describe an overgrowth of yeast that causes many problems in the affected person.
And I had it bad.
If you look around the internet, many people say that kombucha and fermented foods are one of the key ways to rid oneself of candida.
But they didn’t work for me.
Here’s what happened instead.
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The Candida Diet and Fermented Foods
About 4 years ago (I think that’s when this all started), I went on a pretty strict dietary regimen that excluded all sugary foods, and limited starches. The program included fermented foods in the “restricted” category, stating that often when folks were dealing with systemic candida, their bodies were sensitized to yeast products and fermented foods. Instead of the body responding positively to the introduction of such “beneficial foods,” their bodies might react negatively instead.
So I followed that prescription.
No–
- kombucha
- kefir
- vinegars
- mustard
- yeast
- nutritional yeast
Etcetera.
The whole thing was pretty complex (more on the story later), but overall I was getting better. Sort of. Actually, there is a reason why the Candida Diet didn’t “do it” for me, but I will touch on that in a future post. So make sure you join my newsletter if you haven’t already. You’ll for sure not want to miss that.
Anyway, I always wondered about the exclusion of fermented foods from the list of allowed foods, because there are many who tout cultured foods as being key to overcoming candidiasis (systemic candida).
Trial #1 – Super Fermented Drink
After a while of “doing the Candida Diet,” I was hitting a wall. So I talked with a man who had a lot of experience in candida, heavy metals, and the like, and he recommended my doing a “flush the bad guys out” protocol.
The Plan? Buy a boatload (about 5 2 liter bottles) of heavy-duty probiotic drink, and drink a bunch of it over the course of a few weeks.
It was expensive, but I was desperate to get better.
So I bought it and started to drink.
What followed was very unpleasant.
My symptoms worsened. A lot.
Itching everywhere. Intense and uncomfortable. And frightening.
I really didn’t think I could go on and see where this might lead. I felt like my body was rebelling against me and I was ready to surrender.
I packed up the unused portion of the boatload and paid to ship it back.
No more fermented foods for me for a long time.
Trial #2 – Kombucha
Fast forward a few years. I’d made a lot of changes–tightened up my diet and worked on adrenal healing, heavy metal toxicity, and more. It was a hard, hard time for me but I was starting to have more energy and wanted to start making kombucha for my family (and maybe for me—I hoped).
So I did. And I drank.
Not good.
More itching. Lots of it. Skin, scalp, ears, and the dreaded feminine itching thing. (Sorry if that’s TMI.)
I talked with my practitioner and she said that maybe I was reacting to the fermentation, or perhaps I should just go with fermented veggies since they have no sugar that can remain in them. She also said that I could try again sometime down the road.
Now, to be clear, I fermented my kombucha ’til it tasted like a strong vinegar, so I think there was little to no sugar in that stuff, but I still wasn’t tolerating it.
I ended up trying to ferment some carrots, but they didn’t work well. Sigh.
So since I couldn’t tolerate it, and I was still pretty low on energy, the SCOBY died and I left the dream of fermented foods alone for awhile.
Trial #3 – Fermented Superfood Probiotic
This next part is a little murky, but here’s basically what happened.
I started taking a new fermented superfood probiotic back in July of 2012.
I went right into a full serving, but I ended up having some ear itching again and thought I needed to back off. The symptoms went away immediately, so I thought I was having a reaction to fermentation. Again.
I decided to back off. But tried again around October.
Same thing. Ear itching and sinus stuff.
I figured fermented foods and I just didn’t get along.
Trial #4 – Fermented Superfood Probiotic
In March of 2013, I decided to try one more time to see if I could handle the fermented food probiotic.
I really really wanted to add this stuff to my diet and felt like the probiotic was really great for my gut.
There are sooo many probiotics out there and I have tried A LOT of them. With most of them, you just know that they aren’t working, but with this one, I could tell for sure that it was.
So I tried.
I started with 1/8 of a teaspoon and progressed to 1/4 and was tolerating it pretty well.
March 22 – I upped my dose of the probiotic to 1/2 teaspoon and my eyes started itching again. I backed off again.
Trial #5 – Lots of Fermented Foods
By mid-April, I was trying again. I was determined to get this stuff into my system.
I ramped my dosage up to 1 teaspoon per day and felt great (tons of energy and great digestion), but I ate some other foods with yeast in them on April 15 and woke up with INTENSE itching in my ears. Like “I’m going to go nuts” itching.
Well, I know this is kind of gross, but my ears were peeling inside a little and I smelled some of the discharge / skin.
The discharge from one of my ears smelled like yeast.
Was this my body trying to get rid of it?
Or was this a reaction to the fermented foods?
Regardless, it seemed I was doomed. Big sigh.
Trial #6 – The Big Guns
Just 3 days later, April 15, I was given the chance of a lifetime.
The chance to talk with someone who really knows his stuff about probiotics.
Not just a health food store employee, but an expert in the field of probiotics and superfoods.
I’ll fill you in in the next post about what he said and what happened.
Click here for part two of Why I Don’t Have Fermented Foods on My Blog.
Click here for part three–Why I WILL Have Fermented Foods on My Blog.
Sorry to keep you hanging, but I’ve got a lot to say on this topic :-).
Have you had reactions to fermented foods or been told you are sensitive to them?
By the way, the photo up there was taken by Michaela of Vicariously Vintage. Nice shot, eh?
Hello.
Fermented foods contain a massive amount of histamine. If your histamine tolerance is low they can really set you off. Other histamine foods that make me very itchy include cocoa and soy, wine or beer, etc. There are a lot of lists online about foods containing histamine (some surprising vegetables) but I am working out my own tolerances. No cocoa and soy on the same day, etc.
Hope this helps. X
This happened to me. I have a gaba/glutamate imbalance caused by my h .pylori infection. I get the “drunk” feeling- so i know its a reaction. I get it 🙂
All of these symptoms don’t sound like a yeast problem. It describes “Histamine Intolerance”.
Most doctors are not familiar with it yet. But myself and many other people around the world suffer with it. I belong to a few groups on Facebook dealing with HIT (histamine intolerance), and we share with each other some things that can help as there isn’t a cure yet. In fact that’s how I found this blog. Someone in our group posted this link. BTW – we can’t have anything that’s fermented. Hope this info can help.
Sandy
i would love to join those groups.. I have been researching Histamine Intolerance.. would you leave the links?
Histamine intolerance and methylation issues have got me reading a lot these days. I never had problems with foods much but I took some Niacin which gave me a terrible histamine reaction with terrible itching and hives. Drives you crazy!
Also have you looked at Fodmaps? Foods like: garlic, onions, coconut, legumes, wheat, some fruits…They can cause people to have IBS symptoms. I found out about them following a Paleo diet. I gave up wheat and felt great, but they want you to eat a lot of coconut which brought it all back again. Sigh… fermented foods don’t bother me that I know of.
Very interested in this, as I have suspected that when I have eaten fermented veggies it weakens me. Haven’t tried them in awhile. I also have tried Garden of Life’s probiotic and felt great for a few days only to then feel like I am going downhill, and not to come back up until I get off of it. This has happened at least twice.
Juicing doesn’t work well for everyone. My husband just felt worse and worse when he juiced and he did it for quite awhile. We were told that it makes your body dump lots of toxins and that can be too much to deal with for some.
That is how you know it is working… I did not feel great the first three months of juicing. Not bad, but I did feel kind of nauseus for an hour or so after drinking it. It gradually stopped, and now I just feel great after drinking it. BUT, I do NOT juice beets. They DO make me feel sick. I hear they have a ton of niacin and it can make you feel nauseus.
I have heard that you get worse before you get better with this sort of thing. Also I had chronic itchy skin, felt like little creatures under there all the time and was finally diagnosed as having extremely low iron levels. Once sorted the itch is pretty well gone, now I just need to sort out the scars! My next step once I get the $750.00 together is to have a personal nutritional genomic testing done. There is an article on it in the latest conscious living magazine in Australia.
I’m so sorry you dealt with this. It can be bad to deal with chronic health issues for sure! I hope you found some solutions!
I was reading your post, and am wondering if you juice? I have been juicing for more than four years now, and it has made a huge difference in my life. If you juice greens (like Kale or wheat grass, chard, etc., and a LOT of GINGER… it really cleans your gut up. ( I also add lemon, apple, carrot and other stuff if I have it on hand) But I am convinced that using a BIG hunk of ginger in my juice everyday has really cut out so much inflammation in my life (think fixing leaky gut by stopping inflammation that causes microscopic tears in your gut). I am type 1 diabetic for 30 years and am in great shape. Juicing has allowed me to start running again after 10 years of not running due to a serious running injury ten years ago, I severed a peroneal tendon in my ankle, and frankly, thought I would not ever run again. I have been running 3 miles, 5 days a week, for a year now. No swelling at all. and I had frozen shoulder (non-movable shoulder joint) for about a year when I started juicing, and three months into juicing, I realized, “Hey, I can lift my arm above my head!!!” (I had tried PT etc but no real change in a year, until juicing. It is totally worth the trouble. I get up about 45 minutes earlier than everyone else so I can get it done. Now I have my husband and 10year old daughter drinking it every day. 🙂
No, I don’t. For a long time I have thought it wasn’t good due to the amount of sugars and waste. Do you mainly juice veggies? I am convinced greens are crucial and we have our kale in the ground now.
Hi again,
You can juice just veggies, carrots are pretty sweet and help the “grassiness” of the greens, but always add a lemon if you can (the rind and all if its organic) because that cuts through the grassiness too. I usually always add an organic apple. But you dont have to. Honestly, I am so used to it, I can drink ANY kind of juice, I put in about 6-8 inches of raw ginger… and a jalepeno pepper. But I worked up to that. I put in anything I have a lot of in my garden… thats where the peppers came in. lol. But remember, its really not about the taste, its about “mainlining” bazillions of antioxidants directly into your bloodstream and having them clean you up on a cellular level daily. (always juice first thing in the morning, and as soon as you are done jucing it… then wait to eat until at least a half hour. and ALWAYS add a few tablespoons of GOOD fat- coconut oil, flax oil, even olive oil is fine– your body NEEDS fat to absorb the antioxidants! When I started juicing, a friend gave me a great book, its about raw foods diet (which I don’t do– but the book has great info about juicing) Natalia Rose’s “The Raw Foods Detox Diet”. Also Johnny Bowden’s “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth” has a lot of very interesting facts about food in it. One more great recommendation… have you seen the movie “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”? It is a true life story and a wonderful movie (contrary to the bad title!) about a fellow who had a horrible auto-immune system disease and changes his life by juicing. Its on netflix streaming. Sorry to go on and on. I am definitely a juicing evangelist. (Oh, one more tip– get the “auger” type juicer– I have an Omega 1000, it allows you to do greens and grasses etc and you can put the pulp through the juicer numerous times (get every drop of that expensive organic produce) its worth every penny. about $300. Give it a serious try… it will change you. 🙂
Thanks for the info. Why do you wait the 30 minutes? I have heard about the video but haven’t seen it yet.
I read that waiting 30 minutes to eat other types of food allows the juice to move from the stomach completely and into the intestines, without being impeded by other (non-fruit/vegetable) food in the stomach. Therefore, it can enter your bloodstream quickly, and without a lot of the acids in the stomach destroying it. Different types of foods (meat, grains, etc) will introduce the heavy duty acids into the stomach, that would not be great for the juice, plus, they STAY in the stomach for 3+ hours, so your juice gets stuck there too. Oh, my juice is pretty thick with pulp… that is okay.
oh – you mean 30 minutes after eating.
You add your oil to your juice? I used to do that. I would carry mine to work in a cooler but the oil really congealed and caused gooey sludge.
Wow! This is extremely timely for me! I can’t wait for your next post- I’m itching to know what you have discovered! :). Just recently I was given the cookbook/encyclopedia “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon who is the president of the Weston A. Price Foundation. There’s a whole section in regards to lacto-fermentation which, for me being a newbie to all of this, kind of had my stomach all tied up in knots just from reading about it, but I’m willing to give it a try someday. It does say in the book that “Lactic acid fermented vegetables and fruit chutneys are not meant to be eaten in large quantities but as condiments.” It mentions a lot of helpful hints which many of you may already be familiar with such as “if the vegetables are deficient then the process of fermentation will not proceed. Likewise if your salt or water contains impurities, the quality of the final product will be jeopardized.”. I don’t think any of their recipes have vinegar in them, as it’s makes things “more acidic, is not beneficial in large quantities, and subjects the final product to pasteurization which kills all the beneficial lactic- acid- producing bacteria.”. On a side note, in regards to metal in the body- what is the influence of braces and retainers? And jewelry, piercings, etc.?
Funny pun! I am with you on the “tied in knots” thing. Hang with me. This should be an interesting ride. RE: the metals, I don’t know. I have earring and wear sterling only. I suspect it has to do w/ the type of metal and what you do with it but I have no idea. No one has ever mentioned those things being an issue but I would suspect tongue piercing b/c of knocking against teeth above the others.
As you know, I’m fascinated by this because I, too, have been dealing with candida for ages and for the most part have managed to get it under control. I did also follow a VERY strict diet for the first year or so, but I’ve now returned some of the “forbidden” foods (gluten-free flour, coconut sugar) and manage fine as long as I don’t overdo it.
I wonder if there needs to be a distinction made between types of fermented foods? Naturally fermented veggies, like sauerkraut, contain scores of probiotics–and you take probiotics, right? I can see how kombucha could be problematic since it’s got sugar in it, and yeast, but other foods like kimchi don’t. . . I find that the more naturally fermented veggies I eat, the better I feel. And I can even have a kombucha once in a while, too.
I tend to agree with Raven up there. . . could it be your body detoxifying? Sometimes the symptoms get worse before they get better.
Hi Ricki. The whole thing is very confusing and it seems that it is one of those things that is going to require a lot of study. Which I have a love-hate relationship with.
There are distinctions based on the type of ferment but it might not be what you think. And again, I am just learning.
It could be detox….hopefully the next post will be up tomorrow. And if not, Thurs at the latest. :).
I love kombucha, but stopped drinking it after I recently heard in an interview (I think the maker of Miessence InLiven?) that since it is a wild ferment, it’s not good for Candida overgrowth. Another one said the commercial ones have too much sugar left in them….very bummed. Have you learned anything about the difference with wild ferments? I’d like to try the Miessence InLiven probiotics to see if it will help. I do like coconut kefir and it doesn’t cause symptoms. I can’t wait to read your next post with the expert!
I have read about kombucha being a problem for 2 reasons. The wild ferment thing and the sugar content. Stay tuned. The next post should be tomorrow or Thursday.
I suffer from itchiness too. It can be pretty bad. My doctors do not seem to give a hoot and tell me to use T-Gel shampoo. I want to find the cause not just cover symptoms. I am at a loss. I do not eat gluten in hopes that it would help but it ultimately did not. I look forward to your next post 🙂
Did you read my candida series? I’m working on the post right now…..after I eat something, that is :).
No. I did not read your candida series. I am fairly new to your blog.
The link is in the post. It might interest you.
Thank you 🙂
Hi I just wanted to post and share something. I have been doing a lot of reading on what is in our foods and all the bad stuff that is in it all. I also have been reading on juicing and the power it has in your body. Check it out on the Juice Lady’s web site. You can detox liver, lungs, & every organ so it can start to work properly. If your organs are not working properly like your liver then you get sick. So check her out the Juice Lady you’ll be surprised what juicing can do. Me and my Husband are going to start our detox as soon as we get a juicer, so we can get a jump start on our health. There is so many benefits in Juicing.
Thanks for sharing. I am not a big fan of juicing due to the high amounts of sugars it can put in your body especially if you are not taking in the pulp, etc. What do you think about that?
My family just started juicing, and we feel a ton better. I think the sugar part gets a little over exaggerated. We juice mostly vegetables, with one or two pieces of fruit thrown in. We have been having trouble getting our veggies in, and juicing has really been an answer for us. I would say we get less sugar from the one or two apples we throw in than a normal kid gets with a glass of apple juice… Plus its fresh, not processed.
Me and my family are in the process of doing the same thing. I got a lot info @ the juice lady’s web site. Was the investment expensive at first. cause Iv’e heard it was but it all balances out and you eat less cause your not eating all those empty calories in all the bad stuff that is in on our store shelves. Cause I’m really trying to stay or cut back on processed foods.
Buying the juicer was the worst part, but I had a 20% off coupon, and we didn’t get the worst model but got the next one up. It’s been super beneficial. If we have veggies about to go bad that we haven’t eaten… We throw them in… it’s been great. Plus the slight sweetness has changed our taste buds, I don’t even crave chocolate anymore… It’s been awesome! Not to mention my 16 mo old chugs it like any other kid would if it was apple juice!
You don’t have to put a lot of fruit in your juicing, green apples have less sugar then red apples or use carrots. you also can use liquid stevia and it is better for you. you can sweeten
things up without a lot of sugars.
Hello, Adrienne,
Back last year, I had started doing homemade Kombucha, and no initial reaction, but after 3 months, and taking about a 2 week hiatus from ingesting any, I suffered terrible hives on my extremities–upper/lower legs and arms!!!! It was awful! Continued for a good month, and went through several courses of oral steroids and injection, AND a yucky skin biopsy that showed NOTHING (but now a couple of scars 🙁 ). Since, then, my gut has definitely CHANGED—-very gassy, very crampy, almost always a dull pain/ache in the central lower gut, and hypoasthesia in the lower groin area. Since I’m with stress incontinence, I HAVE to wear a pad, and that just irritates my lower groin/anal area even more! Could this be LEAKY GUT???? This last year has been awful…..
Wow. I have no idea. Stay tuned and maybe there will be help for you. I am going to be bringing some sharp people on my blog so let’s see where it goes. Please be patient with me. Remember the gut health course? Did you consider signing up for that? It will be offered again.
I DID sign up for the course, but have not gotten through all the material—but VERY GOOD INFO!!!!!!!! 🙂 I am thinking of adding some Bromelain Plus Biotics and now possibly to L-glutamine? So much info, and I do not currently take enzymes, but I’m on Garden of Life Raw Probiotics for Colon/gut health. I had considered looking into the probiotics that you suggest on your blogs, but just haven’t researched enough. Going for a colonscopy in June :(, as my symptoms have really increase in the past 2-3 months unfortunately, and just want to be sure. I have been diagnosed with IBS in the past, but it was NEVER this bad!
I know. I have to go and get through it all as well. At least you can access all of it later…not sure about the Facebook group though….
I am taking an enzyme that’s very reasonable that I am happy with. There will be more on the probiotics coming up. Again, I can’t advise but you might want to call my practitioner. I am finding so many øf my issues have been adrenal and metal related. And more…..
I am very interested to hear what comes next. I have noticed more bloating, heartburn, nausea, and just feeling unwell with fermented foods. Someone told me recently that my symptoms sound like candida and that the vinegaryness (not a real word) of some fermented foods could be causing the problem. And I also heard that water kefir becomes to vinegary after a bit. And I have been on multiple probiotics for at least a couple years ( right now it is a 100 billion strength). I also want to add in fermented foods, but don’t feel healthier with them. I also have talked to you before, and I am the one who has had my mercury fillings removed, and have seen improvement in many areas, but would love to conquer the digestion thing. I can’t wait to see what you have next!
Water kefir will become like vinegar if it sits and ferments. Stay tuned. I hope there will be helpful things for you. I have so much more to talk about….I just need to have the time. Part 2 should be later this week or even tomorrow. 🙂 Hang in there.
Hi I also dealt with a lot of these issues/ symptoms. After a couple years of hives , acne, headaches and fatigue, I finally went to a Doctor my cousin interned under in Montana, named Dr. Harris. We live in Oregon so it was a costly trip but I suspected parasites (I had them in the past) and candida. I have to say I am SO glad I made the trip! I saw him about 4 months ago and I have had no rashes in 3 months and I have even had gluten since I saw him! I had leaky gut syndrome, candida, parasites, adrenal issues and thyroid issues. He explained that only doing a candida diet isn’t enough, especially when candida has progressed to leaky gut. That following a strict candida diet alone would take at least 18 months with NO cheating! He gave me supplements and I am feeling SO much better. I didn’t realize what a brain fog I was in or how tired I felt until I was feeling better! Now that the candida and parasites are gone I am in the process of repairing my gut! I have an appointment with him the beginning of June again to do a follow up because I am determined to get healthy before I have baby number 2! My first child had such bad colic! I thought she was allergic to dairy but it was actually my leaky cut allowing casein and toxins into my blood stream and breast milk! I look forward to your future posts! I don’t think people realize how serious Candida can be it leads to SO many other health issues! It is a pain to get rid of and can be scary when it “fights” back!
Interesting and glad you are doing better. I would love to hear what all he did for you.
I would also be interested in hearing Sarah’s reply to what she did for the ‘leaky gut’….very interested to know….
Which supplements helped you?
I haven’t had problems with fermented foods. The first was kombucha, early on in my conversion to real food. I loved it because it was similar to soda and I was trying to get off soda (A&W Root beer and 7up.) I had read to start consuming fermented foods slowly, which I did, and I don’t really think I experienced too much detox stuff like I’d read warnings about. I think all I had was some slight headaches.
Sorry to hear you’ve had a rough time with them. Our bodies are personal and react differently and have different symptoms. What works for some will not necessarily work for another.
Thanks for commenting. Stay tuned – you will be interested in what comes next :).
Interesting! I’m currently doing a candida diet where fermented foods are encouraged. Milk kefir especially. Water kefir has more sugar but is an option for vegetarians. Kombucha is not recommended (can’t remember why). Homemade yogurt, sauerkraut & kimchi are encouraged.
Were you taking anything to counteract the die off? Also, I have read on the site that the yeast does fight back & when you increase your probiotics, you sometimes have an increase in symptoms. What dose of probiotics are you taking at the moment?
I wasn’t taking anything to counteract the die off b/c I didn’t know if it was or if it was a reaction. I will be talking more about probiotics in the next post :). Hopefully tomorrow or Thursday.
Itchiness can be a sign of detox, all the built up toxins from over the years expunging from your tissues.
I am SSSOOO glad I am not the only one with this problem!!! The itchy ears, nose and everywhere else that just gets worse with fermented stuff!
I think this might have happened to me while I was pregnant. I’m really interested to see what your next post says. They (my midwife and her attending physician) diagnosed me with cholestasis, I was itching all over and my liver enzymes were up, but I was trying to pound myself with good bacteria to make sure group b strep was under control (I was positive with our second child) . But my symptoms were really unlike Cholestasis. It started with the itching, I had headaches, and then went to urgent care with bleeding. They said that high liver enzymes could lend to preterm labor. Well, the labor slowed but the induced at 37 ish weeks. The thing is they say if you have Cholestasis that you have it with EVERY pregnancy. So it left my midwife baffled b/c this was my 3rd… hmmm Food for thought. now I still eat fermented foods and don’t notice a reaction. But maybe with the pregnancy hormones and stuff. I don’t know. If any one else has some info, please pass it along.
hey there.. regarding candida and digestive issues/ fermented foods.. i had a serious problem also with hives, edema and eczema and like everything else..too much of anything is a bad thing including fermented foods.. especially if you’re healing.. i had a few years of trial and error and figured out at the end of the day.. it wasn’t allergic reaction to anything..or fermented foods or dairy foods per se like everyone wants to tell you.. it was all leaky gut.. so for me it was trying to find a strategy to heal the leaky gut (takes a long time) and deal with some fermented food- some probiotics- cool it with the sugar and some l-glutamine, digestive enzymes and intestinal healing products..that’s what helped me.. maybe you have the same problem? hope it helps.
Interesting. I think leaky gut is huge. huge. huge. I’ve been told to take L-glutamine in the past but forget the dosage and how it helps. Maybe you can help :).
i’m not a doctor (more of a researcher as i had a BIG problem with the hives/eczema/edema)..doctor’s said it was autoimmune and probably allergies but it didn’t make sense hence my research. if you are going for a healing gut strategy :
i was told to try (empty stomach in morning) take buffered vit C and l-glutamine 500mg and wait before eating- then no acidic foods- no grains- avoid dairy and sugar complex carbs. take enzymes with food and probiotics before sleeping. also be sure to take omegas and drink a lot of water..ALSO if you can find out if you are absorbing b vitamins (i wasn’t – i needed methyl b vitamins.. a deficiency apparently may cause weakness in your intestinal tract and as you get older it’s more and more necessary to compensate or you can get leaky gut that way too).. for me it had more to do with b vitamins than anything above- it changed my life. i hope that helps you..
Thanks.
feel better 🙂
L-glutamine is also very good as a brain food, stopping carbohydrate cravings, and boosting thyroid hormones. Best taken on an empty stomach.