How To Be A Better Bottom Part 3
WHAT IF YOU HAVE STOMACH PROBLEMS?
A lot of gay men have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) which can make their rectums dirtier than a port authority toilet seat. As I said on the highly entertaining Adam Sank podcast, almost all fiber supplements will help IBS, but you might want to try the ones specially formulated for it.
Fiber Supplements Specifically Designed For IBS
Calcium polycarbophil has been proven to regulate diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and abdominal pain in patients suffering from IBS. Choose from the following brands and work up slowly from one gram a day to six: Fibercon, Konsyl, Fiber-tab, Fiber-Lax, or Equalactin.
Even if you don’t have IBS you might consider using calcium polycarbophil, a synthetic form of fiber rather than psyllium, which is naturally occurring. You’d think the natural stuff would be better for you but calcium polycarbophil runs less of a risk of interacting with gut bacteria and producing unwanted gas.
Eat Or Take Prebiotics
A prebiotic is essentially food for probiotics (the “good bacteria” in your gut), which promote digestive health. The one that has the most science behind it is Inulin. Because it’s not digested or absorbed in the stomach it settles in the bowels where the “good” bacteria (probiotics) feed on it, thus improving bowel function (inulin is a natural compound found in a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs).
Brands with inulin include Metamucil Clear & Natural, Fiber-Choice, and Benefiber. Take as directed. Inulin stays in your gut and helps the “good” intestinal bacteria grow. You might want to consider taking psyllium along with inulin. Some studies show great promise in using both substances to help treat IBS.
Eat But Don’t Take Probiotics
Are you taking probiotic supplements? Throw them out. Thinking about taking them? Don’t. Right before the publication of this book the American Gastroenterological Association released a meta-analysis of all probiotic supplements and concluded they don’t work.
“For the majority of the digestive diseases we studied, currently there is not enough evidence to recommend using probiotics,” a spokesperson for the association told CNN.
He went on to say, “The supplements can be costly and there isn’t enough evidence to prove a benefit or confirm lack of harm.”
Probiotics are “good” bacteria that reduce the growth of harmful bacteria and promote a healthy digestive system. Scientists know they’re good for the overall health of your digestive tract but taking probiotics as supplements don’t work.
One study in Israel may have revealed why. They performed endoscopies and colonoscopies on volunteers who swallowed brand-name supplements. The supplements never populated the gut biome in half of the volunteers! They just went right out of the body without settling into the gut.
This tracks closely with what scientists have known for a while about vitamins and supplements–what your body needs is best taken through naturally-occurring food, not capsules.
Eat Foods High In Probiotics
Forget store-bought yogurt. Yes, they have probiotics, but many are not naturally-occurring and even in the brands that are, there isn’t enough of it to make a difference. Experts consider a therapeutic dose of probiotics to be at least 5 billion CFUs. Yogurt has 1 billion.
Instead, try fermented foods like sauerkraut, pickles, or kimchi. According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, a famous alternative medicine physician, just two ounces of sauerkraut has more probiotics than an entire bottle of 100 probiotic capsules.
Dr. Mercola had a sample of his own homemade sauerkraut tested in a lab for probiotics and the results were astonishing. He found in a 4-6 ounce serving of the fermented vegetables there were literally ten trillion bacteria.”
One important thing to note is that Mercola made the sauerkraut himself with a fermentation kit. You can get nearly the same effect in store-bought sauerkraut, as long as it’s unpasteurized and contains no vinegar.