Patama Gur, Co-Founder of Fraiche Yogurt, Photo Robert Scoble
In 9 out of 10 cases, you are better off not using commercial probiotic products.
- Commercial probiotic foods, such as yogurts, contain too much lactose which will mess up your already fragile IBS suffering guts.
- They often contain probiotic strains such as bifidus, which promotes excessive bacteria overgrowth. Again, not ideal for IBS sufferers.
- Probiotic pills can be expensive, not have the right strains, and typically contain only a few million to 2 billion living organisms per serving. Also, this number is only accurate at the time of manufacturing. By the time, these products have made their way from factories to warehouses to drug stores to your home, this number falls to less than half.
Enter the 24 hr yogurt (recipe below) that you can make at your home for pennies per serving.
- It contains no lactose. So even most dairy intolerant folks can consume it safely.
- A single small serving of 24 hr. yogurt contains more than 7 billion living organisms. And you benefit from all of it since there is no loss during transport, time spent on shelf etc.
- It’s super cheap. Once you have a yogurt maker, the only cost is a gallon of milk and starter each week. Each serving costs around 2-7 cents.
- It contains the three perfect probiotic strains for IBS: L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus. Commercial yogurts often contain other strains that are not beneficial to our delicate systems.
Some probiotic pill makers market them as containing up to 16 strains. This is not an advantage, just a marketing gimmick.
The single most important thing you can do to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in your gut, is to eat 24-hour yogurt every single day.
When to eat probiotics for maximum potency
The best time to eat the yogurt is by itself, in between meals. But if you can’t manage this, eating it with meals is better than not eating it at all.
If you eat yogurt with meals, a proportion of the probiotics get consumed by the digestive acids which are released when you eat food. When you eat yogurt in between meals, there are less digestive acids in the system, and a higher proportion of probiotics survive, thus giving you maximum benefit.
I can’t emphasize this enough – eating 24-hour yogurt is the single most important thing you can do for your IBS, and will contribute massively to your health.
Dairy intolerance?
Most dairy allergies are due to a sugar called lactose which is present in milk products.
Commercial yogurts are high in lactose content, because they are fermented only for around 6-8 hours. This time is not sufficient for all the lactose to be consumed by probiotic strains. 24-hour yogurt, on the other hand, has no lactose. When you ferment yogurt for 24-26 hours, nearly 100% of lactose is consumed by starter bacteria, thus rendering it a bit tart, but completely safe for us to consume.
If you have trouble with it, then you probably also have casein intolerance. In which case, drip the 24 hr. yogurt from a cheesecloth bag to remove any liquid, and eat the solid creamy yogurt.
Probiotic supplements as an alternative to 24 hr. yogurt
In very rare cases some people can’t tolerate ANY dairy—not even the 99% lactose & casein free 24-hour yogurt after it’s been dripped. In these rare cases, go for the probiotics in the bottles. Like I said before: this is not optimal, but something is better than nothing.
As you heal your IBS, hopefully after a few months or so, you will be able to make the switch to the homemade 24 hr. yogurt, save your money, and get better probiotics all at the same time!
Until that time though, the best probiotic supplement you can choose is made by GI Pro. It is:
- Manufactured in strict conditions to ensure a high number of living organisms
- Always kept at optimum low temperatures before it arrives at your home, is shipped with ice packs and as importantly is
- Completely starch, gluten and lactose free
The supplements industry is highly marketing driven and is full of charlatans. So I recommend you purchase and use this brand, or another brand that has similar characteristics and that you trust.
The secondary probiotic for even faster IBS relief
The secondary probiotic that you should use is called Saccharomyces Boulardii or S. Boulardii. This is a probiotic that is intended for use when your system is or will be under stress. For example, during flare ups, diarrhea or if you notice blood in stools, etc. I also, for example, take it when I’m travelling to developing countries.
Fresh Lychee at the Radisson on Nanjing Lu, China, Photo Jennifer Martinez
S. Boulardii was first discovered by French scientist Henri Boulard during his trip to Vietnam in 1920.
He developed diarrhea there and noticed that natives who were drinking a tea with fermented lychee skin and mangosteen would never get any diarrhea symptoms. He then discovered and patented the S. Boulardii strain which is named after him.
The rest is history. In Europe (especially in France, Germany, Italy), S. Boulardii is routinely used in treatment of IBS, IBD, acute diarrhea.
How to maximize S. Boulardii effectiveness
For IBS-related diarrhea, start taking one capsule per day at the first sign, and continue taking it for up to 2 weeks after the symptoms have been resolved. Because of its effectiveness in controlling digestive issues, it rarely needs to be taken for more than 4-6 weeks at a time.
Once the symptoms subside, reduce the frequency of intake gradually, and then finally stop. Again, the source I use personally and recommend is GI Pro.
You should take all probiotics and yogurts in between meals for them to be most effective. If you eat them with meals, your digestive acids will kill a large number of the living organisms, and there will not be enough of them to repopulate your gastrointestinal tract and cause any benefits.
That is also why you should NEVER take them within 2 hours of taking antibiotics or other antifungal extracts.
What are antifungals you ask? And why should you be taking them? I reveal all mysteries in my next post 
How to Make 24 Hr. Yogurt
Your starter is the crucial ingredient. It should only have these 3 probiotic strains – L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus, and no other strains.
Here are 3 good starters that I know of :
- Dannon Natural Yogurt
- Trader Joe’s Greek Style Yogurt
- Yogourmet Starter
Feel free to use any other starter, just check that it doesn’t have any other funny probiotic strains.
- Boil and cool milk (preferably organic, from grass fed cows) to room temperature. You can skip boiling if the milk is pasteurized.
- Add starter. ½ cup yogurt starter will work for any quantity of milk. For packaged starters, follow instructions on packaging.
- Ferment for 24-26 hours.
- Maintain a temperature of 100-110 ºF. I use the Yogourmet yogurt maker for this. Feel free to use any other reliable yogurt maker.
- Refrigerate for up to 6 days and enjoy.
