Another Step Toward A Healthier Me

When I became pregnant with my oldest daughter, it was suddenly a wake up call to me that we needed to be more cautious of what we put into our bodies. Up until that time, my husband and I ate a lot of convenient, packaged foods. When I think now about all of the fillers and additives we were putting into our bodies… We just didn’t think about it. But like many new moms, the baby growing inside of me made me question everything, especially what I exposed her to.

Of course, there is a time and a place for convenient, packaged foods, and I can’t tell you that we completely eliminated them from our house, but we made great strides. Then about two years ago, I discovered that I have a serious allergy to yeast. That allergy, while a total pain, eliminated even more of the overly processed foods we still clung too because yeast extract appears so often on labels of those types of food products. So for the most part, we eat simple and fresh meals. (With a few not-so-fresh options still in rotation for emergencies.)

It’s strawberry season here in Florida, so berries have been plentiful recently. Since they have been on special for the past few weeks, we’ve been stocking up. When we can’t keep up eating the berries before they go bad, I slice them up and freeze them to make smoothies later. My daughter thinks the smoothies are a treat (so do I), but I also like knowing that they are good for us.

In general, we eat pretty healthy (except for my sweet tooth). But everyone in the family also takes a multivitamin as well to make sure we are getting anything that might be missing from our diet. Filling in with a supplement makes total sense to me. So I had no problem testing a probiotic to support my digestive health.

There is a lot of buzz around probiotics these days. My husband even eats Activia yogart (filled with probiotics to help with regularity according to Jamie Lee Curtis). And my little knowledge of biology makes probiotics sound like a good idea to me. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about these friendly cultures:

Probiotics are live microorganisms thought to be beneficial to the host organism. According to the currently adopted definition by FAO/WHO, probiotics are: “Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host”

A couple weeks ago I added a probiotic to my daily routine for digestive care. I was happy to learn that 4x Pro-B were available from Costco, one of my all-time-favorite stores. To see my entire shopping trip in search for my Costco probiotics, check out my Google+ story. (Note, the $21.99 price is for a 9-week supply and it includes shipping.)

The 4x probiotic that I am taking is a generic comparable to Align, and you can even compare the two products side by side on Costco.com. (The 4X Pro-B actually has more active cultures than Align.)

Here is more information about the probiotic I am taking:

I’ll report back soon about how I am feeling after taking the probiotic for a month or so. If you use a probiotic, I’d love to hear your experience.

Disclosure – This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own. #CBias Feel #DigestiveCare