Probiotics For Digestive Health

We try to live a healthy lifestyle. For the most part, we eat right and we stay pretty active (although I haven’t been to the gym in a year…). But even though we eat a pretty well-balanced diet (most of the time), we also take daily vitamins to make sure we are getting everything we need for our bodies. With all the information about the benefits of probiotics that I have been hearing, I was more than willing to add a daily probiotic supplement to my routine for my digestive health. (Read more about how I started taking a probiotic.)

I have to tell you that one of the smartest things about the packaging of the 4x Pro-B, from Costco.com, is that the blister packs are labeled with the days of the week. For a busy (absent-minded) mom like myself, it left me wondering why all medicines don’t come this way! Of course, blister packs are less environmentally friendly, but for daily medications that are already in blister packs it is so simple. On days I forgot to take my pill, I just used it at the end of the week and started the new pack a day late. Geniousness. (Before you go telling me I can buy one of those old-lady pill cases with the days of the week labeled, I know that. But I am lazy, and don’t want to own up to my forgetful self!)

Along with taking a daily probiotic, now that the weather here is picture perfect we have been taking more evening family walks. My daughter has finally mastered riding her bike, which makes our family walks/ride much more enjoyable. We also regularly stop by K’s favorite hill, just to run up and down to her squeals of delight (who needs a gym?).

And along side our veggies, we eat tons of fruit. While we are happy to pile up fruit on our plates, we also like the frozen stuff – smoothies! I think K would have a smoothie everyday if I’d make ’em. Sometimes we buy fruit already frozen, but often we freeze the fruit ourselves (especially when we have too much to keep it from spoiling). A little frozen fruit, some peanut butter and a dash of juice. Yum!

After taking the probiotics for more than a month now, I honestly don’t notice any big change. But I didn’t have any noticeable digestive issues to begin with. To me, it is kind of like taking my daily vitamin. I don’t notice that they make me feel better, but I know they are good for me so I keep taking them to maintain a healthy me.

On the other hand, when we talk about digestive health in my family, it is usually about my daughter. Why? Because our four year old is still having bathroom issues. She’s been potty trained for more than a year, but she doesn’t like to poop. It started when she was about 2 years old, long before the potty training began and it persists to this day. I regularly have to resort to Miralax, but even then her major issue is will power. Now that I have tried probiotics myself, I plan to ask her doctor about the possible benefits of starting her on a children’s probiotic. It won’t help with the strong-will, but maybe it would help make things easier… Maybe. It’s worth a conversation.

In the mean time, we will all continue to work on a healthy lifestyle and I will continue to give her (and myself) lots of good veggies and fruit. As for staying active, well, that won’t be a problem thanks to our active little girl.

To see my entire shopping trip in search for my Costco probiotics, check out my Google+ story. You can also follow Costco on Facebook.

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 #DigestiveCare