Probiotics You Make At Home For Almost No Money

Probiotic discussions are popping up all over my circle of the internet lately. I wanted to share this repost......

A probiotic is a mystical and wonderful thing - at least it used to be. Now, it is the first thing I reach for each and every morning. Why? Let me tell you why.....

The term 'probiotic' literally means 'for life.' Looking at this definition, it then seems logical that we can determine what an 'anti-biotic' does. It is 'anti-life.' I even Googled it for you....

When a person takes antibiotics, both the harmful bacteria and the beneficial bacteria are killed. A reduction of beneficial bacteria can lead to digestive problems, such as diarrhea, yeast infections and urinary tract infections. The possibility that supplemental probiotics affect such digestive issues is unknown, and remains under study.

So once again, if we go back and look at the probiotic, it will help alleviate digestive problems, yeast infestations and urinary tract infections. Yet they just finished saying that there is only a 'possibility' that supplemental probiotics do these things. I could beg to differ, but I don't have to beg. I know what they do for me.

There are many probiotics on the market, and some of them are quite amazing, and then there are those that claim they are active cultures, but we end up paying far too much for something that doesn't work because we don't understand it.

The very first probiotic I ever tried was ACIDOPHILUS. We could purchase it in capsule form too, so we were off! Here is the best explanation for what it is that I could find (thanks, New Well Being.Com).

Lactobacillus acidophilus is a "friendly" strain of bacteria used to make yogurt and cheese. Although we are born without it, acidophilus soon establishes itself in our intestines and helps prevent intestinal infections.

Acidophilus also flourishes in the vagina, where it protects women against yeast infections. Acidophilus is one of several microbes known collectively as probiotics (literally, "pro life," indicating that they are bacteria and yeasts that help rather than harm). Others include the bacteria L. bulgaricus, L. reuteri, L. plantarum, L. casei, B. bifidus, S. salivarius, and S. thermophilus and the yeast Saccharomyces boulardii.

Your digestive tract is like a rain forest ecosystem, with billions of bacteria and yeasts rather than trees, frogs and leopards. Some of these internal inhabitants are more helpful to your body than others. Acidophilus and related probiotics not only help the digestive tract function, they also reduce the presence of less healthful organisms by competing with them for the limited space available. For this reason, use of probiotics can help prevent infectious diarrhea.

Antibiotics can disturb the balance of your "inner rain forest" by killing friendly bacteria. When this happens, harmful bacteria and yeasts can move in and flourish. This can lead to vaginal yeast infections.

Whenever you take antibiotics, you should probably take probiotics as well, and continue them for some time after you are done with the course of treatment. Although we believe that they are helpful and perhaps even necessary for human health, we don't have a daily requirement for probiotic bacteria. They are living creatures, not chemicals, so they can sustain themselves in your body unless something comes along to damage them, such as antibiotics.

Cultured dairy products such as yogurt and kefir are good sources of acidophilus and other probiotic bacteria. Supplements are widely available in powder, liquid, capsule,or tablet form. Grocery stores and natural food stores both carry milk that contains live acidophilus.

Interesting, right? Keep in mind that when we hear 'yogurt' that they don't mean the store bought processed yogurt that won't have what we need in it (processed never does). Acidophilus is just one probiotic, and we haven't gotten to the recipe yet - we have to keep moving forward.....

Once I explored wellness further, I learned that if a probiotic purchased at the store isn't refrigerated, it doesn't have much use in our guts. It is broken down and digested/eliminated before we are able to extract anything useful and what we do get ends up a mediocre help to our systems.

So I started buying the refrigerated probiotics. I thought they were incredible! The RENEW LIFE probiotics were expensive to me (I am a very thrifty gal) at $60 for 60 capsules - but I bought them and I know what a difference they made. I felt so much better!

The probiotics we bought were always kept in the fridge, and I kept them in the door so I was always reminded at breakfast to take them.

I also made and drank REJUVELAC - a liquid made from soaking brown rice in water. Straining off the liquid, another probiotic is created. Hubby and I had been popping a probiotic capsule every morning, so trying this was definitely more work intensive. It was a learning process and we embraced every new idea or theory with an open mind.

The recipe for the brown rice rejuvelac is in my book, "The Fat Girl Now 50% Lighter. We got the recipe from someone who had been making their own for years. We took it every day in place of the capsule - but we found difficulty in getting around one simple aspect of the self-made rejuvelac.

It tasted like baby puke.

At this point in my wellness journey, it didn't matter to me. I choked it down every day with a water chaser and patted myself on the back for getting through another one. If I didn't rev myself up psychologically, I'd never do it. The smell alone....

The reason I kept taking the horrid stuff? It worked far better than anything else I had tried - and my 'balance' between mind, body and spirit continued to improve. Of course, we weren't simply waiting for rejuvelac to do all the work for me - what I ate still mattered, but the flora balance of my guts kept getting better, making life improve overall.

This year, that same wonderful, amazing rejuvelac maker who had helped me in the past returned to save me yet again. She had with her a new, improved rejuvelac recipe - and this one doesn't taste like baby puke at all! In fact, when hubby and I first went to try it, we braced ourselves - and then we happily discovered it tastes like water. Bonus!

The new rejuvelac is made with spelt berries. They are really spelt seeds, just with a fancy name.

So, the recipe is beyond simple - it goes like this;


DAY 1:
*In a quart jar put 1 cup of spelt berries and 2 cups of water.
*Cover with a cheesecloth.
*Set on your counter top for 24 hours.



DAY 2:
*Drain water and discard this water.
*Add 2 more cups of water to the jar.
*Let stand for 48 hours.






DAY 3:
Do nothing, you're supposed to be leaving it for 24 hours, remember? Think of all the things you can do with this extra time! You could go for a walk - head to the park and take a picnic....or go play in the mud.....or write your friend a letter...on real paper.....but you'll have to do something because you don't have to do this. Not today.





DAY 4:
*Your Rejuvelac is ready!
*Strain the 'water' off and store in a new, clean glass jar.
*This will make up your Rejuvelac.
*Add 2 cups of water to the original jar.
*Let stand for 24 hours.






DAY 5:
*Strain all liquid into the 'straining' jar.
*You should have 1 quart of Rejuvelac in the jar now (no berries - they are in the other jar all alone now).
*Refrigerate your Rejuvelac for up to 21 days!


When we are finished with the spelt berries, we take them and plant them in dirt. Waste not, want not - and we always cut the blades of grass that grow, dry and powder them and use them in smoothies. Spelt berries can be purchased at your local bulk foods place or from an organic grower like Integrity Foods in Riverton, Manitoba. They are far less cheaper and go farther than a store bought probiotic.

The spelt berry grass (as I call it) - if it seems work intensive, I assure you it isn't. They grow all on their own, you merely have to cut and dry it when it is ready. The benefits to our wellness is amazing and it never hurts to keep exploring.

Now - the final instructions. I try to make everything as fun as I can, otherwise it just isn't worth doing.

I take a shot glass and fill it with my Rejuvelac. This will be referred to as my morning 'shot.'

Once I started exploring wellness, I realized there were still some things that I had to psych myself up for.....like the first Rejuvelac recipe I had.

This one is a breeze to take - but hubby and I still put it in a shooter glass each every morning, share a smile, a toast to wellness - then we chug 'er down.

It's empowering to know you're making the right choices for yourself - and doing it like a boss!

How will you know Rejuvelac is working for you? My experience has been this; when I first started taking it, I really noticed that my guts started moving more. Yes, by that I mean I was attending the washroom area of my home more frequently. I could hear the burbling of my tummy as things in the bacterial world started re-balancing.

These days, I take a shot every morning to maintain things in the digestive world (and all of the other great reasons).

Do you have experience with Rejuvelac? I'd love to hear about it - feel free to leave a comment.
Rock your day!