Bio-K: Conveniently Packaged Probiotics

$5 worth of health in this little bottle?  I hope so!

The Crohn's/Colitis board on Babycenter is a wonderful community and its members offer a wealth of information and support.  One of those members recently mentioned a probiotic I'd never heard of: Bio-K.

Today I'm tapering off Prednisone. (Well, 5mg every other day for two weeks, then nothing: that feels like practically being "off".)  Nervous without my drug crutch, I ran to Whole Foods this morning for a probiotic fix.   

Since this was the first day I tried it, I don't know if it works yet.  But I really hope Bio-K prevents flare symptoms, because it's got two strikes against it:

1. It's very expensive.  $30 for a 6-pack.  Yikes!
2. I don't love the taste of plain yogurt.  And it's kind of...chunky.  

 But the word on the Babycenter board is that the probiotics in Bio-K are more powerful and effective than in the SCD yogurt, so I'm giving it a shot.  (Though the yogurt has worked for me, so I may just stick with that in the long run.)

Let me know if you've had any experience with Bio-K (or if you've found a cheaper source)!

Homemade Yogurt: Probiotics Without the Sugar

One of the cornerstones of SCD is homemade yogurt, and it's healthful for everyone--even those with unrestricted diets--especially pregnant women.  Those of us with IBD or IBS often avoid diary, and this is a great way to get calcium that you need now more than ever.
Additional benefits of homemade yogurt are:

• It has very little lactose (even less if you use goat milk). 
• It has probiotics that can help with digestive upset that all women suffer from when pregnant.
• You can control the ingredients.  Conventional yogurt has a ton of sugar, but homemade yogurt is literally just milk and probiotics.

My sweet mom makes me a batch every few weeks.  (I've done it myself too but failed because I didn't mix the probiotics well enough.)  She uses the Yogourmet yogurt maker and GI ProHealth probiotics.

Here are the steps:

1. Heat 2% organic milk for 2 minutes, keeping it between 185 and 190 degrees to kill bacteria.
2. Refrigerate milk until it returns to 70-80 degrees.
3. Slowly add probiotics (heaping 1/4 teaspoon for a gallon), mixing VERY well.
4. Allow the yogurt maker to heat the milk for 24 hours.
5. Remove internal container from yogurt maker (but don't open!) and refrigerate for 8 hours.
6. Enjoy!  I always top with honey and bananas or berries.  (Not tough enough for plain yogurt...)