bacterial soil organisms

has anyone used bacterial soil organisms as discussed in the maker's diet?

vsl #3. all i have to say.

I believe that VSL#3 is the ONLY probiotic that has actually undergone legitimate clinical trials and possibly even FDA approval. Its been so long ago since I remember reading about it.

i strongly disagree with anyone who says the makers diet is a scam. i have independently repeated what the author of the book did. i was in my surgeons office about to schedule a colectomy when i wanted a day or two to collect my thoughts. i found the diet, did it, and have never felt better and kept my colon and have been med free for 2.5 years. what people dont like about him is that his schools for naturopathy are not quality schools. but shoot, you can go anywhere and get a medical license, you dont have to have a degree in engineering to be an engineer, most of your computer guys never went to college, etc etc. i find that the smartest people on any subject are self taught because they have a driving passion for the subject most people who go to school do not have. if you read his books you will learn a ton and see what he says is correct. if you research supplements, you'll see that garden of life is one of the quality brands out there. i have spoken with many doctors and practitioners and the people who have bad things to say about the makers diet or its author seem to be the ones who have an agenda, imho.

i have used HSOs found in the primal defense probiotic. did they help me? i dont know. i've used several probiotics, even VSL#3. i cannot say with any certain which one, if any one, is the one to use. i do believe using probiotics is a good thing and that there are good ones and bad ones. do the research and try it and convince yourself if you think it is worth the money.

the makers diet and the supplement company garden of life are two different things. no way is the makers diet a scam. read the book and learn about nutrition and you'll have your eyes opened. any supplement can be called a scam. most people are very ready and willing to cry fowl if they take something and it did not turn out to be the magic bullet they were hoping it was. sorry, but no supplement is. the name itself implies that - supplement. supplements are not licensed by the USDA, hence the disclaimer by law, so once a company becomes viable they get sued cos they are cutting into big pharma. everyone and everything makes false claims to sell products. do your homework. look at the claims on the sugary breakfast cereals sold to kids. hilarious. that should be criminal. so touche.

CrazyHarry, it's wonderful that you're doing so much better. But you cannot *definitively* contribute that to the diet or anything you are doing. You are simply a single case, and there could be all sorts of reasons why you suddenly improved, ie, it could be a coincidence. I know, it sure doesn't appear to be a coincidence, but until results such as yours are repeated in controlled studies, it doesn't mean much.

As a counterexample, consider this: I was pretty sick my senior year of high school. I then went to college, lived in a dorm, and started eating dorm/cafeteria food all the time. And I did great while I lived on campus. After three years on campus I moved off campus and greatly reduced the number of times I ate on-campus. And I started struggling a bit again. So, I guess that means I could write a book and claim that cafeteria food at the University of Kentucky is an effective treatment for Crohn's?

BTW, anyone know what is the diff between VSL #3 and Garden of Life Primal Defense?

beave -

i highly recommend you do write that book. i'd be interested in reading it. truly - no sarcasm. nutrition has become a hobby of mine. i too went away to school and lived in the dorms and all that stuff. i ate all the junk food and found foods that disagreed with me and stayed away from those. i was a normal "chronie".

i do think i am alone in the health i have regained by diet. call it the makers diet, the paleo diet, or a modified SCD if you will, cos the one thing they all have in common is getting off processed foods and sugars and eating food in its natural state. i took virtually every medicine dutifully for many many many many many many years and the only thing that worked was prednisone. it gave me osteoporosis and lots of other stuff too.

diet will not work wonders for everyone. we are too individualistic. we all respond to things differently too. but i do truly believe that it does help, even if one on the diet does not think so. for some it takes more time to change the balance of disease in the body. some try dietary means but cheat cos they are difficult and thus fail and say the diet is a scam.

i 100% contribute diet to my recuperation. i was looking at a colectomy. i was not getting better on any of the meds. i was taking double doses of remicade every 6-8 weeks and developed a fistula to my bladder - and it is supposed to heal and prevent fistulas (oh the irony). when i was told i needed a colectomy, the only change i made was diet and i saw noticeable improvement, albeit small, within a few days and it slowly snowballed. it cannot be an outlier or singular event when i mimicked what jordan rubin did. i tested his story and corroborated it. i'd write a book too cos there is so much to this we dont know and are trained to trust 100% the recommendations of our doctors when so much of this disease is unknown and guess work at best. anyhoo, i was 6-mp, remicade, and colozal when i did the makers diet. i had been on them for many many years (the 6-mp for over 13 years and the remicade for over 6 years). the diet did for ME what medicine could never do. so yes, i totally believe in the diet and the power of food. many people are skeptical cos it is too easy of a solution. and then doctors dont give it any credence. and like i said, they are hard so it is easy to cheat and that does not give the diet its true chance. not everyone responds the way i did or as fast as i did, but it works - and not just for crohns disease. once you look into nutrition, eating properly, like the makers diet - the way our ancestors did as early as 100 years ago, you will see that this is the proper way we are supposed to be eating and you will be healthier, even if you are not diagnosed with any kind of disease or ailment. this is the God's honest truth. feel free to disagree, that is fine, but i know from my experiences and research what has worked and what doesnt. diet works. worst case it helps.

A nutrition buff since the 70s, I'd been using herbs and probiotics all along for "stomach problems." I was using Primal Defense probiotics when I landed in the ER the first time and finally headed down the path toward a diagnosis.

Just wanted to add that I've personally emailed about 10 people I've encountered who have specifically said that one of these diets didn't work for them (i.e. SCD, maker's) to see how long they tried it. The average answer was about 2-4 weeks. After being on SCD for about a year and 2 months, I can say that I did not notice any improvement whatsoever until 3-4 months in.

Roni said...
BTW, anyone know what is the diff between VSL#3 and Garden of Life Primal Defense?

Hi Roni! Yes, I will keep you updated!

As I recall, none of GOL's probiotics are all that high in total beneficial bacteria. Primal Defense Ultra has only 15 billion, although it has something like 12 strains. It also has the possibly controversial HSO (homeostatic soil organisms--I've read pros and cons).

VSL#3's capsules have 250 billion beneficial bacteria--the highest count on the market, to date. I can't remember how many strains...8?...10?....but enough.

I hope that helps!!!

You are right, Dave! I believe Elaine stated that there are something like 700-800 billion beneficial bacteria in one cup of the home-made yogurt. Hard to beat!

Technically, VSL#3 is not SCD "legal" either, but many are having success with it. Elaine didn't like the bifidus or bifidobacterium genus or strains, if I'm recalling correctly, and VSL#3 has it. Thankfully, this strain has not been a problem for my son. Others here have had great success with VSL#3, too.

Elaine seemed to feel that the lactobacillus genus are the most beneficial for IBD, and research since her death seems to bear that out. Does the book you are reading on probiotics favor lactobacillus?

Dave, you mentioned you have Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" book. There is a section in that book on making other fermented foods. It's awesome! Have you tried any of them? I never thought I'd actually LIKE sauerkraut, but we all do! And if you eat it with meat--as the article says--you'll notice how easy your meal is to digest. It's amazing!