What Are The Benefits Of Probiotics?

Thank you to Silver Fern for sponsoring this post! All opinions expressed are my own. 

With gut health becoming more and more of a focus in our culture, people are more curious than ever about probiotics! Clients and readers often ask me, “are probiotics really worth taking if you have gut health concerns?” My answer is almost always, yes! Having a healthy balance of good gut bugs is vital for maintaining good gut health, and in turn, good health as a whole, and probiotics can help provide that.

The problem is that everyone says that probitoics and gut health are important, but they don’t always say why they’re important. Here, I’ll be clearing up some confusion with sharing some of the top benefits of probtiotics, as well as my own personal experience and recommendations.

First, What Are The Benefits of Probiotics?

 

1. Probiotics support a healthy microbiome

The term microbiome refers to the diverse flora living within our gut. Science is still only scratching the surface with fully understanding the complexities of the human microbiome. So in short, it’s incredibly important to have healthy gut bugs.

A healthy microbiome is vital to keeping our gut to stay balanced to absorb nutrients in our food and maintain a healthy immune system. Whereas, an imbalanced microbiome can result in overgrowths like candida, SIBO, and other dysbiosis, and whole host of health problems.

Taking a probiotic can help to keep our microbiome balanced, and diverse with healthy gut bacteria.

 

2. They support a healthy immune system

70-80% of our immune system lives in our gut. Thus, in order to have a healthy immune system, we need to have a healthy gut. An imbalanced microbiome is associated with increased infection, and lower immunity in general.

By adding in healthy probiotics that influence a healthy microbiome, we support our immune system as a whole.

 

3. They support the overall integrity of the gut lining

The lining of our gut is only one cell wall thick, and can easily become damaged. A damaged gut can lead to food intolerance, autoimmunity, and a myriad of other issues. An imbalanced microbiome can be more than enough to allow the gut to become damaged as a result of overgrowths, inflammation, and more.

By supporting our microbiome, we support the overall integrity of the gut which can potentially help to combat some of the associated issues.

4. They help prevent and control a variety of bad side effects of poor gut health

You’ve heard me say this a million times… our gut health is connected to everything. It impacts our ability to absorb nutrients, the health of our immune system, and our overall health and vibrance. By supporting our gut health with a good probiotic, we can in turn help positively impact and support our bodies ability to fight off the following bad side effects of poor gut health…

• Digestive distress
• Constipation/diarrhea
• Bloating
• Food intolerance
• Fatigue
• Mood disorders
• Hormonal imbalance (and associated weight loss resistance and lowered metabolism)
• General inflammation
• etc…

 

So, I know what you’re thinking… “what probiotic do you take?!”

I’ve taken a lot over the years, and have had varying results. Some have made a positive improvement, others felt counter productive. Most recently, I’ve started taking Silver Fern and am excited to share my results with it!

 

My Experience with the Silver Fern Ultimate Probiotic

When Silver Fern reached out to me, I was in search of a new probiotic after a formula change of my former one. I had heard of Silver Fern before and had seen positive reviews online, but hadn’t tried it yet. They offered to send me a bottle of their Ultimate Probtioic and see how it worked out.

 

By the time I started my first bottle of the Silver Fern Ultimate Probtioic, it was right in the middle of the holiday insanity. I had essentially eaten only bacon and dairy free chocolate chip for days, and I seriously felt it. I felt stressed, run down, sluggish, fatigued and my digestion was just an overall mess right after the holidays.

I started the Silver Fern Ultimate Probiotic right after Christmas and felt hopeful after hearing good things from others. Much to my relief at the time, I was immediately impressed! I noticed an improvement in my post holiday digestion within a matter of days, and it has continued to support my digestion in the weeks that have followed.

I’ve been taking two a day in the morning and have felt great taking it. Since then, I’ve confidently recommended it to several others.

Everyone is different when it comes to health. We all have a different natural balance of our microbiome, and there is no one size fits all, but regardless, I can still recommend this probiotic for working well for me as someone who has had their fair share of gut issues!

 

What Makes Silver Fern Different

 

It has no fillers or nasty ingredients

I’ve had the experience of trying to find a new probiotic right off the shelf of the grocery store several times with little success. Why? They almost all had some sort of filler or junky ingredient. Dairy, gums, fillers, and so many other poor quality ingredients that just don’t belong in a probiotic. This probiotic doesn’t have any of that stuff!

 

Survivability

Many probiotics are less effective because of low survivability of the strains. Silver Fern is third party tested to have a 100% survivability rate, thus delivering more benefit.

 

Potent and ancestral stains of bacteria

One of the biggest variances in probiotics is the quality and type of probiotics strains. Many probiotics can use ineffective, or counterproductive strains. Where as, the Silver Fern Ultimate Probitoic focuses on using more ancestral strains that are found in nature such as…

• Bacillus Subtilis HU58
• Bacillus Coagulans
• Bacillus Clausii
• Saccharomyces Boulardii
• Peidiococcus Acidilactic

 

Accessibility

Good quality probiotics can be hard to access and track down but the Silver Fern Ultimate Probiotic is easy to buy online! I recommend checking out their website to read more reviews and determine whether or not it could be a good fit for you.

 

Again, everyone is different. We all have different tastes, genetics, health background, and balance of our gut. Checking with a doctor to ensure whether or not a supplement is right for you is always a good practice, especially if you’re dealing with a known overgrowth. 

Regardless of our different background, a healthy microbiome is an important piece of the puzzle for long lasting gut health, and a probiotic supplement is definitely a good choice to consider!

 

Photography by Maribel Morales.