Karl Seddon, creator and manufacturer of Elixa Probiotic is creating a multi-part educational video series about gut health, designed to be accessible to anyone. Here’s episode 2, and I’ll be posting them as they come available.
Learn more about gut health and dysbiosis today. And if you want to try Elixa Probiotic for yourself, you can order here: ElixaFTA.com.
Related topic, Am interested if you have been experimenting with glucomannan in your fart powder or the new “pre-biotic”. Not much out there about it. We did the Elixa last year and will probably do another round after holiday diets are over.
ramon
Hi Ramon,
I can’t speak for Richard but I can say that Glucomannan had some interesting effects for me. There is a very low amount of it in Tribal but I have experimented at higher amounts.
The most significant effect was extreme appetite reduction. Glucomannan does swell up a lot when added to water, however the appetite suppression seemed way beyond what could be explained by the physical bulk of the hydrated gel. I had to stop taking it after 3 days because I was just never hungry.
If people are interested (and assuming the effect carried over into a multi-fiber blend) I will make a few batches of Tribal Prebiotic with a higher glucomannan content for people who need to shift a few pounds and want to use appetite suppression as one of their tools.
That’s the interesting thing about making the product myself – all the ratios can be tweaked adhoc.
-Karl (Elixa)
Thanks for the reply Karl. I personally don’t need a higher dosage of glucomannan, I was curious if the polysacharides types in it made the gut flora happy (make butric acid and what not) or if better to stick to typical starch powders. I have been eating a bit every week in the form of “shiritaki noodles” during my post holiday diet.
Last year potato starch and green banana powder were very in vogue, but Konjac root was sort of on the sidelines and I didn’t know if there was a gut flora reason for that.
Thanks again, will order two doses of Elixa when my wife gets back off business.
ramon
Hi Ramon,
I would imagine that the excessive swelling property of Konjac/Glucomannan would limit the amount you could intake and therefore limit the overall volume of byproducts (incl. SCFAs) that could be produced from it, before it would come close to matching other prebiotics in that regard.
Potato starch, and others, do not have this limitation. RS barely swells at all and can be consumed at 10 TBSP+ per day with zero swelling hazard. Glucomannan, on the other hand, will swell dramatically at only 1 tsp.
-Karl (Elixa)
Hi Karl,
Happy New Year! I just watched episode 3. Very interesting and informative as always. I liked the smoking example. Makes perfect sense when applied to gut problems. I am waiting for the next one where you list all the more beneficial foods and fibers. It is encouraging that you think a serious intervention with fibers would fix dysbiosis the same way chemo works on cancer.
I am curious about any new experiences and observations you had in Africa this winter.
Teddy
Hi Teddy,
Thank you and Happy New Year to you too!
I appreciate the feedback about Ep.3. A lot of people brought up the same point that the analogies are helpful. I like them because, even if the point is clear already, an analogy makes it memorable.
Yep, I did think it necessary to state that prebiotics may need to be consumed at levels above what could credibly be assumed to be in a natural diet.
(For anyone misinterpreting ‘the same way chemo works on cancer’, it’s best to watch the episode. Teddy is not saying I have equated unnaturally high intake prebiotics to chemotherapy, asides from them both being unnatural solutions.)
I went to Uganda this time with the expectation of collecting lots of footage. However, after the first 3 days I had to travel back to the capital regarding a medical situation (onco, not GI) and so the amount of footage I ended up getting was minuscule.
Thanks.
-Karl (Elixa)
Hi Karl. Last year I ordered Elixa here in Canada, and it arrived just fine. Were the packages just not arriving, or were people getting notices from Customs Canada that the shipments were being blocked? Hope I can order your new version of Elixa soon. I’m definitely interested in a version of your pre-biotic for “shifting a few pounds”.
Hi Mycroft,
Thank you for this info.
You’re right though. Many people got the shipments just fine.
The percentage of failed deliveries was not too high overall, but occurred frequently for BC province. I assume that the level of enforcement and analysis varies from province to province. I know that there are different provincial import taxes (right?), so this would imply the separate provinces may deal with import processes separately.
We did not get any notices, nor did the customer. It was this unknown factor that I didn’t like. We also didn’t receive them via return-mail. They just disappeared (probably into a bin in Health Canada import office, lol).
I stopped shipping because I thought I was very close to having an alternative solution. However, with the growth of the European demand (and AUS) it became sidelined.
I made some progress with a prospective Canadian distributor. However, she became unavailable due to other unexpected committments cropping up in her schedule.
I’m working on it! 🙂
Kind Regards,
Karl
Karl, if you’re willing to send it by Fedex, I’m willing to take the risk. At least then I can track it online. I live in BC. Not sure what is involved in distributorship, but we can talk about that too, I have some storage space, and am located in the most populated part of BC.
Hi Mycroft,
I appreciate that and would be happy to do that, however we can send it with tracking using our normal carriers too. The problem is not traceability or unreliability with the Canadian logistics chains. It’s the import regulations on what can be deemed as medical supplements. Sending by FedEx would in fact cause a higher rejection count (probably 100%) because all the customs forms are filled out extensively and FedEx themselves do a pre-collection check on all the necessary paperwork.
Similar things are required to import into the USA. Demand is so high in the US that it was a top priority and I had it sorted rapidly. With Canada the demand is lower (due to lower population) and the paperwork is disproportionately higher. Thus it was not as high a priority.
Kind Regards,
Karl (Elixa)
Canada Post very much sucks……I have “imported” a number of items from Canada to US…..and it’s never been particularly fast. EMS from Asia is two days to Canada’s two weeks. But….they have health coverage…..so it must work great.
Only thing worse has been my experience with shipping MitoQ from New Zealand……but on par with a package from Germany.
No insult intended to Mycroft.
Richard or anyone who can Contribute,
I will probably need to have a surgical procedure done in the near future that requires the use of antibiotics 1 day before and 1 day after operation.
I am afraid that my well maintain and nurtured microbiome is going to get blown to hell. Obviously I will be taking a potent probiotic, my resistanch starches, and my homemade raw sauerkraut during the duration of the surgical days. However, can you give me any other best protocols to restore my microbiome ASAP.
Also, what are your thoughts on restoring those odd strains of bacteria that arent often found in probiotic blends. I keep reading on alterative websites that antibiotics will cause certain species to disappear and you will probably never get them back. Im not sure if I believe this, but I think there is certainly a possibility for that.
Thank you for everything.
Went through this issue an hour before back surgery a couple of years ago.
I wanted to refuse the antibiotics. Surgeon said that was fine, and he can also refuse to perform the surgery. A post surgical infection can be a bitch, can kill you.
I had no adverse effects I could detect.
Hi Cnidium,
1. I’d agree that a couple of days of prophylactic ABX use is not something worth getting worried about too much. Especially since you don’t have much choice! 😉
Is 3 days enough for a systemic antibiotic to percolate through the mucus layers and affect mucosal flora? Probably…
Would it be long enough for mucosal flora to be substantially modified? Possibly…
Will it permanently eradicate huge swathes of beneficial flora? Probably not…
2. Like you, I tend to think that the environment (substrates and the ambient conditions of the intestine) are what determines the species diversity and population size to a great degree, and do not fully buy into the idea of complete and permanent eradication of species being as easy as others think it.
3. Regarding the odd strains: For the adventurous, fermented foods/drinks could be a way of introducing weird and indeterminant microbes into your gut. Indeterminant but apparently benign at worst. Beneficial at best.
I don’t hear of many people being poisoned by their fermented concoctions.
Then again, I also don’t hear of too many being remedied by them either. Though I reckon regaining lactose tolerance with fermented dairy probably has a decent success rate.
-Karl
I took about a week of amoxicillin. Nothing changed functionally. It was for tooth pain that was not an infection.
If you ingest lots of fiber, you might want to read up on how best to combine with antibiotics. Fiber apparently reduces the effectiveness.
Thank you for inputs. Im going to postpone surgery and attempt to fix my problem through alternative means for another year or so, then I will call the shot to do it.
I really like my gut.
Wilbur, do you have a link to this info that you can share? I mean on how best to combine fiber with antibiotics. Did you do anything different with your fibers while you were on amoxicillin? No one is currently on any antibiotics in my family but it would help to know for the future if needed.
I don’t remember a specific link. I did a quick search, but didn’t find anything detailed. My recollection is either antibiotics 30 minutes before fibers or fibers 2 hours before antibiotics.
Wilbur, that is good enough – separate them in time and each one works as intended.
Any ideas on beating the flu faster? My whole family got it the other day. I, who take some daily fibers in addition to eating lots of veggies, was over it in less than 24 hrs while everyone else is still suffering.
Do you guys think it would help them having fiber smoothies at this point?
Don’t know if there is anything that can be done after the fact. My wife and some friends swear by Umcka. I’m agnostic on that. I’ve also heard zinc is good.
I’ve found, as a high-fiber, high-vegetable person myself, that I do not get sick as often as others, or when I do the symptoms are relatively mild and short-lived. It’s not worth the effort to try other things. Plus I like having the excuse to lie on the couch reading classical literature and having others take care of me!