Activia.. does it work?

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I'm experiencing really bad bloating, so decided to buy pots of Activia yoghurt.
Has anyone tried this yoghurt with the view of reducing bloatedness? Have you noticed any improvement?

I already drink pre/pro biotic drinks, but I think the bacteria in Activia is different.

Fire_Fox

When you say bloating do you mean wind or constipation? Have you tried Acidophilus capsules from Holland and Barrett? There are billions of bacteria in a stable (freeze dried) format, the little drinks/ yoghurts contain a couple of million in a much less stable format. Depending on the cause of the 'bloating', my nutrition clients get good results with capsules.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I don't particularly suffer from constipation, it's windy feeling and a feeling that I've eaten too much. My stomach always looks huge mainly due to the bloatedness. It does worsen when I eat wheat products, particularly bread and wheat cereals.

babelfish

I have heard that you would have to eat a lot of the yoghurts all in one go for it to have any effect. A small pot won't necessarily make any difference. Better to have a diet that doesn't cause bloatedness in the first place I think.

C_Mababejive

This and similar products were the subject of a recent TV prog and were found to be...erm....ineffective.

You might want to take a look at what/when/how you eat.

clairibel

I don't think these yoghurts help that much, have you tried multibionta multi vits and minerals...i take these and find they help. The problem with probiotics is the stomach acid kills most of it before it gets where it should.

Cider vinegar helps digestive probs for some, supposed to make you more alkaline, about a tablespoon in warm water, you might need to sweeten with honey though as its an aquired taste lol

fernliebee

I think you've hit the nail on the head saying it is worse after eating wheat products. I also suffer a very mild intolerance to wheat products, however find the effects are greatly lessened by mainly sticking to wholemeal bread and pasta. When I used to mainly eat white bread it was quite bad, causing cramps etc, so I completely gave it up for about 3 months then just introduced wholemeal wheat products slowly and 3 years later find I am OK. I do feel it if I have a white pasta/ bread on occasion though. As far as activia goes, I have never tried it, but the pseudo science on the advert makes me doubtful tbh.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I eat a veggie diet. I don't eat fish or meat, but I do drink milk and eat eggs on occassion.

My bloatedness and weight gain has gotten worse since I had my gall bladder removed about 18 months ago. I went from a size 14 to a size 18 in next to no time at all. I also quit smoking, which I know has an effect on weight gain.

It's the bloated feeling that bugs me, cause it feels so uncomfortable.

BitterAndTwisted

I'd definitely consider going wheat-free for a month or so and see how the bloated feeling is then. Wheat-intolerance is quite common: I have quite a few friends on a wheat-free diet now

GotToChange

You may also have an intolerance to milk/lactose/dairy (I personally would suffer if I had whole milk but not semi- or skimmed....). However -
two big things that can make a difference (and apologies of you already know of or do them):

Water (and I have tried and tested this theory) - make sure that you drink enough water. Half your bodyweight (in lbs) in fluid ounces is optimal but even half of that will make a difference if you aren't hydrating yourself enough. Start the day with two glasses of room temperature water (they dont have to be huge) and that will start everything off for the day in a good way. If you don't drink enough water, your entire digestive system is unable to move at each end so anything that is in the middle - be it food, air or whatever - will just stay there. Also allow the food in your stomach to be digested properly by not drinking when you are eating a meal.

Secondly - enzymes. Wonderful things. They can be purchased but can also be found naturally in some fruits (i.e. pineapple) - or eating pre-digested products such as soya.

Please forgive me if you know this and I am patronising. Don't mean to. The water thing really really REALLY works - well, it worked for me.

x

Fire_Fox

Can anyone actually point to any published research that a wheat intolerance is a genuine medical condition? At the end of the day there will be wheat is in most meals as it's added to so many products. It's completely unscientific to blame wheat unless you have been on an exclusion diet.

OP Are you eating brown or white wheat products? What sort of quantities in relation to government recommended portion sizes? Are you eating little and often or three square meals a day? Did you have antibiotics when you had your operation? How long were you inactive for afterwards? Were you gaining weight or stable before the operation?