Healthy Gut Bacteria: Probiotics & the Complete Wellness Bundle {{review & giveaway}}
My dad is a gastroenterologist. We grew up around the house, car, soccer game, hearing about stomach lining, perforated colons, and of course, poop. No part of the human digestive system went unspoken of. You can imagine this has naturally translated for the kids with their grandfather “Baba” as they call him. I overheard my son explain to my daughter the other day that poop was the lining of the colon sloughing off. This was while he allegedly was prepping her for a procedure {!!}.
Her response? I want to keep it.
Lots of body talk around here.
Along with all that for me came a fascination with the gut. Gut bacteria, in particular, and how this world of microbiology and each individual person’s microbiome that is as particularized as our palate.
Enter probiotics. A field of medical supplements aimed to help repopulate your gut with the good guys of bacteria. I’ve been adding them to our kids’ food off & on since they were babies to regulate poop and boost health. We are working on eating more fermented foods that contain helpful bacteria (working on that thanks to my dear friend Mary’s expertise!). AA loves the fermented taste. The kids are getting used to it. I’ll forever not love but force myself to gulp it down.
Speaking of health foods:
Wellness Media, a service of Wellness Mama, run by a lovely friend, is offering an e-bundle of over 50 ebooks, ecourses and meal plans this week. This once a year sale ends in 3 days. I bought this because I wanted to ferment better & learn from the recipes about fermented foods made simple, lacto-fermented sodas, and two gardening guides for AA!
If you want to learn more, click here.
I’m giving away one of these bundles to a lucky winner below so keep scrolling, people.
On the topic of probiotics, I was put in touch with UP4 Probiotics by a friend (thanks, Brittany!) who are harnessing these wonderful bacteria for supplements. They’re made right over the border Wisconsin and work with natural food stores and coops. They were kind enough to send this for the two bigs who love to chew their goods and this for the baby (and the bigs) who slurps up his smoothies. The two adults got this and this for regular ol’ adult & hers.
Good news: all are non-dairy, non-gmo, gluten free, soy free and vegan if you have any allergies or sensitivities. Better news: they taste good. I’m pretty depleted after chasing the kids and nursing the baby. I’m not always eating the healthiest. After taking these for almost a month, I feel better about what my gut has going into it. And TMI? Bowl movements are great. Yup, I said that.
The kids! They love theirs!
It’s an epic battle each morning over who gets to push the chewable out of its packaging. You can see how the baby feels about it all right here.
And the chewable has all the vitamin d3 you need, which is hard to get in Minnesota from the sun because we don’t get that much sun! We combine the powder with the kids’ yogurt and they don’t even notice it’s there. Tah-dah! Poops are looking really really nicely formed and that makes my GI doc-daughter-heart happy.
I like buying from a semi-local company. I like that they formulate these carefully and use sound nutritional research in doing so. Now when people ask me which probiotics I like, instead of whatever I grabbed off the shelf at the coop, I can say, UP4 is lovely.
And they’re kind enough to offer one lucky winner TWO products. Peruse away! May your microbiome be the winner.
One wellness bundle + 2 probiotic products = nice.
So excited about this giveaway! I’m a kombucha convert and just started trying fermentation this summer, but I’m always looking for more probiotics. I’d love to try UP4’s Green or Adult blends.
My family needs more probiotics in our lives! I also want to get on the fermented foods bandwagon but so far have not had the time to give it serious thought. All this info would be so helpful!
Just entered the land of probiotics – about 2 months in after needing to help my newest bebe heal after living through/discovering/fixing-through-diet her cow’s milk protein and soy intolerance. Makes a big difference – even for her through breastmilk. Amazing. Wish there was more reliable /abundant information out there – hard to sort through fad/real information!
Crazy about probiotics over here! I’d love to try the children’s chewable along with the women’s formula. Awesome giveaway!
What a cool giveaway! Just when I thought I couldn’t love you more ;). Seriously though, I would love to try the kids cubes — I am always dying to find good sources of probiotics! This is my first introduction to this company. And so easy. Thanks!
Oh I love kefir and my kids do too!!!
I just started taking probiotics after this baby to see if they would help his tummy. I would love to get the toddler on some chewable ones!
I also just started taking probiotics after a rough stretch with GI/Yeast issues. Always find your recommendations helpful and thank you for directing me to this company! Also, we are a family that is also very interested in ‘poop’–2 celiacs and counting, so I am always checking everyone’s BMs. Diaper changes have become a family event (!), hopefully, their curiosity will lead 1 of the 4 of them to be a GI doctor?!
Kids cubes all the way
Thank you for the awesome review!!
If anyone has any questions about UP4 Probiotics, please feel free to e-mail me at info@up4probiotics.com
I’d like to try to adult or women’s probiotic. I think I need it more than anyone else in my family right now!
I’d love to try the Kid Cubes – my daughter is old enough now to not need powder mixed in to something so I need to figure out what to get when I run out!
I think my kids would love the vanilla flavor of the Up4 Kids Probiotic!
Right up my alley! Love talking about the gut health haha I would love to try any of those, especially the womens or the kids 🙂
Oh I love Wellness Mama and your blog! Would love to sample the kid’s probiotic supplement for my daughter – looks like an awesome product!
I’ve been using probiotics for years and believe they help with not only gut health, but overall health as well!
Kids cubes!
I’d love to try UP4 Green or UP4 Junior! Both seem incredible. Thanks for the chance!
I’ve been taking probiotics for years and swear by them. I’ve been lazy about taking mine this last year, but I was just thinking the other day that I should find a new one, and lookie here! I would want to try the women’s probiotic.
Oooo I would LOVE to win this. My kids would really like the kids cubes, and I would love the women’s or the daily.