# Anyone tried making their own yogurt??



## karoe (Sep 22, 1999)

I have had some preliminary success with this....wondering who else has tried it. Introduced bifidus and thermopholus in a yogurt I made and incubated for 24 hours. Took it about every other day for 3 weeks. It was so delicious I overdid the firt two or three days....got constipated/slowdown/discomfort. Quit eating it a week ago and still feel its good effects....anyone else try this?


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## karoe (Sep 22, 1999)

Update on the yogurt. After 3 weeks of having it first thing in the morning every other day, I found that I was getting a very compact, dark stool which needed a lot of coaxing and waiting to pass....and all day headaches. Stopped the yogurt and about 3 days later the headache went away (just before Christmas) and I continued to have the same stool pattern without the yogurt for 10 days, approx. Strayed from my diet on New Year's Day -- I think a piece of cheesecake did it -- and paid for it on Tuesday with pain, headache, loose abundant stool...the whole works. Next day felt better. Day after, which is today, felt even better. Stool is firming up...I am trying to see if the probiotics I introduced into the system are lasting, I guess whether they have become established, and perhaps this is just evidence that they may have. I still am hesitating as to what to do next...grow yogurt-based probiotics or take capsules? I took capsules for a whole year before and did not get this dramatic a reaction...I've read that probiotics work better when they are delivered in the medium they are grown in. Any comments???


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## 17176 (Mar 31, 2005)

hi karoe i had a yoghurt maker quite a few yrs ago (long before i got this bloody ibs) now i just buy soya based yoghurts..


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## karoe (Sep 22, 1999)

More on the yogurt-- I see a lot of viewers to this thread but not a lot of participation. I'd like to encourage those who are looking for dietary "cures" to consider this yogurt idea. The probiotic bacteria you get here are live and abundant; you don't know what you are getting when you buy manufactured yogurt, and by incubating your own for 24 hours, all the milk sugar is used up...making it very digestible. Common sense tells you this is better than some product or pill you buy. I used a greek yogurt with bulgaricus and thermophilus in it, NOTHING else but milk. Would love to hear from others who have tried this.


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## stinky too (May 21, 1999)

I tried it years ago. It didn't help my Leaky gas smell problem. IT gave me a lot of white mucus in my stool. All I used was milk and the starter which was either yogurt or probiotics from the health food store. I agree it is better than store bought stuff, if you can tollerate dairy. I avoid dairy because if all the sinus drainage. I hate strangling on a slime ball.


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## mdonbru (Oct 15, 2003)

Yes - I make my own yogurt. I use plain yogurt I buy at the grocery store for the starter and 2% or whole milk - or a combination. I have not hit on the exact perfect formula yet - but generally I let it incubate for 14 hours. I have a Donvier yogurt maker. I like plain yogurt a lot - I don't really care for the store-bought flavored yogurts. They are too sweet for me and usually contain high-fructose corn syrup - something we should all stay away from.As far as helping the IBS - I have not really noticed that much of a difference, except maybe a little less gas. I have been thinking about ordering some of the fancy starters that have more different strains of bacteria in them - but they are expensive. I am somewhat sensitive to lactose but I do fine with my own yogurt and aged cheeses, as most of the lactose is converted.All in all, I love having my own fresh yogurt every day and I think it is good for my health overall, if not a cure for IBS!Marty


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## Screamer (Aug 16, 2005)

Hi! I'm interested in this. I guess I just always thought that making my own yoghurt at home would be expensive and a pain in the ummm rear end







Glad it's helping though. Just out of curiosity where to you buy the probiotic bacteria from? Just the health food store?


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## karoe (Sep 22, 1999)

Hey, Number 1 Packer Fan: The Natren company sells 3 types of probiotic bacteria in powders (and you can get them in 3 pak, usually not in stores but on-line ) and I have sucessfully used the Bifidus (great result with IBS) and the Acidophilus (not really any result, but it tastes good) or you could try the FAGE brand from Greece, it's got bifidus, and it works, take it from me. Be careful to not eat too much right away..can be constipating...ease into it. Let me know how you do.


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## stinky too (May 21, 1999)

Screamer,Making your own yogurt is inexpensieve. You can make a quart for the price of the quart of milk, plus the starter, which could be some from the last batch. Or one from health food store.Been a long time since I made any, cause of the dairy thing. Yogurt makers aren't that much either and you can flavor them to your liking or eat plain


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

http://rubyglen.com/kitchen/yogurt.htm also gives instructions for ways to do the incubation without using a yogurt making gadget to keep the temperature right.K.


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## mdonbru (Oct 15, 2003)

Thanks, Karoe - I'll look into those starters. I just made my best batch of yogurt yet - eating one at my desk right now!


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## karoe (Sep 22, 1999)

Still getting a good effect from the bifidus. I am not really inclined to try this since milk seems to be okay for me (I don't drink the stuff, just use it for yogurt making) but why not try unsweetened soy milk if you want to grow your own probiotics? I don't see why it wouldn't work. My plan is to consistently eat these yogurts made from Natren's Healthy Trinity and see if I can re-establish a lasting good foundation of gut bacteria. I am already more comfortable, just doing the bifidus....what else do I do...eat a very healthy diet (org. chicken and turkey, grass fed beef, org brown rice everyday, drink only triple filtered (no chlorine) water, no sugar, no wheat, no fruit. My idea of a splurge is a medjool date. I eat raw nuts every day and olives. Is this a pain? Well, you get used to it. Is it better than feeling sick? Well, I am not cured, I feel bad every day after about 2pm when I "crash" and have to take nap because of fatigue, gut cramp, and headache. On good days the nap takes care of it...for instance, last night I was able to get up, eat dinner and go to the Y to swim. I thank God for days like that ... but I do think that what I am doing is paying off....it's slow because I made mistakes, went off in bad directions. Doing work with self-hypnosis now, too, back to Mike's Tapes (see hypnotherapy on this board) but this time playing them when I get a massage... easier to get into a trancelike state that way. Be well.


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## Screamer (Aug 16, 2005)

Thanks everyone for the tips







I went to the HFS and bought an easiyo yogurt maker. They also have satchets of unsweetened yoghurt mix that contain the bifidus, acidopholous and a few other things. Not sure on the Natren co. I'll have a look here but we don't get a lot of stuff you guys do







Haven't noticed a difference in my IBS (however not ALL the yogurt I've been eating has the bifidus in it but it will from now on







) and I'm also doing the CD's of Mike's (they have thus far made some difference). But I'll keep at it. Diet wise I'm pretty unaffected. Low fat, no junk (well I do sneak sugary stuff sometimes but trying to cut down on those and doing well at it so far) and I can't eat fruit but otherwise pretty healthy. I do eat low fat dairy though, it's never made a difference to my IBS.


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## karoe (Sep 22, 1999)

Screamer...I don't know about low fat, but I have had success with right fat!!! that's the fats in nuts, olives, olive oil, avocados and pharmaceutical grade fish oil (with lemon or orange flavor) --they are all natural anti-inflammatories and if you ask me, BLOAT is inflammation! Move gently away from bad fats (and that is ANY seed oil) and over to the good ones. RE: mixing your probiotic strains--- don't do it!!! Some become domininant and kill the others off. I'm not making this up, I read it Jini's book (the new edition). Natren packages its superstrains in 3 different bottles and I make, so far, 2 different yogurts. Just fyi, the 3 pack of powders only cost 32$ on line, & then there's another ten or so for shipping and the ice pack....however, this supply lasts a long time!!! please let me know how you do.


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## stinky too (May 21, 1999)

Someone mentioned making yogurt from soy milk.Would that make tofu? I have never tried tofu as wasn't srue how much gas it would cause.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I think the process is different from tofu and yogurt, even when both are soy.Tofu is more like a soft cheese than creamy like a yogurt.K.


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## Gutguy22 (Jul 6, 2004)

I have a yogurt maker and was wondering if there's any reason, in theory, why Activia yogurt with the regularis bacteria couldn't be used as a starter? They just started selling the Activia yogurt here, and it seems to help, but is only sold in these tiny containers that cost more than regular yogurt.


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## karoe (Sep 22, 1999)

You could try using the Activa, why not? I used a store bought yogurt for my first experiment and it worked fine. It's just that the probiotics are fewer the longer that yogurt sits around. If you make it fresh, you should get a nice crop. Note on bottles of Probiotics, the manufacturer guarantees live cultures as of the packing date--- no telling what's left after a few days let alone weeks. Gut guy, why use Activa? Do you think a commercial product is going to have any kind of fabulous strain of probiotic to offer? I doubt, but it's a cheap experiment.


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## Screamer (Aug 16, 2005)

I have to confess I've been a bit lazy with my yoghurt making. Mostly because as soon as I make it the kids polish it off and I barely get a look in







However I plan to get my bum into gear again! As for Tofu, I LOVE the stuff, but I can only eat small portions. I made this tofu stirfry about 6 month ago and loved it so much that I had 2nd helpings (of a HUGE bowl full!) Well let me just say I could have powered Australia that night, I was in SOOOOO much pain!


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## Gutguy22 (Jul 6, 2004)

Karoe, I'm not sure exactly what you meant, since aren't they all commercial products? Anyway, the reason I want to culture activia is because it contains a strain called Bifidus Regularis which seems to be helping me. It is trademarked, so you can only get it from Dannon as far as I know, and it also has some research to back it up as helpful for those with digestive problems, unlike a lot of the other strains that are sold. Other research that I've seen recently also seems to suggest that certian probiotic strains help, while many others do nothing. Regular yogurt for example I think just has Acidophilus usually. There's a lot of new research coming out on probiotics, and I actually just saw a study which I believe involved the Align brand name of another Bifidus strain where it didn't even seem to matter if the bacteria were alive when you ate them. Strange eh, maybe something to do with the transfer of genetic material between bacteria or something, who knows. I guess the bacteria-gut relationship is much more complex than it may seem.oh yeah, I almost forgot, the reason I was asking if using it as a starter would work is because the instructions that came with my yogurt maker had different initial temperatures for the milk depending on the strain you were going to use, and obviously it didn't mention the Bifidus Regularis one. I guess I'll just give it a shot and see what happens.


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## stinky too (May 21, 1999)

My yogurt maker is an older one that has one temp. fits all. I haven't tried it using the soy milk yet, I just had a bowl of hamb and bean soup for dinner. Yummy. Only thing missing was a scoop of Cool WhiP







Anyway I will be blowing the sheets off tonight.


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## Gutguy22 (Jul 6, 2004)

Yeah, my yogurt maker has only one temperature too. For some reason though it suggests different initial temperatures for the milk depending on the bacteria you're using. I'm talking about the temperature of the milk when you actually pour the starter culture into it. It probably doesn't even matter that much and I'm just being anal about the whole thing (no pun intended).by the way, this is pretty funny, check out how they advertise Activia in Italy:http://www.contrasto.it/img/12400_img.jpg


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## karoe (Sep 22, 1999)

Gut Guy: I think what I mean by "commercial products" was something like the regular yogurt that is available in the supermarket, which has live cultures (at packing time) that are not particularly vigorous, or helpful to the gut. I get my info from Jini Patel Thompson's book (the new edition) called "Listen to Your Gut" She says she uses Natren because it works, but she used the capsules. I tried something "commercial" which had bifidus and thermophilus in it, and it had a huge effect on me, (and my mom who has no bowel problems) so I got interested in using yogurt rather than capsules. Right now I am just trying to find a strain that works for me without constipating me. If the Bifidus Regularis in the Dannon product works for you, it's a good idea to make your own (using the Dannon product as a starter) and try it out, plus you can use organic milk, incubate it for 24+ hours and make sure it's very digestible and leave out sugar and other bad stuff. I think it sounds like something I would try eventually. I don't know anything about different temperatures in the yogurt maker...I just followed the directions in the specific carbohydrate diet cookbook. Almost boil it, remove from pot & cool to 110 degrees, add culture and plug it in... that's all I do. I'd love to eat more of the stuff but as I said, I get constipated with too much bifidus and I wish I could figure out what to eat to move things along. More vegetables, I guess.


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## karoe (Sep 22, 1999)

Homemade probiotics update: I have now made individual yogurt cultures out of all three Natren "Healthy Trinity" and eaten the products. My results are: the Acidophilus and Lactobacillus strains, while delicious, did not do anything to immediately, dramatically change my gut bacteria in a way that gave me a firm stool and pain relief. The bifidus does. It is most potent when new, and after a few days cooled off in the fridge, it doesn't seem as powerful. I think I will now go on a maintenance dose of bifidus each morning on an empty stomach, and use the others as "food" ie. making up a batch and eating it as a snack so I can get the nutritional value of milk. I have read in the long run that it's good to have all three cultures in the intestine for optimum health, so I guess it's a matter of finding a balance and sticking with it. I hope I can get the cultures to "implant", because it does feel just like symptom relief if, when I stop taking the bifidus, I go back to loose stool, cramps and pain. I will also mention that the bifidus is still giving me a headache, and I believe that is the "die off" reaction. Love to hear anyone else's results. I will say that making your own probiotics seems cheaper and results in a dramatically more effective product than dried powder in capsules. I would encourage anyone who has failed with powdered probiotics or commercial yogurt in the past to try this idea.


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## 14454 (Mar 16, 2006)

It is way to hard to gain the ability to post here. Any I was just looking into this out new dannon culture out of professional curiosity. And thought I'd clarify on this point before disappearing.The cultures won't implant. It's a limitation of the cultures, they simply cannot compete, much to the benefit of dannon. You will need to consume them on a regular basis.


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## stinky too (May 21, 1999)

Before you disappear, who says we use dannon?There are other yogurts out there with live cultures. I see you are a first time poster,it is not that hard to post here.


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## karoe (Sep 22, 1999)

When I first started out with this "making my own probiotics" thing, I consumed yogurt with bifidus and thermophilus, and even after I stopped eating it, the good effects lasted another 10 days....so, yes, maybe you are right, they don't "implant" but I think we have all read about how the lactobacilli do crowd out the "bad" bacteria and change the PH of the intestine which discourages growth of the bad guys. If you persist in eating a low carb diet, and cut out sugars and junk, would you not think, that over time, if you keep up with the lactobacilli, that you'd eventually improve the environment of the colon? Maybe to a point where healing of the intestinal walls and proper functioning could be restored? Does this make sense to anyone or am I just engaging in some wishful thinking. Think about all we have read about the end effects of the disturbed gut bacteria...GERD, Chron's, IBS, malabsorbtion....I don't know enough about this to really hypothesize any further, but I'd sure like someone who has some ideas to chime in. As for me, I continue to eat the yogurt I'm making myself....and I'm pretty comfortable. I would like to try to grow the B. Infantis stuff, and I think that's going to me my next project.


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## Gutguy22 (Jul 6, 2004)

Karoe, sounds like an interesting project. I'd be interested to know what happens when you only use B. Infantis as a starter for the yogurt. I have a feeling it wouldn't work but it'd be interesting to try. I believe Infantis can be found alone in Align and some Natren products, are there others? I don't think you could be sure you had any Infantis if you used a probiotic that contained it in some combination with other bacteria.As for your theory of gut healing by cutting down on carbs, etc... it sounds good and I hope it's true, it just seems impossible to tell at this time if Chron's, Ibs, etc are "end effects" of disturbed gut bacteria or if disturbed gut bacteria is a symptom of some deeper cause (e.g. immunological problems). I guess it's likely that it's some very complex interaction among many factors but who knows.Let us know how your B. Infantis project turns out.


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## imedbone (May 4, 2009)

So it looks like this was posted 3 years ago... now I am interested in how well using this Bifidus yogurt cultured from Natren Healthy Trinity has worked out for you. Hopefully you're still around this site to respond. I thought I had an original idea here for a moment in using Trinity caps to make yogurt, but a quick search online revealed that it has obviously been done before. Now I am curious as to whether the long term use (how long?) of such a yogurt (or Healthy Trinity) can result in a healed or even cured gut.Acido seems to make my symptoms worse as well (colitis), but taking Healthy Trinity which is predominantly Bifidus, definitely helps. Note that I also was recently diagnosed with SIBO via H2 breath test, took antibiotics for that, and my colitis flare is getting better. Then I started taking Natren H. Trinity and things are almost back to normal now. I believe there may be some lingering small intestine bacterial overgrowth, so I am weary of Acido. strains...


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