What Probiotics Are & Why You Should Try Them

* I was given a complimentary bottle of the probiotics in exchange for this honest review.

There are so many products out there that aim at making us healthier human beings and I embrace it.  Who doesn’t want to be healthy, right?! The thing is – what do you try and will it truly do what it says it will?

I personally have always been curious about probiotics.  The first time I had ever heard of them was in a conversation with my son’s pediatrician.  N was there for tummy issues and the doctor recommended probiotics to help calm his belly and get everything back to normal.  I believe I gave N the probiotics for the duration of his antibiotics and then just stopped.

About two years ago, I went through a decent amount of time where I’d get stomach aches quite frequently.  I didn’t know what was going on in there…I didn’t eat anything differently that I could remember.  My doctor recommended probiotics to hopefully help to maintain a healthy gut.  Yes, she called my stomach a gut.  Well, I started the probiotics and guess what?  My stomach/gut was calming down slowly but surely.

After doing research I learned that there are good bacteria and bad bacteria in our bodies.  Unfortunately we can lose some of that good bacteria, for example when we take antibiotics.  Probiotics can help regain some of the good bacteria, helping to keep you healthy.

I had the honor of interviewing Ashley Harris, a woman who knows how GREAT probiotics are for us firsthand and I learned why she and her husband started their own line of them, Love Bugs.

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ASHLEY!

Coffee or Tea?

Tea. At the moment I’m obsessed with just throwing fresh organic peppermint leaves in hot water and drinking that.

Red or white wine?

Red wine, definitely. The polyphenols in red wine act as a prebiotic and help feed the good bacteria. So no need to feel guilty!

Favorite place to visit?

Tulum, Mexico. It’s only about an hour south of Cancun but it’s really a world away. It’s one of the most relaxing places I have been to and a great place to recharge. Plus the food is amazing.

Flower of choice?

Lilies, they last so much longer than most flowers and they make the house smell beautiful.

What would your ideal day look like?

An ideal day would be touring a foreign capital city with my husband and son. I have always loved to travel. If I book early enough, I can usually find great deals on flights and hotels, especially if I’m flexible. My husband and I love to go to museums to learn about other people’s culture and art and we always try the local food and wine. When we got married, each table was named for a different country we had both been to and we placed the local drink of each country on that table. Our friends really loved it. Not surprisingly, Mexico was the most drunk and most popular table!

NOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LOVE BUG

How did Love Bug come about?

About a year after our son was born I started to get sick. I was getting migraines all the time and had developed eczema on my legs.   I didn’t feel like myself and was worn down constantly. I knew something was going on, but couldn’t put my finger on it. I started researching and talking to everyone I could find that was a doctor or scientist and I finally got in touch with some incredible doctors that tested me for everything. It turned out that all of my problems were originating in my gut. I had very little of the good bacteria and lots of the bad bugs. I started taking probiotics immediately and the incredible transformation in my health was amazing! I was so inspired by the power of what probiotics could do I decided I wanted to learn everything I could about them and ultimately decided I wanted to develop our own line of probiotics and share them with the world.

What inspires you most?

I am most inspired by the health changes and personal stories from people that reached out to me or my husband with support or stories of health issues and how probiotics helped them. Also, since we have launched people have reached out with stories after having taken our probiotics. We had several interns over the summer and they all experienced dramatic health changes from taking our LoveBugs. Even I was amazed!

What does a typical day look like?

I try to get up before my husband and son to quickly check emails and respond to the most important ones. Then I shower and get ready, because once everyone else is up I know I won’t have much time for myself for the rest of the day. Then it’s time to feed my son breakfast before the baby sitter arrives. I work from home a lot of the time so there’s a little bit of a blurred line between work and home. I’m working all day, but am lucky that I can take the time to sneak away and join him for lunch or a quick story before his afternoon naptime. In the evening my husband usually works till about 7pm so I feed our son an early dinner and get him ready for bed before daddy comes home. Once our son is asleep we like to relax with a movie and some wine and catch up because things have been so hectic all day.

How do you define success as a business owner?

I would define success as a business owner as the ability to sleep at night. There’s so much going on at all times and there have been so many nights I lie awake running through things in my head. When you start a company you sort of live, eat and breathe it literally 24 hours a day. I am definitely not at that stage yet, but I would feel successful if I could create that balance.

What is your best bit of advice to give women when it comes to balancing work and family?

Know when to ask for help and who you can truly rely on when you need to. No one person can do it all, and I’m so grateful for a support network of people I know I can trust.

What are your goals for the company over the next 5 years?

We just launched over the summer and it already almost feels like 5 years, so it’s difficult to say. We founded this company because I got sick, and I don’t want people to have to get sick before they understand why probiotics are so amazing. So, we want to really get out there and help educate people as to the benefits of probiotics and why they are so necessary. We want to make probiotics accessible to those that need it the most and want to partner with doctors and school nurses to provide free probiotics to children that are getting over-prescribed antibiotics. On the business side of things, we are developing several very exciting new products that should be out around the end of the year.   We’re also about to launch on Amazon Canada and in the UK. My husband is originally from the UK so we are thrilled to be launching over there.

I HAD TO TRY THEM!

After learning about how Ashley’s health changed for the better after taking probiotics daily, I decided add them to my daily vitamin routine.  Ashley shipped over a complimentary bottle of Here’s the Skinny and Colds Suck.  I’ve been taking them for just about one month now, and have been feeling great.  I haven’t had any stomach aches, my energy level has increased, as has my mood.

I love that the Love Bug probiotics are made in the USA and are even packaged in a super cool dark blue glass bottle that is recyclable (although I am going to repurpose it!) and stuffed with organic cotton.

If you are interested in trying Love Bug out, Ashley is offering my readers a 20% discount off the first order either on Amazon or the Love Bug website.  All you have to do is enter LBLAUNCH at checkout.