Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Rapacious Mr. Batstove]

I find a big fat doobie always puts me back on the straight and narrow.

This could be the beginning of something massive. A whole new forum perhaps, post your ailment and let the doctors at Daves have a crack. Feeling ill? Post at Daves and save save save!!!

[Gatsby]

Psyllium is indeed a form of fiber commonly recommended for constipation. This does not exactly mean that it is a laxative, such as magnesium citrate or senna. It is a soluble fiber that absorbs about 60 times its weight in water. (Insoluble fibers like bran only absorb about three times their weight.)

This can be helpful if you are trying to flush something that is causing problems out of your digestive tract. It may even slow down your system enough to reduce the water loss from diarrhea. But you do not want to stop it entirely, of course; you want to allow your body to get rid of the bad bacteria or parasites, or whatever.

You can take psyllium daily even if you do not have constipation; as they say, it promotes regularity. But what most people don't know is that fiber, soluble and insoluble, work with probiotics, the healthy bacteria in yogurt -- and in kimchi, and in fresh saurkraut -- to promote a healthy digestive tract. They produce a chemical that is a nutrient for the cells lining the colon wall. When the colon lining is not healthy it becomes more permeable to toxins and undigested proteins. Keep you colon healthy and you are less likely to get in trouble in the first place.

I knew an old gastroenterologist who told me he started taking a teaspoonful of plain psyllium (Konsul) daily when he was fresh out of med school. He had his colon checked periodically over the years, and it was always in great shape.

If you take antibiotics, when you are through you should get some good plain yogurt and some fiber -- psyllium and rice or oat bran are a good combination. I just put a teaspoonful of each in the yogurt and let it sit for 10 minutes. Eat this twice a day for at least a week.

Keeping your digestive tract healthy is one of the key things that affects your health that you have relatively easy control over.

As to psyllium as a treatment for diarrhea, if you do some checking on the web or in health books, you will likely see it recommended. I interviewed several reputable MDs as a staff writer for a health book publisher and they recommended this as a natural treatment.

A word of caution: If you take psyllium, you must drink pleanty of water with it. Just take a tablespoon or two of metamucil and put it in an 8 ounce glass of water for 15 minutes, and you will see why.

Another bit of advice: Don't take psyllium at the same time as medicines or vitamins. In fact, even bran from grains can bind with meds or nutrients through chelation, blocking their absorbtion. A professor of nutrition told me this. If she is right, those vitamin enriched cereals probably don't do much good at getting the vitamins into your body.

[Adventurer]

I am not sure what is wrong with you. However, I could give some advice. Buy bananas, yogurt, and crackers. Avoid dairy products. You could also buy non-spicy kimchee from the supermarket. Get some pro-biotics in your system. Hydrate yourself a lot. I had a lot of loose stools when I stayed in Egypt. Unlike my friend, I didn't eat lots of bananas and yogurt, and she didn't have the same problems.

[Qinella]

I get diarrhea almost every time I eat Korean food for lunch. I've been late to work a few times because of a sudden attack when I'm on my way out the door.

Something about Korean food.. I can only handle it in the evenings. If it's the first thing in my stomach (as lunch usually is) it goes on a rampage in my body. Especially bibimbap.