Ever done an online search and had a hard time finding the information you needed?  A couple of months ago I started wondering if erythritol would be a safe sugar alcohol to use in a gut-healthy diet, and I've had a hard time finding relevant research.  My interest in this sweetener started when I realized it was the preferred sweetener used by people on ketogenic diets. After plugging away at it for a while I'm starting to find what I was looking for.

Ever passed a kidney stone?  If you have, then you know the extreme pain that goes with passing a stone.  Symptoms can begin with nausea, vomiting, and can also include fever and chills.  Pain on your side and back below your ribs can be intense.  The pain can fluctuate and spread throughout the entire abdomen as the stone makes its way through the ureter (tube from the  kidney to the bladder).   Urination becomes difficult as smaller amounts are passed and the need for frequent urination increases.  Urine can become foul smelling, cloudy, and bloody, and be painful to pass.  The pain of passing a stone is often described as being worse than childbirth by people who have experienced both.  Want to avoid this?

I'm taking a break from writing a blog article this week, and instead am sharing an article written by Andrea Karr, called Healthy Gut, Happy Life:  10 Ways to a Better Microbiome.

Hope you'll read it - it should be immediately apparent why I'm posting it on my site.