Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

[Tupelo honey]

Hi Mike- I take probiotics daily in two doses, morning and evening. I also take digestive enzymes before meals.

I will keep that in mind. I'm going to stick with once a day for now and will have to decide on experiments with prebiotics after current experiments. If the probiotics work out well, then there's less motivation to try other things.

Flaxseed and Nopal (cactus) are both prebiotics so you are already taking them if you are still using Nopalina.

[NHMike]

Hi Mike- I take probiotics daily in two doses, morning and evening. I also take digestive enzymes before meals.

I will keep that in mind. I'm going to stick with once a day for now and will have to decide on experiments with prebiotics after current experiments. If the probiotics work out well, then there's less motivation to try other things.

Flaxseed and Nopal (cactus) are both prebiotics so you are already taking them if you are still using Nopalina.

I had wondered about the name.

Yes, I am still taking Nopalina. I was wondering why it had effects that regular fiber didn't. So I suspect that I don't need additional prebiotics. Nopalina gives you prebiotics, stool softener and different types of fiber. I'm still not sure what the fruit extracts do either. Nopalina is quite a bit less expensive than prebiotics and probiotics. I am not completely sold on probiotics right now - at least not as a daily thing. If you get probiotics, and they live in your gut, why do you need to take them every day? I am considering taking them once a week to see how well that goes.

In the meantime, I have a month supply of Banatrol and I guess I'll start taking them to see if they result in any noticeable change. If I don't see any benefit, then I will just stick with Nopalina.

I had to shovel over a foot of snow again yesterday. The coolest thing is that I wasn't sore after shoveling. Normally I'm sore after the first snowstorm but the barbell stuff means that shoveling is easy and that I don't get sore or injured.

[NHMike]

I've determined that the Probiotic can help but it can also make things worse. I suspect that there is some dosage that's beneficial but that dosage is less than a capsule per day, perhaps a lot less. I think that the best approach is to stick with the Nopalina and Slipper Elm. Next up is experimenting with the Prebiotic.

[mpbser]

Slippery elm is awesome stuff

[James65]

Howdy Mike, been a while.

I was wondering if you've tried Senna? That's what I use and it works for constipation and helps me have relatively predictable bowel movements.

I'm also wondering about the slippery elm. Anybody have success with that for constipation?

[NHMike]

Howdy Mike, been a while.

I was wondering if you've tried Senna? That's what I use and it works for constipation and helps me have relatively predictable bowel movements.

I'm also wondering about the slippery elm. Anybody have success with that for constipation?

Nopalina contains Senna. Nopalina is pretty cool stuff - prebiotic, five kinds of fiber and Senna. It has some fruit juice extracts too and I'm not sure what those do.

Nopalina is reasonably priced too. Some of these supplements are pretty expensive and only do one thing.

I learned about Slippery Elm on the LARs Facebook group.

[NHMike]

Slippery elm is awesome stuff

My oncologist at Dana Farber was familiar with it when I mentioned it a long time ago.

The effect is to coat the intestines and calm inflammation. So it can be used for things like IBD too. I just find that stuff goes through faster with it.

[NHMike]

I've been reading up on VO2Max - an interesting study used a group, average age 61 with VO2Max 18 or lower. 55% mortality rate after two years. The mortality rate above 18 was 11%. I did some checking and basically 18 or lower is 1% of the population. VO2Max is well correlated with longevity. The question is how do you improve it? From what I found, it's interval training. Also, cyclists tend to have the highest numbers. I suspect that is because you can work your heart very hard without damaging your joints.

Our local YMCA has Keiser indoor bicycles and they are supposedly excellent. I've never actually seen them though. They are in a spinning room and the room is always dark. So I'm going to go into the room tonight to see if I can see what they can do. I don't have a flashlight handy but I assume that there is some kind of lighting in the room.

I did some interval training this morning and am resigned that I will have to do interval training to get into much better shape. Interval training isn't pleasant but it's the most efficient way to improve cardiovascular capacity.