Natural FactorsWellbetx Plus Mulberry Nutritional Supplement, 180 Ct

A little disappointed

Does fiber quality matter? What is the difference between Metamucil and this product?Part of the reason why fiber is high-quality is the length of the fiber. PGX has the longest fiber in the business. Long fiber strands, feed your probiotics for the longest amount of time. Short fiber is too easily digested by your probiotics and it is easily digested by much less desirable inhabitants of the gut.Four years ago I got some advice from my friend that Metamucil was the standard brand, well researched and well understood. I should not trust my probiotics to some obscure fiber like WellbetX PGX. So I used Metamucil the whole time. And for the entire time, I had diarrhea. Unrelenting diarrhea. Then I switched to glucomannan, which is actually a form of PGX. It's just not as carefully processed to preserve the length of the fiber as PGX. And my diarrhea improved although it did not go away. Then finally my new doctor insisted I upgrade to PGX and I did. My diarrhea disappeared. What just happened? The problem is I have some sort of gut infection. The Metamucil was feeding the infection as well as my probiotics. Glucomannan was a vast improvement , but the superior fiber in PGX feeds your probiotics to the maximum extent possible while starving any infectious organisms in your gut.Now fixing the gut is a big story and there's more to it. First, my digestion was broken. I was not producing enough stomach acid and the enzymes needed to digest anything. So I supplemented with HCl and digestive enzymes. If your digestion is broken, this is a great strategy. However if it's not, taking extra HCl and digestive enzymes is a great way to eat a hole in your stomach. Consult your doctor.Symptoms of low stomach acid and enzymes include: constant heartburn, GERD (the low stomach acid is insufficient to convince the esophagus to close), gas (food starts to ferment in your stomach), bloating, stomach/gut cramps, diarrhea. Alas, the low stomach acid allows nasty critters to proliferate in your gut and there could be gut infections and intestinal parasites complicating the matter.How does digestion become broken? There are many potential causes including proton pump inhibitors (yup), antibiotics that kill off your helpful probiotics (yup) which then allow opportunistic critters to take over.(yup). Some of these unhelpful organisms will directly damage your gut, destroying your ability to produce acid and enzyme (yup). Other causes include your genetics (yup). For example, high stress or high inflammation (a plethora of medical conditions, alas) (yup, yup). tilt the balance in favor of impaired gut function and opportunistic infections.Your gut needs to heal. Collagen is a major protein that's required to heal the gut. You can find collagen in bone broth or in collagen supplements.Glutamine is an amino acid which is found in large quantities in the gut, it is a precursor to GABA , and it's required for the production of glutathione. Glutamine is used by the gut as a source of energy and its required for many of the gut's functions. Glutathione is the master enzyme that regenerates all of your other antioxidant enzymes. In times of stress, it is very possible to strip all the glutathione in your body. GABA is a neurotransmitter in your brain , and fluctuating levels can alter your mood. In times of stress, or trauma to the gut, your body's need for glutamine exceeds any normal amount found in the diet. Doctors and other authorities recommend about 2 to 3 g of glutamine daily during such periods. Glutamine can only be absorbed on an empty stomach. You don't want to exceed 2 to 3 g daily because it might alter the levels of GABA in your brain which can affect your mood. However when experiencing extreme gut pain, I increased glutamine to about 6 g daily but only for short periods of 2-3 days. I did experience immediate relief from pain the next day when I did this.Resistance starch also feeds the probiotics in your gut Resistant starches to not raise your glucose level. Some of the byproducts from resistant starches, include butyric acid. Butyric acid is highly beneficial because it fights gut inflammation, and feeds the gut. Uncooked potato starch is just about the most concentrated resistant starch you can find. Bob's Red Mill unmodified potato starch is readily available resistant starch. The recommended dose is 1 tablespoon up to three times per day. If you're not used to this you might want to start off very slowly at about 1 teaspoon.Saccharomyces boulardii is a probiotic that will heal the inflammation in your gut. When it comes to probiotics, sometimes more isn't better. The probiotics are fighting it out in your gut for a very limited resource, the fiber. If your gut is damaged, then S. boulardii is the right probiotic because it will help it heal. Don't bother with any of the others. That's what my doctor told me. Once your gut is in balance, the advice is rotate your probiotics every few months.And my doctor had it absolutely right. I was already using a variation of this protocol for almost a year. I was just using junk mixed with quality. When I dumped the junk Metamucil fiber, got rid of the competing probiotics that were swamping the Saccharomyces boulardii, after about three or four weeks my major gut symptoms were all under control. So don't trust the major brand, it's pretty much garbage. Their extensive research is just paid advertising.Finally, in order to heal, you must initiate protein synthesis. You can't produce new enzymes, new muscle, or new anything, without initiating protein synthesis. Healing is pretty much by definition, the production of new materials to replace damaged materials. To initiate protein synthesis you need to eat 30 g of proteins in one sitting. Nutritionists recommend eating 30 g of protein three times a day if you're trying to heal from major trauma. This is an unfortunate amount of protein. For example you pretty much need almost 5 ounces of boneless chicken or 5 large eggs to hit that mark. I find it difficult to eat that much protein unless it's coming from meat, and I often have no room to eat anything else. But it works. The first thing I noticed when I started eating like this, was my hair started growing at double the normal rate. I have also been healing from my various disorders although way more slowly than hair growth.

My review is just my report on my own personal results thus far using Wellbetx PGX Plus Mulberry. I've been cautious and have only been taking two capsules just before lunch each day. With regard to my blood sugar (I'm a Type-2 diabetic on oral medication, not on insulin), I've only noticed a fairly minimal improvement in my morning fasting blood sugar, perhaps 5 to 10 points at most. Nothing dramatic, though if I was taking capsules before all meals there might be a more noticable difference.With my weight, however, I've noticed a significant difference. After about two months of only taking two capsules before lunch, I've lost about six pounds. I have to attribute this to the Wellbetx PGX Plus Mulberry because I haven't been doing anything else different from what I was doing before. I haven't changed my eating habits and I haven't changed my usual exercise level (fitness center three times a week). But nonetheless my weight has definitely gone down by about six pounds over the last two months.So my own results from limited use over a two-month period amount to what may be a small improvement in my fasting blood sugar levels but a most definite weight loss, with no noticable ill effects. I am going to continue to use this and I am considering increasing the amount I take, but only by one or two capsules at dinner. If I notice better results I'll update this review at a later date. Hope this helps anyone considering trying this supplement.**** New update ***After continuing to take Wellbetx PGX Plus Mulberry for another couple of months, increasing my daily input to three pills instead of two, I found that I had one good result and one disappointing result to report. On the disappointing side, I found that even with increasing my daily dosage, I not only did not lose any more weight, I actually gained back about half of what I had lost. I think that this is because the way Wellbetx PGX works is that it's fooling your body into thinking that it's full, so you do lose weight for a while. But after a while, your body figures out that it's being fooled and begins to compensate, with the result that the Wellbetx PGX loses its effectiveness.The good result though was that I found that my fasting blood sugar levels dropped a bit further and became more stable, with less variation from day to day. I think that this was due to the increased amount of mulberry I was getting from the higher daily dosage. After I quit taking the Wellbetx PGX Plus Mulberry, I began taking a purely mulberry supplement on a daily basis and found that it helped to control my blood sugar and my levels went down a bit more to where I was getting more fasting blood sugars in the 80's and 90's than before.So what I've learned from this is that (1) mulberry is very helpful in lowering and controlling blood sugar levels, and (2) while the Wellbetx PGX can help you take off weight if used for a month or two, it loses its effectiveness after that. So if you're looking to lose weight, I could recommend this product as a way to help you get started, but with the understanding that that is all it can do and after the initial weight loss it really goes back to being a matter of diet and exercise.Hope this helps.

I have been seriously taking this product 2 to 3x a day for the last 14 days- I started on New Year's Day. It has curbed my cravings for sweets like nothing in this world ever has. I take it 30 minutes before my normal meal times and it has done wonders to help me stay on track with my low carb diet. Low-carbing for me has never been easy, but I'm actually doing it with no headaches or energy loss. I even went to a baby shower and had absolutely no desire for a cupcake, brownie etc. having taken it an hour before I got there. Only problem is taking it before work - because you have to drink so much water, timing becomes an issue on my commute. I find that if I drink my protein shake first thing, hit the road and then take the pills at 8 a.m. once I'm at work, it takes me all the way through 12:30 before I start to feel hungry. (I also don't have to worry about non-absorption of my morning meds. Always try to take your medicine 15-20 mins. before to make sure it gets in your system.) 12:30 take it again and eat a low carb lunch around 1:30. On a few occasions I have actually FORGOTTEN to eat my lunch until 3 pm. No need for a dark chocolate hit late afternoon as before. When I arrive home at 6, take 3 more capsules, eat low carb dinner around 7 pm and I can sleep soundly with no cravings at all. I haven't found any difference in taking 3 capsules vs. the recommended 4 capsules and my supply lasts longer. ALSO I have gluten sensitivity and along with many other food sensitivities and this product has no effect on my stomach - no cramping or diarrhea. A small dinner roll can send me into a tail spin. Although at least one other reviewer mentioned gluten being a problem, I don't believe this product has gluten in it.

Great fiber supplement AND Glucose management system!!! It may give you a little gas at first, but don't let that keep you from taking it. Seems the more water I take with it, the less gas I have. It's supposed to be taken with at least a full glass of water. I have been taking this for 10 days now, and I've noticed a significant change in my regularity. I went from not going for 3 days at a time to going 2 or 3 times per day. And it has really cut my cravings for any sweets whatsoever. So I fully believe that it regulates your glucose levels, which is important to keep Diabetes away. On top of that, I get full faster, and don't overeat. This may be a LONG-TERM supplement for me.I'm really hoping to see some weight loss soon, but I believe it will happen since my cravings for sweets have died down, and I've been staying regular. I would definitely buy from this seller again.PS. I noticed some reviewers commenting on their weight loss. And I just want to add that weight loss with this product is a PLUS, however, what the product *claims* to do is (and I quote):"PGX with Mulberry Extract is a proprietary fiber blend formulated to promote healthy blood sugar levels*. The formula slows glucose absorption and creates a sense of satiety (fullness) while reducing the absorption of calories. This impressive PGX Blend, short for PolyGlycopleX, exerts 3 to 5 times the effects of other fibers."So take this into consideration when you are reviewing the product. It does not claim that you will lose weight!! It claims to create a sense of satiety, (which will likely prevent overeating, and thus CAN cause people to lose weight). What it CLAIMS to do is manage your glucose levels - It states CLEARLY on the label "GLUCOSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM"; it does NOT say weight loss miracle pill!