I don't eat any processed foods, none, and no dairy. I'm on a paleo ketogenic diet. Yes, they are in so many things, those gums, even in health foods. That's why I avoid any processed foods. Everything I eat is unprocessed and cooked from scratch.

You know, David, the lactobacillus strains in our GI tract survive on dairy (lactose containing) foods. We need those to keep pathogenic bacteria in check.

Perhaps if you consume a small amount of dairy, (that does not have gum additives) you might see some improvement if you can stabilize yourself without the antibiotic.

HagenDaz (the plain forms like vanilla and plain chocolate) and Daisy products (cottage cheese and sour cream) do not have gums in them.

It might be useful to try just a little bit of some daily to see what happens.

Thanks for thinking of me, MrsD. That's very kind of you.

I get tons of probiotics from fermented veggies, including sauerkraut, which has plenty of lactobacilli. In fact, I recall reading that some studies have shown that sauerkraut contains much higher concentrations of probiotics than yogurt. I'll try to find that and post it, if I do.

I have issues with dairy and don't think humans should be eating it (based on plenty of research that I've read of course), but that's not the point, rather in my case it contains lactose is a sugar and it would feed the very bacteria I'm trying to get rid of at least for now. And more so, it can and does contribute to intestinal permeability, not to the extent that, say, gluten does, but nothing is as bad as gluten in that respect.

Soon I'll try making my own sauerkraut, which looks simple, but I'm being lazy.