Probiotics

Check out Domino´s too, their pizzas are really hot! No bacteria could survive their oven, and if you liberally sprinkle those dried chiles on top, you´ll have a truly authentic Mexican meal.

I eat everything but I take a pepto bismo tab twice a day . It seems to work as gave been doing this in Mexico for years now

I don't understand why one would think that probiotics would be necessary in Mexico, unless you eat a lot of American style fast food there - you might need probiotics after eating hamburgers and French fries for days. Find little markets and buy fruit that you don't eat the skin: oranges, banana, avocado, pineapple, etc. The digestive enzymes in papaya and pineapple are good for the gut, as well as spirulina. Take a spirulina every day, try to eat yogurt - there are chewable antacid, digestive enzyme (bromelain, papaya); tequila is also good for gut problems and digestion. The lard in good refried beans, the lard in good tortillas, deep fried anything will have you needing probiotics - try to minimize those servings. Enjoy the food - enjoy your travels.

No one has mentioned taking YAKULT that's widely available here. Many people take Yakult on a regular basis and was developed in Japan. But I know little about these so-called probiotics, which may be something else that you take as a prophylaxis. I have had very few stomach problems in my 13+ years in Mexico, and I've eaten in all kinds of places, including ordering salads in more upscale restaurants in Guadalajara, and even here where I now live, Patzcuaro -- again never having gotten sick from them.

Hey, these are some interesting responses... though the tricky part is that some things work for only some people. Chewable papaya enzymes are great. I also like strong peppermint tinctures, and stuff like Swedish bitters (or the Gaia Herbs version, "Sweetish bitters").

I think it's pretty unlikely that first-time visitors won't experience some kind of upset unless they really limit their eating choices, especially on a multi-region trip, but a day or two of that is all part of the fun of a Mexican excursion.

One interesting note: although Mexico has an extensive health food industry, the quality of the products is sorely lacking in comparison to what you'll find in a Whole Foods or similar up north. There are GNC's, but they are also very limited in stock. This has to do COFEPRIS regulations that ostensibly relate to public safety, but are really in place to prevent any kind of competition with local brands. Bringing stuff in on a plane is easy, but try to ship these products via DHL and they will almost definitely not get into the country, and local merchants who really want to offer specialty high-quality items have a very hard time doing so.

Be careful with health claims. I just read a story in the local newspaper about a witch doctor in the Mazateca who killed one patient and put several others in hospital after injecting them with vitamins.

Jaja... easy now, nobody around here's gonna be dying from peppermint drops or Pepto and I doubt any forum members are planning on pumping the OP up with anything suspect.

Domino's, OTOH, has a pretty impressive kill list, but hey, I hear it's worth it for a while.

I hate to rain on the parade, but several years ago, the BBC did 3 documentaries on the the biggest money making foods (whose benefits were all deemed questionable), but not quite scams: eating cereals, drinking bottled water (that now pollutes the entire planet with billions of plastic bottles), and yogurt. They even included a discussion about the value of so-called live culture yogurts. It is confined to about three or four major corporations whose names I won't mention here, as it might get banned by LP for corporate reasons.

Go ahead, mention away... BBC hasn't been involved with this place in years.

Eating cereal has questionable benefits, eh? Hey... to each their own, but when questioning the effectiveness of fermented milk products, that's a few thousand years of human experience that'll need to be overlooked.

OTOH I wouldn't exactly consider it a cure for the "Revenge" either, but it'd probably a better bet than that vitamin injector.

A documentary of that type, painting each product and its effects on everyone on the planet with a broad brush, is feckless. Each to his own, according to their respective needs. American fast food may eventually kill you with its fat, salt, cholesterol, processing - is that in the documentary? What might possibly be harmful in yogurt is the amount of sugar and fat it also contains. Nutrition is a science and its applicability on each human is dependent on every nuance of that person's entire scope of life. Humans need pure water, and some cities and homes require that those people drink water other than from their kitchen tap - bottled, filtered, treated. Most people are ignorant of nutrition, processed foods, so-called supplements - people believe what they are told by the media instead of self-study. Research GMOs - do you know that some yogurt has GMO ingredients? However, a healthy gut requires a balance of good bacteria - and yogurt happens to benefit that (not the only thing to do so) and is widely available and inexpensive. Cereal? You mean whole grains or Cheerios? Because of the depletion of nutrients in our soil, GMO seeds, and pesticides, yes, cereals may not be as nutritious as they should, but all humans need carbohydrates and fiber. And so on and so forth - unending in its scope and application.