Day One Hundred Thirty Nine!!!

Probiotics are your friend!


Probiotics have been found to help with optimizing overall health and wellbeing. Probiotics are healthy bacteria in your gut that aides with digestion. Probiotics are live microorganisms called Lactobacillus acidophillus, found in cultured dairy products, that provide a health benefit to your gut.


Some people believe that to decrease Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) symptoms, ingesting probiotics helps to decrease inflammation. The thought is, that one of the causes of IBS is the lack of good bacteria in your intestines. 


The fibre that you eat daily is the most significant prebiotic. Prebiotic’s feed probiotics. So, if you get enough fibre in your diet then you are getting enough prebiotics. To have and increased amount of probiotics in your diet you have to add fermented foods to your diet, such as cultured dairy products. Other probiotics are found in soy products, miso, Kombucha, Kimche, Kefir, Tempeh, some juices, pickles, apple cider vinegar and sauerkraut.


Sour cream does not consist of any probiotics, but Greek Yogurt does! So if you like to eat sour cream a good idea is to start replacing your sour cream with non sugared (plain) Greek Yogurt to your cooking in place of sour cream. As well to add Splenda to your non sugared (plain) Greek Yogurt if you would like to have your yogurt with sweetener. Warning: Greek Yogurt, miso, Kombucha, Kimche, Kefir, and Tempeh, are all high in carbs!


Some studies suggest that adding probiotics to your diet aides with improvement in blood sugar and blood cholesterol, improves magnesium absorption (which helps with sleep), can also reduce vaginal yeast infections, and aide in the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as helps with the reduction of obesity, diarrhea and other digestive diseases.  


Foods such as chicory root, Jerusalem artichoke, leaks, and onions are great sources of prebiotics that you can add to your diet, and all are low in carbs!


Probiotics also come in supplements if none of these foods appeal to you or if you are lactose intolerant. For those who do suffer with IBS research supports adding probiotics to your daily intake as well as omega-3 and vitamin D-3, increasing your fibre intake (although too much can cause gastric upset) and drinking loads of water is also very helpful. 


BUT FORTUNATELY probiotics are found in cheese such as gouda, mozzarella, cheddar, and cottage cheese! Whew! I am not a fan of yogurt in general, because of the high carb content, and I am not a fan of plain yogurt either. So, instead I make sure I eat a good amount of cheese everyday. So, the good news is, I have been doing right by my probiotic and probiotics daily intake, all along!

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