Best Probiotic for Gut Health - This Might Surprise You
So you might be wondering what the best probiotic for gut health? Even though it seems probiotics are the new trend in the diet world however humans have consuming probiotics for millennia and it is a stable part of their daily meals.
When I say humans have been consuming probiotics for thousands of years, I am talking about fermented foods. Our ancestors have been fermenting foods out of necessity so they can preserve them during times where there are fewer of them. For example, fermenting raw milk to kefir or clabber that is soured milk. The same thing with cabbage by preserving them in the form of sauerkraut to last them many months rather the raw cabbage can spoil in several days.
Almost any food can be fermented and people had to ferment vegetables that have grown in abundance and they want to eat them for the next few months. The same thing goes for dairy and animal meats. It turned out this way of food preservation has created an absolutely wonderful probiotic for gut health.
Probiotic supplements for gut health are great too and they have their place as a therapeutic strategy to help in repairing gut dysbiosis. But fermented whole foods are effective probiotics to help to improve and maintain gut health.
You can benefit from both supplements and naturally fermented foods and you do both of best world. If you have digestive disorders such as leaky gut syndrome or celiac disease then you most likely have imbalanced gut flora, they almost always come together.
I have made a recommended webpage of whole food supplements that I use and recommend to friends and clients so check out the gut probiotic supplements page that I consider from my own experience some of the best probiotic for gut health repair and maintenance. .
Best Probiotic for Gut Health - Consider Fermented Foods
Yes, fermented foods are some of the best probiotics for gut dysbiosis. If you have gut dysbiosis then this one way or another will lead to other digestive ailments and from mild to severe health conditions. Depending on the severity of your gut dysbiosis you want to be careful when consuming fermented foods. One teaspoon of well-fermented sauerkraut can contain beneficial microbes and bacteria in particular as much as a whole bottle of probiotics.
Why do you want to start slowly and gradually? Because of the die-off reaction that it will cause. Every one of you will have a different reaction but to be on the safe side, start with a small amount and see your body’s reaction for the next few hours. If everything seems ok, then increase or double the amount and we are talking about from a teaspoon to two teaspoons.
The probiotics in the fermented veggies which are beneficial bacteria will start killing off the pathogenic bacteria and other microbes in the gut. These dead microbes will secrete toxins causing a die-off reaction also known as the Herxheimer reaction.
Don’t despair, just reduce the quantity of kimchi, sauerkraut, or whatever fermented food you are consuming, and after a few days start again to increase the amount.
Best Fermented Foods for Probiotics
Like I mentioned before you can ferment all types of food (vegetables, dairy, and meat) and from solid foods to beverages. I have a book that I recommend if you are interested in learning about fermented foods and how to make them at home on my gut health supplement webpage.
Here are some wonderful fermented foods and I would consider them some of the best probiotic for gut health to supply your gut flora with beneficial microbes, also kown as probiotics:
- Sauerkraut
- Kimchi
- Kefir
- Beet Kavas
- Sour cream
- Kombucha
Why these fermented foods are very effective probiotics in healing leaky gut syndrome and other digestive disorders? In a probiotic pill, you are getting the powder probiotic in a pill which is fine and it should do its job assuming you are getting a high-quality product. However, in probiotic foods, you are getting more than that.
What are you benefiting from whole foods as best probiotic for gut health:
-The soothing fat from the sour cream to calm down an inflamed gut is one benefit. You are getting all the fatty acids to rebuild your cells in the gut wall.
-Sour cream as a fermented food is also providing you with fat-soluble vitamins ( K2, A, and D) not to mention other nutrients such as minerals.
-Consuming sauerkraut (fermented cabbage) provides significantly more vitamin C than consuming raw cabbage (1) because the fermentation process releases the locked vitamin C in the fiber.
-There are other by-products that are released from the fermenting beneficial bacteria that are very likely to be discovered that we are not aware of yet.
-Enjoying kombucha instead of soda is a much better choice, which leads us to this question...
Is Kombucha a Probiotic?
Kombucha is a fermented drink using tea and of course, the magnificent SCOBY which stands for symbiotic cultures of bacteria and yeast.
This SCOBY is in one way similar to milk kefir grains which is a community of bacteria and yeast that ferment milk to sour milk full of probiotics and similarly Kombucha is a probiotic beverage because it is the result of weeks of fermenting the sugar by these wonderful beneficial microbes.
Food historians believe kombucha was originated in China and some think in Russia hundreds if not thousands of years ago. Interestingly enough Kombucha has been practiced and studied mostly in these two countries as well and became famous in the U.S. many years later.
As a probiotic drink kombucha is considered an immune enhancer, anti-bacterial, and anti-diabetic, and enhances the body with a gentle detoxification process by stimulating the liver to do its job optimally (2).
This probiotic fizzy drink can help many individuals who are addicted to carbonated sodas to switch easily to kombucha and get all the health benefits from it while enjoying drinking it too.
One caution about commercial Kombucha is that many brands do the fermentation but not long enough so the sugar residue is somewhat high at least to my standard. Best to make it at home and some of you may not like it to be too vinegary so don’t let ferment it for a very long time.
This is the book I recommend to have a comprehensive understanding of kombucha as a probiotic elixir drink on the gut health supplement page.
So I hope I provided enough reasons for you to consider why fermented food is a one of the best probiotics for gut health and improving gut dysbiosis. Always focus on the food first and supplement second after all they are called supplements for a good reason.
Sources
- Source (1) Fallon S, Enig M. Nourishing Traditions. The cookbook that challenges politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats. 1999. New Trends Publishing, Washington DC, 20007.
- Source (2)
