Does a Probiotic a Day Keep the Doctor Away?

If we’re going to start trust­ing our gut more, we had bet­ter take care of it! Did you know that 85% of your immune sys­tem is in your gut, along with 90% of that feel-good hor­mone, sero­tonin? My bud­dy Hip­pocrates famous­ly said, “All dis­ease begins in the gut,” and many years lat­er, it seems he was right on!

So how do we take care of our lit­tle pow­er­hous­es of health and hap­pi­ness? One easy tool is pop­ping a dai­ly probiotic.

Let me back up — what are pro­bi­otics, and how do they work?

A pro­bi­ot­ic is a sup­ple­ment chock full of ben­e­fi­cial bac­te­ria, that helps to keep our gut flo­ra (com­plex com­mu­ni­ty of bac­te­ria in our gut) in check. Inflam­ma­tion trig­gers like stress, sug­ar, alco­hol, refined/processed foods, antibi­otics, and chem­i­cals, can cause the del­i­cate bal­ance to be thrown off over time show­ing a myr­i­ad of symp­toms rang­ing from fatigue to con­sti­pa­tion to achy joints. A good qual­i­ty pro­bi­ot­ic sup­ple­ment, along with a healthy diet and lifestyle, can help to keep the peace in the gut com­mu­ni­ty. A refrig­er­at­ed sup­ple­ment is a safe place to start – Renew Life Ulti­mate Flo­ra, Mega Foods, Dr. Ohirra’s, and Health Force are all great brands.

Anoth­er great (and deli­cious) way to improve your gut flo­ra, is to enjoy a diet rich in fer­ment­ed foods – foods that nat­u­ral­ly con­tain live ben­e­fi­cial bac­te­ria. Before you run away think­ing about sit­ting down to a petri dish for lunch, know that the prac­tice of eat­ing a diet rich in fer­ment­ed foods has been around since the begin­ning of humankind! Ever pop some fresh pick­les on your sand­wich, or enjoy a big bowl of miso soup? Miso and pick­led foods, along with sauer­kraut, kim­chi, kom­bucha, tem­peh, yogurt and kefir are some of the more read­i­ly avail­able fer­ment­ed options and are help­ful for improv­ing gut health. Aim to enjoy unpas­teur­ized ver­sions (the yogurt should con­tain “active cul­tures”) to be sure the ben­e­fi­cial bac­te­ria haven’t been killed off in the processing.

Keep­ing your diges­tive sys­tem hum­ming is para­mount to your health, and improv­ing your over­all hap­pi­ness. Ready to save some mon­ey and learn how to brew kom­bucha your­self? Con­tact me to set up a work­shop and get ready to ferment!