The Best and Worse Probiotic Foods
By Sara Butler
Probiotics are everywhere! People are starting to pay more attention to the health of their gut, and probiotics are a great way to achieve that. The problem is that not all probiotic foods are healthy, and some are much better for your overall health than others. Here are some of the best and worst probiotics foods for you to choose from!
Why Do You Need Probiotics?
Probiotics help to keep the good bacteria in your gut healthy. Studies are finding that there may be a link between the kind of bacteria growing in your gut and your health. It may have an impact on everything from your mood to your weight. So, that makes taking care of the tiny organisms in your body pretty darn important.
The Worst Probiotic Foods
These foods have good intentions, but they’re just an example of good intentions gone awry. Diets high in sugar have been found to increase the growth rate of the bad bacteria that live in your gut since sugar is their primary source of energy. So, combining sugar and probiotics together kind of cancels the whole thing out! That’s why you should avoid:
- Sugar with added probiotics
- Dried fruit with probiotics
- Baking mixes with probiotics
- Probiotic juices
- Protein powder with added probiotics
- Ice cream with probiotics
- Granola bars and chocolate bars with probiotics
The Best Probiotic Foods
If you’re truly looking to add probiotics to your diet in order to improve your overall health, then you should look into these foods, which will truly deliver the probiotics you need:
- Kefir – This is like a liquid yogurt that contains at least 10 active and live strains of bacteria. It has fewer milk sugars than regular yogurt too, so you don’t have to worry.
- Miso – This is a fermented food that combines barley and soybeans, producing a thick and salty paste that you can add to all kinds of things as a seasoning in place of salt.
- Greek yogurt – There are all kinds of Greek yogurt out there, just make sure you choose the plain kind. You can jazz it up with berries if you want, but the plain flavor doesn’t have added sugars.
- Sauerkraut – This naturally fermented food is chock full of microorganisms that are great for your gut, so go ahead and let those flora flourish with this great probiotic food!
To learn more about your health and wellness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic.