10 Sources of Probiotic Foods

The wrong stomach bacteria infesting the wrong place can be problematic for those prone to GI issues. The benefits of the right gut bacteria in the right place are many for all. This is where probiotic foods come in picture and act as your savior!

What are Probiotic Foods?

Probiotic foods help keep the natural balance of organisms in the intestine and stimulate the natural enzymes and processes that help with the digestion of food and keep our digestive organs’ functioning.

The best foods for gut health are rich in many of the same stomach bacteria that live in your gut biome. So, what exactly are probiotics in probiotic foods? Let’s dig a little deeper.

What Are Probiotics?

In October 2013, the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) defined probiotics as,

“Live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.”

– ISAPP

The human gastrointestinal tract consists of about 400 types of probiotic stomach bacteria. A gut biome rich in probiotics naturally decreases the growth of harmful bacteria. It’s one of those old gunslingers, “This town isn’t big enough of for the two of us kinda thing.”

Consuming probiotic foods promotes a healthy digestive system and are pivotal in answering the question you’re dying to know the answer to–how to get rid of bad bacteria in the gut.

What Do Probiotics Do?

There are many benefits to probiotics. Ensuring your gut bacteria is rich with beneficial intestinal flora is the key to:

• Weight Loss
• Skin Care
• Healing a Leaky Gut
• Regulating Mood
• Immunity

As you can see, gut health impacts almost every aspect of your everyday life. While gut health supplements and following a healthy gut diet plan with probiotic foods improves all the above-mentioned benefits, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s take a closer look as to why take probiotics and eat the best gut health foods.

Balance Beneficial Stomach Bacteria

When your gut biome is full of harmful microbes, it leaves your body more susceptible to weight gain, illness, and gastrointestinal distress. Probiotics are essential in restoring gut flora. Since these beneficial bacteria only enjoy the company of like-minded, it’s much harder for opportunistic stomach bacteria to overtake the gut biome.

Prevent and Treat Diarrhea

Probiotic foods are known to prevent and decrease the severity of diarrhea. For some, diarrhea may be a fleeting occurrence of poor digestion of food. While others may experience diarrhea as a side effect of taking antibiotics.

Antibiotics disrupt the balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut. One of the side effects can be gastrointestinal distress such as diarrhea.

Antibiotics and Diarrhea

To help prevent diarrhea with antibiotics, you must replenish the beneficial bacteria in your system. That way the good stomach bacteria can work on restoring gut flora that will make the digestion of food more efficient. As a result, you will experience fewer GI problems like diarrhea.

Replenish your gut biome with targeted probiotics from Ombre. We send you an at-home microbiome test. Using our sterile swab, collect a sample from your toilet paper. Swish the swab in the liquid inside the collection tube we enclose. Mail the microbiome testing sample with the addressed envelope we provide.

From there, you will get personalized probiotics based on the results of your gut test. We provide you with the beneficial bacteria your gut biome is lacking and probiotics that can help improve your gut health naturally. You don’t get a generic gut health supplement with probiotics you already have in your gut biome. You get a strain-specific probiotic that actually addresses your needs. 

Improve Mental Health

The gut brain connection is undeniable. Much in thanks to the vagus nerve, our mind has a constant update about what’s brewing in the gut biome. That’s why studies suggest supplementing with probiotics might help decrease depression levels after eight weeks.

Strengthen Cardiovascular Health

Consuming probiotic foods may decrease the LDL (bad cholesterol) level and blood pressure. Certain lactic acid-producing stomach bacteria break down bile in the gut and reduce cholesterol.

By breaking down bile, probiotics can prevent it from being reabsorbed in the gut. That’s where it can enter the blood as cholesterol.

10 Sources of Probiotics

Probiotics are usually found in fermented foods or taken as gut health supplements. Biodiversity of intestinal flora is the key to how to get rid of bad bacteria in the gut and how to improve gut health naturally. Here are 10 probiotic foods that will give your gut biome a boost.

Yogurt

Whether you are eating yogurt or taking gut health supplements, you need your bacteria to be alive. Look for yogurt made with goat’s milk.

Goat milk yogurt is naturally high in probiotics.

Giving Yogurt a Probiotics Boost

Many goat milk yogurt blends can also be infused with extra forms of probiotics like Lactobacillus or Acidophilus.

You can also add your Ombre probiotic blend or Rise prebiotic into any milk or soy medium to create your own yogurt.

Dark Chocolate

Chocolate on its own does not contain probiotics. However, this rich treat is a carrier. Research suggests chocolate helps probiotics survive the extreme pHs of the digestive tract.

The report found,

“Sequential in vitro setup was used to evaluate the protection of the probiotics during passage through the stomach and small intestine, when embedded in dark and milk chocolate or liquid milk. Both chocolates offered superior protection (91% and 80% survival in milk chocolate for L. helveticus and B. longum, respectively compared to 20% and 31% found in milk).”

– Intl J Food Microbiol

Pickles

Pickled cucumbers and other veggies are a great source of probiotics. When organic fruits and vegetables are pickled in a brine, naturally occurring yeast will feast on the sugars. The byproduct is probiotics, which become preserved thanks to the vinegar in the brine.

Not all pickles are the same. Don’t expect the same gut health benefits of the classic pickles on the grocery store shelf. They use many artificial ingredients, spices, and preservatives. These practices destroy beneficial bacteria, making mass-produced pickles not the best probiotic foods for gut health.

Kefir

Like yogurt, you can also add your Ombre probiotic blend or Ombre Rise Prebiotic into any milk or soy medium to create your own kefir.

Raw Dairy

Raw cow milk, sheep milk, goat milk, and A2 aged cheeses are particularly high in probiotics. All pasteurized dairy is devoid of healthy stomach bacteria. Whole milk is highly refined and stripped of many beneficial nutrients.

To reap the benefits of probiotics in dairy, you’ll need to stick to high-quality unpasteurized dairy. Consuming unpasteurized dairy for probiotic foods is much why breastfeeding is so beneficial to newborns.

Kombucha

Kombucha is an effervescent fermentation of black tea. It started by using a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. This is affectionally known to kombucha enthusiasts as a SCOBY.

Many claims have been made about why you should drink kombucha every day. Health benefits of kombucha include digestive support, immune support, and liver detoxification.

Miso

Miso is used in traditional Japanese medicine and is commonly used in macrobiotic cooking as a digestive regulator. Miso soup stimulates the digestive system, easing the digestion of food and energizing the body.

This Japanese staple is made from fermented soybeans, rice or barley. Adding a tablespoon of miso to hot water makes an excellent probiotic-rich soup.

Microalgae

Research indicates that microalgae:

“Research studies have reported that the extracellular products produced by Spirulina platensis significantly promotes the growth of lactic acid bacteria such as Lactococcus lactis, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. The present paper would focus on the prebiotic efficiency of certain blue green algae on probiotic microorganisms.”

– Med Crave

Consuming these probiotic foods is simple. You can add them to any smoothie, juice, or even mix in water. Some just consume microalgae by the tablespoon while others blend into a yogurt bowl.

Sauerkraut

Made from fermented cabbage and other vegetables, sauerkraut is high in organic acids. These fatty acids support the growth of good bacteria.

In addition, sauerkraut is high in vitamin C, digestive enzymes, and natural lactic acid bacteria. These will help boost the immune system, burn calories, and help with the digestion of food.

Kimchi

Besides beneficial bacteria, kimchi is also a great source of B vitamins, beta-carotene, calcium, iron, vitamin C, potassium, and dietary fiber. That makes kimchi not just one of the best probiotic foods but a decent source of prebiotics as well.

Since so much of your health begins in the complex microbiome of the gut, incorporate these 10 foods to boost your gut health and consequently your holistic well being! Need help getting on track? Get personalized food suggestion with an Ombre Gut Health Test.