Take Control of Your Gut Flora
Replenishing your gut with probiotics – or fermented foods may be one of the most important steps you can take for your health!
When you make your own at home, not only do you save lots of money, you can make it more potent & customize the recipe to suit your taste.
Probiotics are live microorganisms that are best consumed through fermented foods.
Long before refrigeration & other forms of food preservation were available, people got large quantities of good bacteria – or probiotics – straight from their diet in the form of fermented or cultured foods.
For foods with probiotics, you won’t find a better source than fermented vegetables.
More & more studies show that the balance or imbalance of bacteria in your digestive system is linked to overall health and disease.
Probiotics promote a healthy balance of gut bacteria and have been linked to a wide range of health benefits.
These include benefits for weight loss, digestive health, immune function & more.
An imbalance means there are too many bad bacteria & not enough good bacteria. It can happen due to illness, medication such as antibiotics, poor diet & more.
Consequences can include digestive issues, allergies, mental health problems, obesity & more.
Probiotics are widely known for their ability to prevent diarrhea or reduce its severity.
Diarrhea is a common side effect of taking antibiotics. It occurs because antibiotics can negatively affect the balance of good & bad bacteria in the gut
An increasing number of studies link gut health to mood & mental health
A review of 15 human studies found supplementing with Bifidobacterium & Lactobacillus strains for 1–2 months can improve anxiety, depression, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) & memory.
Taking probiotic supplements for 8 weeks decreased depression levels & reduced levels of C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation) & hormones such as insulin, compared to people who did not take a probiotic
Probiotics may help keep your heart healthy by lowering LDL ("bad") cholesterol & blood pressure.
Certain lactic acid-producing bacteria may reduce cholesterol by breaking down bile in the gut.
Bile, a naturally occurring fluid mostly made of cholesterol, helps digestion.
By breaking down bile, probiotics can prevent it from being reabsorbed in the gut, where it can enter the blood as cholesterol.
Probiotics may help protect the heart by reducing "bad" LDL cholesterol levels & modestly lowering blood pressure.
Some probiotics may also reduce inflammatory responses in people with milk or dairy allergies.
Probiotics may reduce the risk & severity of certain allergies, such as eczema in infants. However, more research is needed.
Probiotics may help reduce the symptoms of bowel disorders like ulcerative colitis, IBS & necrotizing enterocolitis.
Probiotics may help boost your immune system and protect against infections.
probiotics may help you lose weight & belly fat by preventing the absorption of dietary fat into the intestine.
using a starter culture provides much higher levels.
A type of fermented raw vegetable, traditionally, sauerkraut is made from cabbage. Cabbage is an exceptionally healthy food: It’s an excellent source of vitamin C and A. It’s also an abundant source of vitamin K – one serving provides 85 percent of the daily required amount your body needs!
Research has also revealed that cabbage has high levels of a substance called glucosinolate that helps support normal cell growth and development. Sauerkraut also contains phytonutrient antioxidants that are valuable for supporting a healthy inflammatory response in your body.
Sauerkraut is one of my personal favorite foods with probiotics. It tastes good & it’s rich in beneficial probiotic bacteria, especially when made with my starter culture. In fact, I recommend customizing your sauerkraut with the addition of other vegetables – there are many recipes you can try!
GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) acts as a calming neurotransmitter in the body & can be produced endogenously from glutamic acid via the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase. However, several Lactobacillus strains also produce GABA & it is therefore present in many fermented foods.