Thoughts On Health… Eat Your Bacteria!

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Hello folks! I hope you are having a great fall so far!

I thought I’d do a round-up for you on my favorite way to get my probiotic cultures in. And in my kids. Yes, yogurt has probiotics, but unless you select one that specifically states the amount of probiotic cultures it has on the label, the amount of probiotics you are getting from regular yogurt is really small.

At the very beginning of the probiotic trend, I resisted. First of all, I *gasp* actually hate yogurt. My kids and hubby like it but I seriously have to force it down… and if you’ve read about my Joy Diet, you know I don’t force stuff down.

So I tried to pretend for a while that probiotics were just another angle of hype dreamed up to sell products. But then I started reading the research. And then I read some more. And then I just decided to try it. And I noticed a *huge* difference and became a believer.

So here is the obvious… probiotics help your bowels regulate in every way under the sun you can imagine… if you have irritable bowel, if you are constipated, if you have diarrhea, if you have GERD, etc and so on and so forth… you will be helped by large volumes of probiotics.

But you know what? Even if you are supremely happy with your bowels and you feel as light as a ballerina pirouetting on a sunbeam, you will benefit in soooo many other ways. To name a few, probiotics:

– boost your immune system

– regulate and calm the immune system, for those with autoimmune disease and allergies this is KEY

– helps prevent diabetes

– regulates cholesterol levels

– helps prevent heart disease

– promotes healthy hormone balance

– promotes healthy skin… rosacea to eczema to acne

– controls yeast and fungal growth

– and much, much more.

Are you ready to get some into your system? If you don’t adore yogurt, a probiotic supplement is a great place to start. Here are my top picks:

 

1. Biotics BioDoph Probiotics

If you want a supplement form of probiotics, this company is the gold standard in my book.

 

1. InLiven Probiotic Superfood by Miessence.

This is a probiotic powder I trust and love… and I know it is amazing, pure, and powerful.

 

2. Attune chocolate bars…. specifically, Milk Chocolate Crisp.

Heaven. I love my chocolate, and this chocolate is as good as eating a Crunch bar… only better, because it is chock full of probiotics! Look for them in the yogurt/refrigerated section of your supermarket.

As both of my children are blossoming chocoholics like their mama, this is an extremely EASY way to get tons of probiotics in them and have them begging for more.

 

3. Probolicious gummy probiotics, by Rainbow Light.

These cranberry gummies are so delicious, I find myself sneaking them. My daughter begs for them. To be fair, my son doesn’t care for them, but he loooooves yogurt smoothies so all I say is, more gummy probiotics for my daughter and I! Yippee!

 

4. Therabreath probiotic gum… in organic raspberry flavor.

This is a novel way to get your probiotics in. I won’t kid you, the price turned me off for a while. Almost $9 on three sheets of gum? But I love Therabreath throat spray for my yucky, gunky tonsils so when I needed to re-order it, I gave the gum a try.

What you are supposed to do is chew one piece of gum each day after you brush… for 8 days straight, and then you are done for the month. Each sheet of gum has the 8 pieces you will need for the month. They say the bacteria colonizes and lasts for about a month, and then you need your next sheet of gum.

So… if that is true, then the gum actually costs MUCH less than me scarfing down a chocolate attune bar every day, and it’s definitely less money then we spend on yogurt and supplements each month. $3.00 for a month of probiotics is about the most cost-effective thing I’ve ever seen.

All in all, I’m not sure I’m convinced that it is enough probiotics… going three weeks with no probiotics seems like a stretch… BUT… I do think it’s a supremely good idea to have probiotics colonize the mouth… as digestion starts there!

I think if you take probiotic supplements by capsule, it would be a great adjunctive measure to chew probiotic gum and get the oral mucosa exposed to probiotics as well… especially if you are like me and are prone to getting that dreaded coated tongue.

So it’s too early on for me to say if I’ll buy another pack next month, but I wanted to mention it here because for those that get a coated tongue or for those that take supplements in lieu of eating probiotic foods, this is a great way to make sure your entire digestive system has exposure to probiotics.

 

 

There you have it folks… my top ways to infuse probiotics into my entire family.

Powder to chocolate bars to gummies to yogurt smoothies to gum, we all love to eat our bacteria. Do you?

xoxo, Laura