Naturally Occurring Probiotics in Your Food

You can change your diet to include naturally occurring probiotics in your food that you eat daily. The easiest way to get this help for your digestive system is to include plenty of fermented foods.

Fermentation is what happens when foods are broken down and changed by a natural process. It’s been used for many years as a way to preserve food. During fermentation, bacteria that’s good for your gut develops.

You also get the benefit of things like helpful fatty acids. Some beverages also go through the fermentation process, but you have to make sure that the probiotics aren’t taken out – as happens with certain alcoholic beverages.

When food is fermented, it goes from one state to the next. If you take fresh cucumbers and ferment them, the fermentation process will turn them into pickles. These have probiotics and are easy to add to your diet.

Most people recognize the stronger fermented foods such as sauerkraut. This food is simply cabbage that’s been allowed to go through the fermentation process. The process for this food can take anywhere from 3 days to longer than a week.

Cabbage is also used to make kimchi, which is a spicy Korean dish that’s packed with probiotics once it ferments. Dairy foods can become fermented probiotic rich foods. There are many types of cheese that are fermented and contain probiotics, but not all cheeses will.

Some of the cheeses that do have probiotics including mozzarella and cheddar. You can ferment to produce soft cheeses such as cream cheese or cottage cheese. Another dairy product that can be fermented is milk.

By fermenting milk, you can turn it into buttermilk. Foods that contain natural probiotics are yogurts. But keep in mind that not all types of yogurts will have probiotics that are beneficial to the gut.

In order for naturally occurring probiotics in the foods to be beneficial to you, you’ll need to find the ones that state they contain live cultures. Sourdough bread is another food that’s fermented and contains probiotics.

If you like sweet treats, you can consume dark chocolate and get some probiotics as well. You’ll notice that the taste of fermented foods is going to vary from strong to mild. This is a result of the fermentation process as well as the bacteria in the food.

You might wonder how much of the fermented foods you need to add to your diet in order to reap the benefits. The answer to that is that the amount depends on you. Because there’s no downside to eating probiotic rich foods, you can add as much of it as you want to consume within reason according to your caloric needs.

If you’re new to eating fermented foods, however, just understand that there may be an adjustment period for your digestive system. Sometimes they can lead to gas or bloating, but these symptoms are temporary and will resolve once you get used to them.

Enjoy eating naturally occurring probiotics in your food for your gut health.

If you would like more information on this topic please check out this video presentation HERE.

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For more posts on this topic check out

“Probiotics to Fight Inflammation that Worsens Obesity”

“How A poor Digestive System Contributes to Weight Gain”

8 Health Benefits of Probiotics

Probiotics are live microorganisms that can be consumed through fermented foods or supplements (1Trusted Source).

More and 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 and more (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).

This is an overview of the key health benefits linked to probiotics.

Go to healthline to read the rest of “8 Health Benefits of Probiotics“.