Probiotic Foods
Recently on my Instagram, I’ve been doing a series on the gut microbiome and gut health. Breaking down this mammoth topic, I’m starting by covering probiotic foods. Prebiotic foods will be next!
How can I remember the difference between the two?
Quick re-cap:
Prebiotics: foods which feed the bacterial strains already living in your gut.
Probiotics: foods which when consume, add new bacterial strains to those already living in your gut.
I always remember the difference between pre and probiotics using their first three letters: prEbiotics fEEd bacteria, prObiotics dOn’t. So, probiotics feed bacteria. Probiotics don’t (they add bacteria to your gut).
How do probiotic foods occur?
They become probiotic after having undergone a fermentation process. In simple terms, microorganisms like bacteria and yeast use certain enzymes inside them to break down the sugars and starches in carbohydrates into alcohols/acids (giving rise to the tangy taste of a lot of fermented foods), anaerobically (without any oxygen around).
Why should I eat probiotic foods?
Your gut microbiome is responsible for regulating a huge amount of your health - everything you eat can affect your energy, your mental and physical health, so ensuring your gut is well looked after is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Consuming a balanced diet rich in probiotic and prebiotic foods is consistently shown in research to have favourable health outcomes. You can read more detail on probiotics here.
Examples:
yoghurt (fermented milk)
kefir (fermented milk)
sauerkraut (fermented white cabbage) 🇩🇪
kimchi (fermented green cabbage and carrots) 🇰🇷
miso (fermented soy bean paste) 🇯🇵
tempeh (meat substitute made from fermented soybeans)
kombucha (fermented tea, but be mindful of what goes into popularised brands if you’re considering drinking this regularly)
pickles (provided they’re pickled in salt and water, not vinegar)
Note: foods like sourdough are thought to be probiotic because the dough starter is fermented, but the bacteria your gut would love won’t survive oven baking. Sourdough is amazing for a lot of other things (e.g. nutrients, fibre, etc), but specifically as a probiotic I wouldn’t rely on it for such.
Note: if you’re dairy-free, check the ingredients of your yoghurt to make sure it’s had bacterial cultures added to it. When I first went vegan all those years ago, this was never the case. But last time I checked, brands like Alpro have them now, which is great! I’m unsure as to whether these strains carry the same benefits in the strength provided in dairy cultures - they could be the same for all I know, but they also might not be. The honest answer is I don’t know too much about that and I’m struggling to find any good research on it.
How can I incorporate fermented foods into my diet?
If you’re new to fermented foods, be patient with yourself. They’re quite an acquired taste - often quite tangy and sometimes bitter because of the bacteria present, and even trickier given British culture doesn’t really have any popular national fermented dishes (unlike Japan/South Korea/Germany etc). I recommend you mix fermented foods with foods that are familiar to you already (like adding kimchi to a cheese toastie). Then, as time goes on, you can incorporate them the way they’re more traditionally eaten, for maximum benefit. Incorporate them slowly - you are playing with a live micro-organism here, so any drastic changes can lead to symptoms like bloating.
Tim Spector over at ZOE starts his day off with a half-and-half mix of kefir and full-fat yoghurt. This make a great base to add some berries, toasted oats, nuts and seeds!
Kimchi grilled cheese sandwiches / Kimchi fried rice / Vegan Kimchi Soup / Add kimchi to a buddha bowl!
Use tempeh as a bacon substitute in a BLT sandwich
I hope this has helped and do keep your eyes peeled for my next post, which will be on prebiotic foods.
All my love,
Nish 🌻✨ x
