When you journey into your local health food store to pick up probiotics, you might have your mind blown. The array of brands, labels, types, and bottles can cause your eyes to glaze over and your brain to stop working momentarily. You will also see cultured foods like kevita, Kombucha and cultured vegetables in your local health food store. I love both. I take a probiotic daily as well as consume cultured foods and drinks and my kiddos do too.

See my little Samantha ready to make Coconut Water Kefir with her momma! OMG I love her (see recipe at the bottom of this post).

WHY?

We do not want to get sick. It is really that simple. Add good bacteria to your body daily and you prevent colds because your immune system is strong. Also your digestion will work better – which means less bloating, less acid reflux, less passing gas and better bowel movements.

There are many different kinds of cultured drinks and my favorite is inner-Eco. It’s a concentrated coconut water kefir that’s often tropical or berry flavored. One bottle will last you 30 days – you take 1 tablespoon of the fizzy liquid each day, preferably in the morning before breakfast. You can find it in the

I also love many different probiotics. Keep in mind there is no one size fits all when it comes to probiotics. You have to find the right one for you and your health goals. One of my favorites is Garden of Life Primal Defense Ultra. A fairly popular capsule with 15 billion cultures & 13 different probiotic species. They can be purchased online, or at your local health food store.

When is the best time of day to take a probiotic? I believe that supplements are best taken in the morning, before you eat or drink anything else – but be sure to have something to eat afterwards! For fermented foods, you can eat them anytime.

So, what do you look for in a good probiotic? On the label, it should have at least 8 Billion live cultures. I shoot for 10 or 15 billion. You also want at least 2 different strains in your supplement. Our bellies house many different strains of bacteria, so you want to nourish them all! In general, you’re looking for strains of Lactobacillus (L. something) and Bifidobacterium (B. something). Acidophilus is a must – it’s hard to find supplements without it unless they’re other cultures specifically.

If you have a very disordered gut, or serious health problems – you’re going to want to start slowly with probiotics and cultured drinks or foods.

Taking tons of probiotics or gobbling up tons of fermented foods is probably going to make you feel bad. The changing gut ecology brought on by an “overdose” of probiotics is going to send your system topsy-turvy and can lead to many issues, including diarrhea or constipation, fatigue and/or brain fog, body aches and flu like symptoms, skin “stuff” including rashes, and possibly a worsening of the symptoms you already have. So start slow. If using fermented foods, start with a tablespoon once a day and build up from there.

You can also make Coconut Water kefir in your own home. Here is the recipe.

If you want all my cultured food recipes and wanna boost that immune system, then join me this fall for a life changing detox + cleanse (where we clean out the junk and make room for the good bacteria). Click here to sign up.

Love,