Allrecipes – April-May 2019

GO PRE & PRO

Pickles are just one

of the gut-friendly

foods you’ll

find in our pre- and

probiotic-friendly

recipe collection.

Scan here to see!

We’ve been battling bacteria for years. We use antibacterial soap to wash our hands, antibacterial

ointment for wounds, and antibacterial kitchen and bathroom cleaners. So why on earth would

we want to encourage bacterial growth—and in our guts, no less? Probiotics are bacteria—but they

are friendly bacteria that do us good. By Marge Perry

PROBIOTICS

hot topic:

your

Your gut is home to trillions of live bacteria called a microbiome.

It does important work: It helps you digest and absorb nutrients

and synthesize certain vitamins. To keep your gut happy, you need

plenty of good bacteria. That’s where probiotics come in.

Probiotics are found in certain foods and supplements. The most

well-studied are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, which you’ve

likely seen listed on yogurt containers.

But you can’t have probiotics without prebiotics. Prebiotics—

indigestible fiber, such as inulin and beta-glucan—are food for

probiotics. Here’s how to add prebiotics and probiotics to your diet.

PROBIOTICS PREBIOTICS

Yogurt, kefir, unpasteurized sauerkraut, kimchi,

apple cider vinegar, miso, pickles, kombucha,

and soft fermented cheeses, such as Swiss,

cheddar, mozzarella, Gouda, and cottage cheese

Garlic, onion, chickory root, leeks,

bananas, oats, apples, jicama

fermented

Just because a food is fermented

doesn’t mean it’s probiotic. Some

fermented foods have health benefits,

but not all. Case in point: Beer and

wine are fermented, but the microbes

used to make them are filtered out

before you take a sip. Sourdough

bread is fermented—but all the

probiotic benefits are baked out.

Heat is a probiotic’s kryptonite.

Live probiotic cultures die at 115°F,

so don’t boil them. Pasteurization is a

heat process developed to kill “bad”

bacteria. But in the process, it kills

the good ones, too. That’s

why canned (and therefore

pasteurized) sauerkraut doesn’t have

a probiotic benefit.

probiotic

Food for Thought

GOOD FOR YOU