“A healthy gut flora is a foundation of a healthy body. Probiotics help to restore and maintain this balance.”
Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride Author of "Gut and Psychology Syndrome"
Most people struggle to maintain their gut health with healthy lifestyle habits.
Are you one of them?
You came in search of the best options to maintain your gut health.
For that, probiotics can have better implications for maintaining overall gut health.
Aren't you aware of probiotics?
No worries, this blog is for the people who need a basic understanding of probiotics, their role in maintaining gut health, and the best-updated recipes containing probiotics.
What are probiotics?
❖Probiotics are live microorganisms(bacteria &yeast) that are often considered good(normal microflora) and friendly bacteria as they provide numerous health benefits when incorporated into our dietary routine. Our body contains innumerable bacteria, but all of those are not considered to be helpful, there are good bacteria that help in our bodily functions and there are bacteria that harm us in the form of germs.
❖Mostly probiotics are found in fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, and dietary supplements.
❖Also, probiotics play a crucial role in maintaining balance in the gut bacteria, the process of digestion, absorption of nutrients, and immune function.
❖Along with helping in the gut and digestive health they also enhance people’s mental health by reducing anxiety, and depression, supporting skincare issues such as eczema and acne.
Why probiotics are essential?
❖As mentioned before they are beneficial in several ways to maintain gut health, and manage the condition of gut dysbiosis(imbalance in good microbes). When you incorporate probiotics in the form of different dietary sources the good bacteria population increases providing all of its support to your overall health.
❖As per the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) "Probiotics are live microorganisms that are intended to have health benefits when consumed or applied to the body. They can be found in yogurt and other fermented foods, dietary and supplements."
❖Harvard Medical School on the essentiality of probiotics– "Probiotics are essential for gut health. They help maintain the delicate balance of bacteria in your gut, which is crucial for digestion and overall health."
❖According to the World Gastroenterology Organisation, "Probiotics have been shown to provide health benefits in the treatment and prevention of a variety of conditions including diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, and some types of inflammation."
❖We’ve got every bit of information regarding the prebiotics and why they are essential, but we need to get an idea of how they can be incorporated into our diet. How? The way is none other than diet or food. So we have numerous recipes to include probiotics into our diet that are listed below.
Probiotics updated recipes
Buttermilk
Ingredients: Yoghurt, salt and water
So, to prepare buttermilk you need to blend yogurt and water. Once it turns smooth add salt to your taste, and serve chilled!
Simple Milk Kefir
Ingredients: Milk, Kefir grains
❖The name might sound a little unknown to you but the recipe is simple, firstly add
❖kefir grains in a clean glass jar, then add milk after that cover it with a clean cloth. The purpose of the covering is to ferment this at room temperature for about 24-48 hours.
❖After the fermentation process strain the kefir grains and transfer the kefir to a clean jar and have it.
Probiotic Lemonade
Ingredients: Fresh lemon juice, honey, water, whey (from yogurt or kefir)
Are you ready with the ingredients mentioned above, to start the recipe combine lemon juice, honey, and water in a large jar and stir in the whey. And then cover with a cloth and let it sit at room temperature for 2-3 days. Refrigerate for some time before having it. That’s it your perfect probiotic lemonade is ready.
Coconut Water Kefir
Ingredients: Water kefir grains, coconut water
Let's start preparing the coconut water kefir, start by placing water kefir grains in a glass jar and then add coconut water to it. As a few recipes that are mentioned above cover this mix with a cloth and let it ferment at room temperature for 24-48 hours. And after the fermentation process strain the kefir grains and refrigerate the kefir before serving.
Fermented Orange Juice
Ingredients: Fresh orange juice, whey (from yogurt or kefir)
As the name suggests, you need to ferment this recipe as well start by combining orange juice and whey in a jar and then cover it with a cloth and let it sit at room temperature for 24-48 hours. After the fermentation process, you can refrigerate for a chilled orange juice and have it.
Kombucha
Ingredients: Kombucha SCOBY, starter tea (from a previous batch of kombucha), water, sugar, and tea bags (black or green tea).
Kombucha is also a probiotic drink that is served to most people to improve their gut health. For the preparation process first, you need to boil water and dissolve sugar in it, followed by adding tea bags and steeping for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes remove the tea bags and let the tea cool to room temperature. As the solution is cooled pour the sweet tea into a glass jar and add the SCOBY and starter tea. Now the fermentation starts as you cover it with a cloth and ferment it at room temperature for 7-10 days. After completion of the fermentation process remove the SCOBY and transfer kombucha to bottles. You can refrigerate before serving and have the nutritious probiotic kombucha.
Green Juice
Ingredients: Cucumber, celery stalks, spinach, green apple, lemon juice, ginger
Let’s now start preparing the healthy and tasty green juice by washing and chopping all the ingredients that are mentioned above and then blending them in a juicer. You can have it as it is or else you can refrigerate and have it later.
Apple Cider Vinegar Drink
Ingredients: Apple cider vinegar, water, honey (optional)
❖Apple cider vinegar drink is the easiest recipe that you can have as a probiotic drink, just you need to stir well and serve the apple cider vinegar and honey with water.
All of the recipes that are mentioned above are probiotic drinks now let’s explore a few fermented foods for probiotics:
Miso
Ingredients: Soybeans, koji (fermented rice), sea salt
This recipe needs pre-preparation as you need to soak soybeans overnight and then cook until soft. After the soybeans are cooked soft mash the soybeans and mix them with koji and salt. Now you need to pack the mixture into a fermentation container and cover it with a weight. As mentioned this process is a little bit lengthier as you have to ferment the mixture at room temperature for 6 months to a year.
Kimchi
Ingredients: Napa cabbage, sea salt, grated ginger, cloves garlic, sugar, fish sauce, Korean red pepper flakes (gochugaru), green onions.
The name might sound a little bit different but the process is simple, start by chopping the cabbage and sprinkle with salt, keep it aside for two hours, and then you can rinse and drain the cabbage. Now mix ginger, garlic, sugar, fish sauce, and red pepper flakes in a bowl and combine this mixture with cabbage and green onions. Unlike the above ones, you need to ferment this at room temperature for 1-5 days by packing it tight.
Sauerkraut
Ingredients: Green cabbage, sea salt
For preparing sauerkraut you need to chop the cabbage and mix it with salt. Then massage the cabbage until it releases its juices. Now after the juices are released pack them tightly into a fermentation jar, making sure it's submerged in the juices. Lastly, cover it with a weight and let it ferment at room temperature for 1-4 weeks. And then you can have it in the form of probiotics for a healthy gut.
You can also check out healthy foods for your diet.
End note:
All of these fermented recipes are best helpful for maintaining a healthy gut. Along with them, you can also have foods such as tempeh, raw cheese, pickles, idly, dosa, dhokla, cottage cheese, paneer, apples, dark chocolate, pokal Bhat, etc for increasing good gut microflora.