Can you guess what it might be?
Did a lot of you say protein? As much as I would think the same thing, the answer isn’t protein.
The one nutrient that most of us aren’t getting enough of in our diet is actually probiotics.
When is the last time you think you ingested a food item that contained probiotics?
They are critical for your gut function. They are the good bacteria in your gut doing all the dirty work. It is also critical to have prebiotics which feed probiotics. Prebiotics are a bit more difficult to find and is why we included them in our product – SPRUCE®.
You can find out more about Prebiotics (what food sources they are in) by visiting a blog posted a couple months back called ‘WHAT IS A PREBIOTIC AND WHY DID WE PUT IT IN SPRUCE?’. For Probiotic goodness, I am going to kick it off to an article over on FabFitFun.
FabFitFun
If there’s one health buzzword that hasn’t eaten your ear off yet, I’d bet it’s probably probiotics.
Even if you have heard of the concept of probiotics, when’s the last time you actually had one? If you would have spoken to me just a month ago I would have told you just that. Sure, I know what a probiotic is and am relatively familiar where I can find them, but it’s not a priority for me. If you talk to me now, probiotics are a staple in my diet and I might’ve found the easiest way to take them too!
FabFitFun
Plain and simple, probiotics are the good bacteria floating around inside your digestive system that work to balance out the pH of the bad bacteria and yeast in your gut. If you’re a woman, there’s a high chance you’ve felt the effects of yeast or bacterial overgrowth in your stomach and not even know it. Without enough of the good bacteria, you’re bound to bloating, allergies, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), lactose intolerance, constipation, gut inflammation, ulcers, and the list goes on. Probiotics are especially important if you’re taking an antibiotic — why? Antibiotics are professional little creatures killing all of the bacteria (good and bad!) inside of your gut to fight disease/infection. And without enough good bacteria, you’re susceptible to all of the above. Not fun, at all.
Lucky for us, our bodies naturally produce probiotics to balance our systems out. Unlucky for us, the antibiotics found in the meat and dairy products we consume on the reg are doing more harm than good to our personal army of probiotics. So, what does this mean for you?
There are plenty of ways to give your tummy the bacteria fix it needs without jumping through hoops or driving yourself crazy to find the right pill, dosage, time to take it, etc. A number of foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, and fermented veggies are probiotic rich, but they often require eating a whole lot to get enough of the good stuff.
Without a proper functioning gut and the right balance of bacteria, as unglamorous as it sounds, you’re holding yourself back from fully taking control of your health and your life. Let’s sip to that!
