5 Ways to Get More Probiotics in Your – and Your Kid’s – Diet, with Thais Harris

Introduction to probiotics 0:00

Welcome to The Nourish Together Office. We're not in the kitchen today but we are here to talk about eating Probiotics. What does that mean? Why we need them? And what are the top five ways to get more of them in our diets? You go is not going to be joining us today. We will miss him dearly. He's actually taking a little time off for a couple of these Wednesdays. So, I'll actually be interviewing some amazing people in this beautiful in this industry for the next couple of lives. So, stick with me. Come back every Wednesday because it will be so much fun. So, today, five ways to eat probiotic rich foods and also just ways to increase Probiotics in our gut So, what are probiotics? These are beneficial microorganisms that help us do everything from having good mood to digesting food to enhancing our immune system and literally, we would not, we would have no immunity if it wasn't for these trillions of life forms that live inside of us all over a digestive tract in our mouths, on our skin, in our genitals, in our lungs, and they're always communicating with our brain. They're communicating with our lungs this, you know, amazing, highly evolved bacteria is usually reading the environment so that before even

Why gut bacteria matter 1:32

know that you know, maybe something is off somewhere or we might pick up some danger signs in a place or maybe really love someone or not like someone after just being near them for a little bit. That could all be a product of our gut bacteria reading the environment and sending us cus, sending our brain cues to let us know. is this a safe situation? Is this not? It's pretty amazing, right? On top of that, they release a lot of neurotransmitters. So, all of those feel good chemicals that we need to actually have a really highly functioning brain and to actually have good mood and enjoy our lives. and they help us digest food and they make many vitamins for us including B vitamins that we need. So many of and what else they reduce inflammation. They maintain our mucus production, the healthy mucus. We need to have everything nice hydrated and protected.

They really do. They protect us from pathogens as well. So, when we have really good gut microbiome and we can let me ask you this. Have you ever been in a situation where you were with a group of people and you all ate the same thing and some people got food poisoning. Some people didn't. Well, that's because all of our microbiome vary a lot and if somebody's dealing with with some form of dysbiosis. So, when things are not imbalance and we end up having more of the harmful microorganisms, then, when we do encounter pathogens say through food and food poisoning, if we're already dealing with dysbiosis, then that pathogen can come in and really wreak havoc whereas somebody who has really strong foundation, a really healthy microbiome, might be able to fight that pathogen and kind of neutral Is it before it creates any problems? So, those are some of the reasons why we need them so much and so, how do we add them to our diet? So, number one, we can eat probiotic rich foods. So, those are the the best ones I believe are fermented veggies. Now, there are some people that maybe if they're having a histamine condition that they might not do so well with fermented vegetables and foods that sit for a long time canned foods and things like that. So, that would definitely be an

Fermented vegetables and probiotic foods 4:18

exception but for the most part, People can tolerate fermented vegetables really well and they've been used in every culture, especially traditional cultures. So, things like sauerkraut which is mostly fermented cabbage. so, it can be made with many different vegetables and sometimes added to you can find like a ruby sauerkraut that's made with beets, carrots. It's delicious. and it's easy to make at home too but it does take some time and it takes attention and so I've been finding that lately. I haven't been making my own. I've been buying There's a hosta hill which is an amazing brand of sauerkraut here locally in in the Eastern coast. where or eastern East Coast I should say and it's really delicious.

There's so many brands everywhere. like it's something that's so popular today for good reason. So, just make sure you find some that are coming in the glass jars, Avoid plastic as much as you want especially in things that are going to sit and age and have some acid You don't want that plastic. going into your food. So, find a good brand that's in a glass jar or make your own. There are tons of recipes. You can find a recipe in my blog and it's fun to make and it's actually a really fun project to make with kids because you have to really kind of maury that the cabbage to release all its juices So, it can be a really fun thing to do together. There's also kimchi which tends to be a little bit more on the spicier side. so, some kids don't do as well with kimchi but if your kid likes spicy flavors, then by all means, try kimchi and ways to add them to food are inside omelettes, inside sandwiches, inside quesadillas. I mean, if they don't like eating it just by itself, you can sprinkle it in. Many of the things that they do like even you can put it inside if you are making something like a mac and cheese or any kind of pasta. once the pasta is cooked and you've added your sauce, you can put in a couple of tablespoons of sauerkraut and mix it in and it just adds kind of a tangy flavor. It's delicious and you're boosting your own and your child's microbiome The number two, you can drink Probiotics, beverages. So, there are many types of kombucha available today. So, that's a fermented tea. There's also water kefir. there is Cavs which is usually the juice from beets and Those are all amazing and they'll provide that same amount of Probiotics and they'll be, you know, really easy to digest. It's coming in on the liquid form. Just make sure it's not something that has a high content of sugar and for kombucha, if you're giving it to your kids, make sure you get one that has no alcohol.

So, Aqua Fit Tea is a brand I know here that they actually test and they remove the alcohol content that forms naturally the fermentation. So, I think, you know, kombucha can be a wonderful way to get your kids to start having a little bit more Probiotics The third one is using raw apple cider vinegar. So, raw apple cider vinegar. You might also see

Probiotic drinks and fermented condiments 7:42

some that come with the mother and what that means is that the the scoby, the the the bacteria that's in there to ferment the vinegar comes in the bottle filtered out. So, use some of that. You can use it in salad dressings. You You can just add it to water. apple cider vinegar, mixed and water can actually be very helpful for digestion overall. So, having a little bit of that with meals, you can also use raw apple cider vinegar to ferment grains so, you can ferment things like oatmeal overnight on your counter, not in the fridge and that fermentation process will take hold with a little bit of apple cider vinegar. So, the food is actually going to be that. oh those say say oatmeal or however you're preparing your oats will be more digestible and in the morning and you can even do things like making better for pancakes and adding that apple cider vinegar, fermenting it overnight and then in the more you cook it, it'll also be more highly digestible because it has already been predestined The bacteria and then you can add other fermented foods such as miso which you can make sauces with. Just don't cook your miso so that you don't lose that Probiotics property.

Tempe which is a fermented soy product. So, it's a little bit sort of tougher than tofu but can be really delicious. Tempe Reuben can be an amazing sandwich. where you know, if you're using really good quality bread or maybe a gluten-free bread but you can have not only the but also some sauerkraut that's usually part of a Reuben and then things like kefir and yogurt. Now, a lot of the commercial yogurts don't actually have They're they're Probiotics are not as available as if you maybe hadn't made it at home but it's still worthwhile. Absolutely.

to try some and if you're dairy free, there are lots of brands of coconut yogurt nowadays that can be really delicious. I think, you know, especially with coconut yogurt and also cashew yogurt which II haven't found one I really love. I tried forage and I've tried some other ones and it's II haven't yet found one that I actually enjoy eating. So, why bother? Right? but there are certain brands of coconut yogurt I really like Last week, I shared or 2 weeks ago on a Valentine's Day I shared one brand of coconut yogurt. So, check it out if you're curious and so those you know, you can add to various meals. The tempe can be a little hard. So, like I said, maybe marinating it and and baking it can be really delicious or if you cut it really finely to use inside of a sandwich that can be a good way to go. And then number five is eating prebiotic foods. So, these are the foods that feed healthy bacteria in our guts so that they can reproduce,

Prebiotic foods and gut support 10:53

proliferate, which is what we want. We want the healthy ones to really take colony in our gut and beyond. So, what are some of those Probiotics foods onions, garlic, and leeks. So, those the Allen family are amazing. They tend to feed those healthy microorganisms and then bananas and apples, apples, especially the skin, the pectin in the skin can be very helpful for specific types of bacteria that actually protect us against diabetes. So, isn't that amazing? More apples like we needed another reason to love apples but here's one and also sweet potatoes, asparagus, chokes, and Jerusalem artichokes. So, those all have amazing fiber and other content in them that then feeder microorganisms, our microbiome and they in turn make things like a and vitamins and all sorts of wonderful nutrients that we need every day. Now, here's a bonus thing.

There are another couple of ways where you can get more Probiotics without necessarily being through food. One, Sisters supplements. So, I don't talk much about that today because I will do a session just on supplements but of course, you could get a really good quality probiotic supplement. There's a few that I like. So, we'll talk about that. Put it by the way you like these talks and there's something you really want to learn about leave me a comment post questions because I'll be addressing this throughout the year but what I wanted to go back to are those two ways you can get those probiotics without being through food. So, one of them is gardening Gardening, gardening, gardening. Using your hands in the soil. all the amazing microorganisms in the soil will get into us through our skin through breathing, maybe sometimes through eating from my, I don't know, pick a fresh strawberry or something off the ground but you know, have your kids to help you garden. It's really amazing for them. They can develop a better relationship with food and with fresh food and with the earth and then they also get these microorganisms and it's amazing. There have been some studies that show people who do garden and who have their hands in the soil and to have improved mood and part of of that is related to these microorganisms that are getting into us through skin and through breathing it in. So, again, oil and also being in parks. So, national parks and parks that are more wild. So, more than city parks that tend to get sprayed and have high traffic of dogs and things like that. Those not so much but parks that are a little bit more wild tend to have a lot of beneficial bacteria that tends

Bonus ways to boost probiotics 13:55

to be untouched That's been, you know, evolving over thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of years. So, time in those parks and you know, being near the ground of course, in certain areas, you still need to watch out for ticks and all the other things about being in parks but it's still so important to be in nature and to have that access and then the second one is breathing. Deep breathing can really engage our vagus nerve which is this nerve that goes all the way from the cerebellum. All it wraps around the heart and the lungs and then it goes all the way down to our intestines and the roots of this nerve are all over our digestive tract especially our intestines and 90% of fibers in this nerve are bringing information from the get up to the brain. So, a lot of that that's happening is actually coming from our microbiome and when we activate the vagus nerve through deep breathing, there are massages. There are many different things we can do to activate it but deep breathing being one of them and breathing into the bottom of our ballets and really focusing on slowing down our breath.

maybe even using something like a box breathing where we breathe in for a count of four hold for a count of four, breathe out, for a count of four and then hold for a count of four and then repeat that slowly and bringing the air down into the belly into the intestines can be super helpful for activating the Vagus nerve activating our microbiome, and basically sending a message that there is no problem and when they are happy and when they think that there is no problem, they let the rest of the body know too and they can proliferate better and they can to then give us those nutrients that I talked about that we need so much. The and the vitamins and the neurotransmitters. So, I've

Closing remarks and next episode preview 16:02

today covered the five ways you can get Probiotics foods, and two bonus ways to get more Probiotics in your body, in your life and with your kids. I hope you enjoy this. Please give me a thumbs up. You can like this. You can post comments. You can share it with anybody you think could benefit from this information and I'll see you next week when I'll have a guest in the show. Caroline Griswold, who is a respectful parenting coach and we'll be talking about meal time communication with our kids. So, see you soon.