5 Probiotics Rich Food & Drinks to Heal Your Body
You’re going to love these easy-to-make recipes! Try them and see the improvement in your health.
Probiotics are microorganisms that support our gut health. The bacteria especially help those suffering from some kind of intestinal disorders. Your digestive system is intricately connected to your immune system, so if you don’t have a good belly, you are likely to have few of these problems too: poor immune system, poor skin condition, bloating, bad breath, etc. That means your body needs some good bacteria to maintain a healthy gut environment. You can take probiotic pills or eat more probiotics-rich food to heal your gut and improve your immune system.
Note: Taking too much probiotics might upset your stomach or lead to diarrhea. For people who have special health conditions such as cancer, you should talk to your physician before trying probiotics.
Here are a few dairy-free, probiotics-rich food and drinks you can try to add to your daily diet.
1. Korean Kimchi
Kimchi is a traditional Korean food made by fermenting vegetables with probiotic LAB (lactic acid bacteria). Most people use Napa cabbage, mixed with vinegar, salt, garlic, apple, chili peppers and other spices. Traditional kimchi includes non-vegetarian ingredients — brined anchovies, brined shrimp or Jeotgal (fish sauce). Fermented seafood adds a good amount of glutamic acid to the mix and increases the taste. However, you can replace these non-vegetarian ingredients with Miso (Japanese fermented soybean paste) or simply skip it. It has the same benefits.
2. Fermented Salsa
If you love salsa, here is what you can try — make your own fermented salsa. All you need is common salsa ingredients — onion, tomato, green pepper, garlic, cilantro, lemon juice and jalepeño (optional). Dice them all and mix them together like you would for any regular salsa. Now add this extra ingredient, sea salt, to ferment the salsa (set in room temperature for one day). Once it’s done, you can store it in the refrigerator. I usually add a little bit of my homemade kombucha in there as well. And then you can enjoy its snacky goodness as you sit on the couch watching your favorite game.
3. Lemongrass Kombucha
Kombucha has been gaining popularity for the last few years. It’s a kind of fermented tea rich in probiotics. The tea base can be black or green tea, sweetened or unsweetened. It tastes more like a fizzy vinegar than tea anyway. There are tons of different types of kombucha you can find in the market, but you can also make your own with your preferred flavor easily at home. First of all, you’ll need to prepare some containers and the following ingredients: sugar, loose tea or tea bags, starter tea (previously brewed kombucha), and kombucha SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) or just go get a kombucha kit from your local market. Personally, I add some lemongrass concentrate to mine along with everything else, and it tastes amazing. You can also add some fruits to make it taste like a non-alcoholic cocktail. 😉
If you need more help, you can watch this video tutorial by a good kombucha maker.
4. Ginger Apple Kefir Soda
Kefir is a fermented milk drink, made using cow- or goat-milk. After you add milk kefir grains to the milk around 24 hours, the microorganisms in the kefir grains will ferment the sugars in the milk, turning it into kefir with a cauliflower look. Different types of probiotic bacteria can be found in copious amounts in kefir products. A kefir drink is like liquid yogurt. However, if you have lactose intolerance issues, you might want to try a non-dairy kefir drink instead.
Most people make non-dairy kefir drinks with coconut water, but I am not really into coconut water, so after much experimentation, I found that Ginger Apple Kefir Soda works best for me. All you need to do is mix kefir water (water kefir grains, brown sugar and water) with apple juice, ginger concentrate and soda(optional).
5. Sauerkraut
Delicious and super easy to make, Sauerkraut is made by a process of pickling called lactic acid fermentation. How to make it? Remove the core of some washed cabbages (but dry the water beforehand) and slice them into thin strips. Put some sea salt on them and pound for about 10–15 mins until the brine water can cover the sliced cabbages. Stuff them into a clean container, place it in room temperature for about 2 weeks and wait till it’s ready. Try it!
That’s all for today. Hope you liked the article and will try the recipes provided here. Please leave some claps and share it with your friends!
This was an entry under the Weekly Inspiration column of our publication NatureHub. We at NatureHub are trying to save the planet by encouraging people to live in a conscious, healthy and sustainable manner. We’re developing a platform for the conscious community. If you believe in our cause and want to help, follow us on Medium, Twitter and Instagram.
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