If you keep up with the popular health news at all, you’ve probably seen quite a few reports on the benefits of probiotics. And if you’re a “foodie” like me, you’ve probably taken an interest in the growing popularity of probiotic foods and beverages, including lacto-fermented sauerkraut or kimchi (cultured veggies), kvass (cultured veggie juice), kefir (a yeast/bacteria beverage usually made from milk, coconut water, or sugar-water), kombucha (a yeast/bacteria beverage usually made from green tea), and the many varieties of yogurts, cheeses, and other fermented dairy products from all over the world.
These special probiotic foods have been used for centuries as essential components of a healthy diet among virtually every population of people ever studied by anthropologists and archaeologists. In Asia, cultured foods such as kimchi, natto, miso, and tempeh are consumed regularly. In Africa, taro, millet, and other local crops are fermented into healing beverages. In Peru, corn is chewed up and spit into a container, fermented for a few days, and then consumed. In Mediterranean Europe, raw milk is made into cheese and left to age in dark caves from a period of a few weeks to a year or longer! In Northern Europe, there is even a tradition of fermenting fish and fish liver for supposed health benefits.
Growing up in the 1980′s, I remember seeing commercials on TV advertising yogurt for its benefits for digestion. Supposedly, if you’re frequently constipated, you can simply reach for a cup of aspartame-sweetened Yoplait yogurt for breakfast each morning and achieve digestive regularity. Unfortunately, Yoplait fails to disclose that aspartame is a neurotoxin that may initiate the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, and possibly other neurological disorders, and the amount of beneficial bacteria in their yogurts by the time you purchase them at the store may actually be close to zero.
More recent research on probiotics clearly shows that “better digestion” is just the tip of the iceberg in the benefits you can obtain from supplementing with probiotics and probiotic foods at physiologically therapeutic dosages (AKA more than in a container of Yoplait). Indeed, an imbalance in your gut microbiota may actually cause weight gain, high cholesterol, insulin resisance (sugar cravings), leptin resistance (excessive appetite), and a weakened immune system. If you’ve ever taken antibiotics, drank chlorinated water, or been exposed to GMOs and herbicides found in conventionally grown foods, you have disrupted your gut “ecosystem” in a way that can have a negative impact on nearly every aspect of your health.
Studies have shown that when you supplement with a variety of the right kind of probiotics, this alone will cause your VLDL and LDL cholesterol to go down, your insulin sensitivity to increase (and sugar cravings decrease), your leptin receptors to increase (and your satiety after meals to increase), and your bodyfat setpoint to decrease. Just changing the bacteria in your gut can cause you to lose weight without having to make any change your diet or exercise regimen! (Of course, eating healthy Real Food, and getting adequate exercise in addition to supplementing with probiotics is most recommended for best results.)
Change your bacteria, change your life! The probiotic supplement that has been formulated with the bacteria that have been most studied and found to promote leanness in called Theralac and you can buy it online here.
Combine it with Greens First to get even more probiotics from food, plus a variety of digestive enzymes, antioxidants, and potent anti-inflammatory nutrients to increase your fat-burning potential and prevent chronic pain. I like to add a scoop of Greens First into a cup of raw milk, and then stir in an egg yolk, a dash of cinnamon, and a few drops of liquid stevia for a delicious, nutritious breakfast. I follow that up with one capsule of Theralac and I’m good to go with beneficial probiotics for the day! (For fat-soluble vitamins including vitamins A and D, I also have a tablespoon of cod liver oil every day too.) I do this not because of theory or heresay, but because this is what works if you want to easily maintain your ideal body composition AND have great skin, lots of energy, and a balanced mind and mood.
