Bridget Foliaki-Davis, a renowned chef, functional nutritionist, and the visionary behind Bridget’s Healthy Kitchen, shares her favourite probitic-rich foods.
Your gut is home to trillions of microorganisms that all work together to achieve overall health and wellbeing. It is responsible for digestion, flushing out toxins, nutrient absorption keeping your immune strong and even your mental health. To keep your gut healthy, we need to ensure that our gut microbiome is fed probiotics, prebiotics, fibre, fermented foods, antioxidants and a lot of water to keep it in balance.
The gut microbiome includes a diverse community of microorganisms that live in our digestive tract. Within that ecosystem, you will find bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes that work harmoniously together. Maintaining the balance of these microorganisms is essential as when our gut is out of balance, such as when we are stressed, not sleeping well or if we are living off a poor diet, that is when we can have health issues such as digestive disorders, weight management issues, allergies and even issues with our mental health and mood.
Every person has their own unique gut microbiome, which will be influenced by the likes of genetics, diet, lifestyle and environment.
Why probiotics are good for your gut health
While it is good to feed your gut an array of plant matter to help keep it in tip-top shape, probiotics are a powerful piece of the puzzle. Probiotics are essentially live bacteria and yeasts that already live in your body. They are live microbes that assist in maintaining the health of your gut microbiome and they work to boost your immune system, reduce inflammation and keep your bowels regular.
My favourite probiotic-rich foods to add into your diet include:
1. Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut contains billions of not trillions of colony-forming units, making it brilliant for the health of your gut. Aside from being rich in probiotics, it is also rich in fibre, Vitamin C and K, sodium, iron, potassium and antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin. Sauerkraut is made from salted, finely shredded cabbage.
2. Kimchi
Kimchi also contains billions of healthy microorganism cells per serving. It is a Korean dish that again features cabbage as the main ingredient and is often made with a few other vegetables such as cucumbers and radish. In addition to probiotics, it is rich in Vitamin K, B2 and iron.
3. Miso
Hailing from Japan, miso is a paste made from fermented soybeans, salt and koji. It contains around 8 billion microorganisms and is rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals and plant compounds as well as protein!
4. Fermented Pickles
Fermented pickles are packed with healthy gut bacteria however many sold in the supermarkets add vinegar and sugar rather than brine which actually kills off the healthy gut bacteria. I have a recipe on my website where I make the recipe with apple cider vinegar (with the mother) which is much better for the health of your gut.
5. Natto
Finally, Natto is another great probiotic rich food that is also rich in protein, fibre, Vitamin C, Calcium, Potassium, zinc and magnesium. It is another Japanese dish that is made from fermented soybeans.
So in short, many of the best probiotic rich foods are in fact fermented, so start adding them into your diet either as a snack, toss them into a salad or add as a garnish to your plate.
About Bridget
As a 5-time Gourmand World Cookbook Award winner, Bridget’s influence extends far beyond her recipes. She’s also known for her work as head chef for Bill Granger, alongside culinary legend Tetsuya Wakuda, and as the lead in Google’s VIP kitchen. With an audience of over 300,000, Bridget’s expertise is making waves globally, inspiring healthy transformations one meal at a time. See more here.
Bridget Foliaki-Davis, a renowned chef, functional nutritionist, and the visionary behind Bridget’s Healthy Kitchen, shares her favourite probitic-rich foods.
Your gut is home to trillions of microorganisms that all work together to achieve overall health and wellbeing. It is responsible for digestion, flushing out toxins, nutrient absorption keeping your immune strong and even your mental health. To keep your gut healthy, we need to ensure that our gut microbiome is fed probiotics, prebiotics, fibre, fermented foods, antioxidants and a lot of water to keep it in balance.
The gut microbiome includes a diverse community of microorganisms that live in our digestive tract. Within that ecosystem, you will find bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes that work harmoniously together. Maintaining the balance of these microorganisms is essential as when our gut is out of balance, such as when we are stressed, not sleeping well or if we are living off a poor diet, that is when we can have health issues such as digestive disorders, weight management issues, allergies and even issues with our mental health and mood.
Every person has their own unique gut microbiome, which will be influenced by the likes of genetics, diet, lifestyle and environment.
Why probiotics are good for your gut health
While it is good to feed your gut an array of plant matter to help keep it in tip-top shape, probiotics are a powerful piece of the puzzle. Probiotics are essentially live bacteria and yeasts that already live in your body. They are live microbes that assist in maintaining the health of your gut microbiome and they work to boost your immune system, reduce inflammation and keep your bowels regular.
My favourite probiotic-rich foods to add into your diet include:
1. Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut contains billions of not trillions of colony-forming units, making it brilliant for the health of your gut. Aside from being rich in probiotics, it is also rich in fibre, Vitamin C and K, sodium, iron, potassium and antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin. Sauerkraut is made from salted, finely shredded cabbage.
2. Kimchi
Kimchi also contains billions of healthy microorganism cells per serving. It is a Korean dish that again features cabbage as the main ingredient and is often made with a few other vegetables such as cucumbers and radish. In addition to probiotics, it is rich in Vitamin K, B2 and iron.
3. Miso
Hailing from Japan, miso is a paste made from fermented soybeans, salt and koji. It contains around 8 billion microorganisms and is rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals and plant compounds as well as protein!
4. Fermented Pickles
Fermented pickles are packed with healthy gut bacteria however many sold in the supermarkets add vinegar and sugar rather than brine which actually kills off the healthy gut bacteria. I have a recipe on my website where I make the recipe with apple cider vinegar (with the mother) which is much better for the health of your gut.
5. Natto
Finally, Natto is another great probiotic rich food that is also rich in protein, fibre, Vitamin C, Calcium, Potassium, zinc and magnesium. It is another Japanese dish that is made from fermented soybeans.
So in short, many of the best probiotic rich foods are in fact fermented, so start adding them into your diet either as a snack, toss them into a salad or add as a garnish to your plate.
About Bridget
As a 5-time Gourmand World Cookbook Award winner, Bridget’s influence extends far beyond her recipes. She’s also known for her work as head chef for Bill Granger, alongside culinary legend Tetsuya Wakuda, and as the lead in Google’s VIP kitchen. With an audience of over 300,000, Bridget’s expertise is making waves globally, inspiring healthy transformations one meal at a time. See more here.
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