Top 16 Probiotic Foods To Add To Your Diet

I'm a big fan of developing a more respectful relationship with the germs that live in and around us. After all, they help us with our digestion, immunity and metabolism, and without them we become predisposed to allergies as well as various chronic and autoimmune diseases. 

We've discussed some of the best lifestyle strategies for improving your microbiome (such as opening a window, and playing outdoors), but since the majority of germs are in your gut, food can play a big role in getting more of the "good guys" down there to help out. 

Yogurt
One of the best known probiotic foods is live-cultured yogurt, especially handmade. Read your labels, as many popular brands are filled with high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and artificial flavors and are way too close to being a nutritional equivalent of ice cream. As with most food, the most health claims made on the packaging means more marketing, not more nutritional value. 

Miso Soup
Miso is one the mainstays of traditional Japanese medicine and is commonly used in macrobiotic cooking as a digestive regulator. Made from fermented rye, beans, rice or barley, adding a tablespoon of miso to some hot water makes an excellent, quick, probiotic-rich soup. 

Sauerkraut
Made from fermented cabbage (and sometimes other vegetables), sauerkraut is not only extremely rich in healthy live cultures, but might also help with reducing allergy symptoms. Sauerkraut is also rich in vitamins B, A, E and C.

Kefir
Similar to yogurt, this fermented dairy product is a unique combination of goat’s milk and fermented kefir grains. High in lactobacilli and bifidus bacteria, kefir is also rich in antioxidants. Look for a good, organic version at your local health food store. 

Kombucha Tea
This is a form of fermented tea that contains a high amount of healthy gut bacteria. This probiotic drink has been used for centuries and is believed to help increase your energy, enhance your wellbeing, and maybe even help you lose weight. However, kombucha tea may not be the best fit for everyone, especially those who've had problems with candida. 

Mircoalgae
Although this isn’t a food per se, it's great to add to your morning smoothie. Microaglae refers to superfood ocean-based plants such as spirulina, chorella, and blue-green algae. 

Pickles
Believe it or not, the common green pickle is an excellent food source of probiotics. The less commercialized the better, but most pickles will have some microbial value. 

Tempeh
I wouldn’t necessarily call soy a health food any longer as it's mostly GMO. However, tempeh can be a great substitute for meat or tofu. Tempeh is a fermented, probiotic-rich grain made from soy beans. A great source of vitamin B12, this vegetarian food can be sautéed, baked, or eaten crumbled on salads. 

Kimchi
An Asian form of pickled sauerkraut, kimchi is an extremely spicy and sour fermented cabbage, typically served alongside meals in Korea. Besides beneficial bacteria, Kimchi is also a great source of beta-carotene, calcium, iron and vitamins A, C, B1 and B2. Kimchi is one of the best probiotic foods you can add to your diet, assuming you can handle the spice, of course. 

Poi
Poi is a staple food of Hawaii, made by mashing cooked taro plant until its consistency is liquid to dough-like. Poi hasn't been officially recognized as a probiotic food like these others, even though it contains more beneficial bacteria that yogurt. While poi is loaded with good germs, it's stirred up some controversy as there's currently no way to mass produce it in a way that's 100% sanitized. (In order to pass health and hygiene standards in America to prepare and sell anything, everything has to be 100% sanitized.) Too bad, because fresh, fermented poi is teeming with bacteria. In order to reap these benefits from po, you might have to fly to Hawaii to get it, which sounds fine to me!

Olives
Olives in brine have large amounts of probiotics because the brine allows the probiotic cultures to thrive. Snack on your favorite type of olive or add to a salad or pizza.

Dark chocolate
Delicious and nutritious – really! Dark chocolate contains probiotics and antioxidants to keep your stomach healthy and your sweet tooth satisfied.

Soy milk
Soy naturally contains some probiotic benefits, but new soy milk products on the market have added extra live cultures. Look for labels that say “live and active cultures” to be sure.

Cheese 
Soft fermented cheeses like Parmesan, Gouda and Swiss can contain “good” bacteria that are able to navigate the GI tract without breaking down. Probiotic cheese may be an especially wise choice for the elderly, as a 2010 study by Finnish scientists found that daily consumption of one slice of probiotic Gouda for four weeks increased beneficial markers of immunity. Another study found that Cheddar cheese containing probiotic strains of L. casei and L. acidophilus had ACE-inhibitory activity, which may help maintain healthy blood pressure levels.

Sourdough Bread
The next time you make a sandwich, pay attention to what's holding your cold cuts and cheese. San Francisco's famous sourdough bread packs a probiotic that may help digestion.

Milk With Probiotics (acidophilus milk)
One of the easiest ways to get probiotics into your diet is by adding acidophilus milk. It's milk that's been fermented with bacteria. Sometimes it's labeled sweet acidophilus milk. Buttermilk -- usually milk that's cultured with lactic acid bacteria -- is also rich in probiotics.

Probiotic Supplements
Aside from being found in foods, probiotics come in supplements in capsule, tablet, powder, and liquid forms. Although they don't provide the extra nutrition that foods can offer, they can be convenient. If you're interested, talk to your doctor. If you're ill or have immune system problems, you may want to be cautious about taking probiotics.

Prebiotics vs. Probiotics
While probiotic-foods have live bacteria, prebiotic foods feed the good bacteria already living in your gut. You can find prebiotics in items such as asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, bananas, oatmeal, red wine, honey, maple syrup, and legumes. Try prebiotic foods on their own or with probiotic foods to perhaps give the probiotics a boost.

And other Fermented Foods…


Patients may have heard many times from doctors that they are suffering from “neurotic anxiety syndrome” when they complain of depression, anxiety, recurring irritability, heartburn, indigestion, lethargy, extreme food and environmental allergies, acne, migraine headaches, reoccurring cystitis, or vaginal infections, premenstrual tension, or menstrual problems, all of which have not been identified with any disease entity. Yet recently, considerable progress has been made in understanding the origin of this symptom constellation in many individuals. 

The explanation is locked into understanding the life cycle of a symbiotic yeast becoming a parasite called Candida albicans.Candida albicans is present in all of us not long after birth. It lives in our intestinal tract and is a yeast-like organism which in the infective phases produces conditions involving mucosal invasion or candidiasis.

These infections involve the skin, mouth, vagina, prostate, etc. Most medical practitioners feel that in the absence of the overt signs of candidiasis, which is the acute infection stage of Candida albicans, there is no concern about this organism and that chronic Candida overgrowth has not been well recognized.

I’d like to point out, however, that the Candida organism can increase its numbers during periods of stress or lowered immune potential of the individual.

It is well known that the use of antibiotics or steroids for a long period of time can increase the Candida population in the intestinal tract, as well as the regular use of oral contraceptive medication and high sugar diets.

As Candida proliferates in the intestines, it can change its anatomy and physiology from the yeast-like form to the mycelial fungal form.

It is well recognized that Candida albicans is a dimorphic (two shapes and forms) organism and as such can exist in these two states. The yeast-like state in a non-invasive, sugar-fermenting organism, whereas the fungal state produces rhizoids, or very long root-like structures, which can penetrate the mucosa, and it is invasive. Penetration of the gastrointestinal mucosa can break down the boundary between the intestinal tract and the rest of the circulation and allow introduction into the blood stream of many substances which may be antigenic.

Such things as incompletely digested dietary protein may be delivered to the blood through the portals of entry of the intestinal tract produced by the invasive mycelia of the fungal form of Candida albicans. This may explain why many individuals who have chronic Candida overgrowth and a high percentage of the mycelial form of the organism commonly show a wide variety of food and environmental allergies.

These incompletely digested dietary proteins can then travel into the bloodstream and exert a powerful antigenic assault on the immune system, which is seen as allergy, even producing a wide variety of effects such as cerebral allergy, with depression, mood swings, and irritability being a result.

Recent work from the National Institute of Health in the United States has indicated that some of these incomplete protein-breakdown products, if absorbed, may have endorphin-like activity and can change mood, mind, memory, and behavior. 

These products have been given the name of exophins, meaning that they are produced outside systemic circulation and introduced into the blood by way of absorption across the mucosa.

The proliferation of the fungal form of Candida albicans would provide the route of absorption for these exorphin materials. The breakdown of the gastrointestinal mucosa can also lead to the introduction of the Candida organism into the blood stream and it can then find its way into other tissues, resulting in far-ranging system effects, including soreness of joints, chest pain, and skin problems.

One of the common side effects of chronic Candida infection is recurring vaginal infections or cystitis.

We all harbor the organism in our bodies, but it is when the body loses its proper immune protection, or the intestinal pH is altered unfavorably, that the The prevalence of the Candida infection problem may be a result of the widespread use of antibiotics, particularly in animal feed, which end up in our meats, and may expose us to long-term, low levels of antibiotics.

Secondly, it may come from the widespread use of various medications, such as oral contraceptives, which have the ability to stimulate Candida growth may also result from the nutrient-poor, low-residue diets that we eat, which alter the gastrointestinal pH and the mucosal integrity and set up the environment for Candida albicans hyperproliferation.
Treatment of candida requires a multi-faceted approach. Simply following a candida-free diet is not the solution. Depending on the extent of the candida infection will dictate the most effective treatment.

If candida is only localized to the large intestine, a candida diet plus anti-fungal treatment may work. However, once the candida has entered the mucosal barrier and has transformed into a fungal form, the treatment is more complex. Anti-candida diet, anti-fungal and anti-microbial medications must be strictly adhered to for complete elimination of the candida infection.

Worse than mucosal invasion, is candida systemic infections. When the candida pathogen has broken through the mucosal barrier and has entered the blood, you now have the most serious form of candida infection.

The treatment required to “tame” and hopefully destroy the candida is extremely difficult. Although challenging for the patient, the treatment requires patience and the strictest adherence to an anti-candida protocol.