What's the go with pre's and pro's?
Our guts are made up of billions of living microorganisms and they help to maintain a healthy, well-functioning gut. When we have a happy gut, we have a happy mind and body.
Poor diet and lifestyle choices, excess alcohol consumption, acute and chronic stress, food intolerances, multiple rounds of antibiotics and certain prescription medications can all alter the gut microbiome and cause us to have unpleasant symptoms, such as:
diarrhoea
constipation
bloating/pain/cramping
heartburn and/or reflux
food remnants and/or mucous present in the stool
eczema
asthma
anxiety/depression
foggy-headed
poor immune system
When it comes to a healthy gut, the general key is VARIETY. A varied diet will equal a varied gut environment. The more varied the gut environment the healthier it will be.
So, what is the difference between prebiotics and probiotics?
Put simply, "pre's feed pro's". If the probiotics are the living organisms we supplement your gut with to help boost up and maintain the microorganism population, then the prebiotics are the food. Think of your gut as a party, and you want to be the hostess with mostess - you have to provide a top-notch spread to keep your guest happy! No one wants to stay at a party where there is no food!!
Prebiotics are also called fibre foods. We have known for years that fibre is good for a healthy bowel and keeping things regular. However, these prebiotics can be broken down into more distinct categories; Polyphenols (blueberries, red wine, coffee, strawberries, green tea, plums and peaches), Resistant starch (cooked and cooled white potato, raw rolled oats, lentils/pulses and slightly green bananas), Inulin (garlic, onions, asparagus, tomato, rye, dandelion greens, and Fiber (flaxseed, kiwi fruit, vegetables - skin on preferably, cabbage, pomegranate and whole grains).
Probiotics can be obtained via the diet; kombucha, saurkraut, kimchi, sourdough (basically anything fermented), however, I prefer to prescribed evidence-based, researched and strain-specific probiotics in what we call 'therapeutic' doses. This means they are in the highest counts available and they are of the best quality. Working with and prescribing strain-specific probiotics means I can tailor your treatment to your specific symptoms and needs. Then, we help maintain those new little guys via a varied, colourful and whole food diet :D
If you have any concerns about your gut health, reach and send me an email via https://carter-nutrition.com/contact or book a consult on line via https://carter-nutrition.com/services
Yours in Health & Wellness,
Casey