top of page

Probiotics
Building Intestinal Flora

Healthy intestinal flora (probiotics) are necessary to break down our food into absorbable, usable nutrition. Probiotic supplements are particularly helpful after a round of antibiotics or use of other strong medications, which cause digestive sluggishness. But we can always benefit from shoring up good microbes because stress and age naturally diminish them. With a diet rich in a variety of fermented foods, It's easy and inexpensive to augment good intestinal flora. It can be quite tasty as well

Rejuvelac - Drink for Building Intestinal Flora

​

1.Use a glass canning jar and fill it about ¼ to â…“ of the way full with a whole grain (wheat berries, oat groats, rye seeds, barley seeds). Make sure it is unadulterated, only seeds

​

2. Fill the jar with filtered water, cover, and let sit overnight at room temp (or for about 24 hours in a very cold home). Keep  out of direct sunlight and away from heat sources.

​

3. Strain the water and rinse the seeds well. Return seeds to the jar and fill it again with water and leave at room temp again for another day.

​

4. Strain the liquid into a glass jar and refrigerate.  This is your probiotic.  With each meal drink about ¼ to ½ cup. 

​

5. Refill the jar with the seeds and water daily and strain daily and combine the liquid with the one in the refrigerator until it starts to smell too strong for you (4-8 days is average).  Throw out your seeds and start with a fresh batch of seeds

​

6. Keep taking this or other fermented foods with each of your meals until your belly cramps, gas and digestive irregularity is gone.  Your stools should be soft but solid and have no undigested foods in them.

Other Probiotics/Fermented Foods:

​

  • KimChi/Sauerkraut

  • Vinegars (unpasteurized and unfiltered is best) and pickled vegetables

  • Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey (both unpasteurized and unfiltered) combined together

  • Miso

  • Mead

  • Dark Red Wine

  • Dark, rich beers

  • Sourdough bread 

  • Kombucha tea

  • Kevita or other bottled probiotic beverages

  • Powdered fermented products work well too:  Garden of Life Meal Replacement is one of the best we've found

  • Cheese and yogurt are NOT good sources of probiotics, the only ones that have good numbers associated with them are brie cheese and kefir. They work well, but are some of the weakest probiotics in the studies.

​

Tip

 

For healthy fiber and fats, add 1T of well soaked and blended flax seeds to your smoothies daily—very good for soluble and insoluble fibers and the fats that heal joints, the GI tract and the skin.

bottom of page