Today, we are going to discuss the top 12 Probiotic Foods. These can be made at home or you can buy them.

Kefir

Kefir actually means to feel good in Turkey. It has been around in the US for about 30 years but it’s become really popular for the last 15. It contains beneficial bacteria and yeasts. Make it yourself from raw, grass-fed milk, preferably goat.

Make kefir from coconuts. You can make it with coconut cream, coconut water, or you can buy a whole real yogurt or amasi, which is a cultured African beverage. There’s lassi as well. Cultured dairy beverages provide proteins that are easy to digest, beneficial fats, probiotics, enzymes, and much more.

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut simply means sour vegetables. Pickled or sour cabbage is traditionally what we call sauerkraut. You can consume kimchi which is Korean cultured veggies. I love a combination of cultured sauerkraut, spices, and pickles. Sauerkraut is absolutely amazing.

I recommend one to three spoonfuls before each meal or put it in your salad. Sauerkraut transforms the vegetables into not only gut-friendly but immune-boosting substances. Eat it every day like your ancestors did.

Kombucha

Make this cultured tea at home. Buy it at the store. I would have never thought years ago when the first commercial Kombucha brand was available that it would now become the number one functional beverage in America.

And I’m glad, kombucha contains organic acids, probiotics, enzymes, B vitamins, and polyphenolic antioxidants as well as theanine from the tea which is great for the brain specifically anxiety.

Coconut kefir

Take coconut water or coconut meat and make kefir with it using home-purchase or shared kefir grains. Look online for sources of kefir grains or kefir starter. Coconut kefir is great, nondairy alternative

Natto

Natto might be my favorite fermented food. I’m not big on soy but if you’re going to do soy natto is one amazing way to get it.

Natto which is popular in Indonesia and Japan, it’s a condiment, kind of smelly, it contains Bacillus subtilis, my favorite probiotic, nattokinase, an enzyme that helps the heart and arteries, and Vitamin K2 which helps the brain, bones, and other parts of your body.

Consume natto with rice, particularly black rice, for a powerful antioxidant probiotic combo.

Yogurt

As long as it’s whole milk and full fat can be really good. My favorite is sheep yogurt. I love sheep milk yogurt loaded with Vitamin D and whey protein.

You can buy sheep milk yogurt at your local health food store or progressive grocery. Goat yogurt is okay. Cow’s milk isn’t bad but not my favorite because it has certain proteins that can be allergenic.

Bottom-line, if God meant for milk to be skimmed he would have put a cream separator on the udder of a cow. Come on, real food is best.

Kvass

Kvass is also a beverage, not quite as popular as kombucha but I love it because you can make it with beets. Beet kvass is amazing.

Kvass can be made actually with bread, it can be made with beets, and it can be made with other veggies. It is awesome. It is sour, and it is so good for you. And if you’re wanting to curb your carb cravings, consume fermented beverages, probiotic foods, because the power of sour kills your cravings for sweets, not just good for the gut on the inside, good for the gut on the outside if you know what I mean.

Raw cheese

Raw cheeses from unpasteurized dairy contain powerful probiotics. Look for imported varieties, again, my favorite is goat and sheep or you can get cheese from our farm, we call it Beyond Organic Green-fed Cheese. It is from cows that are bred specifically to avoid that allergenic protein.

So raw cheese can be good for nutrition and probiotics, also a good source of the aforementioned Vitamin K.

Apple cider vinegar

Apple cider vinegar in their unpasteurized forms is a great source of acetobacter and acetic and malic acid. Those organic acids help balance the gut pH which naturally brings up your own probiotics.

Apple cider vinegar can be consumed a teaspoon or even up to two tablespoons a day mixed in water. You can add some honey, you can make it as a base for salad dressings.

Real Pickles

If your pickle says white vinegar on it, don’t eat it. Use real pickles or again make pickled cucumbers yourself with recipes.

Real pickles are amazing. They’re so delicious. They’re a great way to balance the body and they’re a good source of silica for the skin.

Tempeh

It is another fermented soy product is also pretty good. It can be used as a condiment and it can be used in some instances as a meat replacement. Tempeh is fermented soy and some of the negative parts of soy are removed. So as with natto, tempeh can be a really good fermented food and a source of nutrition.

Miso

Miso has been used for thousands of years as the base of a broth. It’s got this delicious salty flavor, has beneficial bacteria and yeast, really good source of B vitamins and has that umami flavor which satisfies the brain. Use a little bit of miso in a broth, I just like sometimes eating it.