If you’re experiencing painful acid reflux, eating fermented foods might not be the first thing that comes to mind to fix it, but it might be key.
How can eating pickles work? It all goes back to probiotics and prebiotics. Probiotics, as you likely already know, form the good bacteria that work to keep your digestive tract in good shape.
Prebiotics, on the other hand, are talked about less and are a form of carbohydrates that can’t be digested by the human body directly. They act as food for the probiotics living in your system.
If you don’t have enough probiotics and prebiotics in your body, you can end up suffering from inflammation, the above mentioned acid reflux, gas, irritable bowel syndrome and worse.
So how do pickles play into it all? Fermented foods are a great source of prebiotics. They are the microfood for your probiotics to feast on.
Related: 4 Things You Should Know About Probiotics
If you’re suffering from digestive problems, here are three ways to get prebiotics back into your diet:
1. Eat Fermented Veggies
Pickles, pickles and more pickles! Sauerkraut and kimchi are also great sources that provide our gut with “good” bacteria. Eat them a few times a day, for best results.
2. Eat Sourdough Bread
This stuff is amazingly tasty. It’s been around for a long time- ancient Europeans ate it- and if you consume it in large enough amounts, you’ll get the prebiotics your body craves.
3. Take a Supplement
Companies like ISOThrive and PipingRock sell microfood supplements that are made through natural fermentation. The benefit of ingesting these is that you don’t need to eat fermented foods each day to keep up with your dietary needs, or large amounts of sourdough bread.
Eat up! It’s all about maintaining the right stuff in your gut, and keeping it well fed.
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