I've been trying to think about a subject to write about for this weeks blog but I don't like to write just to write so I figured I'd play it by ear & see what came up. Something always does, after all!
Well this afternoon, I was sitting down adding some flaxseed to my organic yogurt (that sounds very uppety, I know) when my sister-in-law & I got to talking about live cultures/bacteria. She was somewhat surprised to hear what I had to say & went on to ask, "You mean, there's a bacterial war in my stomach?" Ha ha. Well, in a way, YES.
I'm going to keep this as simple as possible, not because I don't think y'all will understand (I've tried keeping "y'all" out of my blogs. Can't do it) but because it can get REALLY confusing for anyone & it's easy to get lost in the terminology.
We all have bacteria in our stomachs. Some is bad. Some is good.
You may have noticed a relatively new term flying around in the world of dairy; "probiotic". When a yogurt claims to be probiotic &/or to include live cultures/bacteria, what it's basically stating is that the yogurt you are about to eat is ALIVE. This, believe it or not, is a GOOD thing. You WANT live yogurt & I'll tell you why.
Sometimes, when we put into our bodies the not-so-great stuff, our good bacteria team gets overwhelmed by the BAD bacteria team. Bad bacteria in our stomachs can cause many health issues such as diarrhea or yeast infections. You could even become more susceptible to other bacterial infections or develop food allergies. It could even make you fat.
Washington University researchers conducted a study that showed that when people on low-fat/carb diets lost weight, the "proportion of two key microflora - Bacteriodetes and Firmicutes, which compromise 90% of the gut flora - change." The study, by the way, was done first on mice then on humans. In both cases, obese subjects had more Firmicutes than the good ol' Bacteriodetes. They believe that the Firmicutes were actually absorbing more calories and turning them into fat because as the subjects lost weight, the Firmicutes - the ones we don't want - started to diminish while the Bacteriodetes - the ones we DO want - started to "flourish".
We have over 500 types of bacteria (probiotics) in our gut. We need the good guys in there and less of the bad ones so a good way to get some of these GOOD live probiotics is to make sure that you eat yogurt that contains these live cultures. The ones I eat and feed to my children are organic & I'll say which they are but, FYI, I don't receive any type of compensation for doing so.
I buy Stonyfield Organic Yogurt and Oikos (also a SF brand). These contain 6 live cultures and the Oikos contains five, & they are:
-Lactobacillus bulgaricus
-Streptococcus thermophilus
-Lactobacillus acidophilus
-Bifidus
-Lactobacillus casei
-Lactobacillus rhamnosus
There are other yogurts that contain live cultures so do your taste-bud research & I'm sure you'll find one you'll love.
BUT WHY NOT REGULAR YOGURT?
To put it simply, they are heat treated to extend shelf life but it kills the live cultures in the process.
And what of that flaxseed?
The flaxseed is, as everything, completely up to you. I encourage you to do your research on both probiotics and flaxseed but I add it because I can't really taste the difference & it's good for me! It contains omega-3 fatty acid ALA & it's a good source of SDG's (secoisolariciresinol diglycoside).
One thing I want you to remember, though, is that we're not putting anything in our body that isn't supposed to be there. If anything, what some companies do to their product to extend shelf life or to make it look "pretty", can really damage your health little by little. Yogurt wasn't MEANT to be heat treated so if you really want to get back to the basics, I recommend going probiotic. (& organic - at least on dairy - but that's another blog.)
Trend words come & go, especially in the health & fitness business but this one is gaining momentum for a reason. Knowledge is power! ;)
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