Probiotics, maybe now is a great place to define the term so everyone is clear on the definition. The international description says that probiotics are organisms that live within the host’s biological system that confer health benefits. The human intestine, for example, has about 2 kilograms of live bacteria. Some of these bacteria are good and some are bad. For powerful digestive health to happen, we need the good bacteria to outweigh the bad ones. Remember also that superior digestive health is the key to complete nutritional health. To achieve this, we recommend that you include a substantial percentage of beneficial bacteria in your diet.
Where do you get this? The first place to look is within the realm of fermented foods. Sometimes people in the past ate more fermented foods because it was an ideal means of preserving edibles before the days of refrigeration. In those days, drinking water came from wells where bacterial overgrowth provided an abundant supply of humic acid, another good source of probiotics. Today, many of these older natural links to healthy bacteria have been replaced by so-called new and better ways of doing things. Now, we have to do everything we can to keep up with these living organisms. We need to eat fermented foods, and for those who can tolerate dairy, yogurt provides an ideal answer, doesn’t it?
Many yogurt brands claim they are rich in probiotics, but they don’t! Most of the commercial varieties found in supermarkets are packed with added sugar. Bacteria are living matter and die due to the toxicity of sugar. Today, sugar is getting more expensive, so food producers are turning to artificial sweeteners to offset the costs. The worst of these is the controversial aspartame, which hides behind well-known brands like NutraSweet. American alternative medicine researcher and publicist, Dr. Joe Mercola, claims it is “the most dangerous food additive on the market.” He bases his claims on various studies that have been conducted over the years. Dr. Russell Blaylock, a retired neurosurgeon, brands the sweetener as an excitotoxin and further states: “Excitotoxins have been found to dramatically promote cancer growth and metastasis. In fact, one aspartame researcher noted that, when cells cancer cells are exposed to aspartame, they become more mobile. “
All the compelling reasons to avoid commercially produced yogurt that it is an excellent source of probiotics. Greek yogurt does not contain added sugar, but milk does have its own sugar, called lactose. When they come to make this type of yogurt, they strain the liquid whey and with it a large part of the lactose goes. This is then a remarkably healthy environment for natural probiotics to grow. This leaves a thick, creamy substance that is extremely rich in protein. The content is 16 g of protein per 100 g of weight. The human need for protein is another modern fable. We don’t need massive amounts of protein to promote cell growth. Calculate the daily requirement in 1Gm of protein per 1 kilo of body weight. A man who weighs 70 kilos needs about 70 g of protein per day. This is not a large amount; it will fit comfortably in the palm of your hand. Greek yogurt is an excellent source of protein, being much easier to digest than meat, for example.
Christos Panidimos has long been a resident of Koh Samui and is now the patron of “Fi” restaurant. Here they make 30 to 40 kilos of probiotic-rich Greek yogurt daily. His uncle Evagalos Polyhropoulos is a professor of food sciences at Haropio University in Athens. Attests to the nutritional value of this product. Both men urge everyone to use it in place of mayonnaise or butter and suggest that yogurt provides the base for a delicious breakfast when mixed with fresh fruit. All the compelling reasons to stock up on probiotics in a tantalizing and truly delicious way.