Is constipation your little dirty secret? Learn about three foods that helped improve my digestion, heal my skin and maintain optimum weight.
But before I tell you about these foods, I want you to keep in mind that constipation is just a symptom of something deeper happening in the body.
It can be caused by stress, lack of probiotics, excess of refined foods, inflammation in the colon, food allergies, lack of nutrients, dehydration among other reasons. In my case, it was all the above.
Seven years, I followed the SAD diet – Standard American Diet. I would eat doughnuts or muffins for breakfast while sipping on a cup of coffee or can of red bull, lunch was whatever I could find and sometimes I would even skip it.
Dinner was very unusual in my life.By 7:00 pm I was already feeling too sluggish and tired to care about cooking something. The years went by with my body sending me constant signals, but since my health wasn’t my priority I didn’t listen.
I began to experience chronic constipation (I would go 5-6 days without evacuating), acne, weight problems, insomnia, depression and lack of energy.
When I decided to revert all the damage I had caused body over the years, I became aware of the importance probiotic foods play in our digestion and overall health.
The digestive system is home to millions of different types of bacteria who are responsible for almost 90% of nutrient absorption in the body. Nutrients that play essential roles in every system of the body, including the digestion.
There are two different types of probiotics: Transient and Native.
Transient bacteria are like the “roto rooters” of the digestive system. They come into the body, do their cleaning work, help make important nutrients in the gut, and then the majority of them leave the body in the stool. They are not our high colonizers. Transient bacteria are the types of microbes that are contained in cultured foods and beverages. Transients tend to come from and culture off of fruits, vegetables, milk, etc.
The following three foods are examples of transient probiotics and since 7 years ago have become part of my daily nutrition.
Kombucha: It is a fermented tea containing billions of probiotics to help bring the gut-flora back to balance. If this is your first time trying kombucha then you can start with 1/4 a cup and monitor how you feel. You can increase to 1/2 cup within the following days and continue monitoring your reaction.
Kombucha can be bought at most health and regular food stores. My favorite brand is GT’s, some of their popular flavors are lemonade, trilogy, multi-tree and gingerade, which I love for their low sugar content (only 2 grams per serving).
Kombucha is also really easy to make at home, it is as simple as making tea!
You can create your own flavors and save a lot of cha ching!
Click here to see how practical and affordable is to prepare home-made kombucha (Don’t mind my facial mask, but if you’d like to learn more about this charcoal mask to balance the oil on your skin naturally, click here)
Raw kefir: This is one of my favorite sources of probiotics. Kefir is a yogurt-like drink, maybe a little more liquidity, it tastes similar to greek yogurt.
The beauty of this superfood is that 1 tbsp alone has at least 60 strains and 150 billion bacteria.
During the fermentation process, the bacteria feeds from the natural occurring sugar in milk, making kefir virtually lactose-free.
Like any other fermented food, make sure to introduce in small amounts and listen to your gut, literally.
You can drink kefir pure or if the taste is too sour, I highly recommend you try making this Happy Belly Parfait. (It will probably become your favorite breakfast and/or snack).
Cultured foods: You can ferment pretty much any vegetable or fruit.
Most of cultured foods only require filtered water and sea salt.
Some of my favorite cultured vegetables are sauerkraut and kimchi. You really don’t need a whole lot, a couple of tablespoons with your meals will provide you with a chock-full of benefits.
The other type of probiotic is Native Bacteria, this mainly comes from the soil, clay, air, volcanic rock, etc.
When the soil was clean and our ancestors used to eat directly from the land, they would get a good combination of both types. 
Also, we used to walk around without shoes in the clean soil, mud, on the earth before it became contaminated and would pick up bacteria in that manner as well.
The native bacteria are the high colonizers in the body. They come in, usually in the form of supplementation with a product like Prescript Assist or by eating clean soil, clay, etc., and are capable of reproducing and forming large colonies that can inhabit the gut.
These guys are the heavy hitters and stay in the body much longer than transient species.
I supplement my gut with both types of probiotics: native and transient.
I drink a bottle of kombucha throughout the day, us raw kefir in my smoothies and parfaits and add aside of culture vegetables to my meals.
At night before going to bed I take two capsules of Prescript Assist.
It is really not difficult to add probiotic-rich foods to your nutrition, it is just a matter of having the willingness to enjoy a “Healthy Gut and a Happy You.”
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