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 biosystem and 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 occur, we need the good bacteria to outweigh the bad. Also remember that superior digestive health is the key to complete nutritional health. To achieve this end, we recommend that you include a substantial percentage of friendly bacteria in your diet.
Where do you get this? The first place to look is within the realms of fermented foods. In times past, people ate more fermented foods because this was an ideal medium for preserving foods 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 Today, many of these older natural links to healthy bacteria have been replaced by supposedly new and better ways of doing things. Now, we have to go out of our way to sustain ourselves with these living organisms. We need to eat fermented foods, and for those who can tolerate dairy, yogurt offers an ideal answer, doesn’t it?
Many yogurt brands claim they are packed with probiotics, but they are not! 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 manufacturers are turning to artificial sweeteners to offset the costs. The worst of these is the controversial aspartame, which lurks 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 done over the years. Dr. Russell Blaylock, a retired neurosurgeon, labels the sweetener an excitotoxin, further stating: “Excitotoxins have been found to dramatically promote cancer growth and metastasis. In fact, one aspartame researcher noted that when cells cancer cells were exposed to aspartame, they became more mobile.”
All compelling reasons to avoid commercially produced yogurt that claims to be 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, the liquid whey is strained and a lot of lactose goes with it. This is then a remarkably healthy environment for natural probiotics to thrive. This leaf is a thick, creamy substance that is extremely high in protein. The content is 16 Gms of protein per 100 Gms of weight. The human need for protein is another modern fable. We do not require massive amounts of protein to promote cell growth. Calculate the daily requirement as 1g of protein per 1kg of body weight. A man who weighs 70 kilos requires about 70 grams of protein intake per day. This is not a large amount; fits 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 is a long time resident of Koh Samui and is now the patron of “Fi” restaurant. Here, 30 to 40 kilos of probiotic-rich Greek yogurt are made daily. His uncle Evagalos Polyhropoulos teaches food science at Haropio University in Athens. He 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 of a delicious breakfast when mixed with fresh fruit. All compelling reasons to stock up on probiotics in a tantalizing and truly delicious way.