FOODS TO AVOID WHEN YOU TAKE A PROBIOTIC SUPPLEMENT

Know how some foods interfere and downplay the benefits of a probiotic supplement.

Carbonated Drinks

Sugars and artificial sweeteners like sucralose, saccharin and aspartame in carbonated drinks from regular or diet sodas can kill the good bacteria in the gut. Sugars from these drinks also act as food sources for bad bacteria in the gut, helping them grow and overpower the probiotic supplements.

Processed Foods

The majority of packaged foods that interfere with probiotics are loaded with preservatives and additives. I am talking about chips, cakes, pretzels, crackers, cookies, and so on. These additives destroy the healthy bacteria in our gut and create an imbalance between the good and the bad bacteria. Apart from that, packaged foods have nothing to offer-they are stripped from dietary fibers that contribute to gut health and feed probiotic bacteria.

Genetically Modified GMO FOODS

The herbicide glyphosate sprayed on some GMO crops is absorbed into the plant and ends up in our food. Glyphosate acts like a highly targeted antibiotic in the gut of animals and humans. Unfortunately, it targets only our beneficial bacteria—the microbes that help with digestion, detoxification, hormonal balance, immune system and more. It has no effect on pathogenic bacteria. This throws off the delicate balance of friendlies and unfriendlies.

A pesticide, Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) sprayed on crops for decades by the farmers to discourage insect damage kills pest by creating holes in the cell walls in their digestive tracts, that’s also what it does to cows and to humans too that are fed with the crop. Thus, destroying the integrity of the cells naturally leads to leaky gut and it’s the symptoms.

Red Meat

If you eat a lot of red meat in your diet, chances are that gut bacterial composition has disrupted. Frequent consumption of red meat like beef, lamb, pork, goat, veal, and mutton enhances gut bacteria to produce TMAO- trimethylamine N-oxide, when ‘choline’ a nutrient in red meat is digested by gut bacteria. TMAO can harden the arteries and may cause heart problems. Taking probiotics and eating red meat at the same time does no good. Apart from that, if meat was treated with antibiotics, you also consume those, and they kill off the good bacteria in your gut making it harder for probiotics to do their job of restoring digestive balance. And that’s how red meat disrupts the delicate balance of good bacteria you are supplementing from probiotics.

Gluten-Rich Foods

Gliadin, a component of wheat gluten (responsible for the elastic nature of dough) can increase intestinal permeability (making the gut lining porous) and cause leaky gut in people with celiac disease and possibly IBS. However, there’s no significant evidence that people without these conditions need to avoid gluten. For celiac disease patients, exposure to gluten means intestinal damage and that in turn contribute to a change in the gut microbiota, thus bacteria and toxins can leak from the gut and may lead to inflammation and disease. Eating a lot of gluten-rich foods like cakes, pizza, puffs, and all wheat-based recipes does not benefit gut health in the long run. Eliminating gluten from the diet or at least reducing it will help you make sure that the probiotics you are taking are doing the work.

Refined Oils

Just like there are good and bad kinds of fat, there are also healthy and unhealthy kinds of oils. Highly refined vegetable oils like corn, canola, sunflower, soybean, and safflower promote inflammation in the gut. They contain a lot of omega-6 fatty acids which are pro-inflammatory. At the same time, they provide none of the anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. These oils damage the lining of your intestine and diminishes gut health, interfering with the job of the probiotics. If you still want to use oils in your cooking, but want to reduce inflammation instead of promoting it, swap the omega-6 rich oils for avocado or coconut oil for cooking and olive oil for dressings.

Dairy Foods

All dairy is not the same. While probiotic-rich yogurt or kefir contains the good bacteria on its own that are good for our health and gut. Some dairy like unpasteurized milk, ice-creams, cheese and sweetened yogurts are highly processed, especially the low-fat dairy options are loaded with sugars. Conventional dairy items can also have antibiotics which destroy the good bacteria in our gut when we consume them.

Tap Water

Drinking unfiltered water from the tap which contains chemicals like chlorine can kill off harmful bacteria in the water, where it also kills beneficial bacteria in your gut, thus undoing the benefits of probiotics too.