Improve Gut Health using Probiotics

Ever heard the saying “No (healthy) guts, no glory”? Truer words have never been spoken.

I have lost count of the number of times my child has come running to me crying, “Moommm, my tummy hurts”. And more often than not, the reason has always been an imbalanced gut.

And believe you me, an unhealthy gut is a breeding ground for a lot of stomach diseases like infections, constipation and diarrhoea in children. So, any sign of a stomach disturbance in my kid and my gut tells me it is time to restore the good bacteria in his gut flora.

Now what is gut flora?

Previously, I used to think bacteria is only of the bad kind. But, after deciding to study the root cause for my child’s frequent tummy aches, I learned that in our gut thrives an ecosystem of bacteria that is very important for our kid’s health. This is called gut flora.

And guess what, about 70% of our immunity lies in our gut. So, a healthy gut is pretty darn important, I learned, to increase my kid’s immunity.

But, here’s the easy part. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that one of the best ways to ensure a healthy gut flora is by pumping probiotic bacteria into it. I know it sounds like a lot of jargons, but there are a lot of food options in an Indian diet that are rich in probiotics for gut health.

So, what are probiotics?

Simply put, digestive probiotics are "friendly bacteria" which are known to benefit our digestive health. Probiotics not only influence our overall health and wellness but also have several other important benefits:

• Probiotic food improves some mental health disorders. For instance, consuming 100 grams of probiotic yogurt per day can benefit general health, depression, anxiety and stress
• It may also reduce the severity of certain allergies
• Probiotics curb the growth of harmful bacteria thus boosting our immune system
• Probiotics also prevent diarrhoea and reduce its severity

So, I began to include the following probiotic-rich foods in my kid’s diet and noticed a huge change in his digestive health:

• Idlis & dosas
• Dhokla
• Apple
• Banana
• Yoghurt
• Garlic
• Pickle
• Onion
• Figs
• Cheese
• Soymilk
• Olive
• Dark chocolate
• Asparagus
• Pineapple

However, depending on whether your child has lactose and/or gluten intolerance, you might want to steer clear of certain probiotic foods .

But, my tantrum-throwing, junk food loving kid won’t have any of it. No matter how many ways I tried or how many incentives I gave. That’s when I turned to supplementary probiotics and there was only one that I could trust.

Enterogermina was not only the world’s number one probiotic for diarrhoea and a doctor’s first choice but the biggest incentive for me was that it is tasteless, odourless and colourless. My kid would gulp it down with zero tantrums.

So, I’ve spilled my guts out to you about everything there is to know about probiotics. Now, it's up to you to gift your child a healthy gut and a happy childhood.

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