FitFeat

Posts Tagged probiotics

More Dairy Free Probiotic Options

Mar 2

Posted by Shari B. in Adventures in Home Gardening, Product Review | 6 Comments

Hi blog buds!

Longtime readers of FitFeat may know that I am big on consuming probiotics, especially for maintaining a healthy immune system.  I wrote about some of my favorite non-dairy sources of beneficial flora a while back.  Now I have two more to add to the list.

The first is coconut water kefir by inner-?co™.  I picked up the tropical flavor and it is absolutely delicious! I wanted to drink the whole bottle as if it were a kombucha tea, but alas the serving size is only a tablespoon.  SO GOOD!

When you consider the cost of a good quality refrigerated probiotic pill often costing about $30 per 30-serving bottle, this coconut water kefir is a steal at about $11.00 for a 30-serving bottle.  Their website has a lot of fun information too, if you want to learn more about kefir.

The next option is a cultured vegetable mix called “Vegi-Delite”.  I recently made a couple of batches of homemade sauerkraut, but they aren’t fully fermented yet so in the meantime I thought I’d pick these up.  (If you want to eat sauerkraut for its live-food fermented benefits, you need to find a version that is UNPASTEURIZED.  Once it has been heated in the pasteurization process, all that good bacteria is dead.  So the canned version you see on the store shelf next to canned corn is not the one you want.)  However, this raw and unpasteurized product is alive, kicking and located in the refrigerated section.

I must admit that this particular blend of beets, cabbage and carrots is definitely an acquired taste, at least for me.  I have to eat it with a meal and sneak bites of it in between other flavors to ‘hide’ it while I get used to it.

It sure is a pretty color though!  :D

Have you tried either of these products before?  What are your thoughts?  What’s your favorite source for beneficial bacteria?

– Shari B. =)

Tags: , , ,

5 Things That Can Undermine Your Health When Flying (and tips to avoid them)

Jul 9

Posted by Shari B. in Fit on Vacation, FitFeature, Keeping Fit | 6 Comments

Welcome to the weekend blog buds!

I have a fair amount of air travel coming up between now and October for business and fun.  I don’t know about you but flying really can work a number on my body.  I thought I’d share a FitFeature with five things to keep in mind when you travel by plane and some of the tips I use to stay healthy and keep my body feeling good.

1. Flying is very dehydrating to the body thanks to the recycled air and reduced oxygen

Focus on getting plenty of hydrating liquids before, during and after your flight.  It’s tempting to not want to drink up so that you don’t have to use the plane’s lavatory, but please don’t make this mistake.  It won’t be worth it in the long run.  Good choices are plain filtered water, coconut water, water with lemon, kombucha tea.  Unfortunately since you can’t bring your own liquids through security you end up needing to buy some bottled water once you are at your gate. I know it’s expensive, but your body will thank you.

Avoid dehydrating drinks like coffee and alcohol. (If you need a coffee, at the very least choose decaf.  Or better yet have herbal tea.)  And unless there is a fresh juice bar in the airport, skip the juice as well.  If it’s bottled it has been pasteurized with high heat so all the goodness of fresh juice is no longer in the bottled juice.  Further, if it’s not organic juice, you could be getting an extra-concentrated dose of pesticide chemicals.

Another thing you can do is bring some prepared water-rich fruits and vegetables along (fortunately food is allowed through security):  cucumber slices, watermelon chunks, grapefruit segments, oranges, salad with plenty of tomato, lemon segments (great for adding to your water once you are on the plane and for squeezing onto your salad as well).

2. The decreased air pressure can cause gas and bloating

Oh boy.  This one gets me every time.  I can FEEL that pressure on my insides and it’s so uncomfortable.  The day before and the day of a flight I really focus on eating foods that are easy to digest:  green smoothies, fresh green juice, green salads, lightly steamed vegetables, water-rich fruits, maybe a little fish and eggs (easier proteins to digest), Greek yogurt if you don’t have any dairy issues.

Things you may want to minimize:  beans, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, heavy/rich foods, meats (harder to digest and stay in your system longer), nuts that haven’t been soaked (they are harder to digest as well).  Pay attention to things in everyday life that cause you to feel bloated or a little ‘gassy’ – these are the things you don’t want to eat the day you fly.  They might be a little different for everyone.

3. Being cooped up with a lot of germs blowing around

I never used to be a germaphobe. Then about 5 years ago when we took a cruise, there was an outbreak of norovirus on our ship.  Thank goodness we didn’t contract it (about 500 unlucky other people did) and the entire staff were walking around in surgical masks, wearing plastic gloves, spraying disinfectant everywhere.  You would have thought it was the plague.   I started pushing the elevator buttons with my elbow (and only if it was covered in clothing!).  It’s shocking to me now when I pay attention in public places how many people are  coughing, sniffling, hacking and I swear they all somehow end up on your plane sitting near you.  One time I wore a bandana around my neck like scarf so that I could cover my face just in case.  True story.  Sounds ridiculous and extreme, but I didn’t get sick!  I rarely use hand antibacterial lotion in everyday life but I definitely do when I fly.  And this year, that’s exactly where I caught that nasty pertussis virus (whooping cough) that took me down for a while.

This is another reason that adding a lot of vegetables and fruits to your diet is helpful.  Increase your intake of all colors of produce to help boost your immune system daily.  If you aren’t a fan of eating all of your fruits/veggies, consider green smoothies, fresh organic green juices(and wheatgrass juice) or even dried greens powders.

I increase my intake of probiotics even more around travel times:  kombucha tea, probiotic tablets (50 billion), kefir, fermented foods like sauerkraut and tempeh.

4. Radiation exposure

There’s not much you can do to minimize your exposure here except for maybe ask for the pat-down in lieu of going through the new big X-ray machines.  However, you can choose some foods wisely to help cleanse some of that radiation.  Best choice?  Seaweed!  I eat seaweed a few times a week anyway, but before and after flying I try to incorporate some extra seaweed into my salads.  Soak arame and then turn it into a marinated seaweed salad.  Or add dulse flakes to more meals (it hides well in most anything cooked).  Look for a Japanese restaurant the next time you travel and order a seaweed salad and some miso soup.

Chlorophyll-rich foods are also helpful in cleansing – which if you are eating lots of dark veggies you’ll be covered.  This is where your fresh green juices, green smoothies, salads and greens powders are helpful.  I also keep a bottle of chlorophyll tablets around for high-travel times as well.

5. Flying really restricts movement

I am not one to get up and walk around much on a plane.  If my flights were longer than 2-3 hours each, I definitely would make an effort walk the aisleways to keep my leg muscles moving (this is especially important for minimizing the risk of DVT, deep vein thrombosis). 

While I know some folks like to be productive when hanging out at the gate waiting for a flight, this is the time to get your body moving.  I won’t ask you to do something crazy like wall squats or lunges in public (although you can do some hover squats in the privacy of a restroom stall if you’d like!) but definitely WALK AROUND.  Don’t take the escalator/elevator if there is an option for stairs, and don’t take those moving sidewalks.  Move as much as you can before/after the flight.  And walk on over to the restroom right before boarding!

Move around while you are waiting for your bags to arrive at baggage claim.  This is also a great time to do some stretching – reach down and touch your toes, do a few side bends, put your arms overhead and stretch up onto your toes like you just got out of bed.  And if you feel like people are watching you, don’t worry – there are plenty of odder things going on at the airport for people to look at!

***

The bottom line for minimizing the physical impact of air travel:  hydrate, load up on fruits/veggies, increase your sea vegetable and probiotic intake, and move your bod! Avoid the tempting prepackaged foods and fast food restaurants because all those things will do is weigh you down further, make you more dehydrated, zap your energy, and increase the toxic load on your body.  That’s no way to start your trip – especially if it’s for something fun! 

(Hmmm… that sounds a lot like what you hear me spouting for daily living here at FitFeat!) 

Do you have any favorite tips/tricks/home remedies for keeping the body happy and healthy when traveling?  Please share with us!

– Shari B. =)


 

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Fun with Fermenting: Water Kefir

May 25

Posted by Shari B. in Adventures in Fermenting | 5 Comments

Hi friends!

Before I get into today’s post topic I just wanted to express my heartache at the devastation in our country’s heartland lately.  Looking at all of the lives and homes lost in the tornadoes this week, the flooding all along the Mississippi River, the Tuscaloosa tornado, the wildfires that burned all over Texas… Let’s all take some time this week to put some perspective into our lives and to be thankful for our blessings.

I’m sure you may have all seen this during the news coverage, but just in case… if you want to do something to help, the American Red Cross could really use donations.  All you need to do is:

And then hug your family and friends today.  And say hello to your neighbors.  There was a story on the news this morning about a group of neighbors who were worried about the 73 year old man who lived on alone their street that they thought was missing after the Joplin tornado.  As it turned out, he was staying elsewhere but when he found out people were concerned, he said he had no idea that people had cared about him.  How touching is that?

***

In a post last week I mentioned that an upcoming post would talk about water kefir. I’d actually never even heard of it until a friend of mine asked me if I’d like some of her extra kefir grains to start my own.  I was only familiar with dairy-based kefir and coconut kefir.  Game to try new things (and always enjoying growing bacteria in my kitchen, ha ha!) I jumped at the chance.  It’s taken a few weeks for my little grains to really get in their groove but now that they are, I’m enjoying it!  I think it tastes a lot like kombucha but it’s a lot easier and it ferments much faster (and in smaller batches).

There are a lot of different instructions out there, but I found that I like the easiest ones (shocker, right?) where all I have to do is add the grains, the filtered water, and some organic sugar then cover with a coffee filter and rubberband.  Let it sit for about 48 hours for its first ferment.  I’m making mine in smaller batches, so I use

  • 3 cups filtered water
  • 3 tablespoons organic sugar or Sucanat
  • kefir grains (enough to fill about 1/2 to 3/4  measuring cup)

Then you are supposed to strain out the liquid, place the liquid in a second jar with some optional flavoring (I have been enjoying a splash of Açai juice), and tightly cover it with a lid for a second ferment for another day or two to let the carbonation build.  I’ve found that if I leave a few spoons’ worth of grains in my second ferment, I get a lot more FIZZ!  (Which is what I have been missing from storebought kombucha teas lately).

Look at how fizzy today’s turned out!

And then you start your remaining grains into another fresh ferment.

My friend Heather who turned me on to this fun drink recommends “burping” the lid of your second ferment once or twice a day to avoid a kefir explosion from the buildup of carbonation.  (Thank you Heather for all the great tips and for introducing me to something new!)

I’m enjoying having something that “feels like soda” to sip on, while not having to pay the crazy price of pre-bottled kombucha.  Not to mention the beneficial probiotic bacteria that supposedly comes from this drink!

Have you ever made or tasted water kefir?

– Shari B. =)

Tags: , , , , ,

Vacation Dance

Dec 18

Posted by Shari B. in Do Something Daily, Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

Good morning FitFeat friends!

Happy Saturday!  It’s especially happy because I am officially on a 2 week break from school.  So last night I did the Vacation Happy Dance when I got home.

It looks a little like this:

Then I had a glass of wine and ate a Kraut Wrap with my homemade sauerkraut.

Spelt tortilla, red cabbage sauerkraut, sprouts, romaine and a drizzle of ginger vinaigrette.  Quick, easy, GONE!

This morning I got an early start on homework.  Then did a Tabata workout for my DDSD.

  • Static Ball Wall Squats with Side Lateral Holds – 4 minutes
  • Speedy Light Stiff-Legged Deadlifts – 4 minutes
  • Surrenders – 4 minutes
  • Planks and Side Planks – 4 minutes
  • Calf Raises – 4 minutes (oh the burn)
  • Combo Set – Eagle pose left, Eagle pose right, jump lunges, chair pose hold, repeat – 4 minutes

My right ear is still feeling achey but not as severely as yesterday.  It seems to come and go.  While I didn’t go as high intensity as I typically would, I feel good that I got in a workout.  I have an extra one to add in this weekend to make up for yesterday (unless 8 blocks of walking counts!) so I’ll keep ya posted.

In an effort to keep my immune system happy and strong while I’m fighting this weird bug, I’ve been eating lots of probiotic and healthful foods:

Probiotic pills, fermented miso, fresh fruit, kombucha tea, and fresh squeezed wheatgrass juice.

I’ve also been grating fresh ginger and steeping it in hot water with a squeeze of lemon juice and a squeeze of raw honey (this REALLY helps!).  And Thursday night I even resorted to eating 3 cloves of raw garlic smeared on some Ezekial toast.  While healthful and helpful, don’t do that if you live with other people. :D I slept in the guest room with my stinky breath – that no amount of tooth brushing and Listerine gargling could seem to conquer.  And I could STILL taste it the next morning. And when MSP opened the door to the guest room he said he could smell garlic.  Yikes.

After my workout I had a great chat with my mom, then ate a Christmas present from one of my classmates.  A “Satsuma” tangerine.  It was almost too pretty to eat.

Today I’ll be continuing on with my homework assignment (I’m making progress!) and when it gets dark, I might have to break down and watch one of my favorite holiday movies.  My two favorites are comedies.

I adore “Elf” – here’s a fun clip reel someone put together on YouTube:

“Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase – it’s not Christmas for me until I watch this movie (every year!).  I can’t believe it came out 21 years ago!

I also love “Bad Santa”, “A Christmas Story” and “Four Christmases”.  Yet I’ve never seen “Miracle on 34th Street”.  And I’ve never watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” all the way through.  Do you love holiday movies?  Funny ones or sentimental ones? What are your favorites?

Have a great weekend friends!

– Shari B. =)

»crosslinked«

Tags: , , , , ,

Product Review: Pop Culture Probiotic Oatmeal & Bars

May 1

Posted by Shari B. in Product Review | 4 Comments

Good morning blog buds!

Ahhhh, it’s the weekend.  We just completed a 40-minute morning workout, ate breakfast and are now headed to the off-leash dog park to let our crazy beasts get their exercise on too!  It’s a balmy 36 degrees out (where’s the HEAT??) and it’s supposed to rain later so we’re hoping to beat the sprinkles!

You may recall a while back that in response to a post I’d done on my favorite dairy-free probiotics, Pop Culture sent me some of their probiotic products to try.

The box contained:

  • Strawberries and Crème Oatmeal
  • Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal
  • Yogurt Fruit & Nut Bars
  • Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

(For those of you who avoid dairy, you will want to note that the only one of the products listed above that does NOT contain some milk (or milk derivative) was the Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal.)

MSP tried the Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal, which he said he liked.  He thought it wasn’t very sweet (he’s also used to full-on Quaker Maple & Brown Sugar instant packets which have more than twice the sugar and more than twice the sodium.)

I tried the Strawberries and Crème oatmeal (made with water). And I thought it was nicely sweetened.  After a few bites, I chose to add some almond milk to it to thin it out a bit and the almond milk further enhanced the flavor.

The oatmeal flavors are each 140 calories and 5 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.  Strawberry has only 3g of sugar, while Maple has 6.

The serving size was just right for me and filled me up nicely for about 3 hours.

As for the bars, Pop Culture was kind enough to send a box so we each had a couple of opportunities to sample both flavors.   MSP’s favorite was Chocolate Chip (he doesn’t really like anything with dried fruit bits in it. )  I thought both flavors were great.  Yogurt Fruit flavor is 90 calories, 4 grams protein, 4 grams fiber, 7 grams sugar.  Chocolate chip has 110 calories, 6 grams protein, less than 1 g fiber and 4 grams sugar.

Pop Culture’s products contain a specific probiotic called GanadenBC³º®, which contains an outer shell to keep the probiotic intact in the dry product.  I’ll leave the scientific info at their website, so feel free to click HERE to find out more.

My personal opinion is that all of the products tasted great. And I appreciate that they don’t use artificial sweeteners.

However, the only one that would fit into MY chosen style of nutrition (yes, I bent my eating rules to try these products out) is the Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal because it doesn’t contain the cow’s dairy or soy protein isolates.  And a big part of why I look for alternative probiotic sources (that aren’t yogurt) is because I prefer to not consume cow’s dairy.

My husband doesn’t avoid diary or soy isolates (and wouldn’t seek out regular yogurt unless it was hidden in something) so these products would be great options for him to boost his probiotic intake.  I also think the oatmeal products would be good items for kids to replace the high sugar, high sodium (not to mention high chemical) breakfast options that they often gravitate toward.

Thank you to the generous folks over at Pop Culture for allowing me the opportunity to sample their products!

– Shari B. =)

Tags: , , ,

Get Proactive with Probiotics: 3 Non-Yogurt Options

Mar 18

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Hi blog buds!

How was your St. Patrick’s Day?   Glad to know some of you might give AVOCADO a try in your future smoothies!  I’m tellin’ ya, it’s GOOD!

Speaking of good things, you all know I’m kind of a freak when it comes to good digestion (almost as much of a freak as I am about getting to sleep on time!)  When my digestive tract goes awry, let’s just say I’m not a happy camper.  Luckily with the my current nutrition habits, poor digestive days are fewer than they used to be.  But that doesn’t stop me from taking PROACTIVE action on a daily basis by taking probiotics every day.

In addition to the digestive benefits, I also like knowing that they give my immune system a boost.

Did you know that about 80% of your immune system is located in your gut?¹  So making sure you have lots of “good” bacteria in there is key to boosting your chances of defending against that coughing co-worker or sniffling friend.  With the change of seasons at hand, now is the time that you’ll notice people getting those spring colds.

Yogurt seems to get all the credit for providing probiotics.  Since I avoid consuming cow’s dairy, yogurt isn’t my go-to choice for probiotics anymore.  Here are my three favorite non-dairy options:

1.) Ultimate Probiotic 12/12 Formula: I take one capsule of these each morning with breakfast (and if I think I’ll need an extra immune boost, like on a day I’ll be in a crowd of people, i.e., flying) I might even take two.  Some say you should take your probiotics on an empty stomach for maximum effectiveness but I have a tendency toward nausea when I take things like vitamins on an empty stomach.  Do what works best for you.

2.) Synergy Kombucha Tea – I drink this whenever the budget allows.  It’s one of my favorite ‘health foods’ and this brand claims to contain Lactobacillus Bacterium and S. Boulardii. 

3.) Good Belly – my friend’s husband started taking this after his doc recommended it for some tummy troubles.  I’d seen them at the grocery store, but passed them by because they were located by the yogurt.  I mistakenly assumed they had dairy in them.  Then I learned that they are DAIRY FREE!  I just started taking these about 10 days ago and while I can’t yet speak to any immune boost, I can say that I have noticed an improvement in …um, ahem… regularity.  :D

Plus who can resist drinking out of a smiley face every morning?

Today’s discussion: Do you take probiotics?  What are your favorites?  Did you notice a difference when  you started taking them?

Have a terrific Thursday everyone!

– Shari B. =)

***

¹Dr. Joseph Mercola; “Enhance Your Immune System with the Benefits of Probiotics”; http://www.drmercola.biz/2009/04/enhance-your-immune-system-with.html (accessed March 18, 2010)

Tags: , , ,

A Sparkle in MY Day!

Nov 25

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 3 Comments

It’s Thanksgiving Eve!  Do you have all of your ingredient shopping done for the food-fest tomorrow?  I’m going to attempt to sub out ingredients in our favorite Sausage Gravy & Biscuits for tomorrow’s breakfast to make it free of meat and dairy.  It will be SOYsage Gravy & Biscuits.  If it turns out well, I’ll be sure to post the recipe here for you all to try.  I also plan to make a broccoli salad with some subbed items – I’m hoping that by STEAMING the broccoli I don’t end up with houseful of broccoli stink again!

Before I get into yesterday’s eats, I want to send a VERY BIG HUG OF THANKS to dear Cindy over at A Sparkle A Day.  She lives in California where it is nice and toasty and she took pity on me freezing my hiney off with all this cold and snow we’ve had already this year.  As a result she has put a lot of hours and generosity into making me something with which to keep warm and it arrived in the mail yesterday like an early Christmas gift. 

img 846

Wahoo, it was even WRAPPED!  Totally feels like Christmas!! 

img 850

She knows me well, sending a homemade card with COFFEE on the front!  Look how pretty it is! 

img 853

It is SO incredibly soft and warm!  It was meant to keep me warm while jogging, but I think it’s much to pretty too use that way.  I wore it out with my dressy coat last night to run some errands and the cashier at Hobby Lobby commented that she loved my scarf and how pretty the colors were!  So of course I had to tell her the story of who made it for me and why and that I’d just received it that very evening!

Cindy, thank you so much for your kindness and thoughtfulness… It is amazing how receiving a HANDMADE gift can make one feel so special! 

Now I see why my mom loved that crazy thing I made her in kindergarten:  a paper plate with dry macaroni glued all over it and spray painted GOLD!  :)   If you are thinking of holiday shopping this time of year, I highly suggest you MAKE something instead.  It truly does make the recipient feel so good!

***

Yesterday was another one of those whirlwind days.  I started the day off with a cup of coffee and half a banana bread Larabar before my client training appointment.

img 847

Then I ate the other half while I was writing yesterday’s blog post.

Lunch was an unpictured HUGE salad at Sweet Tomatoes full of spinach, beets, zucchini, cucumber, sunflower seeds, olive oil, red cabbage, and probably a few more ingredients that I’m forgetting.  If you haven’t been to a Sweet Tomatoes salad bar, give it a try.  Talk about getting your VEGGIE FIX ON!

Afternoon was full of more running around.  I had to splurge on a little Silk Soy NOG.  MSP loves eggnog this time of year, and I wanted to join in on the fun in my own way!

img 848

Dinner was leftover pad-thai-style rice noodles from Noodles & Co., half of which seemed to be mung bean sprouts (and 2 whopping pieces of shrimp!)

img 856

This morning I got up and did 30 minutes of a total body weight training circuit.  It’s one I developed for training clients, so it’s not listed here publicly (SOME things have to be kept sacred for my paying peeps, you know!)  :)   Followed by 45 minutes of DOG WOGGING!  Have you noticed how lacking my life has been of wogs?  My poor pups must feel so neglected.  And of course Riley collided with another dog at full run while they were being playful and came up limping.  (She has hip dysplasia and arthritis, yet thinks she’s still a spring puppy!)  She seems ok at the moment – but of course in the back of my mind I’m thinking she’s never allowed out of the house again if she keeps hurting herself!  If it’s not poking her eye out on a hike, then it’s dislocating a hip!  Crazy dogs!

And now I am taking in a PROBIOTIC overload because I am off to a hospital soon to visit a post-surgery family member and want to give my immune system all the boosts I can in case I pass someone in the hall that has swine flu (or some other nasty bug that I don’t want taking a free ride home with me!)  :)    Two probiotic pills and a probiotic-rich BUBBLY!!!  mmmm Gingerberry!  I can feel the forcefield all around me already!  ;)

img 855

Enjoy your Thanksgiving EVE and I’ll be back tomorrow with a Thanksgiving Day post for those of you who will be reading!

Also, send good Turkey Trot vibes out to everyone you know who will be racing in various charitable Thanksgiving Day races tomorrow!  Reader CARRIE will be participating in a 10K (and has a bet with her man that she can beat him, go Carrie!!)   And my good friend and client Lynn will be racing tomorrow in a local HILLY 5K!  I know you ladies will show ‘em all how it’s done! 

– Shari B. =)

Tags: , , , , , , ,