Fermented foods have great gut-health-boosting properties, which is why I recommend eating them on a daily basis. This is especially important if improving gut health is your goal (my 28 Day Guided Gut Healing Program is perfect for this).
Adding fermented foods to your daily diet is also aligned with my overall approach to nutrition: ensure everything you eat is of maximum nutrient density so you get the most bang for your buck. Because fermented foods can contain healthy prebiotics and probiotics, adding them to your meals and snacks can make your diet more nutrient rich.
Which Fermented Foods are Best for Gut Health?
It’s important to remember that not all fermented foods are created equal. There’s a difference between foods that have been fermented (sometimes just for flavor) and functional fermented foods, made to support your gut health.
Most fermented foods contain probiotic bacteria as a result of the fermentation process. Whilst these probiotic bacteria can be beneficial for your microbiome, they have not been clinically tested or chosen to ensure a direct benefit on gut health.
When it comes to adding fermented foods to your diet, you should select foods designed and tested for gut health. This is why I recommend Lavva yogurt as my plant-based yogurt of choice.
Lavva contains a proprietary probiotic strain that is proven to survive digestion through the small intestine. This means that the probiotic strains are able to reach the parts of the GI tract where they can be beneficial to our gut health.
And whilst Lavva is delicious eaten straight out of the tub, I also love adding it to my everyday meals and healthy snacks. This ensures I’m eating the digestive-boosting prebiotics and probiotics on a regular basis.
Adding Fermented Foods to Your Breakfast
Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. It programs your body and brain’s biochemistry. A great breakfast will activate energizing neurotransmitters like dopamine, balance your blood sugar and trigger the release of hormones that prevent hunger and create satiety.
I start every morning with a breakfast smoothie. It packs a powerful punch of protein, healthy fats, and fibre in a quick and easy-to-make recipe. By using Lavva yogurt in my smoothies, I’m adding healthy probiotics and prebiotics into my first meal of the day.
At this time of year, I love to include seasonal foods such as pumpkin in my smoothies. This Probiotic Pumpkin Spice Smoothie is both a favorite in my house and with my clients!
Probiotic Pumpkin Spice Smoothie (makes 1 serving)
- 1 serving vanilla protein powder
- 1 serving collagen powder (optional)
- 1 handful baby spinach (fresh or frozen)
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup Vanilla Lavva yogurt
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 1 tablespoon almond butter
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin spice seasoning
- Pinch Himalayan salt
- 1.5 cups unsweetened Lavva plant milk
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Snacks and Mini-Meals with Fermented Foods
Instead of snacks, I ask my clients to re-frame what they eat between meals as ‘mini meals’. This encourages them to eat small amounts of real foods, rather than energy-draining, highly processed snack foods such as cookies, chips and candy.
My go-to mini meal is a cup of Lavva yogurt with some fresh fruit and hemp seeds. The combination of healthy fats, antioxidants and protein help make me feel full and energized without any blood sugar spikes or crashes.
Sauces and Dressings Made with Gut Healthy Yogurt
Another principle of my nutrition philosophy is to eat 7-8 servings of vegetables a day. When you do, you’re packing your diet with digestion-boosting fiber and an abundance of antioxidants and phytonutrients.
And you can add even more health benefits by making salad dressings and sauces with fermented foods. The simplest way is to add yogurt. I especially like to use Lavva’s yogurt because it contains healthy fats from the pili nuts. This means your body can absorb the fat soluble vitamins (ADEK) in the vegetables.
For a quick and easy veggie side dish, I love to make a slaw with thinly sliced carrots, white and red cabbage and fennel, and dress it in a probiotic dressing made with Lavva.
Probiotic Soothing Slaw
- 4 cups of thinly sliced carrots, cabbage and fennel (can use a food processor or mandoline)
- 1 cup Lavva Original yogurt
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon Himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place the Lavva, lemon juice and zest and seasonings in a small bowl and mix well. Add the veggies and coat evenly with the dressing.
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