LET’S TALK PROBIOTICS.

Do you need one? Yeah, probably.

Why or why not? Stay with me.

How do you pick one out – there are so many! Keep reading.

This little statistic is still so wild to me, but the bacteria in your gut outnumber the rest of the cells in your body 10:1.

I’m just gonna let you read that again.

Mind. Blown. Right?

I’m not going to dive super deep on gut health here – you can find out more about HOW your gut becomes damaged and how to repair it here – but I do want to give you an overview of what those trillions of tiny bacteria cells are doing in your body.

1. They control your immune function. It’s estimated that at LEAST 70% of your immune system is located in your gut. The more “good” bacteria you have, the less likely you’ll have food sensitivities, allergies, or autoimmune issues.

2. They’re precursors for some pretty important hormones. Your microbiome determines your mood, appetite, sleep quality, and sex drive.

3. They decide what nutrients you need and don’t need, and this includes macronutrients. When bad bacteria start to out-populate good bacteria, you can actually start to absorb LESS fiber and MORE fat and calories. You could be doing “everything right” with your diet, but you’ll still be absorbing excess calories because of your poor gut health.

4. They control your appetite. Your hunger hormone, ghrelin, is produced in the stomach. When the production of ghrelin is thrown off by the presence of too much bad bacteria, it may be able to turn off. And I don’t think I have to explain why we’d WANT ghrelin to turn off!

5. They help eliminate toxins. When you’re not eliminating toxins properly, those toxins will start eliminating elsewhere. They can actually start leaking through your gut, causing system-wide inflammation, which can lead to joint pain, eczema, acne, heart disease, arthritis, food intolerances, digestion issues, and more.

So, it’s safe to say these little guys are pretty important and if you’re still ignoring your gut health and only focusing on things like eating healthy and making sure you’re getting to Crossfit every day, you’re f*ckin’ up big time.

Now, we dive a lot deeper into ways you can heal your gut in the 30-Day Metabolism Makeover, but today I really want to talk about PROBIOTICS. I feel like there’s a lot of confusion around them, there are so many on the market, and it’s hard to figure out which brands are actually good and which ones are trash.

So, what makes a high-quality probiotic?

1. 100% Survivability (or close to it) – if your probiotic doesn’t mention how effective it is, it probably isn’t all that effective. If you’re not making sure your probiotic can actually survive the journey through the harsh gastric environment of the digestive tract, then you’re *literally* flushing your money down the toilet.

2. Shelf-stable – There is no reason to ever refrigerate probiotics. Think about it. Your body temperature is 98.6 degrees and it has got to survive that first. So if your probiotic HAS to be refrigerated…it’s probably a bad sign.

3. More than one strain of bacteria. While it’s not necessary to have 20 different strains, it’s really important that we maintain a diverse microbiome. Probiotics that only contain one strain of bacteria aren’t likely to do much for you, especially if your body doesn’t need that particular strain.

4. A spore-based probiotic – a probiotic that contains “spores” simply means a probiotic that contains a “shell.” These are great because this shell REALLY helps get the good bacteria to your intestines alive!

What DOESN’T make a high-quality probiotic?

1. CFUs. When you see a probiotic with 50 billion+ CFUs, don’t think it’s necessarily a better choice than the one with 10 billion. This may just mean that only a small percentage of probiotic cells are making it to your intestines, so that company HAS to include billions and billions of bacteria for it to be effective at all.

2. The need to be refrigerated.

I take Just Thrive Probiotic because it meets all the criteria above. And at the present moment, there aren’t a whole lot of spore-based probiotics on the market. Matter fact, for a long time, you could ONLY get spore-based probiotics as a prescription from your doctor or naturopath.

So it’s pretty cool that you can just buy them right from a manufacturer now.

I started taking Just Thrive when I was about 5 months pregnant. My constipation issues were BAD and the only thing that helped was Coconut Cult yogurt. Which I loved, but MY GOD that shiz was expensive and I just couldn’t justify spending $70 a month on yogurt.

It’s pretty crazy but my digestion issues cleared up immediately and I’ve been poopin’ every single day since (going STRONG at 39 ½ weeks!!). And I later realized that what makes both Just Thrive and Coconut Cult different from other probiotics is that the bacteria is actually derived from the gut.

Yeah. Like they take HUMAN BACTERIA. Sounds a little weird, but also, makes perfect sense???

I mean, why wouldn’t we inoculate our gut with healthy bacteria that actually belong in the gut in the first place?

So, I’ll say it, I stan Just Thrive, and I don’t really have other brands I recommend at the moment.

(My 22-year-old sister told me what “stan” meant so if you don’t know, culture yourself here)

(There very well may be other brands, I just know this one is 10/10 and you can save $ if you do auto-ship).

(You can also get 15% off your first order with NUTRITIONADDICTION cuz ya know ya girl asked so I could get the discount LOL).

(Yes, I pay for my own probiotics and no, this post isn’t sponsored)

Give it a shot and lmk what you think!

Megan