Today’s show is all about the microbiome: the trillions of bacteria that live in and on you. For the most part, all those good-for-you bugs live in your intestinal tract (AKA, your gut), and research shows that they play a role in everything from good digestion to the regulation of your metabolism, immune system, and even your mood. (I heard this crazy statistic once that if you lined up the bacteria that live in your gut end to end, they’d reach the moon!)
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To help us digest this exciting topic, I invited Brierley Horton, MS, RD to join me on the show. Brierley is the Food and Nutrition Director of Cooking Light magazine. If you haven’t seen their June issue yet, you need to pick it up, because the issue is all about Gut Health. On the show, we’ll be giving your microbiome a healthy makeover with a list of foods rich in probiotics (those are the beneficial bacteria) and prebiotics, the foods that your good bacteria love to eat. Hey, they have to eat something. And we have a few recipe ideas for your dinner table including a recipe for Broccoli-and-Kraut Slaw, which you can find right here on the blog.
Your diet can have a positive impact on the health of your beneficial bacteria, helping it to thrive and grow, so you won’t want to miss even a second of this show.
“You want diversity in your microbiome, and you want to grow the ‘good’ bacteria.” –Brierley Horton
Broccoli-and Kraut-Slaw
It’s GIVEAWAY time!
Giveaway: Want to win a copy of The All-New Fresh Food Fast: 200+ Incredibly Flavorful 5-Ingredient 15-Minute Recipes, by the editors of Cooking Light? To enter, leave a comment at the end of this post and tell me about your favorite recipe featuring good bacteria (probiotics) or prebiotics (the high-fiber foods bacteria love to eat) and/or why you’d like to win Fresh Food Fast. I’ll pick the winner at random on May 30th. Good luck! (U.S. only, please)
Show Highlights:
- Brierley talks about what it’s like to work at Cooking Light magazine.
- Why Cooking Light decided to do an entire issue on gut health.
- What actually is the microbiome?
- Diabetes, cancer, asthma, and heart disease are related to inflammation in your body, and guess what? A healthy microbiome can help to control inflammation.
- Probiotic foods like kimchi, yogurt, and miso can help to promote a healthy microbiome. What else should you pop into your grocery cart?
- Prepare to fall in love with fermented foods.
- And what about fiber? Which types are good for the gut? The answer: cellulose and fructans. What are they?
- Broccoli stems contain cellulose, a type of fiber that good bacteria love to eat.
- Make sure to check out Cooking Light’s list of probiotic foods, including probiotic beverages and snacks.
- Learn all about miso and why it’s a probiotic.
- Get the recipe for Broccoli-and-Kraut Slaw.
- How to do a 3 Day Gut Health Makeover.
- Your brain health and your gut health are connected.
Links:
My email: [email protected]
Cooking Light on the web:
Facebook
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Other Links discussed on the show:
The All-New Fresh Food Fast: 200+ Incredibly Flavorful 5-Ingredient 15-Minute Recipes
Sweet Potatoes: Roasted, Loaded, Fried, and Made into a Pie
Have a question about the show or a suggestion for a future show? Ask away by posting a comment below or joining my Podcast Posse.
I just tried a delicious Cooking Light recipe from Nov. 2017 for a vegetarian 3 bean miso chili. The flavor was extraordinary!
My favorite food is sauerkraut salad. Mostly consist of sauerkraut little shredded carrots, yellow onion, pepper and salt to taste and Olive Oil.
I would love the Fresh Food Fast book as I’m learning how to cook and make fresh food that is kids approved. Working full time, and raising three kids fast dinners, breakfast and lunches are a must. Teaching and showing kids that they can enjoy fresh food that is good for them and taste delicious is my goal.
I always feel better after eating 1/2 cup of my homemade granola (prebiotic) with a cup of plain kefir poured on top (probiotic). I eat it like a bowl of cereal, sometimes with fresh raspberries on top:-)
I would love to win this book because I am always looking for recipes I can prepare quickly!
Fantastic!! Thanks! Cooking Light cookbooks (and yours, Liz) are the best!! 🙂
I recently tried Kombucha. I didn’t think I was going to like it. But I do!
I would love to win Fresh Food Fast because I am always looking out for simple healthy dinners to make for my family on those crazy busy weekdays.
I would love to win Fresh Food Fast because I have finally admitted to myself that I can’t do it all. I need quick healthy recipes to make for dinner so I can also help with homework and take an after dinner walk with my family each night. And still be able to get to bed at a decent hour!!
I’d love to win Fresh Food Fast because that’s how I cook, and I’m always looking for new, fresh ideas that I can get on my family’s table quickly!
I like adding sauerkraut to top my chicken sausage.
I use Greek yogurt for Mexican food, instead of sour cream
Great idea! Me too 🙂
I love make steamed artichokes and serve them with lemon butter.
And they’re in season now!
I have been playing with tempeh and love this new recipe using crumbled tempeh, shredded cabbage and broccoli sautéed with some ginger spiced soy sauce then served over dark leafy greens or in lettuce cups. The crumbled tempeh is a great substitute for ground beef.
I have not cooked with tempeh. Is it firmer than tofu?
I love to make broccoli salad with Greek yogurt instead of mayo. I add sunflower seeds, craisins, red onion, feta cheese, and apple cider vinegar. I am also a dietitian and I’m seeking out more information on micobiome eating. It was good to know about using refrigerated sauerkraut instead of canned (which I wouldn’t use, because some may ask.
I love the fresh sauerkraut. I’m going to add it to my next tuna melt 🙂
Homemade Sauerkraut
My favorite would be Bananas (pre) dipped in bittersweet chocolate (pro) or Blueberries (pre) in yogurt (pro)
I have four kids and work full time. This cookbook would be an amazing help to get a healthy meal on the table quickly each night despite school and sports activity schedule craziness!
We just tried the broccoli and kraut slaw with some simple grilled chicken tonight. My kids loved it! Thanks for keeping us inspired!
Fantastic! Glad you all loved it 🙂
I absolutely love the Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast cookbook and have made almost every recipe in the book, plus gave a copy to all the dietitians I work with for National Nutrition Month last year! It is hard to pick a favorite recipe. The Lemon-Balsamic Broccoli comes to mind as a good one for gut health!
Cooking light, love the tacos…tasty!
I would love to win the book. We are a super busy farm family and don’t have time to waste making time consuming meals. I’m always looking for ways to get fresh food on the table FAST!
Enjoyed this podcast. I work for the University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension and our main university is currently doing major research on gut health. I work with low resource clients who need to cook and eat on food stamp budget. Having normal low cost recipes will help me educate the general public on this complicated yet essential information to the general public.
I love sauerkraut on just about anything & my kids are big fans of pickled vegetables of all sorts!
I am so excited about this giveaway! I just started making my own kombucha and love it. I would love to win this cookbook because I want to have healthy meals for my family, but with a 3 year old and a 1 year old I struggle to find healthy meals I can fix up in a short time. Also, just started listening to the podcast! Love it!!
Happy you’re enjoying the show. Did you listen to my episode on fermented foods w/ Sandor Katz? That show would be perfect for you!!
Hi Liz,
I loved all the recipe ideas you gave in the show! I recently tried a kimchi fried rice recipe and it was divine. I’d love to have this book to give me even more recipe ideas to share with my family. I have teaching my kids a lot about gute heath and this book would continue that teaching for us. Thanks for always keeping it fresh and fun.
Jessica
Would love to learn more about ways to incorporate healthy bacteria into our meals. My husband loves picked items so I think kombucha might be an easy item to incorporate into our dining!
Well, the fact that I was not sure what would be considered a probiotic or prebiotic food is an indication that I NEED this book! 🙂 I have a lot of stomach issues and my daughter had a heart transplant as a baby (she is 9 yo now) and she takes a lot of medication because of that and she often has stomach issues as well. So, we could REALLY use this book! I just discovered a probiotic water drink she likes, but food would be better.
I love to use yogurt to make dips, easy and healthy and gives a good dose of probiotics too!
Kimchee for sure! We like the usual suspects- but I’d say kimchee is our favorite. You can turn a quick rice dish with veg or scrambled eggs into something special with a spoonful of the yummy fermented veg.