There are several types of healthy and tasty probiotics drinks available now to get them from sources other than yogurt.
There are several benefits of probiotics, in helping to balance your gut flora and overall digestive health, so it’s a good idea to make them a regular part of your routine. You can find out more about the benefits of probiotics here: 15 Benefits of Probiotics (And How to Find One That Actually Suits You)
But it’s not always convenient or possible to take a supplement or eat yogurt. In those cases, you can drink your way to gut health.
There are three basic types of probiotic drinks: kombucha, kefir, and drinks supplemented with probiotics. In kombucha and kefir, the probiotics are brewed naturally as part of the drink. Supplemented probiotic drinks will simply have a probiotic culture added to it.
Kombucha is brewed by placing a scoby (which is the mother culture, kind of like a sourdough starter) in brewed tea along with sugar. The sugar acts as food for the probiotics, so as the kombucha is brewed the sugar is converted into probiotics.
Kefir is made in a similar way but with kefir grains. These are specific to each type of medium being cultured, so there are different strains of kefir for milk or water. Kefir also needs sugar as a food source, and converts it into probiotics.
In addition to a regular routine of drinking water, eating healthfully and exercising regularly, having some probiotics every few days can help you get to that next level of wellness.
Here’re 15 probiotics drinks to try:
1. GT’s Kombucha
The GT’s brand was started by Dave, and is still handcrafted, despite being the most widespread brand of kombucha on shelves across the US and around the world.
If you look for kombucha, chances are you will find GT’s on the shelf. It’s a high quality brew, using kiwi juice for natural sugars in the brewing process, and always based on the same tea mix and then flavored with natural juices or other things – like ginger or cold brew coffee.
2. Kevita Master Brew Kombucha
Kevita brews their kombucha with black and green tea, and adds green coffee bean extract and green tea extract for an added energy boost. Their flavors are created naturally with juices and extracts, and sweetened with stevia.
3. Suja Kombucha
Suja’s kombuchas are incredibly high quality and optimized for gut health, with no artificial flavors, concentrates or extracts. Some of their flavors have the added bonus of including adaptogenic herbs like ashwagandha (stress management) and reishi (immune booster).
4. GT’s CocoKefir
GT’s makes a dairy-free kefir by using water kefir grains in coconut water. There are a whopping fifteen billion cultures in a two ounce shot. They have a few flavors to choose from, each of which is flavored naturally with fruits and juices.
5. Coconut Milk Kefir (Vegan)
Coconut milk kefir is made by either using a probiotic starter powder in coconut milk, or by culturing water kefir grains to mix with coconut milk. There don’t seem to be too many brands offering this on a large scale yet, perhaps because it’s highly perishable but you can easily make it at home.
6. Kevita Sparkling Probiotic Drink
Kevita makes a drink that’s based on a water kefir culture, and a bit of a milder flavor than kombucha. They’re flavored with juice or extracts, sweetened with stevia for a low sugar content. Some of their flavors have added botanicals for health-boosting effects, like stress-relieving ashwagandha.
7. GoodBelly Probiotic PlusShots
GoodBelly’s PlusShots are a concentrated probiotics drink. They combine pure fruit juices, probiotics, vitamins and calcium in one delicious wellness shot.
8. GoodBelly Probiotics StraightShots
GoodBelly’s StraightShots are just like how they sound – a straight shot of twenty billion probiotic cultures, in an oat milk base. They are lightly flavored from pure fruit juice, with no added sugar as they’re sweetened with stevia.
9. Suja Probiotic Water
Suja is making a flavored water type of product, by infusing water with a small amount of pressed fruit, along with two billion probiotic cultures. At only ten calories and two grams of sugar, this makes an excellent mid-day hydration option as well as a gut health promoter.
10. Suja Digestion Wellness Shot
With a blend of ginger, apple cider vinegar, camu camu, ginseng and probiotics, this is a powerful shot that will help get your gut health back on track.
11. FarmHouse Culture Gut Punch
These sparkling probiotics drinks are low in sugar, since they’re made with a base of juiced cabbage and beets, and sweetened with stevia. They have several fun flavors to choose from, and are teeming with four billion probiotic cultures per bottle.
12. FarmHouse Culture Gut Shots
With flavors like garlic dill pickle, ginger beet and smoked jalapeno you better be ready for these shots! They pair probiotics with a base of juiced cabbage and other flavors and juices for a tangy shot of gut health.
13. Harmless Coconut Water Probiotics
This drink combines coconut water with coconut meat, live probiotics, fruit and cane sugar for a tasty treat to sip. They aim to create a yogurt-like drink, but without using dairy.
They use organic, fair trade ingredients and are aiming to create products without wasting parts of the ingredients – like using the meat of the same coconuts from which they’re getting the coconut water.
14. SCD Essential Probiotics
This is a bit different from either kombucha or kefir but is a naturally brewed liquid probiotic supplement. It’s brewed from a base of molasses and juice extracts, and you only need one tablespoon per day.
15. Tropicana Probiotic Juices
As a major juice distributor, this is good news for more easily finding probiotics drinks available. These are made with 100% juices that have no added sugar, and have been supplemented with probiotic cultures.
With four flavors to choose from, these will make a family-friendly addition to the probiotic selection.
What’s the bottom line?
Find the type of probiotics drink that works for you – whether kombucha, kefir, or a juice supplemented with probiotic cultures. Try different flavors, and see what suits your tastebuds.
These can work as part of an overall healthy lifestyle, and promote healthy digestion and gut flora balance. They can also make a nice treat, so you can start having kombucha dates with your girlfriends after work.
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