How much yogurt do I have to eat to improve my digestion?
Virtually everyone would benefit from eating yogurt at least once or twice a week. Registered dietitian Samantha Heller, RD, explains how yogurt benefits the body and helps improve digestive health.
Transcript
You could have an antibiotic that helps us kill the bad bacteria. But a probiotic are the bacteria that we want to have in our gut.
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Now, yogurt is a really healthy food. And it's been around for hundreds of years.
And we know that the live active cultures in yogurt-- this is regular yogurt, not frozen yogurt, we're talking about-- are actually very good for your gut.
There's thousands and thousands of healthy bacteria that live in your gastrointestinal tract. And these bacteria are a huge part of your immune system.
So eating and recolonizing your gastrointestinal tract with things like yogurt is really good for you.
How much you should eat, well, that depends on your weight, whether you're trying to lose weight, your age.
So if you're going to have some yogurt with live active cultures, maybe once a day, a cup a day, maybe a few times a week.
It's fine as long as you're eating an overall healthy diet. And that's what's important to know is to keep your gut healthy, you want those healthy foods
every day-- the fruits, the vegetables, the whole grains, and the lower nonfat dairy, like the yogurt. Have you ever heard of a probiotic?
Well, a probiotic is that healthy bacteria that live in your gastrointestinal tract and keep your immune system strong.
And the probiotic is actually a kind of bacteria, a good bacteria. You could have an antibiotic that helps us kill the bad bacteria.
But a probiotic are the bacteria that we want to have in our gut. And it's found in fermented foods like yogurt.
There's live active cultures in yogurt. And certainly the supplement industry that sells probiotics is a huge booming industry in this country.
There are many, many kinds of probiotics. And research shows that some of them help with things like antibiotic-induced diarrhea
or other diarrheal diseases that children and adults may have that can really help reduce those symptoms
and help you heal. In terms of your daily life with probiotics, the research is still ongoing in terms of how much you need
and where to get it. But if you want to have some nonfat yogurt every day or a few times a week, there's just nothing wrong with that.
healthy eating
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