Eat These Tasty Snacks Packed With Probiotics

From gut health to pumping up the immune system, researchers are determining multiple benefits to adding probiotics to your diet, through food or supplements.

If you're trying to treat a specific condition, like antibiotic-associated diarrhea, you'll probably want to take over-the-counter probiotic supplements. But if you just want to add a healthy mix of the beneficial bacteria from probiotics to your life, you can do so by eating certain foods.

Remember as you consider what probiotic foods to buy that by definition, probiotics are "live" cultures, so if the food has been pasteurized or doesn't say there are live cultures or bacteria on the label, it probably doesn't contain probiotics.

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If you're on the go, here are six healthy snacks that help hunger pangs and add probiotics:

1. Yogurt
Probably the most well-known probiotic food, yogurt products on the market contain probiotics if the label says there are live cultures. If yogurt is pasteurized, the live strains of beneficial bacteria are killed. Companies that advertise they have probiotics put those strains back into the yogurt after pasteurization.

2. Pickles
A favorite crunchy snack, some pickles have probiotics and you can definitely make your own. If the pickles are sold at room temperature, they do not have the live beneficial bacteria you're looking for, according to the PaleoLeap website. Buy your pickles in the refrigerator section and check for a label that says there are live cultures included.

3. Kombucha
This fermented beverage almost always contains probiotics, PaleoLeap said. The Kitchn tells you how to make it yourself, and the writer described its flavor as "like tart green apple mixed with sour stone fruits, but with an underlying sweetness that keeps it all together."

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4. Soft cheeses
According to WebMD, many soft cheeses such as Gouda contain probiotics, and studies have even shown that the strains of live bacteria in cheese are more likely to make it through your intestinal system.

5. Kefir
This drink is filled with good bacteria, and it's a lot like drinking liquid yogurt.

6. Sourdough bread
Add this wonderful bread to your snacktime sandwich (or just spread some herbed butter on it), and you'll get a probiotic punch from a strain of bacteria that is said to help digestion, WebMD said.

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