Probiotics: Are You Getting Yours?

Goodbelly is Good for your Belly!

This morning I tried something new that I picked up at Whole Foods yesterday, but first a little background information. Evan and I are pretty cognizant of ensuring our intake of probiotic cultures. They’re good for digestive health and it’s hard to get them without eating regular yogurt. So we drink Kombucha occassionally and eat coconut milk yogurt, but both are extremely pricey ($3.49 for Kombucha and $1.99 per serving of yogurt). We started discussing probiotics over the weekend and I recalled that I’d heard of probiotic drinks. I’ve always assumed they had dairy in them, but I decided to check the refrigerated section at WF yesterday just to be sure.

Low and behold, I discovered a product called Goodbelly which is actually soy-free, gluten-free, dairy-free and 100% vegan. There are way more probiotics in this stuff (like 20 billion per serving) than in Kombucha (1 billion).

So what is a probiotic? According to Goodbelly’s website,

“A probiotic is a living microorganism, which, when taken in adequate amounts, has a proven, beneficial effect on your health. In other words, they’re good “bugs” that science has shown to improve your health. Essentially, probiotics work by displacing harmful microorganisms, lowering the pH in the intestines (thus creating an environment unfavorable to the growth of harmful bacteria) and stimulating the immune system.”

All good, right? I’m psyched about this new product because it is a much cheaper and versatile option for getting in our probiotics. 4 servings of this stuff was only $3.00 at Whole Foods which, compared to the Kombucha and yogurt, is a significant improvement in price! Plus, we’re getting more probiotics for less money. Oh! And they use all organic and natural ingredients.

How is it more versatile? Instead of being eaten:

• It can be added to our Green Monsters.
• We can drink it as a morning juice!
• It’s more convenient in drink form for on-the-go lifestyles like ours

Here’s my small cup of the Mango Flavor I had this morning (I plan to get my other 1/2 serving in my GM later on). Just like normal juice! It reminds me of the taste of V8 Splash, by the way.

Here’s what the carton looks like (maybe you can see why I always thought these products had milk in them…the packaging threw me off)

Overall, I’m really pleased and have another flavor to try when this one is gone!

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Sad News (for me)

I was quite sad to discover this morning that my coveted and most favorite Starbucks latte, the Pumpkin Spice is alas, not vegan. The syrup has milk powder and sweetened skim milk in it. I still plan on going to Starbucks today just to make sure, but I had a sneaking suspicion since the syrup is not transparent like the others. I guess I’ll have to wait until my second favorite seasonal latte comes out: Gingerbread!

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Breakfast

So far it’s been a bit of a hectic morning. I’ve been up since 6 AM trying to figure out my finances because I might have to make a big purchase today (check back later).

I had the Goodbelly juice when I woke up and later I had a waffle with almond butter and a pear (stock photo)

Tagged as: fruit, Goodbelly, Product review, Starbucks, waffles