Microbiome Magic: Primal Living all year round.

The holidays are approaching. We’re not interested in the holiday bloat.

We’re not on the sugar train either.

We’re not into getting groggy, puffy and disenchanted with ourselves.

Let’s talk Microbiome diet. A key primal habit. Let’s talk making it easy.

Use this list as your guide. Stock up on some staples and watch your gut rewild and thrive.

3 cornerstones of microbiome diet:

Add these to your shopping list and try to incorporate a few bites into every meal:

Fiber: Resistant starches make up the majority of prebiotic fiber. While most starch gets broken down into glucose, resistant starch is a carbohydrate that is not digested but instead gets fermented by microbes in the colon.

• Legumes: chickpeas, lentils, beans, dried peas
• Unprocessed grains: Oats, rice, barley, quinoa
• Greens: Seaweed, dandelions, cabbage, asparagus, snow peas
• Fruit: Green bananas, apples, grapefruit, pomegranate, nectaries

Ferment: “Good” bacteria. Fermented foods are both living microbes and the nourishment for the diaspora of the healthy microbiome.

• Fermented veggies
• Kefir
• Yogurt
• Kimchi
• Kombucha
• Miso
• Sauerkraut
• Pickles

Polyphenols: Polyphenols are compounds found in plants that have a reducing effect – reducing oxidation and inflammation.

• Berries
• Coffee
• Tumeric
• Artichokes
• Nuts
• Olives
• Flax seed

Keeping a well stocked, microbiome friendly pantry makes all the difference in success with this primal habit.

Here are some bonus recipes for the microbiome diet:

Sauerkraut Recipe

Ingredients:
1 medium-sized green cabbage
3 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp caraway seeds (optional, for flavor)
Instructions:
Slice cabbage into thin ribbons.
Soak in salted water overnight.
Pack cabbage into a jar, weigh it down, and cover with cloth.
Push down twice a day, adding salt water if needed.
Ferment for 3-10 days, then refrigerate.
Tip: Taste test after 3 days; it’s done when it tastes good to you.