The Best Probiotic Smoothie Recipes

Probiotics and an important part of a healthy digestive system. The following is a list of my favorite probiotic smoothies. These probiotic smoothie recipes will help keep your digestive system healthy, and are especially beneficial if you are taking antibiotics.

What Are Probiotics

Your stomach is filled with bacteria. This bacteria has a symbiotic relationship with your body and is essential to proper digestion. The good bacteria in your stomach helps your body break down the food you eat, allowing your body to absorb the nutrients. A lack of this stomach bacteria can lead to digestive problems such as diarrhea.

When food travels through your digestive organs, such as the intestines and the stomach, bacteria helps break the food down into small little bits that are then absorbed and used by your body.

Probiotics are the good bacteria that live in your stomach. By eating foods that contain probiotics you are helping replenish the good bacteria in your digestive tracts. Consuming probiotics will ensure that your digestive system has the tools it needs for you to get all the benefits of the foods you eat. Drinking probiotic smoothies will help maintain a healthy stomach.

Who Can Benefit From Probiotic Smoothies?

Almost everyone can benefit from drinking probiotic smoothies. If you are uncertain about drinking probiotics, ask your doctor. Probiotics are the healthy living bacteria that already exists in a healthy digestive system. Drink more probiotics is not going to harm a healthy person. At worst, drinking probiotic smoothies will result in no change in your digestive tract.

People who have digestive problems may benefit from consuming probiotics. Many digestive problems are caused by an imbalance or lack of healthy gut bacteria. Probiotics replenish this store of bacteria, bringing the digestive tract back to normal.

The second group of people who would most benefit from drinking probiotic smoothies are those who are taking antibiotics. Antibiotics are a great scientific tool used to treat a wide range of bacterial problems and infections. The problem with antibiotics is that they do not discriminate between good and bad bacteria. Antibiotics will kill off all types of bacteria.

One of the common side effects of antibiotic treatment is diarrhea. This is due to the antibiotics killing off too many of the good gut bacteria used by the digestive tract.

Even if you do not see any obvious digestive symptoms from taking antibiotics, taking probiotics to counter the impact of antibiotics on your digestive tract is a good idea.

When taking antibiotics I always wait a couple hours for the antibiotics to take their effect and kill off some of the bacteria in my gut, and then I eat something that contains probiotics. The following smoothie recipes are one great source of probiotics.

At one point I even took probiotics pills to help keep my digestive tract healthy while taking along dose of antibiotics. I prefer whole foods to pills though, which is why I’d rather drink one of the following probiotic smoothies.

Probiotic Smoothie Recipes

Peanut Butter Yogurt Shake

Yogurt is the most often recommended food for probiotics. Yogurt is common, so everyone knows what it tastes like and it is easily found in all grocery stores. You can find yogurt with many different flavors. I avoid flavored yogurt because it is packed with processed sugars. Instead I buy plain yogurt and use fruits or other foods to add flavor to the yogurt. This way I don’t have to consume processed sugar and I still get a great tasting yogurt.

This yogurt smoothies is low in sugar, relaying on a single banana and some peanut butter for taste. This smoothie has a decent amount of calories (444 calories) which is important if you are sick and on antibiotics. Your body needs calories to give your immune system the energy it needs to get you healthy again. This smoothie has a decent amount of protein, but you can always get more by adding some protein powder to the mix.

Peach Yogurt Smoothie

Here’s another yogurt based probiotic smoothie. This recipe calls for Greek yogurt, which is favored by many bodybuilders and gym enthusiasts over regular yogurt. This is because Greek yogurt contains more protein than regular yogurt. I like the taste of both and am happy substituting one for the other in most recipes. Feel free to use regular or Greek yogurt for these recipes.

This recipe is also noticeably sweeter than the above peanut butter yogurt shake. This is because this smoothie contains more fruit. Fruits and vegetables are important for good digestion because they contain dietary fiber. Dietary fiber helps regulate your digestive system.

Kefir Green Smoothie

Kefir if a relative of yogurt. It’s more liquidy than yogurt. One usually drinks kefir, while yogurt is eaten with a spoon. Kefir also has a stronger taste than yogurt. Kefir is especially popular in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia, but is becoming more popular in North America. Like yogurt, kefir is packed with probiotics.

This is a green smoothie recipe that gets its probiotics from kefir. It also contains kale, which is a super food, packed with vitamins and other nutrients that are great for those who might be ill.

This green smoothie is high in healthy fats which is important for vegetarians (kefir is not vegan, but read on to find a vegan probiotic smoothie.)

Maca Almond Kefir Smoothie

Here’s another great kefir smoothie recipe. It contains maca, which is a powerful super food. This is a great smoothie for those looking for a recipe with a lot of overall health benefits along with probiotics.

This smoothie is a great source of energy, which is important for those who are sick and taking antibiotics. You will need a good source of energy to get you through the day while sick.

Vegan Probiotic Smoothie

Finding vegan sources of probiotics can be difficult. This is because the most common sources for probiotics are all milk based; yogurt, kefir, etc.

This smoothie uses a powerful vegan supplement to add a ton of probiotics to what is already a very healthy smoothie. This is a great smoothie for those looking for a vegan source of probiotics.

Banana Strawberry Kombucha Smoothie

Kombucha is actually another vegan source of probiotics. Kombcha is fermented tea and sugar. It is a traditional drink in certain pats of Norhtern Asia and Easter Europe and has become popular in North America.

Making kombucha based smoothies is a good way to consume probiotics while also getting some whole foods. Kombucha by itself is just tea and sugar with probiotics created during the fermentation process. By drinking a smoothie instead of just kombucha you are also getting the fiber, vitamins and whatever else comes in the other smoothie ingredients.

The above are some of my favorite probiotic smoothies. You can get probiotics from a numbers of different sources including yogurt, kefir, Greek yogurt, kombucha or probiotic supplements.