 In my video last Saturday, I spoke about how water kefir has been the sole factor in making me feel a lot better. When you have dysbiosis, microbiome imbalance, gut issues, you'll lack energy, even feel sad, anxiety, overall a very negative state to be in. But when your gut is healthy, full of happy bacteria, the right microbes, you can actually become happy. And there are so many issues with most probiotics, and I'm putting my fingers in quotes because I don't even like calling them probiotics, whether the bacterial strains are incorrect, which is just about every time they occur in the wrong amounts or ratios. Even the bacteria being dead before you obtain it, which is actually my experience with most supplements. If you buy a probiotic and you take it and you feel lethargic like crap, it was probably dead bacteria. Most people are unknowingly consuming probiotics that aren't working. They just think as with everything else they've ever tried in their life, it's not really supposed to feel that much of a difference. If they were working, people would feel good immediately and probiotics would be touted as a miracle, starting with number one, which just means I think it's the best overall, water kefir. And guys, I know it's pronounced kefir. No one even knows what kefir is. So stop correcting my pronunciation and let's take things back a step. Also referred to as tobikos, oh, did I say that wrong too? Said to originate in Mexico is a scoby, which stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. Scoby, which is held in a protective biofilm matrix that is created by that bacteria. Some of you might be familiar with biofilm in Candida. It's actually what protects the bacteria in your stomach. And I've done several videos on water kefir now, so you should definitely check those out for an in-depth explanation, but the combination of lactobacillus, streptococcus, saccharomyces, different bacteria and yeast form an ideal microbiome profile. Usually a probiotic isn't going to have the variety, the concentration, enough to make a significant impact on your health. And the main consideration for what makes this the top probiotic is not just the bacterial profile, it's the ease of making it and that it lacks certain downsides we see in these other probiotics. From a nutritional perspective, most of these foods are fairly similar. So when the bacteria and yeast grow, they're very rich in B vitamins, minerals, and of course the probiotic bacteria themselves. Sauerkraut juice is my number two, and although I might think it's as effective as kefir in restoring gut microbiome health, there are several downsides. So water kefir is the scoby, whereas the yeast and bacteria from the fields where the cabbage was grown start the fermentation of sauerkraut. And after being salted, the cabbage releases liquid over the course of several days. That liquid basically being concentrated sauerkraut bacteria. And some of you might be wondering, well Frank, is sauerkraut as beneficial as juice? It's just not a high enough volume of probiotics in my opinion. And although the sauerkraut juice has so much beneficial bacteria and yeast, and I felt good drinking it, it doesn't taste good. It's sauerkraut juice. I kind of like it. And when you have gut issues, you'll actually crave that lactic acid flavor and bacteria, but you can imagine. It's salty, it's sour, not really that approachable. The other issue is that it's far more difficult to keep the bacteria at the ideal stage and alive, whereas other probiotic foods are much easier to make and keep. I mean, you have to contact a restaurant supplier to get that much organic cabbage. And one thing I almost forgot about is the agrochemical concerns from taking all of that cabbage and fermenting it, it's much more difficult to keep this clean as opposed to just using mineral water or high quality dairy products. I was actually purchasing the sauerkraut juice from a local farm and maybe once or twice it was okay, but out of like the 20 jars I've purchased, most of them just had dead bacteria and made things worse. For number three, we have dairy kefir, which I've also made a video on, spoken about extensively. And this type of symbiotic culture originated in Turkey, the Turkish, the theory being that someone was transporting milk in an animal stomach and the grains developed in that specific environment. There's a long medicinal history and belief in kefir grains from like a folklore perspective and for good reason. They're incredibly high in beneficial bacteria, lactobacillus, acromyces, similar to the water kefir. And those tend to be low in people's stomachs. So the bacteria in these probiotics, the reason they're my top five, the water kefir, the sauerkraut juice, dairy kefir, all lactobacillus dominant, which typically counters the bad microbes that tend to proliferate so much like keeping candida in check. And sometimes the bacteria will actually eat the yeast, keeping everything balanced. And a lot of people don't tolerate dairy, which is the main downside. Whether it's a vitamin imbalance, the high calcium content, maybe what the animal was eating when it was milked. It can be okay for some, but a nightmare for others. I had people recommend me so many times on my channel, drink dairy kefir, drink dairy kefir. And it only made me feel worse and worse and worse. Yes, I do think the probiotic culture will fix your stomach. But if you're suffering the other side effects from consuming dairy, you're just developing another problem. So that brings us to yogurt, which has a lower bacteria content in compared to kefir, but it's still very high. It's just dairy kefir is astronomically high in bacteria, has alcohol, has acetic acid. Where yogurt doesn't have as much of that, it's a little bit easier on the stomach, better in certain circumstances. You know, for kefir, you just add the grains to milk and it ferments over several days and then you have kefir, kefir. I'm losing my mind with this pronunciation. So the yogurt, you simply add yogurt to milk and the milk will turn into yogurt over the course of about 12 hours, depending on the room temperature. And I've done a video on how to make yogurt as well. Since the bacteria content is lower, less likely to cause SIBO. It's not liquid, so it kind of moves a little better through the stomach. There's more gut motility and the bacterial strains are similar, the lactobacillus, the streptococcus. And I've had better experience with yogurt as opposed to dairy kefir. And it's certainly delicious with honey. That's actually how they traditionally consumed yogurt. They added honey to it and it makes sense because then you have the prebiotics, the sugar to feed the probiotics in the yogurt. But those same problems that occur in the dairy kefir occur here as well. And you also want to be mindful of, with kefir you're making it yourself, but if you go and buy yogurt, is the bacteria dead? And that yogurt that's been sitting on the supermarket shelf for weeks or months certainly doesn't have a good bacterial profile. It's just a bunch of dead bacteria. And speaking of the prebiotics, the honey and the yogurt, I do want to mention that if you are making these probiotic foods correctly and they're not working, then it might be a matter of increasing your gut motility, changing dietary sources of food, incorporating enzymes. But generally speaking, this is the first crutch, making sure they have an ideal probiotic from a strength perspective, the bacteria is alive, the right cultures. Now, kombucha shouldn't really be on this list because I don't think it's a great probiotic. It's just so popular. The main reason is because it's yeast dominant, mostly Saccharomyces. And what most people need in their gut is not more yeast. They need more lactobacillus, more of the good microbes, the bacteria. I still think it's a pretty good probiotic and people might enjoy drinking it. Some people might feel better. You know, something for the average person that doesn't really have any health problems or gut issues. But once you do have dysbiosis and microbiome imbalances, I don't think kombucha is going to help potentially just make things worse. And there's certainly a pollutant concern. You know, fluoride with the tea leaves used to make this. But if everything is sourced properly, high quality, maybe organic, there's nothing wrong with enjoying kombucha. As I said though, definitely not a solution. Most cultures consumed some type of probiotic drink. And there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, thousands I don't know about. Kavaz is a reasonably popular one made from bread. And for the most part, any of these probiotic drinks are similar. They have a base culture of symbiotic bacteria and yeast, plus a carbohydrate source, the bacteria feeds off of, which imparts a specific flavor and mineral profile. Someone actually emailed me a PDF. I never read that much. It was like all the fermented beverages of different tribes and cultures. So this is certainly an important component of our diets that we're missing. And as I've spoken about in the past, having a certain ratio of cooked foods to raw foods to fermented foods, this is the fermented food component that should really be present in everyone's diet. Not just eating things like sauerkraut, but having a good quality probiotic drink source. So thank you guys for joining me today. If you do need a source for key for grains, I do have them on frankiesfreerangefoods.com. We also have kefir grains, depending on how you like to pronounce it. So if you guys could please drop a like on the video, leave a comment down below, subscribe so that YouTube can unsubscribe you next week. I think the chance you get unsubscribed is around 3%. And because of that, you can also check out frank-default.com to support me through my other businesses. Thanks again for joining me guys. I'll see you for tomorrow's video.