As you will have heard in the video above gut health was as fundamental in my skin transformation as my natural products were..... so if you would like to buy a Probiotic supplement and would like advice please contact us situated in Belfast.  They accommodate local walk-in business and can also help those not local over the telephone and ship UK wide.  Bio-Kult are the brand that I used and I can highly recommend.  Skip down to read how you can get your probiotics naturally through your diet.

Probiotic (fermented) Foods.

Initially I used a probiotic supplement to clear my skin and heal my gut however now my diet is rich in fermented foods so I no longer need to supplement.  It is not hard to slot probiotic foods into your diet, here are a list of the foods I have, eat or make. (please note I am not a doctor, this is me sharing my journey in order to assist in yours).

Ginger Bug - This is the starter for home made Ginger Beer.  Stage 1: I fermented Ginger powder with sugar and water at room temperature until it became 'live' ....it took about a week before I could see bubbles and movement in the ginger sediment which indicated the ginger was now alive.. Stage 2 from that I added more sugared water (half a cup of boiling water with the sugar until dissolved, left until room temp)  & ginger powder (2tsps each pf ginger & sugar) and filled it with a few cupful's of water and let it sit for about 1 week, the bug eats the sugar and turns that liquid into a juice that is full of good bacteria with the extra benefit of gut cleansing ginger.  I made my bug about 2 years ago and she is still going strong.  If you would like a bit of my bug sediment (aka starter) to start your own (you will only need to do stage 2, as stage 1 is already complete) I can donate some for free, pick up only - send me an email if you would like to pickup some Ginger Bug Starter.  To see a video I have made on how to maintain your ginger bug at home scroll to the bottom of the page.

Kombucha - A fermented tea drink which is highly probiotic, can be made at home or bought in health food shops like Natures Way.. and now widely available in supermarkets also.  I made my own for many years but no longer do due to time (not that it take lots of time but I am working fulltime & running Bee Haven so I literally have zero spare time).  You will need a SCOBY to start (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria & Yeast), this is the 'Mother' and once fed sugar, water & tea transforms those into different strains of good bacteria.  If you are interested in making your own here is a link to help.  Click HERE.  You can buy SCOBY's online and sometimes Natures Way has some, always check.

Yoghurt -  I still make my own LIVE yoghurt, however you can buy this in supermarkets, there are many, many brands - just make sure it says Bio or Live on the packaging.  I prefer to make my own, even though I have zero time, because 'off the shelf' shop bought yoghurt is pasteurised (killing all the natural good bacteria initailly) and then a powdered version of the strains Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus etc. are added back in again (the insanity of mass market food production I guess?).. so I prefer to make my own as the true initial strains that turned my milk into yogurt remain intact.  This is easily done with a yoghurt maker and you only need a small pot of natural live yoghurt from the supermarket as your starter, do not spend money on a powdered yoghurt starter.  I make a strained Greek version using skimmed milk which is full of protein, high in probiotics and low in fat.  To see the yoghurt maker I use click HERE and instructions on how to make yoghurt, Greek yoghurt & soft cheese comes with the maker. But in basic I bring milk up to 80 Celsius, let it cool to 35 Celsius add the live yoghurt pot, stir and put into the yoghurt maker for 12 hours. After 12 hours I use the attachments that come with the yoghurt maker to strain it, which seperates the curds from the whey.  Always save 150g of your yoghurt to start your next batch.. that's key!

Kefir - Is a cultured milk drink that you can buy from the supermarkets, health food shops (I buy mine from the Eastern European refrigerated section of Tesco) I take a swig a day.  It is easy to make though, and all you will need is milk, kefir grains and time.  I used to make it but no longer do due to time, HERE is a link on how to make your own.

Health Food Shop & Supermarket quick wins - Picking up products like Kimchi, Sauerkraut, Miso, Yoghurt (as mentioned above), Kefir (as mentioned above) are all good quick wins for your gut... a spoonful or swig of those a day will definitely help keep the doctor away.

A note of probiotic drinks widely for sale in supermarkets, I am not naming brands but one rhymes with 'schmakult' lol.. I am not a fan as these are manufactured, non-natural and can contain sugar... if you can try and get your good bacteria from natural means.

If I have given you a Ginger Bug starter here is a video explaining how to begin your first brew.  Please watch the video in full.  My business is not selling probiotic ginger bug, I am just sharing my starter to those who have reached out with interest in beginning a journey to focus on their own gut health. So I have made the 2 videos below to make sure you have all the info to start yours (its everything I know).  Google is also a wealth of information, as as I mentioned in the video I would encourage you to research 'The Healing Crisis' that your body will experience when taking highly probiotic foods or supplements for the first time HERE is a link.  Once I have given you the starter in a bag, place the bag in the fridge and it can stay there for up to a week or so before you begin the process.  It will not last forever as the bug will still be fermenting (all be it at a slower pace due to the temp).

The only things that will kill your ginger bug are:

Not feeding it enough, for instance if you leave it to brew at room temp for numerous weeks, the sugar will run out and the bug will die.

Putting hot or boiling water into the bug, the water that you dissolve your ginger powder & sugar in can be boiling but you must wait for it to return to room temperature before putting this into the jar

Cutting off the air supply by closing the lid, equally you do not want to leave it exposed to insets so a tea towel, paper towel, muslin cloth secured with an elastic band is perfect.