Lately, there has been a lot of talk about probiotics and how they are essential to maintain a healthy digestive system. A healthy digestive system is essential for overall health, including nutrient absorption, elimination of toxins, mood regulation, energy and a thriving, strong immune system. But did you know that probiotics will not survive without having prebiotics in your system?

What are Probiotics?

Probiotics are beneficial, live bacteria that reside in your digestive tract. They help your body digest, absorb and assimilate nutrients while also promoting the critical balance of beneficial bacteria. If we do not have enough probiotics, we become a breeding ground for invasive and parasitic bacteria, like candida/yeast. These powerhouses are necessary for a strong immune system, but they needprebiotics to keep this good bacteria growing. Here’s the good news – chickpeas are a prebiotic!

Prebiotics: The Perfect Partner

Prebiotics – like chickpeas – feed the probiotics, keeping them alive and thriving.They are indigestible plant fibres that probiotics use as food, and are essential for probiotics to survive. Prebiotics continue the journey throughout the digestive tract to feed those beneficial bacteria, inhibit the growth of bad bacteria, and even help the absorption of some minerals (which is critical when fighting a bug).

It is this combination of pre and probiotics that are the key to having a healthy gut, and in my opinion, not enough attention is given to the humble prebiotic!

Fight Off Winter Bugs and Protect the Intestinal Walls

Chickpeas should be on your must-have list of prebiotics in order to give your belly that boost it needs in the winter months. In addition to inhibiting the growth of bad bacteria, pre/probiotics also protect the intestinal walls from damage caused by drugs, cortisol and inflammation. This becomes even more important when waging a war against winter colds and flus! Another wonderful benefit of chickpeas is that on top of providing prebiotics, they provide us with the complex carbs and protein necessary to keep us fueled during the cold winter days.

Mental Health

Supplying our body with beneficial bacteria helps us achieve health in all aspects. Some biochemical imbalances that can cause mental illness include blood sugar swinging, food/chemical allergies and intolerances, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, histamine imbalance, hormonal imbalances, and too much toxicity. We are becoming more aware of the mind/gut connection with pre/probiotics as a key player – while not diminishing cases where medical intervention may be required. Pre/probiotics not only help manage blood sugar, they protect the body from the factors that create food allergies/intolerances, help with nutrient uptake, hormonal balance, and remove toxicity.

Elimination of Toxins and Increase Phytonutrients/Antioxidants

Pre and probiotics are essential to help the body eliminate toxins. They help the liver complete detoxification, promote colon health and the production of healthy stools by adding bulk and ensuring stool/wastes are eliminated from the body in a timely manner. But that’s not all, they actually help the body use phytonutrients and increase mineral absorption; two things which are essential to fighting off bugs and keeping us disease free. When we eat chickpeas not only do we get prebiotics and nutrients, they help ensure our body actually receives all the nutritive rewards!