Friday Favourites: My Favourite Probiotic, The Cultured Coconut

Posted on by Suzanne Burke

Happy Friday, Folks! 

Can you believe it’s Friday again, already?! While I’m not a fan of how fast time goes by, I do love that it gives me a chance to swoon about another of my favourite products! This week’s spotlight is on…

The Cultured Coconut (we’ll call it TCC for the rest of the post)

I talk a lot about this product…clients, friends, family, past posts…I’m a huge fan of this little gem. TCC is a hand-made, fermented non-dairy probiotic, made from organic coconut and non-chlorinated water. It’s made by a traditional fermentation process using ancient milk kefir grains and the result is a high quality probiotic with a huge diversity of healthy bacteria strains.

Why Use a Probiotic?

Healthy digestion is THE KEY to optimal health, both mental and physical (that’s important to remember!). I believe, 100%, that health issues are generated from digestive issues. The microbiome in the digestive tract plays a huge role in our digestive health and there’s a delicate balance between good and bad bacteria in there. Medications (especially the birth control pill and antibiotics), poor diet choices, stress, food sensitivities, and hormone imbalances are just a few things that throw off this balance. When the ratio of good:bad bacteria gets out of balance and bad bacteria are left to grow, we aren’t able to digest our food properly. Poor digestion is a really big deal – beyond just feeling bloated and the discomfort of heartburn. It leads to any number of issues, some of which can become quite serious. (I’ve written a bunch about the why good digestion is such a big deal.) 

Probiotics are “good” bacteria that support optimal health in the gut and throughout the body. Simply looking at typical dietss and lifestyles these days would suggest that most of us could use some help with rebalancing our microbiome. A probiotic can help repopulate the good bacteria in the gut and re-establish balance between the good and bad. A good probiotic  can help with issues such as:

  • diarrhea (treatment and prevention, especially useful for travelers’ diarrhea)
  • help modulate the immune response and support the immune system
  • treatment for infant colic (this would have been a useful tidbit to have 23 years ago!)
  • treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease
  • constipation
  • acne, UTIs
  • digestion issues like heartburn and bloating
  • allergies and asthma
Why The Cultured Coconut?

There are a boatload of probiotic supplements available on the market, but TCC is my favourite. It offers over 40 active strains of bacteria and more than 4 trillion colony forming units (CFUs = viable bacteria) per tablespoon. Because it’s refrigerated, the integrity of the bacteria is maintained throughout the shelf-life of the bottle – that’s not always the case with powder/capsule probiotic supplements. Also, different bacteria strains are helpful for different issues, so the variety of bacteria strains in TCC makes this product useful for many different problems – all in one product. And, possibly my favourite thing about this one is that it’s easy – and I’m all about the easy! I throw it in our morning smoothies and the kids don’t even know it’s in there – so much better than me always reminding them to take a capsule. Many people even just take it straight off the spoon, although I’m not quite there yet! 
I also love that it’s local. A high quality product made here at home…fantastic! TCC is available at most health food stores in Canada and even some of the grocery stores are starting to carry it. And great news for my American peeps – it’s soon to be available at Whole Foods, so keep an eye out for it!

 

If you already use or are thinking of starting a probiotic, I highly recommend you give The Cultured Coconut a try – when you do, let me know what you think. And if you’re already using it, I’d love to hear how you take it and why you love it!