Boost Your Immune System with Probiotic Foods

  It starts with a hoarse voice. Your throat feels a little scratchy.  Great. One day before a race, and now you’re in real trouble.  You’ve come down with a cold.

Endurance athletes are at higher risk for developing upper respiratory tract infections for a number of reasons. First is the fact that serious racing requires a demanding schedule of chronic heavy training and high intensity exercise sessions.  That can be tough on the body’s immune system, especially when it’s overdone.  

Other factors such as mental stress, poor diet, quick weight loss, and improper hygiene can add to the risk of infection created by intense exercise. For a busy athlete, these high risk conditions are not unusual.  How often have you come off of a tough work week, jumped in the car, driven for 6 or more hours, and slept poorly the night before a race?   Few of us pause to wash our hands before grabbing food at aid stations, or eating snacks in the car on the way home from a race.

Probiotic foods, or “pro-life foods are one way to boost your natural immune system.  The concept of immune enhancing foods is not new.  It was around 1900 when Nobel Prize-winning Eliie Metchnikoff proposed there was a connection between the long, healthy lives of Bulgarian peasants and their consumption of fermented milk products. Modern day probiotic foods that contain active beneficial microorganisms can now be purchased at most supermarkets.  Because probiotic foods contain active microorganisms, they have a shelf life of about 2-3 weeks, and must be kept under refrigeration at all times to remain viable.

Great Pro-Biotiotic grabs from your grocers’ shelves:

• Kefir  (KĒĒ-fir):  a fermented milk or soy milk product.  Has 5-7 active cultures.
• Comes in plain (similar to yogurt), or fruit flavors.  Great between meal snack.
• Yogurt (YŌ-gurt): a fermented milk product, with a pudding consistency.  Not all commercially made yogurt products have active cultures; look for a statement on the product label saying “contains active cultures”.  Plain yogurt can be mixed with natural fruit or used in place of sour cream for a tasty, low-cal dip.  Fruit flavored yogurt has added sugar, and can be used as a recovery snack after exercise.    

 Incorporating probiotic foods into your regular diet is not difficult.  Try oatmeal with blueberry kefir topping, or granola cereal mixed with a berry-flavored yogurt. Smoothies are a great way to start the day, just blend in kefir with other frozen fruit.  For more ideas on how you can eat a high probiotic diet, check out www.kefir.com or www.dannon.com.

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