Are you an athlete who struggles to fight off respiratory infections, suffers from inflammation, or has a lack of energy? Instead of exercising more, look inward to solve your problem. According to Rodale Wellness, a healthy gut rich in probiotics can help increase performance.
Probiotics are bacteria that live in your gut and feed on the food you eat. They aid your body with digestion. Furthermore, probiotics help the body draw out the vitamins and minerals from food that you need. Rodale Wellness suggests that to maintain probiotics in your gut, you eat a diet that includes fiber.
Another way these bacteria help your body is to improve your immunity to infections. These include everything from diarrhea to upper respiratory infections. Rodale Wellness notes that distance runners who were studied while eating a probiotic-rich diet had fewer sick days.
Probiotics can also improve your body’s ability to endure physical activity when it’s hot out. Another study involving runners found that the athletes were able to improve their performance in hot weather by 14 percent with probiotics. Therefore, thought is that the bacteria protect the stomach and the digestive process, allowing the body to better keep itself cool.
In addition, inflammation-related diseases can be kept in check with probiotics, as well.
These conditions affect everybody, not just athletes. They include:
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Cancer
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Psoriasis
Finally, probiotic-rich bacteria can help everyone live more healthy lives.
For instance, probiotics help by:
- Lowering blood pressure.
- Improving body weight and composition.
- Improving oral/dental health.
- Stabilizing blood sugar levels.
- Lowering cholesterol.
Whether you are an elite athlete looking to improve your performance or a weekend-
warrior trying to stay healthy, a diet in probiotics may help you accomplish your goals.
Want to learn more? Read the full here: “5 Health and Performance Benefits of Probiotics.”
