Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably appreciate how important vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids are to your health and life.

But there is another type of nutrient that you might not even know about...but it has just as much if not more of an impact on your health as all the others!

And the interesting thing is, these nutrients are not meant to nourish the BIG parts of you like your organs, bones or muscles.

Instead they are nourishment for the littlest, tiniest microscopic inhabitants inside of you.

I'm talking about a category of nutrients called "prebiotics" which are nourishment for your gut microbiome.

They need to eat too!

ALL living things need nourishment to survive, and the beneficial bacteria (probiotics) that live in your intestines are no exception. They need to be fed the nutrients that help make them thrive.

This is of utmost importance because there are literally trillions of probiotic bacteria inside of you.

And the more you nourish the probiotics in your gut, the better they will survive and ward off dangerous invaders that you ingest, and the healthier you will help your immune system to be.

This not only means that you will be less likely to catch colds and flu, but it also means your body may be stronger to fight and resist major diseases like CANCER.

And here's more great news...

Many prebiotics come from delicious foods and drinks!

Here are 9 foods & drinks that contain high amounts of prebiotics:

1- Fresh fruits and vegetables--unpeeled

Antioxidant compounds called phenols are found just under the skins of fruits and vegetables, and probiotics LOVE to eat phenols.

Plus, fruits and vegetables also contain soluble fiber which helps you in two ways.

First, your beneficial bacteria feed off the fiber. Then they produce short-chain fatty acids as wastes. These short-chain fatty acids slow the growth of dangerous bacteria such as E. coli.

Second, you can have a much easier time when nature calls.

Just be sure to go organic as much as possible to avoid ingesting a bunch of pesticides and herbicides along with your phenols. 

2- Nut and seed mixes

A blend of nuts and seeds (without added sweeteners like honey or brown sugar) is the perfect prebiotic. Nuts and seeds are great sources of fiber, protein and dietary phenols.

Just make sure to stay away from mixes that have candies or yogurt-covered nuts, because they add refined sugar (which is food for the HARMFUL bacteria in your gut).

3- Dark berry juice

Juices that contain good levels of dietary phenols include those made from blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, pomegranates, cherries, and purple grapes.

The trick here is that you must be sure you're buying 100% real JUICE -- not a "juice drink" which can contain little or no real juice. Read the label if you're not sure. If the first and second ingredients are water and sugar, forget it.  It's not juice.

4- Herbs and spices

Practically every herb and spice contains dietary phenols, so spice things up all you want!

The herb with the highest phenol count is oregano, so if you like Italian food, you're in luck. It's also delicious sprinkled over shrimp scampi or sautéed fish or chicken, or made in a Greek salad dressing with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.

Fresh herbs and spices have more dietary phenols than dried, but both are good food for your beneficial bacteria.

5- Oats

Oats are loaded with beta-glucan, which is a soluble fiber and an excellent prebiotic.

But stay away from flavored instant oatmeal varieties because they're typically loaded with refined sugar.  You don't want to turn your meal for your friendly bacteria into a feast for the UNfriendly ones.

6- Legumes

Legumes include beans, lentils and peanuts. They're loaded with soluble fiber (as well as protein and minerals).

The dietary phenol count of beans is one of the highest per weight of any food in existence!

So go ahead and make some split pea soup, a batch of hummus or a pot of chili and feed your friendly microbes.

7- Tea

Dietary phenols are extracted from tea leaves during the brewing process.  It's best to use boiling water for brewing, but once the tea is brewed, it can be served hot or iced without compromising the phenol count.

Green tea has the highest phenol content, with black tea a close second.

Note that phenols are NOT found in herbal teas....so although they're good for you in many other ways, don't count on them to be a source of prebiotics.

8- Red wine

I just made your day, didn't I?

Moderate consumption of red wine (1-2 glasses) not only helps reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, but red wine also has one of the highest phenol contents of any food or drink.

9- Dark chocolate

Dark chocolate and cocoa powder are excellent sources of probiotic-nourishing dietary phenols. (Not so for milk chocolate because its processing decreases the phenol content.)

The higher the cocoa content, the higher the phenols.

There's strength in numbers

In addition to nourishing your friendly bacteria, it's also important to make sure to have a strong population of them to begin with!

Many factors other than your intake of prebiotics can affect your population of probiotics--stress, medications (especially antibiotics, antacids and birth control pills), toxins in the environment, smoking, eating lots of sugary refined carbs, and lack of sleep can take their toll on your gut microbes.

So it's essential to support your gut microbiome by supplementing with a full-spectrum multi-strain probiotic formula like Super Shield.

Super Shield's 13 strains of feisty probiotic bacteria will help ensure that your population of friendly bacteria and your immune system stay strong.

And since prebiotics are SO important, Super Shield even comes with its own prebiotic!

Each Super Shield capsule comes with a healthy dose of Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) which are a type of fiber found naturally in plants like asparagus, bananas, garlic, leeks and onions.

FOS have been credited with providing health benefits like lowering triglyceride and cholesterol levels, stabilizing blood sugar, improving mineral absorption and insulin response.

FOS are ideal prebiotics because they reach your large intestine virtually untouched since humans don't have the stomach enzymes to break them down.

That means a full, tasty buffet for your friendly bacteria to feast on once the FOS reach their destination.

When you take care of your friendly bacteria, nourish them the way they need to be and help keep their numbers strong, trust me, they will return the favor handsomely in ways that you can’t even imagine!

To your health,

Sherry Brescia