Fermented foods 

They contain natural probiotics (living bacterias great for the health, especially for the gut function and immune system).  They should be introduced slowly into a diet in order to help the digestive system to adapt.  You can make your own fermented foods, but there are great products on the market too ! 

Kimchi 

My husband's favorite, it's the "korean sauerkraut".  It's spicy and sour, served as a side dish.  

Kombucha

Dear Kombucha, you were part of my childhood nightmares.  Fermented bubbling tea with a kombucha mushroom in a jar is kind of weird right ? It's getting popular these days because Kombucha is now often mixed with juices or aromatic teas which gives it a nice flavour ! You may have to get use to the effervescence, but it's a great way to add probiotics to you diet ! Noah's asking for kombucha whenever we're at the natural food store ! 

Lacto-fermentations 

Miso

A paste made from fermented soy beans, it serves as a stock for my comforting miso soup. I choose the organic non-GMO ones.  

Probiotics (capsules) 

All my family takes probiotics.  Since my son and I are lactose intolerant and have a difficult digestion, it helps so much ! It's good for the immune system too (winters were really hard in Montreal... I mean REALLY HARD) ! We choose refrigerated capsules (since shelf probiotics have a variable viability level).  Mila and Noah both had strong colics as infants and probiotic drops (Bio Gaia) helped a LOT with the uncontrollable crying.   

Sauerkraut 

Lacto-fermented finely cut white cabbage. It as a sour taste and make a perfect filling in sandwichs.  Noah and my husband eat all the jar whenever there's one at the table ! We make our own, but we occasionally buy a jar.  

Tamari 

Also made from fermented soy beans, I use a gluten-free organic non-GMO brand and add it to many dishes when I need a salty taste, especially in asian dishes, but also in veggie patties, gravy sauce, marinades or millet pie at Christmas.  

Tempeh 

Tempeh is made from a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds whole (instead of pressed) soy beans together.  The very first time I ate tempeh was in Indonesia a couple of years ago, as tempeh satay with peanut sauce. It was so good ! But when I first prepared tempeh after coming back home, I was kind of disappointed. It's almost impossible to recreate the same tastes from street food in other countries...  But now I have come a long way with tempeh !

It has a strong fermented flavor and you have to get use to it (a bit like blue cheese).  We LOVE tempeh burgers, tempeh "Pâté chinois"  (Quebec's version of the shepherd's pie), tempeh meatballs and grilled tempeh.  Try to choose organic non-GMO brands.