White Chocolate Chick Pea Cookies and Natural Probiotics for Good Health

 

 

 

 

These chick pea (or garbanzo bean) cookies are gluten free and many of the ingredients are easy on the stomach. Here are a few benefits of some of the ingredients:

 

• Garbanzo beans (or chick peas) are a good source of prebiotics. Prebiotics are a “non-digestible food ingredient that promotes the growth and proliferation of “good” gut bacteria” (source) and can help enhance the effects of probiotics, which are contained in . . .
• Chocolate! Chocolate is considered to be a good source of probiotics, especially dark chocolate. What are probiotics? Basically, they are “good” bacteria that you want in your gut. More on this in a little bit. In this recipe, I used white chocolate chips, but feel free to use dark chocolate chunks. That would be delicious!
• Agave: In most of the chick pea cookies I looked at, most people used honey. However, I chose to use agave because, 1) it was all we had and 2) it’s high in fiber and is also a prebiotic.
• Oats have a wide variety of health benefits, including helping with cholesterol, are diabetes friendly, and they are great for the digestive systme. One cup of oats include 4 grams of fiber, which obviously is highly recommended for digestive help, and can also aid in heping GERD.
• Cinnamon aids in digestion, so I chose to use a little bit of cinnamon powder, as well as cinnamon chips (if you can’t find them in store, you can buy them here.)
• Coconut is rich in fiber and is thought to help with various digestive problems (note, for best benefits, use unsweetened)

I hope you’ll try these cookies! I was very surprised at how much I liked them (recipe at bottom of the post). And since we’re on the topic of things that are good for your digestive system, I recommend eating these cookies and including a probiotic supplement in your diet. Probiotics are doctor recommended (believe me, every doctor Jack or I goes to urges us to take probiotic supplements), and have a host of other benefits, which include:

• They are very good to take when taking antibiotics, because it helps restore the good bacteria that is being killed (one side effect of antibiotics is c. diff, which is horrible — Jack had it when he was little.)
• Some research shows it is being linked to helping with eczema in infants if taken by the mother while pregnant
• Can help regulate the digestive system by promoting digestive system balance
• Some studies suggest they can lower the risk of ear infections, strep throat, and colds. Perfect for staying healthy during the winter time.
• Forrest recently showed me some articles about probiotics aiding in weight loss. In a recent study, women who took probiotics lost 9.7 pounds on average, while those who didn’t lost just 5.7 pounds over 12 weeks.
• Eating foods rich in prebiotics can supercharge the benefits of probiotics

I can’t always afford to buy probiotic supplements, but when I do I look for the following:

• That the supplement has over 2.5 billion live probiotics, because a lot of microorganisms won’t survive the GI track. Having more good bacteria in the supplement will ensure better survival rates (I found varying statistics on the best number of probiotics, so I just took an average)
• That there are different strains of bacteria  in it. Different bacteria is good for different reasons, so having more than on strain in your probiotic ensures that you are getting the most benefits
• Live and active cultures
• Displays potency at the time of expiration
• It doesn’t have an enteric coating