goodbelly probiotics :: review and giveaway contest

Probiotic drinks by Good Belly.

The nice folks at GoodBelly sent me some probiotic drink samples to try. In case you're new to probiotics, they are, simply put, friendly bacteria that live in your intestinal tract; not all bacteria are bad guys. Probiotics help keep your gut's flora in balance, and in fact, about 400 different kinds call our intestinal tracts home. 

So if probiotics already live within your body, why would you need to supplement? One example is when you are taking antibiotics. They don't know the difference between friendly and villainous bacteria, so they obliterate then all. This is why when a good physician prudently prescribes an antibiotic to treat an infection, he or she will also advise you to eat yogurt to replace the friendly bacteria. If you want to learn more about probiotics, WedMD has a good overview here.

I tried three different varieties of GoodBelly. First up, the Tropical Green Juice, a mixture of pear, strawberry and banana puree, greened up with spinach, chlorella and spirulina. Kids of all ages will love this juice. It would also make a fantastic ice pop. It was delicious, but a tad too sweet for me, so I watered it down and used it in some of my smoothies. Unfortunately, it also contains sugar [aka "evaporated cane juice] which I think is not needed with these sweet fruits as a base.  GoodBelly also offers many other juice flavors like Mango, Cranberry Watermelon. Coconut Water and Carrot Ginger.

I find it sad that  to compete in the mainstream grocery marketplace, adding sugar seems to be the price of entry for so many food companies.

Good Belly Straight Shot

Next up, the StraightShots. It's like doing a quick "shot" of friendly bacteria. I tried two flavors: Blueberry Acai and the Strawberry plus Vitamins. Both were tasty and slightly, pleasantly tart from the probiotics [and both contained added sugar]. If I had to choose one, I'd choose the Strawberry but only because I like the benefit of the added vitamins. With all the running I'm doing, I'll take all the extra vitamins I can get.

Good Belly "friendly bacteria" top

How cute is this? The opening is a smiley face – as in shiny, happy, friendly bacteria. Kids will eat this up, literally. [Drink this up, I should say.]

All in all, I like this product. It's an easy way to get some healthy gut flora if you don't like yogurt or want some variety. And I love the company name Good Belly.

The nice folks at GoodBelly offered to give one lucky US reader coupons for free GoodBelly products so you can try their 12-day challenge. Just leave a comment and a contact method [Hear that, "Anonymouse?"] Extra brownie points for following me and/or GoodBelly on Facebook and/or Twitter.

GoodBelly: 
Twitter: @GoodBellyDrink
Facebook: www.facebook.com/goodbelly

Urban Vegan:
Twitter: @theurbanvegan
Facebook: www.facebook.com/UrbanVegan

I'll announce the winner next week. Good luck!