NatNews

While walking through your favorite grocery store, don’t be surprised to see a significant amount of fancy-looking flavored sodas that don’t contain much sugar or many calories and are supposed to be healthy for you, especially compared to the more traditional carbonated beverages that have been around for years and years.

Prebiotic and probiotic sodas (such as OLIPOP, Poppi, and Culture POP) have become rather popular and were created with the intention of improving people’s gut health by nourishing their gut bacteria. Your stomach and intestines are home to a countless amount of microbes, which aid in digestion and the prevention of harmful bacteria growing in your body. Prebiotics are plant fibers or carbohydrates, while probiotics are live microorganisms.

Not everyone is extremely concerned with the advantages those can bring to one’s health and, instead, are drawn to the drinks for a different reason.

“Some of them actually taste great, so I’ll have it as a palate cleanser at the end of a meal,” Dallas resident Drew Mbiam said.

Dallas-area resident Emmanuel Amadi, on the other hand, invests in prebiotic and probiotic foods and drinks for more than simply the taste.

“My go-to morning drink for the past year has been a bottle of Synergy raw kombucha, a bowl of organic grass-fed plain yogurt, and kefir—unfailing, every day,” he said. “Essentially, the compounds in fermented drinks heavily boost healthy gut bacteria necessary for fighting off bad gut bacterial growth and inflammation. Aside from those mentioned, I incorporate kimchi in my dinner meals.”

And Amadi said he has seen a variety of different benefits as a result of doing so.

“Personally, as an athlete who actively trains twice a day, a healthy metabolism, good bowel movement, and inflammatory gut are critical for my fueling and recovery success,” he said. “Prebiotic and probiotic foods, for me, are a reliable tool in preventing constipation.”

There are a number of ways one can naturally consume prebiotics in many foods, including chicory root, garlic, leeks, onions, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, bananas, and sweet potatoes. Probiotics can also be found in a number of options, including yogurt, olives, bananas, cottage cheese, pickles, and apples. Sodas and other beverages, though, offer simple and often tasty ways to get them.

Dallas-area resident Madison Royal said she drinks ginger or turmeric immunity/gut shots most mornings to help with digestion and inflammation and is thankful to have such products available.

“I think we have made a turn for a healthier and more informed society, and it’s slowly reflecting in consumer goods,” she said.

But that doesn’t mean that everything that contains prebiotics or probiotics is worth the extra cost to your grocery bill.

“I’m excited for the shift, but you have to really be careful and pay attention to ingredients,” Royal said. “Just like when the low-sugar/diet-food culture started, things may say they are healthy, but that doesn’t mean the ingredients are good.”

The way Mbiam sees it, people often like to join in on the latest trends or avoid their problems, such as already-existing poor diets that don’t contain enough nutrients on a consistent basis.

“If you need pro/prebiotic drinks to aid digestion because you have an all-meat diet or snort protein powder, you’re probably doing something wrong,” he said.

Amadi, who makes concerted efforts to ensure that the foods and beverages he consumes are going to help him and not harm him, said that seeing healthier options more regularly is likely to continue.

“People are now gradually moving away from sugary sodas and lab-created food ingredients,” he said. “People are now researching the nutrient labels behind drinks and food items when they go grocery shopping.

And if you want to try something more than a healthier soda, Amadi has your back.

“Another delicious probiotic product is Cocoyo’s coconut yogurt,” he said. “I encourage you to try it!”

The average resting heart rate of an elephant is approximately 30 beats per minute.

If you have any friends or family members who are currently enduring the dating scene, you might have heard at least one of them say he or she simply “wasn’t feeling it” after going on one or more dates with someone but not intending to continue to pursue anything relationship-wise.

But what is “it”? Chemistry? Physical attraction? Aligned values? A combination of all of those and perhaps more? Something else entirely? The answer can be different for different people. You can’t necessarily force yourself to develop feelings that simply aren’t there, and sometimes you can’t easily make feelings you do have vanish. As Selena Gomez so poetically put it in lyrical form, “the heart wants what it wants.”

“To have a strong foundation in a relationship, there are many factors that come together like a symphony—chemistry, physical attraction, and shared values being a few of them,” Dallas-area resident Nikki East said. “They all play their parts. I would probably venture outside of this list and say communication, honesty, and vulnerability hold stronger positions, but at the end of the day, there is a lot that goes into a romantic relationship, especially a successful romantic relationship.”

And just as no two symphonies are exactly the same, no two people are exactly the same, either. However, they can still have alike perspectives that help strengthen their bond with each other. Orange County resident Ashleigh Roberts, who has been married for a little more than nine years, said she believes it’s essential for two people to be on the same page regarding their values for a relationship to work well.

“Physical attraction and chemistry can and often do fluctuate, but if you have a solid foundation (trust, loyalty, and having aligned beliefs), then you can get through the hard seasons and come out stronger together,” she said.

Dallas resident Grant Harrell said he believes that certain aspects of two people being drawn to one another are equally important, though he said there is no “perfect” match for a person.

“You have to find and accept common values and attractions,” he said. “Chemistry is natural. It’s crazy how you can have insane energy/physical touch with the right partner. I once had great values and attractions to a fantastic woman, but we had absolutely no physical chemistry.”

A person’s attraction can certainly change over time, though, as can the importance people place on such factors in their relationships. Harrell said there are many components, such as conversations and time spent together, that have their long-term cycles, but there are two key parts of a relationship that determine its success.

“Physical attraction is almost always what initially brings you together, but if you don’t have the chemistry and similar values, it’s very unlikely to last,” he said.

Appearances can also become different than they were when people initially meet one another—balding happens, wrinkles form, muscles may develop or disappear, and a number of other transformations may occur. Whether it’s a difference in the way a person looks or something else, East said change is inevitable.

“Any relationship (romantic or platonic) has to have the flexibility to grow and adapt,” she said. “And I think the success of a relationship is whether or not two people can grow and adapt together.”

Then how crucial is physical attraction? Some psychologists have noted that although it is important to many individuals, it’s not necessarily required for a relationship to work. East said it is rather common for physical attraction to be the main cause for people to initiate conversations and match on dating apps, but there is more to a relationship working than simply thinking someone is good-looking.

“I believe that our perspectives on attraction can change once we get to know the person on a deeper level,” she said. “I have had experiences when I wasn’t necessarily physically attracted to someone immediately, but after getting to know the personality, that physical attraction shifted. And I have had experiences when I was physically attracted, and then it shifted to complete disgust after learning more about the person.”

And attraction is not always the same for everyone. You might really enjoy someone’s personality, whereas someone else finds that person a bit boring. Or you might have a friend who thinks someone is on the same level as the Ryans (Reynolds and Gosling, obviously), but you don’t find the individual appealing to the eyes. For Roberts, while outward appearances do hold some significance, it’s not where her focus is.

“I think it’s important to be physically attracted to your spouse, but again, that can change so quickly—people get sick, get in accidents, etc.” she said. “The person’s heart is truly what you should be most attracted to.”

WEEKLY PHOTO OP

Dash, the NatNews official mascot, was locked in on the Summer Olympics and is sad he has to wait four more years to see them again

Monday, August 12: National Middle Child Day
Tuesday, August 13: Free Rooftop Movie Night — Barbie at Sundown at Granada
Wednesday, August 14: Sunset Sail on White Rock Lake (also on Thursday)
Thursday, August 15: TNSR’s 2024 Summer Quarterly Run at Fleet Feet Plano; Sip & Savor — Sushi Rolling at Omni Dallas; Candlelight — A Tribute to Adele at First Presbyterian Church of Dallas
Friday, August 16: Dallas Wings vs. Connecticut Sun at College Park Center; Rangers vs. Twins at Globe Life Field; Pat Green at The Rustic
Saturday, August 17: WRRC Saturday run from Taco Joint; Summer Games at Community Beer Co.; Hot Girl Summer Music Bingo at Sweet Tooth Hotel; 90s Country Tribute — Straight Tequila Night at Legacy Hall; Bring Your Own Pool Party at Truck Yard (The Colony)
Sunday, August 18: Frisco Roughriders vs. Springfield Cardinals at Riders Field