While I don’t exactly identify as a health nut, I do consider myself a health nerd, meaning that I tend to dork out over products that offer some new and possibly even weird way to get healthier. Which is why I was tickled pink to see Anna’s shopcast on Kashi’s new Vive cereal. High in fiber and calcium, Vive is fortified with probiotics, beneficial bacteria that help keep your digestive system running smoothly. I’m psyched, but for those who aren’t very turned on by the idea of a bacteria-infused breakfast cereal, here’s an excerpt of Anna’s review:

“It was sweet and crunchy and tasted mildly of graham. There are flakes, twigs and little white round things which taste like the yogurt coating you sometimes get on raisins or pretzels. If you are use to eating healthy cereals, you will probably find this cereal excellent. If you are transitioning from, oh, Lucky Charms or Froot Loops, then you will probably find it pretty good.”

Probiotics, as author/nutrition advocate Charles Stuart Platkin explains at his blog The Diet Detective, are needed for intestinal functions such as “digesting food, absorbing nutrients and helping prime our immune system to better fight infection.” While the friendly bugs are particularly helpful for people who have IBS or are taking antibiotics, everyone can benefit from the immune-boosting properties of probiotics. If you choose to take them in supplement form, make note of the products that Platkin considers among the best: Bio-K Plus, Continental Natural Acidophilus, and Twinlab Super Acidophilus. Or you could try Kyo-Dophilus capsules, which shopcaster Shawn Gold claims “saved my life.”

Probiotics also occur naturally in a number of foods. According to Carol at The Rawtarian for Life, you can get your good bugs from cultured/fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, soyfoods, miso, kombucha, apple cider vinegar, and raw sauerkraut. I’m personally a big fan of Kombucha Wonder Drink, a bottled tea that comes in fun flavors like Asian Pear Ginger (my fave) and Jasmine Niagara Grape. And over at Raw Crunch, blogger Kathy Feldman sips Organic Raw Kombucha by Synergy (“I typically drink 1/2 bottle at night to unwind with my night time snack of a Raw Fudge Brownie,” she elaborates).

The most classic of probiotics providers, yogurt stands out as one of ThisNext’s top healthy-food faves. In her shopcast for Stonyfield Farm Organic Vanilla Yogurt, Sacha Cohen points out that the stuff is “super good for your digestive system and helps promote ‘good’ bacteria.” Glenn Glasser, meanwhile, prefers Fage USA (“everyday keeps the doctor away,” he promises), a Trader Joe’s find also favored by our Alyson (for whom the yogurt is slightly reminiscent of her mom’s traditional Armenian variety, a “thick, creamy yoghurt that ‘grew’ from a starter under a mohair blanket”) and Gordon (who fancies his Fage mixed with chestnut, buckwheat, avocado dark honeys, or dark molasses). And Alex goes for goat’s milk yogurt, recommending Redwood Hill Farm’s European-style product as the probiotic-powered base for your morning smoothie.