Should You Drink Prebiotic Soda Before or After Yoga?
During a yoga class, you have to put a lot of stress on your midsection. You twist and compress your abdomen during so many postures. And you have to regulate your breathing during the session. All of this can become difficult if your stomach feels full or bloated.
Interestingly, your gut bacteria play a huge role in how settled your belly feels. They live on fiber you can’t digest yourself, and most people fall short of supplying it. The gap is where prebiotic soda has found its place.
More About Prebiotic Soda
Prebiotic soda is a carbonated drink with added fermentable fiber, usually chicory root inulin or a shorter-chain version of the same family. Your body passes that fiber undigested into the colon, where your bacteria ferment it.
Those short-chain fatty acids help feed the cells lining your colon and support normal bowel function. You are likely to see a rise in Bifidobacterium and higher short-chain fatty acid levels when you drink it regularly. Over time, this helps make your gut feel calmer, but keep in mind that a single can is unlikely to do much on its own, as you’d need weeks of steady intake before you notice a change.
Why Timing Matters with Prebiotic Soda
In most cases, it is better to drink prebiotic soda after practice. Fermentable fiber tends to produce gas as bacteria break it down, and carbonation adds to that. You will find the same advice across sports nutrition, and USADA warns athletes against high-fiber food close to training.
Exercise can make the timing matter more than it would at rest. Blood flow moves away from your digestive tract during activity, which slows the work your gut has already started. Fiber sitting in a slowed-down gut is often what causes cramping and bloating halfway through a class.
Similarly, your class style also changes how much any of this matters. A hot vinyasa class full of deep twists and inversions will find any gas your gut happens to be holding. A slower restorative session may not trouble you at all.
Drinking your fiber after class makes more sense because your blood flow returns to your digestive tract and you’d want to drink something anyway. The habit can attach itself to a moment that repeats every week.
However, if you want to enjoy it before your yoga class, it’s important to leave a couple of hours before you step onto the mat. Your stomach clears a liquid faster than a meal, and most of the fermentation has already moved further along by then, but you may want longer if your gut runs on the sensitive side.
How to Fit It Into Your Practice Day
You can keep the habit and skip the discomfort with a few small adjustments:
- One can after class, not in the hour before it
- A two-hour gap on the days you drink it earlier
- A smaller serving through your first week
- A glass of water alongside it
Your tolerance also depends on which fiber the drink uses. You will usually tolerate short-chain versions more comfortably than long-chain inulin, so the ingredient list is worth a look. Be sure to build up your serving slowly and let the routine settle before you judge it.
Endnote
You definitely need fiber for a healthier gut, but you should save the can for the moment your mat is rolled up. Remember, probiotic soda earns its place through daily use, so be consistent to see if it really helps in your case.
Amélie is a health and wellness junky. Certified yoga instructor with Yoga Alliance in the Vinyasa and Ashtanga styles, she has a Yoga Instructor Certification – Level I (300 hours) and Yoga Instructor Certification – Level II (200 hours) under her belt. She also has a certified Open Water Diver certification with PADI and SSI Scuba Schools International Freediving Level I certification with SSI Scuba Schools International. She’s been vegan for over 15 years and is obsessed with anything wellness-related.