Why I Love Fermenting Foods?
Fermenting and eating fermented foods has become a part of my everyday life. I started out on a discovery process of wanting to heal my gut and my family’s. The more I researched on gut health the more I knew fermenting had to be part of our lives. I researched the best ways to ferment and tried many different starter cultures and processes. I soon discovered Kultured Wellness cultures, and after initially tasting and screwing my face up, I grew to love them. I now can’t live without them!!
I started a mission to reduce the sugar content in our daily lives, and initially went no sugar for some time to change our taste buds. I fermented fruit to reduce the sugar content, to still reap the benefits of nutrients and fibre but cut the sugar. It was drastic I know, but it worked. We had never eaten badly and we never had very much processed sugar in our diet, but the kids still had “sweet tooths” and that had to change for them to be able to tolerate the cultured food and heal their guts.
After being quite strict and pretty much telling the kids there was no other option, they soon began to eat the fermented foods and drinks. Skip fowards a couple of months, and now let me tell you they ask for their kefir every night and complain if I haven’t made some!!
Although I have relaxed our rules, I have our family eating fermented foods and drinks daily with enjoyment. Our gut health is still a work in progress and I plan to continue that process, but we feel amazing.
What is Kefir and cultured yoghurt you may ask?
Kefir is a drink traditionally made of milk and fermented with ‘grains’. Kultured Wellness Kefir starter culture is based with coconut water. So, a wonderful option for those that have trouble digesting or tolerating dairy. In my opinion, it tastes so much better than the dairy based kefir. The cultured yoghurt starter is also based with coconut cream, so it’s beautifully creamy and tastes delicious mixed with fruits.
The starter cultures will ferment your food or drink, which means the little live microbes such as yeast and bacteria eat away at the sugars in the food. This then creates an enzyme factory by creating digestive enzymes, beneficial bacteria, vitamins and minerals. It creates a fizzy probiotic food or drink for you to enjoy.
We are made up off 100 trillion bacteria!!! Which sounds crazy right? So, it just makes sense that we need to nourish those little bacteria guys living in us and on us. Below are some of the benefits of consuming fermented foods:
Taste buds do change over time, and consuming fermenting foods helps this process.
It reduces the sugar content in a food or drink. The beneficial bacteria in the culture feeds off the naturally occurring carbohydrates (sugars) in the food or drink.
Reduces sugar cravings.
Promotes good digestion of all foods so we absorb valuable nutrients, and even creates vitamin K2 and B vitamins.
Heals the gut, contain high numbers of Bifidobacterium, which are important for leaky gut.
Boosts Immunity and fights infection due to its antiviral, antimicrobial, anti-fungal and antibacterial properties.
Fantastic for eczema and psoriasis.
Aids in the healing of certain gut issues like Irritable bowel disease, bloating, constipation or diarrhoea.
Can be very beneficial for people who are sensitive to traditional fermented foods and who suffer from conditions such as SIBO, autoimmune conditions, food sensitivities, autism, ADHD, and PANDAS.
Enhanced brain function and mood.
Balances hormones.
Helps to fight candida.
Can assist in rebuilding beneficial flora after antibiotic use, diarrhoea and viruses.
Helps with weight management and obesity.
Can regulate histamine and inflammation and helps fight allergies.
Increase energy.
Detoxifies the body by helping to remove toxins from the body.
Kefir also contains high levels of vitamin B12, calcium, magnesium, vitamin K2, biotin, folate, enzymes and a variety of beneficial probiotics.
Natural probiotics; Kultered wellness cultures have an extremely high potency CFU count. (Yoghurt 41 billion CFU per cup and Kefir 27 billion CFU per cup).
Starting to make and consume fermented foods may sound scary, but it certainly is not and has a huge number of benefits. So, I encourage to give it a go. I like to keep cooking simple and it really is one of the simplest things I make.
If you would like to order your starter cultures go here http://www.kulturedwellness.com?aff=159 and please use this code ‘cultureandrea’ for 10 % off.
In the meantime keep an out for my fermenting classes that I run randomly to teach you the basics of fermenting and using your cultures.
Health and Happiness,
Andrea xx
Andrea Fowler is a qualified nutritionist and the founder of Thrive Holistic Living.