The Top 10 Health Benefits of Fermented Foods

The Top 10 Health Benefits of Fermented Foods

For thousands of years, indigenous cultures worldwide have understood that cooked & fermented foods are more feeding & nourishing to the body than raw foods.

Raw foods are cleansing and detoxifying to the body because they are harder to digest. Whereas, cooking foods breaks down their cellular structure, making them easier to digest. Our ancestors developed methods to make foods more digestible through cooking and fermentation that have more nutritional value then many modern foods.

Asian cultures ferment kimchi (fermented cabbage), kefir, miso, sake, pickled ginger and shubat (fermented camel milk). India and the Middle East have fermented chutneys, various yogurts, and torshi (mixed vegetables). Europeans fermented sauerkraut, kefir, crème fraiche, and rakfisk (salted, fermented trout). In South America, kombucha, and cacao beans which must be fermented first before use. In the Pacific, they have poi (fermented, mashed taro root) and kanga pirau. And in the U.S., we used to ferment sauerkaut & make relish, pickling, & ketchup. My Austrian grandfather kept barrels of fermented pickles, sauerkaut & pigs parts in his cellar in upstate New York.

Today foods such as sauerkraut and pickles, contain no live enzymes and are poor substitutes produced quickly for mass consumption. Commercial sauerkraut and pickles, are preserved in vinegar instead of the traditional and naturally occurring lactic acid forming bacteria.. Unless the producer adds bacteria, store bought sauerkraut is usually pasteurized and void of taste and nutrients. Lactobacilli contribute to the protection of the body against infections and stimulate the immune system. Probiotics have become popular today because they add back into our digestive system those microflora that our gut needs to prevent allergies & infections.

To heal your digestive system, you can Buy Probiotic Enzymes or Make Real Fermented Foods.

The Top 10 Health Benefits of Fermented Foods

1. Fermented foods are instrumental in healing & restoring the balance of gut flora in our bodies. Lacto-fermented foods normalize the acidity of the stomach. In the not too distant past, people who ate traditional, whole foods diets ate this bacteria on a regular basis did not have a severe gut deficit that we do today.

pickled-red-cabbage

Pickled Red Cabbage

2. The beneficial bacteria in fermented foods are very potent detoxifiers, capable of drawing out a wide range of toxins and heavy metals. Molecules in the bacteria grab hold of mercury, lead, aluminum, arsenic, and other toxins, which are then removed through stool. Fermentation removes phytic acid from grains, nuts and seeds, which otherwise would block mineral
absorption and lead to deficiencies. Eating improperly prepared grains is a major cause of
osteoporosis in our culture.

3. Lactobacilli converts starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits into lactic acid, a natural preservative that inhibits putrefication and also act as anantioxidant, and anti carcinogenic agent, reducing cancer precursors known as free radicals.

4. Sauerkraut contains large quantities of choline, a water soluble nutrient. Choline must be consumed through the diet in order for the body to remain healthy and it may lower the risk for breast cancer in women and also helps to lower blood pressure. Sauerkraut also contain acetylcholine, which reduces blood pressure, slows the rate of the heartbeat and promotes calmness and good sleep.

5. You only need to consume small amounts every day in a greater variety to get the optimum amount of microorganisms possible. Steer clear of pasteurized versions, as pasteurization will destroy many of the naturally occurring probiotics. Most of the “probiotic” yogurts you find in grocery store these days are not recommended. They’re pasteurized and they also typically contain added sugars, high fructose corn syrup, dyes, and artificial sweeteners.

Buy Probiotic Enzymes

6. Consuming traditionally fermented foods will also help you absorb more important nutrients such as vitamin K2, which is important for preventing arterial plaque buildup and heart disease. It also facilitates the synthesis of certain vitamins, such as vitamin C, and B12, which can only be produced in the presence of lactic bacteria.

7. Probiotics have been shown to help optimize your intestine’s immune system. With eighty percent of your immune system located in your digestive system, your gut is a major focal point on your way to maintaining optimal health. Buy Probiotic Enzymes

Pickled Cucumbers - Cultured Vegetables

Pickled Cucumbers – Cultured Vegetables

8. Save money by eating real foods rather then supplements. Fermented foods can contain 100 times more probiotics than a supplement. A cost effective strategy would be to eat a small amount of fermented foods with each meal to replace some of the supplements you are  now taking.

9. Aging decreases your body’s supply of enzymes, but fermented foods are rich in enzymes, and so can help offset this shortage. Eating an enzyme-rich diet reduces the stress on your pancreas, and therefore could reduce your risk of many different chronic diseases. Warding off enzyme depletion, can help you live a longer, healthier life.

10. Fermentation preserves food. Fermentation organisms produce alcohol, lactic acid and acetic acid, all “biopreservatives” that retain nutrients and prevent spoilage. Captain Cook conquered scurvy among his sailing crews by bringing large quantities of sauerkraut, which is very high in Vitamin C, on his lengthy voyages. Not a single sailor got scurvy and the last barrel of kraut was still perfectly preserved after 27 months.

More Resources on Fermented Foods:

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Feel better by modifying your diet based on your body type

Feel better by modifying your diet based on your body type

What should you believe these days when everywhere you look there are contradictions in every nutrition & health book and article you read? Your Mom tells you one thing, your friend tells you another & then you read something else in a health magazine. Most advice these days seems to just contradict the other.

From your own experience you may have learned that what works for one person, sometimes doesn’t work for you. Scientific studies on nutrients are confusing because most conclude that while helpful to a certain percentage of people with a certain condition, they may not help or may even worsen the same condition in other people.

Why is there so much confusion and so many contradictions about what your diet needs to provide?

If you are reading this article, we might assume that you are a health conscious person, who already eats the best organic foods, exercises regularly, drinks plenty of fluids, gets sufficient rest, & take the finest supplements that money can buy. But still you don’t feel totally great and might feel worse without knowing why!

So, what is the answer?

The answer is to find out what is right for you!

Eating a meal that is right for your body type, should leave you feeling satisfied, energized, mentally alert and emotionally content. So, if you have any of these symptoms, you may have eaten an improper combination of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in your meal.

• You are physically full but still feel hungry
• You are craving sweets
• You feel sleepy & have an energy level dip
• You feel cranky, depressed, nervous, or irritable

Garden fresh tomatoes

Garden fresh tomatoes

The work of Dr Weston Price DDS, a Cleveland dentist, who has been called the “Charles Darwin” of Nutrition has been all but forgotten but the research he did and the principles he created are still very timely. Traveling the world in the early 1930’s, in his search for the causes of dental decay and physical degeneration he found that straight decay free teeth, & strong disease resistant bodies, were typical of local people eating their traditional foods. But once these people started eating the “impoverished foods of civilization” – sugar, white flour, pasteurized milk, and chemical filled processed foods, the results were crooked teeth, cavities & physical diseases, all based on nutritional deficiencies.

He found much variety in the healthy, happy people he studied. He found Swiss mountain villagers ate mostly unpasteurized butter & cheese and rye bread they had baked, while Gaelic people from the Outer Hebrides in Scotland ate no dairy but instead had fresh cod and other sea food but not much grain or vegetables due to an inhospitable climate. On the other hand, Eskimo ate a diet of 100% animal products & lots of fish, Blubber ( fat) and small amounts of nuts & berries. The Dinka people of the Sudan, whom Price said were the healthiest of all African tribes, ate mostly fish and fermented whole grains while the Bantu peoples who were the least healthiest were farmers who ate an almost vegetarian diet.

Dr Price saw several key similarities in all of these native diets. He noticed that most consumed fermented foods like cheese, fish, yogurt or grain drinks. He saw that even Swiss villagers made treks to the sea to find seafood, especially fish roe, seaweeds and shrimp. But his biggest finding was the fact that most native diets were rich in fat, mainly from animals, either from insects, eggs, fish or animals and that native people knew they needed fat to ward off sickness.

Paleo Dinner

Paleo Dinner

Cut to the present day and we are still seeing the fact that foods “native” to what your ancestors ate are the key to your individual good health. As you can imagine, all of the foods that Price’s native peoples ate were natural and unprocessed. The foods they ate did not contain preservatives, additives, colorings, or added sugar. No white flour or canned foods & their milk products were not pasteurized, homogenized, or low fat. All foods were raised and grown on pesticide-free soil without growth hormones or antibiotics. So you see that your ancestors, always ate organic.

Read More:
Start off with: Dr Mercola’s Free Nutritional Typing Test

Dr Price’s Book:Nutrition and Physical Degeneration“>Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price, Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation

The new Paleo Diet comes closest to this way of eating.
In the Paleo Diet they say ” We regulate the content of your diet, not the quantity, because your body has an amazing hormonal system that takes care of the caloric details for us already (and has been doing so for millenia before anyone even knew what a “calorie” was).”

In Dr Mercola’s new book, Take Control of Your Health he writes specifically for people who are confused about how much information is out there about health and what you should really believe. As the author of one of the best newsletters on creating optimal health, Dr Mercola writes about the healing power of food, finding your correct body type and much more.

 

The Juice of Life – Holly’s Story

Juicing has been used for years to rid the body of toxins, promote physical well-being and encourage mental clarity. Since 95% of vitamins come from the juice of fruits and vegetables, no amount of synthetic medicines or supplements can ever match the power of the healing properties in leafy green vegetables and fruits.

When I heard my friend, Holly’s story then I was really convinced of these healing powers firsthand. She had been a vibrant athlete who found herself stricken with an at first undiagnosed disease which took a terrible toll on her body. Only through juicing did she find a way to heal herself of this disease.

Here is her story….

“I started martial arts at the age of twelve, and have remained in it to this day. I have practiced seven different styles, achieving a black belt in Taekwondo and also Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu. Aside from hiking, biking and rock climbing, I played rugby in college, and also for the Berkeley All-Blues.

Up until 2002, I was always super fit and healthy, or so I thought. In July of 2002, I developed a relatively rare auto-immune disorder called Mixed Connective Tissue Disorder or MCTD. My life as I knew it was over. This illness has every nastiness one could imagine. I developed chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, Reynaud’s syndrome, scleroderma, trigeminal neuralgia, facial numbness, acid reflux, difficulty swallowing and loss of motility and digestive capabilities. My life was filled with one misery after another, and it seemed each day brought a new type of pain or suffering. My brain was in a fog, and I couldn’t distance myself enough from my misery to formulate a healing plan. I took many harsh western drugs. Methotrexate, prednisone, morphine, and neurontin, to name a few.

I felt my body wasting away and my life energy leaving. Realizing that the Western drugs were only speeding my descent I discarded them in 2004, but I continued to spiral downwards. In 2005, I was at a lifetime low, the epitome of misery, and I came within a hair’s breadth to ending it all.

Holly – Before, During & After her illness

In trying to end my life, I had to give up, completely. In that moment of letting go, I opened myself to receive guidance. I realized I wasn’t finished with this life yet, and I wanted to stay. My guidance revealed the universal truth that led me to know I could change things. I took responsibility for creating my life as it was, and resolved to manifest a new one. I embarked on an inner journey of exploration in order to change my outer journey.

There wasn’t much left of my physical body, I had gone from 148 lbs. of solid muscle, to 115 lbs. of skin and bones. I couldn’t digest solid food, but knew I needed intense nutrition, lots of it, and fast. I consulted with a nutritionist and put together a juicing program, along with protein shakes. For an entire year, I stayed on my super nutritious liquid diet, drinking 48 to 64 oz. of my juice every day.

I noticed improvements in pain, inflammation, and energy within days of starting. When I was strong enough I added my herbal formulas back into my wellness program. I opened myself to receiving help from people, experiences, and from spirit. I discovered treasures of healing: a useful tip overheard; watching someone accomplish a task; a line in a song; a book reread that I had forgotten about; a workshop that inspired. If what I learned helped me, I kept it, if it didn’t, I moved on. Slowly, inch by inch, I made progress. It was hard work, and sometimes it seemed as if I moved backwards. I learned to be grateful for all the little miracles, celebrating my successes. All the while, I did not let anyone tell me I could not be well again. I held tenaciously to visions of my own wellness, constantly creating positive affirmations and working to surround myself with positive inspirational objects.

Now, there is not a trace of chronic fatigue, or fibromyalgia, I have full use of my hands, having beaten back the scleroderma. My acid reflux is gone and I can eat and digest solid food once more. There were so many things that came into my life to help me become well, and each one was indispensable. But, I absolutely would not be alive right now, if I had not started drinking my ‘Juice of Life’ as I have fondly named it. It contains a cornucopia of vegetables and fruits, more servings in one glass than most people get in a month. I continue to drink it almost every day, and will continue to do so, happily for the rest of my now healthy life.

It contains a combination of the following organic fruits and vegetables: Carrots, red beets, beet greens, cucumber, parsley, spinach, celery, chard, kale, dandelion greens, zucchini, broccoli, yams, green peppers, red/orange peppers, red cabbage, green cabbage, apples, pears, kiwis, and either cantaloupe, honeydew, or blueberries depending upon availability.

I happily talk about my ‘Juice of Life’ to friends, or anyone who is curious, and now unexpectedly, I have several people who wanted in on my juice. They started buying it from me on a weekly basis, and are hooked on the ‘Juice of Life’. My clients have told me that their energy has improved dramatically, their diets have improved because of reduced sugar cravings, they feel more mental clarity and focus, and continue to see positive changes in their well being on a weekly basis.”

Where you can buy juice:
The Can Can Cleanse – San Francisco
Living Greens – San Francisco

Need more ideas for Cooking Healthy Meals, then check out: The Healthy Urban Kitchen Cookbook The Healthy Urban Kitchen is a simple, step by step system for shopping, cooking and eating the world’s healthiest foods. It was created for busy people who want to improve health, have more energy, and prevent disease.