Fermented Foods & Our Living Bodies
Just like the world is a living entity covered with living creatures who all have a purpose and must function together, our bodies are universes unto themselves as well.
Most people don’t like to think about it too much, but we aren’t alone in our bodies…our system works with hundreds of trillions of other organisms to keep everything humming along smoothly.
When our internal critters get out of whack, we pay the price by suffering ill health.
One of our most important, if not the most important, systems in our body is our digestive system. If the delicate balance of organisms in our guts gets disrupted we generally know about it pretty darned fast.
Bowel problems are a major problem in North America, and in fact, bowel issues are the second leading cause of missing work after the common cold!
From the time of Hippocrates, ancient healers have emphasized vital importance of bowel health. They said. “The death of a person starts in the bowels”
Our diets are a major cause of much bowel distress, but there are many other sneaky ways to unknowingly upset the balance of our intestinal organisms.
Any time we take antibiotics, they kill the good flora in a our bodies along with the bacteria and organisms they are targeting.
Many people get unexplained bouts of diarrhea and bowel distress after taking a round of antibiotics, and will sometimes end up taking even more antibiotics which only compounds the problem.
One extremely common and insidious bowel issue is having an overgrowth of Candida organisms in our intestines.
We all have these organisms, they are a normal part of our gut flora and fauna.
However when the balance of power gets upset in our guts, whether by taking hormones, antibiotics or through our diets, candida growth can explode and cause no end of problems, most of which are hard to diagnose but the sufferer knows that they feel like death and can’t figure out any particular reason. Once the candida goes into over-drive, it can invade all the organs of a body.
We are also continually exposed to antibiotics and hormones through the factory farmed meat that we eat.
Factory farm animals are raised in unbelievably crowded and stressful environments, and so are routinely plugged full of antibiotics to keep them “well” and hormones to make them grow.
This stuff all ends up in us when we eat the meat from these animals.
So what’s a health conscious person to do?
One simple thing we can do is to add living food to our diets, in order to get those good organisms into our bowels where they can help us out.
There’s yogurt, of course, but be aware that there’s some pretty lame yogurt out there masquerading as the real deal.
Read the label. It should contain milk and active cultures only, not a bunch of added crap and fillers. Most commercial yogurt unfortunately is not really going to help populate your guts with good guy bacteria and critters!
Taking a good quality probiotic is usually a good idea, especially after you have been taking antibiotics. Remember, that like with all things you generally get what you pay for and the best probiotics are usually found in the refrigerated section of the store.
Wait to take the probiotics after your round of antibiotics are done, otherwise the drugs will just kill your expensive pro-biotic cultures along with whatever else they are after!
Some people who have been plagued with irregular bowels have found relief after they restore the proper balance of organisms in their guts.
Naturally fermented sauerkraut is another good source of living organisms for your body. It must be the living, refrigerated, kraut, however, of home-made. Canned sauerkraut has been pasteurized which kills everything.
A condiment I recently tried for the first time and fell in love with is the national Korean condiment called “Kimchee.” It is naturally fermented, filled with the good kind of bacteria and complements many dishes. It is quite zingy and spicy, but a little bit goes a long way.
It’s also quite easy to make if you are feeling like a tackling an interesting kitchen project.
Koreans eat so much of this super-spicy condiment (40 pounds of it per person each year) that natives say “kimchi” instead of “cheese” when getting their pictures taken. The reddish fermented cabbage (and sometimes radish) dish—made with a mix of garlic, salt, vinegar, chile peppers, and other spices—is served at every meal, either alone or mixed with rice or noodles. And it’s part of a high-fiber, low-fat diet that has kept obesity at bay in Korea. Kimchi also is used in everything from soups to pancakes, and as a topping on pizza and burgers.
Why to try it: Kimchi (or kimchee) is loaded with vitamins A, B, and C, but its biggest benefit may be in its “healthy bacteria” called lactobacilli, found in fermented foods like kimchi and yogurt. This good bacteria helps with digestion, plus it seems to help stop and even prevent yeast infections, according to a recent study. And more good news: Some studies show fermented cabbage has compounds that may prevent the growth of cancer.
