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Fermented Foods​

It is common sense that in order to keep our body perfectly healthy, we need to maintain balanced immunity. Over 75% of our immune system is located in our digestive tract and it should be obvious it will have something to do with foods that we eat and digest. Healthy digestion and well balanced gut flora should be a priority for you if you want to have a healthy body, clear skin, good metabolic health, easier weight management, and stable energy levels. Our gut flora is responsible for so much more. To keep your friendly bacteria happy, healthy, and thriving, it is crucial to feed them the right fuel. Fermented (or probiotic) foods are excellent immune boosters that contain live and active bacterial cultures.

During fermentation, the carbohydrates in food are broken down into acids by bacteria, which results in their sour taste and also easier digestibility. For example, lactose (milk sugar) is broken down into lactic acid and brings a slightly sour taste to yogurt. Cabbage turns into sauerkraut, gherkin into pickles. Sweetened tea covered with a colony of bacteria brings us a probiotic beverage called kombucha. Raw apple cider vinegar is also a fermented product with numerous benefits for human health.

Fermented dairy is much more easily digested, sometimes even by people who are lactose intolerant. Yogurt and kefir are great options for allergic people who need some probiotics in their life and the idea of fermented vegetables doesn’t really appeal to them. They can also be made with coconut milk if you have a true dairy allergy. Even a small amount of probiotic foods every day helps significantly with maintaining a strong immune system. Fermented foods also help to prevent colds and flus, eliminate toxins, and aid in the absorption of vitamins and minerals in the body.

You can buy sauerkraut, pickled vegetables, or kefir in just about any grocery store, but if you want to make sure you are getting live cultures, and that there are no sneaky unknown ingredients in your fermented foods, it is actually very easy to make your own. A little Google search and a little time spent on preparation, and you can make yourself probiotics you can always have on hand and add on the side of your breakfast, lunch, or dinner every day. Check out this video on how to make your own sauerkraut with just cabbage, salt, and water. You can pickle just about any vegetable, this video shows you how to ferment carrots, but the recipe can be used for any vegetable of your choice.

Drinking kombucha daily is also a great option, adding something new and special to your choice of beverages, but store bought kombucha is not the cheapest option. Making homemade kombucha might be tricky, and first few batches might turn into vinegar if you keep it fermenting too long, but everyone can master it with practice, and supply their house with an endless amount of this healthy probiotic beverage. It can actually be a nice fizzy drink to replace sodas. Jill Ciciarelli, author of the amazing book Fermented shares a detailed step by step guide on homemade kombucha on her website First Comes Health.com.

If you are someone who simply cant stand the idea of consuming pickled sour vegetables or fermented tea with visible pieces of bacterial colony floating in it, don’t worry, Life Enthusiast has you covered with the whole line of products by Genki Foods, highly concentrated superfoods, raw probiotics made from the highest quality foods. Everybody prefers a different way of consuming their probiotics, so we offer Genki Foods products in powder form, capsules, or as a carbonated drink. Whether you choose pre-made real food concentrate or homemade sauerkraut, probiotics are a wonderful tool to help you regain healthy gut flora and boost your immunity.