Good Morning!
I lay flat on my back with a torn disc. Very minor compared to past experiences. I really need to leave the heavy lifting around here to someone else. I have lots of time this morning to leisure in my thoughts.
I think I’ll go to a place that will (prayerfully) be of interest to you. Eeek.
When my body was ailing from all the toxins from sugars and antibiotics and processed foods, the first thing my doctor taught me was to get a leg up on fermented foods. What in the world. Fermented foods were a popular way of preserving foods for cold months way back when in the era I should have lived.
You can ferment foods for all different effects and reasons. You may be familiar with the process of making wine and beer and other alcohols. A fermentation process is used to change the sugars in the grains and fruits into alcohol.
Sourdough bread goes through a fermentation process whereby the wheat mixed with water goes sets off a breakdown of enzymes converting the so-an-so’s into something or other. Bacteria cultures come about (I have no idea what I am saying here) and it makes the bread taste sour. This process is done mostly for flavor purposes. Only has minimal health benefits over regular wheat bread. But bottom line it taste AWESOME for all you gluten people out there. Love, love, love the taste of sourdough bread.
These are not the culture processes I want to talk about today. The fermentation foods that are power packed, probiotic filled, life saving wonderment. That is what I want to hit on. The stuff saved my health. And what started out a science experiment and dislike for the flavors, turned in to a lifeline to well-being. My body craves the stuff when I don’t have it.
So what are they?
They are clean, preferably organic (we want cultured food not cultured chemicals) foods that when left to their own devices produce their own good bacteria (probiotics) which when live in our bodies fight off any incoming bad bacteria to ward off illness. Our bodies have naturally occurring good bacteria which do that. But the stress and compromise that we subject our vessels to negate many good things in our bodies. Also, fermented foods are pre-digested, meaning during the culturing process the food has started to break down itself so the digestion, by the time it hits your stomach, is easier. Our bodies are asked to digest some really hard things. Like foods with chemicals and foods with stripped nutritional value. Our bodies simply do not know what to do with it.
If you:
eat processed foods
eat sugar
take antibiotics( they kill not only bad bacteria but ALL bacteria. If you must be on them, take over the counter probiotics with them so you are not depleting all of your fightin’ buddies)
drink alcohol
any chemical laden foods
….you most likely have a compromised immune system, which means you are lacking good bacteria.
My dr. gave me lots of necessary steps to take but this cultured food deal was, in my mind and body, the most important.
The three cultured foods I eat religiously are:
YOGURT AND KEFIR. Both of these are cultured milk products. They are full of probiotics. You can make them your self with culture starters or good yogurt. Or you can buy from the store. Buy ORGANIC, PLAIN yogurt or kefir. You are only wasting your money if you purchase fruity stuff. The sugar and other stuff that is added makes it useless. Add your own berries or what have you.
COCONUT KEFIR WATER. Young coconut water store-bought. Use a kefir starter which you can by at health food stores or online. I buy online at http://www.bodyecologydiet.com. You can get all culture starters there. Buy her book while you’re at it. Her book saved my life. When I drink it, it turns my skin translucent. Beautiful silky.
Coconut Water
You just add kefir starter and coconut water into glass crock with rubber gasket (they get the best seal) and sit on counter for 2 days. It will taste effervescent. A little champagney. After all, it is fermented. It is a treat! Stocked full of yummy bacteria.
Finally and most importantly,
Cultured Veggies in glass crock
CULTURED VEGGIES!!!!!. This is it, man. I’m tellin’ you what. It is like gold. I am starting to see this stuff at my food store and it is sold for 10.99 a pint. 10.99 A PINT. I have to buy it when I am out and it is gone in three servings. ugh. When I make it, I make 10 litres at a time. And since it is naturally preserved I can take all the time I need to gobble it up. This past year I invested in the old german ceramic crocks that they used in the olden days to preserve their “kraut” in the old dark cellars of yesteryear. They come in sizes from a gallon, I think, up to 10 gallon crocks. They are very cool. I bought two- 10 litre crocks. Very heavy duty.
German Ceramic Crock
I will post the Cultured Vegetable recipe on the recipe page. I can just say that it would be very worth your while to make it. There are many great recipes out there. I have settled on one that I have used for 7 years that works for me.
To your health!
God bless,
Karen
The Shieling 