Chicken livers cooked in duck fat and butter, leftover Avgolemono soup, fermented yams with raw butter, egg omelet with avocado and a tiny bit of lacto-fermented salsa, cod liver oil, butter oil, Lugol’s iodine, and her Biokult probiotic.
Click on the photo to read more.
This came out absolutely delicious.
I started with a recipe from my friend Jungleen. She posted a comment a few days ago with a recipe for Chicken Cacciatore. It’s basically chicken cooked in homemade chicken stock and tomato sauce. I left out the vegetables and added arrowroot to make a thicker sauce. Then served it with homemade lacto-fermented sauerkraut and cream cheese made from goat yogurt (Seth is out of town so I’m allowed to eat dairy).
YUM! This was really good. And it’s so good for digestive health. The bone broth, the fermented foods. And it was good!
Kate had the same thing for dinner — she loved it!
PS: The gorgeous flowers were a Mother’s Day gift from my in-laws. Thanks, Nancy & Ed! Love you and miss you!
I’m relaxing in our “outdoor living room” in the backyard with a glass of Viognier. Seth is putting the baby down. It was hot today, but now it’s pleasantly cool. I can smell someone barbecuing in the distance.
Tonight’s dinner will be easy. I got a dozen fresh scallops at the farmer’s market today. So fresh, they are still alive! They gave them to me in bags of salt water.
I’ll probably braise them in a little butter. Then we will have some kielbasa and sauerkraut, some spaghetti squash with butter, and a green salad with sliced apple.
Tomorrow night I will make pulled pork. I’ve never made it before but Rocky Canyon had a nice pork butt at the market today. I think I’ll soak it in brine overnight, then slow cook it in the crock pot all day.
Seth had his phone consultation with Dr. Cowan on Thursday (which also happened to be his birthday — Seth’s, not Dr. Cowan’s).
Dr. Cowan recommended the GAPS diet. I knew he was going to say that, but the biggest reason we did the consultation was to convince Seth. He needed to hear it from someone other than me. Better yet, a doctor. I’ve been trying to get him to do the GAPS diet for months. Of course, he just thought it was some wacky think I read on the internet. 
The good news is, he’s willing to do it now.
Let me back up — the GAPS Diet was formulated by neurologist and nutritionist, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. GAPS stands for “Gut and Psychology Syndrome”. The idea is that most of the psychological disorders we have are due to digestive disorders. Click here for an overview of the book.
I’m excited because Seth has suffered from anxiety and depression for years. He has also had digestive problems since he was a kid. He said he can remember being constipated when he was a small child, and said the depression started when he was 17. And I have noticed that his anxiety/depression is always worse when he has intestinal pain. Whenever he gets really cranky or anxious, he always says his guts hurt.
Dr. Cowan mentioned a book called “The Second Brain”. Here’s an excerpt from an interview with the author that may shed some light on this for you:
Ever get a gut feeling about someone, or I anxious butterflies in your stomach? That’s because you have a second brain in your bowel, according to Michael Gershon, M.D., author of The Second Brain (HarperCollins, 1999), and a neurobiologist at New York’s Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Gershon recently explained to Psychology Today how an independent network of over 100 billion neurons in the gut not only signals our bodies to stress but causes illness.
Q Why do we need a second brain?
A Most importantly, to control digestion. It also works with the immune system to protect us from hostile bacteria.
Q Does it use neurotransmitters?
A Actually, 95% of all serotonin in the body is in the gut, where it triggers digestion. Nerve cells in the gut also use serotonin to signal back to the brain. This information can train us not to eat certain foods by communicating pain, gas and other terrible feelings.
Q Does the brain in our heads influence the “second brain”?
A Yes. Butterflies in the stomach arise when the brain sends a message of anxiety to the gut, which sends messages back to the brain that it’s unhappy. But the gut can also work in isolation.
Q How does this brain influence irritable bowel syndrome (lBS), which many believe is a psychological problem?
A Irritable bowel syndrome, whose symptoms include abdominal pain accompanied by loose stool, affects 20% of Americans. But doctors often dismiss its severity, attributing IBS to psychoneurosis because they don’t know exactly what it is. I propose that the second brain is the cause. Antidepressants like SSRIs, when used in doses too low to treat depression, are effective immediately in IBS patients. Prozac takes weeks to kick in. This suggests that the drugs work not on the brains of people with IBS, but in the bowel. Source
Anyway… the idea is if you heal the digestive tract, you will alleviate mental/emotional disorders. Dr. Campbell McBride has had much success with this program in her practice in England where she has been reversing autism, ADD, etc. in children.
So here’s the plan:
He has to drink about a quart of bone broth a day, plus 4-8 ounces freshly juiced fruits and vegetables 3-5 times a day. I’m going to give it to him mixed with beet kvass at least twice a day.
In addition to that, he can have meats, fish, non-starchy vegetables, and fruit. No grains. No dairy. He also has to take cod liver oil and a couple of other supplements (including Dr. Campbell-McBride’s probiotic, BioKult, plus plenty of fermented foods (sauerkraut, homemade pickles, kefir soda pop, etc.).
After anywhere from a few days to a few weeks (depending on how it goes), we will start to introduce dairy foods — one at a time. Starting with ghee (clarified butter), then kefir, yogurt, etc. Not sure about the exact order — I have the list Dr. Cowan sent in my purse.
In a matter of weeks or months, we can start to introduce soaked beans, soaked grains, etc. Ultimately, Dr. Cowan says, Seth should eat a “Nourishing Traditions” diet.
Dr. Cowan says he thinks Seth can heal in a couple of months. But he said the longer he stays on the diet, the better, and that it can take up to two years.
I’m going to have to have a stock pot of broth going all the time. And I’m going to have to be juicing all the damn time too. And for any of you out there who have juiced, it is messy. You have to clean that thing every time you make juice.
But it’s okay. I’m just grateful he’s finally doing this. I just know this is going to help him!
So I guess we’re starting tomorrow…
Here’s Kate having her morning bottle. I love the way she has her feet crossed, like a little lady.
She still has a runny nose and a cough. I really think it’s the Biokult causing a healing crisis. We upped her dose (per Dr. Campbell McBride’s instructions) last week from 2 capsules per day to 4 capsules per day. Mucus is a sign of detoxification; so is fever (she does not have a fever but she is warm).
We’ve decreased the dose back down to 2 capsules per day; Dr. Campbell McBride says to decrease the dose if the die-off symptoms are severe.
I just read an email on my DNT list from a lady who said that when she was in her twenties she stayed at a retreat and ate a raw food diet. Within a few days, she had lots of mucus and was miserable with a bad headache. They told her to up her vegetable juice (no fruit juice — just wheat grass and other veggies). She did and the mucus and other symptoms cleared up.
I think that’s very interesting because Dr. Campbell McBride is very big on juicing. When I did my candida cleanse in my twenties, I was taking immune strengthening supplements, including mega doses of vitamin C and bovine thymus gland. I guess maybe all the antioxidants and other nutrients in the vegetables help the body detoxify.
I actually have some bison thymus gland in the freezer. I’m going to dig it out and put it into Kate’s chicken broth today. I think I’ll make a stew of it, with some garlic and onion. Those are immune-enhancing as well.
And I’m going to juice up some carrots and beets for her. Can you give a 10-month-old wheat grass juice? I’m not sure.
Interesting — Alla was using an eyedropper on Friday, putting drops of freshly squeezed carrot juice into Kate’s nose. She said it is a traditional thing they did in Russia to help the mucus thicken.
This is why it’s not a good idea to give a child medications to reduce symptoms. Mucus and fever and diarrhea are all designed to carry toxins out of the body. If you inhibit the body’s natural functions, you are preventing the healing. The best thing you can do for them is increase fluids and antioxidants — juicing does both. And give them chicken broth — “Jewish penicillin”.
The other day, an envelope from Northern California appeared in my mailbox. It was full of dehydrated water kefir grains (sent by Claire, a WAPF member I met on the Yahoo Discussing NT mailing list — thanks, Claire!).
I put the grains in some distilled water and BOOM they tripled in size within an hour or so. Then I drained them and put them in jars with more distilled water, Rapadura (unrefined sugar), and egg shell. I guess the egg shell adds minerals.
It’s starting to ferment. I can tell because it is getting bubbly. Whee! Isn’t that exciting? (By the way, that’s regular milk kefir on the left.)
Once it’s done fermenting, I’ll strain the grains, put them in more sugar water in the fridge to store them, and then I’ll add some flavors to my fermented kefir water will make kefir soda pop.
You can make ginger ale or limeade or lemonade or root beer or cream soda. The recipes are in the book “Eat Fat, Lose Fat” by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig.
I think I’m going to start with cream soda — it’s made with vanilla and lemon. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
I started a new batch of beet kvass over the weekend.
It’s easy to make. Just (coarsely) cut up 3 medium (or 2 large) beets, add 1/4 cup homemade whey (I will post this recipe soon, 1 tablespoon sea salt, and 2 quarts of filtered water. Stir and cover. Let sit on the counter for 2-4 days (depending on the temperature in your kitchen), then transfer to fridge.
Filled with vitamins (the lacto-fermentation actually increases the vitamins), enzymes, and probiotics! It’s sour-tasting, so not something you’d offer to guests — but it’s an extremely healthful morning tonic.
(Recipe from “Nourishing Traditions”; the recipe for whey is also in this book)
I have been reading “Gut and Psychology Syndrome” by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride. She has had quite a lot of success treating children in her clinic in England, reversing autism, allergies, ADHD, and many other conditions. Her own son was diagnosed with autism. He is now in a regular school and is completely functional.
Dr. Campbell McBride recommends a special diet, what she calls the “GAPS diet”, as well as supplementation with cod liver oil and therapeutic-grade probitoics. I was very interested to learn this, as I have heard of many people having success with diet and probiotics with autistic children.
Including Jenny McCarthy, who, in her book, “Louder Than Words”, wrote about her son’s marked recovery after she changed his diet (to gluten-free, casein-free) and started giving him probiotics. Her son regained his language and social skills, and is now fully recovered.
If diet and probiotics can have this kind of affect on autistic children, what kind of affect can they have on other children? What kind of affect can they have on us? Those of us with food allergies and chronic fatigue and asthma and digestive problems and chronic colds and sinus infections? And auto-immune disorders such as arthritis, lupus, and MS.
How do we improve our immunity, and how do we avoid damaging our immunity?
In her book, Dr. Campbell-McBride made lists of how we can strengthen and weaken immunity. Here they are:
TOP 10 THINGS THAT BOOST IMMUNITY:
1. Cold-pressed oils - olive oil, fish oils (including cod liver oil), nut and seed oils (flax seed, sunflower seed).
2. Fresh eggs, particularly raw egg yolk. (Note: Raw eggs are safe as long as they come from healthy pastured chickens, not sick battery chickens from a factory farms. It is not advisable to eat raw egg whites, however. I usually boil my eggs for 3 minutes or fry them, and eat the yolk runny.)
3. Onions and garlic.
4. Freshly pressed vegetables and fruit juices (this means freshly juiced, not store bought).
5. Regular consumption of greens: parsley, dill, coriander (cilantro), spring onion and garlic, etc.
6. Probiotic supplementation and fermented foods (kombucha, kefir, cultured butter, yogurt, homemade sauerkraut, beet kvass, etc.).
7. Contact with animals: horses, dogs, etc. Having a pet in the family can do a lot for children’s immune status.
8. Physical activity in the fresh air.
9. Swimming in unpolluted natural waters: lakes, rivers, and sea.
10. Exposure to sunlight and sensible sunbathing.
TOP 10 THINGS THAT DAMAGE IMMUNITY:
1. Sugar and everything containing it: sweets, soft drinks, confectionery, ice cream, etc.
2. Processed carbohydrates: cakes, biscuits, crisps (chips), snacks, breakfast cereals, white bread and pasta.
3. Chemically altered and artificial fats: margarines, butter replacements, cooking and vegetable oils (including soy oil and canola oil), processed foods prepared with these fats.
4. Lack of high-quality protein in the diet from meats and fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts and seeds.
5. Exposure to man-made chemicals: cleaning and washing chemicals, personal care products, paints, fire retardants, petrochemicals, pesticides, etc.
6. Exposure to man-made radiation: electronic screens (TV, computers, play station, etc.), mobile phones, high-power electricity lines, nuclear station and nuclear wastes.
7. Drugs: antibiotics, steroids, antidepressants, painkillers, anti-cancer medication, anti-viral drugs, etc.
8. Lack of fresh air and physical activity.
9. Lack of exposure to sunlight.
10. Lack of exposure to common microbes in the environment. Living in a too sterilized environment is strongly associated with compromised immunity. The immune system needs constant stimulation from the microbes in the environment.
Surprising lists, huh? According to Dr. Campbell-McBride, pets, cod liver oil, fresh air, eggs, fermented foods, and sunshine all strengthen immunity. White flour, sugar, vegetable and soy oil, antibiotics, chemical cleaners, personal care products, and vegetarianism all weaken it.
Kate enjoying her breakfast — Swedish filmjölk and fruit.
What’s filmjölk, you ask?
It’s a lot like yogurt, only not as sour.
And it’s easy to make at home. Just add the culture to milk and let it sit out for several hours. That’s it! (And if you add the culture to cream, it will make crème fraîche.)
We love it!
Here it is, in all its glory:
This is after 7 or 8 days of fermenting. I can’t remember exactly which day I started it.
They say it’s ready when there is a layer all across the top. Looks like there is one. Our Russian nanny, Alla, is going to taste it for me and tell me what she thinks.
Apparently, she drank kombucha her whole life when she was living in Russia. I kept talking about kombucha, asking her ifs he knew what it was and she said no.
Then one day I showed her the mushroom. She said, “Oh, my god! You’re making mushroom tea!”
In Russia, they don’t call it kombucha; they call it “mushroom tea”. She also drank kefir — and they made all these things at home. Now she is just starting to make kefir and kombucha again here in America.
UPDATE: Alla tasted it and she said it is fine — ready to drink.
I don’t know why the instructions from GEM Cultures said to only make one quart. And I can’t quite decipher their instructions re: what to do next. I’m going to see what it says in Nourishing Traditions.
I just read this fascinating article, Going with the Grain by Catherine Kzapp on how she healed her father, a sufferer of celiac disease, or gluten intolerance.
Gluten intolerance has become a serious modern disease, not just among kids on the autistic spectrum (autism, Aspberger’s ADD/ADHD), but among many, many people with chronic digestive problems.
Damage to the intestinal wall causes a condition known as leaky gut or intestinal permeability. This creates all sorts of problems such as toxins being released into the bloodstream and malabsorption of nutrients.
Malabsorpition causes degenerative diseases like osteoperosis in the elderly and can cause failure to thrive in babies.
Most celiac sufferers feel doomed to a life without bread. Complete avoidance of gluten (and often casein — in dairy products) is the only way they can quell a plethora of symptoms and disorders.
Symptoms of Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance (from the Mayo Clinic):
There are no typical signs and symptoms of celiac disease. Most people with the disease have general complaints, such as intermittent diarrhea, abdominal pain and bloating. Sometimes people with celiac disease may have no gastrointestinal symptoms at all. Celiac disease symptoms can also mimic those of other conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, gastric ulcers, Crohn’s disease, parasite infections, anemia, skin disorders or a nervous condition.
Celiac disease may also present itself in less obvious ways, including irritability or depression, anemia, stomach upset, joint pain, muscle cramps, skin rash, mouth sores, dental and bone disorders (such as osteoporosis), and tingling in the legs and feet (neuropathy).
Some indications of malabsorption that may result from celiac disease include:
Weight loss
Diarrhea
Abdominal cramps, gas and bloating
General weakness
Foul-smelling or grayish stools that may be fatty or oily
Stunted growth (in children)
Osteoporosis
The article by Catherine Czapp is very encouraging for the gluten intolerant, as it outlines a protocol for recovery that goes beyond gluten avoidance:
When a patient receives a diagnosis of celiac disease or gluten intolerance, either via laboratory testing or by process of elimination by the sufferer himself, complete avoidance of all gluten-containing foods will often bring improvement of many symptoms in a short time, sometimes as quickly as three days; others may require a month for positive signs to emerge. Finally understanding what was wrong can be a tremendous relief for someone who had likely been struggling with unhappy digestion for quite some time.
It is important to remember, though, that the impaired digestive capabilities of someone suffering from this autoimmune disorder will not automatically return to full healthy functioning by merely excluding gluten from the diet, nor will longstanding nutrient deficiencies be corrected unless they are actively addressed in a recuperation protocol designed with care and insight into the needs of the individual. Celiacs who have been severely afflicted should expect significant renewal of health only after one or more years of concerted effort.
What does she recommend for recovery?
Bone broths! The gelatin in homemade bone broths actually repairs the intestinal walls.
She ventured beyond the average bone broth, though, adding things like kombu, shiitake and nettles — which also help to soothe and repair the gut:
I had been pottering away in my kitchen experimenting with bone broths. I had become entranced by the extraordinary nutritive and recuperative properties of highly gelatinized broth made from the long simmering of bones, and I wanted to have a good storage of it. I improvised my brews by adding astragalus root–a nutritive immune system enhancer–to some pots, and kombu (a brown kelp) to others for its contribution of minerals and soothing mucilage. I added vinegar I’d made from shiitake mushroom stems–another immune system booster–in others, and nettles I’d grown on the burial ground of spent fish bones in another.
Nettles have so many nourishing and energizing attributes that one can barely enumerate them all, but I had been counting on their ability to pull minerals from the soil to augment my bone stocks. I only recently have come across a reference to their ability to actually promote the growth of intestinal villi!
Note: she does not recommend storebought broth. It must be homemade from the bones of chickens, cows, fish, or other animals (or purchased from someone who made it from scratch).
She goes on to discuss homemade sourdough bread and how it may be tolerable by celiacs. She says her recovered dad has been eating it for years with no ill effects.
She describes an amazing study wherein celiac volunteers ate sourdough bread and had no reaction:
A study published in February, 2004 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology with the tantalizing title “Sourdough Bread Made from Wheat and Nontoxic Flours and Started with Selected Lactobacilli Is Tolerated in Celiac Sprue Patients,” describes the results of an Italian research team which, encouraged by preliminary findings of their earlier work in vitro, designed an in vivo experiment to test their findings. The team’s premise was that lactobacilli, chosen for their ability to hydrolyze or sever protein (gliadin) fractions might be key in processing wheat flour so that its toxic properties would be neutralized and therefore not harmful to celiac patients.
Their experiment included 17 subjects, all celiac patients who had been consuming gluten-free diets for at least two years and no longer exhibiting symptoms. The experimental bread was made from a combination of wheat (Triticum aestivum), oat, millet and buckwheat flours, 30 percent of which was wheat. The flour was mixed with a “broth” of four lab-obtained lactobacilli, a dose of baker’s yeast and tap water in a continuous high-speed mixer. When the dough was allowed to ferment at about body temperature for 24 hours, almost all of the toxic peptide fractions in the wheat protein had been hydrolized. The bread was then baked and fed to the celiac volunteers (who also bravely ate breads made with plain baker’s yeast as “controls”). After consuming the simple yeasted bread, analysis of the volunteers’ gut permeability was made, which showed a change in permeability normally associated with celiac response. No such response was noted when the volunteers ate the 24-hour fermented sourdough bread. The authors of the study are cautiously enthusiastic about the results of this “novel bread biotechnology” and its implications for celiac patients.
Note: we are not talking about that faux sourdough bread you find in the grocery store. This is real homemade sourdough made from a fermented starter.
The article concludes:
Rather than condemn celiac sufferers to a life without bread, how much better to offer a healing protocol followed for life with the right kind of bread. In fact, how much better for all of us to take our cue from celiac sufferers and consume only bread that has been prepared by artisans–with attention to detail and lots of time.
The same old refrain. Modern food production is causing health problems that can be reversed by going back to eating foods raised and prepared traditionally.
There is nothing I love better than a house filled with the odors of fresh baking bread and a pot of homemade chicken stock simmering on the stove. To me, that’s home.
Well I just weighed myself and I’m down to 150.
That’s down from 157 when I started this high-fat low-carb diet plan, just under a month ago on December 18.
Not bad!
I haven’t been hungry at all and haven’t had any cravings for refined sugar or starches. I think it’s due to the fact that I am eating a high percentage of fat (mostly saturated) and am consuming lots of fermented foods.
I think the probiotics help quell the cravings. It’s the yeast overgrowth in your gut that CRAVES flour, starches, and sugar. Oh, and parasites crave those things, too. (Ugh, I’ve been reading about them lately after I watched Dr. Oz talking about them on Oprah. Disgusting! Did I mention that I’m going to do a parasite cleanse?)
Anyway, I think this is one of the reasons most Americans can’t lose weight. Most of us have an overgrowth of yeast in our gut because we don’t have enough good bacteria. And we keep feeding the yeast with sugar and white flour.
We can’t help it — white sugar (and high fructose corn syrup) and flour is in everything! Pizza, pasta, bread, burritos, hamburgers, sodas, Chinese food, anything fried… it’s in almost everything we eat! And the more we eat, the more it feeds the yeast. The more yeast, the harder it is for our good bacteria to stay alive.
And we’re also unintentionally doing all kinds of things to kill off our good bacteria: taking antibiotics, taking birth control pills, drinking chlorinated water, etc.
I think this is also why kids crave sugar and carbs. They are like hard-core addicts demanding their Mac & Cheese and chicken nuggets and candy and pancakes and white bread. It’s because they have huge communities of yeast in their guts screaming “FEED ME, SEYMOUR!”
What’s the solution? Fermented foods. Kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, homemade sourdough bread, beet kvass, yogurt, creme fraiche, cultured raw butter, homemade mayonnaise (made with whey).
Pick your poison — better yet, eat a variety of these things every day. In order to beat the yeast, the good bacteria in your gut needs to colonize. The more varieties of strains you have, the better.
I’m really excited! Yesterday I got my delivery from GEM Cultures.
Here are the cultures I got and what they are used for:
1. Kombucha - This is a symbiotic mixture of yeasts and Bacterium xylinium (a relative of the vinegar bacterium). People all over the world (Germany, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, Japan, Indonesia, China, and Brazil) have been using this culture for centuries to make kombucha tea, known by many other names including teeschwamm, wunderpilz, hongo, and cajnif.
Kombucha is essentially fermented black tea and white sugar. The yeast and bacteria eat the sugar and breaks down all the bad stuff and turns it into something wonderful. A light, sparkling (naturally carbonated) drink comparable to a light wine or apple cider — with virtually no alcohol and no caffeine. Not only is it delicious (and a great substitute for soda pop or iced tea), it is hailed as one of the healthiest drinks on the planet.
What makes it so healthy? It’s chock full of enzymes, probiotics, a full range of B-vitamins, and glucuronic acid which the body uses to detoxify the cells and the liver. People claim that kombucha has helped them with everything from cancer to carpal tunnel to hangovers. All this for around 50 cents a gallon!
Why spend money on tons of supplements? Just throw out that nasty chemical-laden Diet Coke in your fridge and start brewing kombucha.
2. Rye Sourdough Starter - This is a truly natural bread leaven that has been around for thousands of years (since the Egyptians). Like kombucha, it’s a symbiotic collection of yeasts and friendly bacteria that digest sugars and create acids.
The starter is used to make, you guessed it, real sourdough bread (not the “faux” kind made from commercial yeast). Not only does it taste a lot better, it’s so much healthier for you, particularly if it’s made from whole grains.
Why is naturally leavened whole grain bread better for you? It’s all about absorption of minerals.
In the process of making sourdough bread, during the rising time (called proofing), bran in the flour is broken down, releasing nutrients into the dough. In particular, the phytic acid (phytin) in grain needs to be 90% neutralized in order for the minerals, concentrated in the bran, to be absorbed by the human body. According to the experiments done in Belgium, phytin can be neutralized by natural bacterial action and to a lesser extent, by baking. In naturally leavened bread, the combination eliminates all phytin, while in yeasted bread about 90% remains.
But that’s not all! Real sourdough bread is also more digestible and has more amino acids and active enzymes.
Furthermore, with sourdough bread, complex carbohydrates are broken down into more digestible simple sugars and protein is broken down into amino acids. Enzymes develop during proofing which are not lost in baking since the center of the loaf remains at a lower temperature than the crust.
Source: Facts About Naturally Leavened Sourdough Bread
3. Kefir - Kefir is a tart and tangy cultured milk drink that originated in Eastern Europe. Again, it’s a mixture of bacteria and yeasts.
You can drink kefir straight or strain it and add herbs and garlic to make it into soft cheese. You can substitute plain kefir cheese for ricotta in recipes. It contains probiotics, B vitamins, amino acids.
Similar to yogurt, kefir has many health benefits as it greatly improves digestion. I’ve also used it on my baby’s diaper rash. It’s also one of the best baby foods!
Kefir vs. Yogurt:
While both Kefir and yogurt are cultured milk products, they contain different types of beneficial bacteria. Yogurt contains transient beneficial bacteria that keep your digestive system clean and provide food for the friendly bacteria that already are present. Kefir actually helps to colonize your intestinal tract — a feat that yogurt cannot match.
Additionally, Kefir contains several major strains of friendly bacteria not commonly found in yogurt: Lactobacillus Caucasus, Leuconostoc, Acetobacter species, and Streptococcus species. It also contains beneficial yeasts, such as Saccharomyces Kefir and Torula Kefir, which help balance the intestinal flora, including promotion of beneficial yeast in the body by penetrating the mucosal lining. They form a virtual SWAT team that housecleans and helps strengthen the intestines.
Kefir’s active yeast and bacteria may provide more nutritive value than yogurt by helping digest the foods that you eat and by keeping the colon environment clean and healthy. The curd size of Kefir is smaller than yogurt, so it’s also easier to digest, making it an ideal food for babies**, the elderly, and anyone with digestive health concerns.
Source: Mercola
4. Fil Mjolk - Fil Mjolk is a Swedish cultured milk drink. Unlike kefir, it is not tart but rather clean and mild, similar to buttermilk. In Sweden, they eat it like yogurt every morning. It has all the same health benefits of the above listed foods.
You can also make salad dressing with it, vegetable dips, and other things. If you add this culture to cream, you can make your own creme fraiche, or cultured sour cream. Again, it makes a great baby food.
It should also be noted that all of the above foods and drinks improve digestion and therefore improve immunity.
Fermented foods used to be a mainstay of our diet in every culture around the world. Now they have practically disappeared because everything is pasteurized and modernized.
Long ago, food preservation was accomplished through lacto-fermentation, a process that adds a host of beneficial micro-organisms to food. This makes them easier to digest , increasing the healthy flora in our intestinal tracts.
Because fermentation is an inconsistent process, commercial food processors developed techniques like pasteurization — a method that literally destroys dozens of precious enzymes — to help standardize more consistent yields.
Sadly, I believe that modern culture has sacrificed many of the advantages of traditionally fermented healthy foods for faster and cheaper methods of mass production. In my opinion, our immunity and digestive health have been overlooked. I believe that it’s time to return to the health-promoting foods of our past.
Source: Mercola
Oh, and you know what else is great about fermented foods? They are the gift that keeps giving. These cultures actually reproduce and create more cultures. You can keep using them over and over. Talk about economical! (Another reason the food industry wants no part of them! They can’t make money on something you buy once.)
PS: If you don’t currently have access to raw milk, fermenting pasteurized milk (from a good source, preferably from an organic and grass-fed dairy) is the next best thing.
Someone on the LiveJournal natural living community posted this fascinating and miraculous story about kefir, the fermented dairy drink:
After my first batch of kefir, I got a period for the first time in a couple of years. I was stunned. I thought it had to be the kefir because that was the only thing that had changed.
Then about a month later, my body started feeling like it was trying very hard to have a period but couldn’t. I had headaches and fever-like symptoms coupled with what I can only describe as a very anxious, tense body for a week and a half. One night I woke up in the middle of the night after having night sweats. The feeling that woke me was that feeling you get when a fever breaks. I had started my period.
The next month, when I felt the fever-like symptoms coming on, I started drinking kefir right away. Sure enough, my period came on without a struggle soon afterward. I starting drinking the kefir every day. It kept getting easier for my body to have a period with each cycle, and now I’m cycling normally.
I later reread the section in the The Body Ecology Diet book about kefir and thought, “I’ll be damned.” It states right there in the book that some women find their periods come back when they start drinking the kefir! Strangely enough, that had gone by me the first time I read the book. (Well, there’s a lot of information in there.)
…it’s one of the reasons I’m so devoted to the principles of this diet (that and seeing my autoimmune problems back off, which was my main goal, and my hormones start to balance). Prior to getting my period back, I’d been doing the basic diet for a few months, without the probiotic foods. Prior to that was the processed foods nightmare, which went through college, when I didn’t know any better.
I was on a lot of antibiotics when I was a kid (for ear infections) and some when I was in college. I also took birth control pills for several years to regulate my periods, not knowing that would make things worse.
I’m 29 now. I had an awful bout of hives in high school that “experts” couldn’t diagnose. The hives went away on their own after a hellish year. When I was 24-25, they came back in force with my thyroid crash, when my autoimmune thyroid problem came on me strong — so bad my hair was thinning and eyes were sensitive to light. I had chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, you name it.
Long story short, I connected the hives to poor digestion and cured them with digestive enzymes. Since the hives and autoimmune thyroid had come at the same time, I began to think digestion was the root of all of it. I went to see a colon hydrotherapist who teaches Body Ecology at her clinic. I never looked back. This knowledgeable woman confirmed my suspicions, and I just knew Body Ecology would help me heal.
Amazing, eh?
It’s sad that medical doctors are constantly putting women on the birth control pill to regulate their cycles. The birth control pill is one of the things that messes up your intestinal flora!
It never made sense to me. Why should you have to take a pill to regulate something that should be a natural human function?!
Here’s an article on why you should avoid the birth control pill:
Just Say No to Birth Control Pills
Oh and by the way, the kefir available at the health food store is NOT the same as the stuff you make yourself.
If you want to make your own kefir, here is a site with good information:
I bought my kefir grains here:
Christmas is over.
We are still on vacation, though, visiting family. It’s cold in Seattle, but it’s wonderful to be with our family.
I’m thinking about goals for the new year.
1. My first goal is to lose the extra 30 pounds of baby weight by her one-year birthday, April 13th.
2. I also want to get all my finances and paperwork in order (nothing short of monumental).
3. And get out of debt. This one is totally do-able. (I mean for all my credit card debt. The student loans don’t count.) And once I’m out of debt, I get to start investing in real estate, which I am really excited about.
4. Spring cleaning — I want to sell all of the accumulated junk in the garage on eBay and the like.
Those are the main things. I have lots of other smaller goals. Like expanding my vegetable and herb garden and composting and making more of my household cleaners…
Here is my question to you… Do you have any New Year’s resolutions that are related to your health and the environment? No?
Maybe you could add one or two. Here are some simple things you can do that would make healthy and/or green resolutions for 2008…
1. Stop eating high fructose syrup. It’s industrial corn soaked in battery acid. Read the labels and stop eating this.
2. Use cloth shopping bags. You can get them for a coupla bucks at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. I take them with me everywhere in my car these days — and I even use them at Target.
3. Stop eating soy or vegetable oil. It causes heart disease and cancer. Cook with butter, lard, coconut oil, palm oil, and/or olive oil (make sure it’s real olive oil — not the faux olive oil you buy at Costco or Trader Joe’s).
4. Start taking probiotics. Take a supplement. Drink raw milk. Make your own kombucha or kefir or kvass or sauerkraut.
5. Use cloth diapers. It’s really not so hard. I made the switch; so can you. If you don’t know how to do it, email me and I’ll post all the tricks.
6. Limit bread and refined flour. If you want bread, eat any of the following kinds:
whole grain (like Mestemacher German rye breads: http://www.germandeli.com/mebr.html)
sprouted (like Ezekiel or Alvarado St. Bakery)
REAL sourdough bread
best of all, freshly milled, soaked and sprouted homemade whole grain bread.
7. Eat grass-fed beef and dairy products. Grain-fed cows are sickly and pumped full of antibiotics. Grass-fed cows live 3-4 times longer and live happy, full lives.
8. Eat raw dairy products — NOT pasteurized! Pasteurization exists mostly to mask bad milk from unhealthy cows. Buy raw dairy products from trusted dairy farms. They are healthier and much more nutritious, since they have all the enzymes and probiotics intact.
9. Make your own cleaning products. All you need is Borax, baking soda, white vinegar, some Dr. Bronner’s, some essential oils, and some citric acid. If you don’t want to make your own, buy the healthy kind at Whole Foods.
10. Try to buy local. Is it really necessary to buy that foodstuff that comes from New Jersey when you live in San Diego? Think about all the miles traveled, all the wasted gas and energy. Buy local for the environment.
11. Join a CSA. It’s great to buy organic produce but when you join a CSA, you are actually making a pledge to the farm. Letting them know that they can count on you to support them for the next season. I believe everyone in America should be supporting a local farm through a CSA subscription. To find a CSA near you, go to http://www.localharvest.org.
12. Start taking cod liver oil. Dr. Oz called it the supplement that everyone should take. I agree. Not only does it prevent osteoporosis but it also prevents — and even reverses — cavities. I started my baby on cod liver oil when she was 5 months old. (Not all cod liver oil is the same. We buy ours here: http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/)
13. Avoid genetically modified foods. Yes, this means most packaged and processed foods. You should give them up anyway because most of them contain soy oil and high fructose corn syrup and other toxic crap you don’t want in your body.
14. Buy non-Monsanto seeds. See my blogroll to the right for sources of seeds that are not tampered with by Monsanto.
15. Eat more organ meats. Don’t like liver and onions? Have some foie gras. Or take cod liver oil and desiccated liver tablets. But make sure you get your organs.
16. Stop eating soy. It’s an endocrine distrupter and seriously messes up your thyroid. It can make you infertile. Stop now.
17. Make bone broths. Beef broth, chicken broth, fish broth. Simmer in a big stockpot and freeze for later use. This is one of the healthiest things you can do.
18. Reuse and recycle. Don’t throw away plastic yogurt containers. Or glass mayonnaise jars. Or paper bags. Reuse them for something else. And recycle everything you can.
19. Stop brushing with toothpaste. The fluoride and glycerin are giving you cavities. Use Tooth Soap or Dr. Bronner’s — or sea salt.
20. Filter your water using a reverse-osmosis water filtering system.
Enough for now. That should give you some ideas. (The ones on this list that I have not done yet I am committed to doing in the new year.)
Seth was diagnosed with leaky gut a few months ago. He has had a number of symptoms including constant intestinal and digestive problems, an inability to lose weight, inability to concentrate, etc. etc.
Leaky gut is a condition in which your digestive tract is damaged and weakened by a lack of good bacteria.
Good bacteria in the gut kill off toxins. When you don’t have enough, you get an overgrowth of yeast, also known as candida albicans.
I had this condition 15 years ago, when I was in my mind-twenties. I figured it out by putting all the pieces of the puzzle together — since doctors had no idea what was going on with me.
My symptoms were:
Arthritis in my knees, spreading to my hands and elbows
Bad respiratory allergies (constant sneezing, itching, runny nose, watery eyes)
Brain fog, dizziness
Constant fatigue
Thrush (a white coating on the tongue)
Bloating and slight weight gain
Constant cravings for refined carbs, sugar, and alcohol
Sores that would not heal — including open sores inside my nose
Continual sinus infections and other illnesses due to a weakened immune system
I believe what caused the yeast overgrowth was a combination of things:
Repeated rounds of broad-spectrum antibiotics as a child
Repeated rounds of broad-spectrum antibiotics as an adult for my constant sinus infections (caused by the candida!)
Vaccines (I had a recent round when I went back to college)
Eating dead foods lacking in probiotics and enzymes (pasteurized milk and dairy products, no lacto-fermented foods, a lack of raw fruits and vegetables)
Eating meats and dairy full of antibiotics
The birth control pill (I was only on it for a short time in my early 20s but I think it added to the mix)
It took me a while and a lot of research to figure out that it was the candida causing all my symptoms. Western doctors advised me to take pain medication for my arthritis and allergy medication for my sinus problems. They were only interested in treating my symptoms.
I ended up going on a wheat-free sugar-free diet. I was taking anti-fungals like garlic supplements and I was taking high doses of pharmaceutical grade probiotics (prescribed by my chiropractor-nutritionist), as well as a variety of nutritional supplements like bovine adrenal gland and thymus gland to strengthen my immune system.
Within a matter of a few months, I was 90% better and symptom-free. I stayed on the diet and the supplements for a few years until I was completely better — and could eat whatever I wanted with no symptoms. Cake, candy, bread, ice cream — no problem.
It wasn’t until I got on the birth control pill again this summer (prescribed by my doctor after the baby was born) that I started experiencing symptoms again. The biggest clue were the open sores on the inside of my nose. One day I read that the birth control pill contributes to candida — I stopped taking it immediately. I guess I was on it for a few months. Weeks after I stopped taking it, I still had the sores. And my allergies were back!
I tried taking some probiotics I got at the health food store. I’ve also been drinking tons of raw milk and eating lots of lacto-fermented foods. But nothing was helping. Months went by and I still had the sores.
Three days ago I started taking ThreeLac, which I ordered on the internet. I had read about it in Jenny McCarthy’s book, Louder Than Words. It’s what she used to help reverse her son’s autism.
Three days and guess what? Allergies and sores — GONE.
Unbelievable, eh?
Meanwhile, Seth is going through a massive detox. For the past three days since we started the ThreeLac, he is suffering from major yeast die-off. Flu-like symptoms: sneezing, achey muscles, severe fatigue, chills, vomiting.
This happened to me the first time I got over candida — it lasted a couple of weeks.
We reduced his dosage — from 1 packet daily to 1/4 packet. Hopefully it will be a little easier for him.
I’ll keep you posted on our progress.
I woke up with a sore throat this morning. A friend with a cold came over yesterday. She figured she was past being contagious but I guess not.
It could have been her, it could have been someone else I caught it from. Doesn’t matter. This is a sign though that I need to get healthier.
The thing is, I’m very susceptible to getting sick right now. My immune system is compromised — obviously more than I realized. Ever since my OB-GYN put me on the birth control pill. Which I promptly stopped taking a couple of months later when I read that the birth control pill causes candida.
You see, I had really bad candida when I was in my mid-twenties. It was from all the antibiotics I got as a child. I had recurring strep throat, and every time I got it, they gave me more antibiotics.
Candida is an overgrowth of yeast in the digestive tract and it is caused by a lack of good bacteria. The good bacteria normally fight of the yeast and other “bad” bacteria. If you don’t have enough good bacteria in your gut, the yeast grows out of control. Antibiotics kill all the bacteria in your gut — which causes candida.
I guess the birth control pill does the same thing. I stopped taking it back in September. I think I only took it for about three months. That’s long enough to cause an overgrowth of yeast. I have sores in my nose that won’t heal — same thing I had when I had candida in my twenties.
Obviously with a shortage of good bacteria, you are more susceptible to getting sick. You don’t have the good guys to help you fight off the bugs.
The ironic thing is, when people get sick, they go to the doctor and the first thing they do is give you an antibiotic!
We live in a backwards upside-down society.
And most of us are living these days with a chronic shortage of good bacteria. Jenny McCarthy (as well as Donna Gates of the Body Ecology Diet, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, and many others) believe that this is what causes autism. I think there are tons of diseases and disorders that can be traced to a lack of probiotics in the digestive tract.
What to do? How do you fight a cold or a flu?
Do what your grandma would have done. Chicken soup.
And I’m not talking about Campbell’s from a can. That stuff is useless. Plus it’s full of MSG.
You need real homemade bone broth. Bones from animals (poultry, beef, bison or fish) that are simmered in water for 8-24 hours. With a little sea salt and parsley for minerals.
I could try to list all the benefits of broth here but it would take too long. Just read this: http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/brothisbeautiful.html
In addition to bone broth, animal organs are one of the best things you can eat. When I had candida in my twenties, I was working with a chiropractor-nutritionist. She had me on a supplement called Congaplex, which is made from bovine (cow) thymus gland, as well as crushed up bone. The thymus gland is one of the main parts of the immune system in the body.
Anyway, even though my immune system was compromised, I still recovered from the flu in a matter of a few days. Everyone else in my office who caught it was out for WEEKS.
However, I looked up the ingredients in Congaplex and it has yucky stuff like soy lecithin (sludge waste product from industrial soybeans). Here is a better product: http://www.drrons.com/organ-delight.htm I think I will order some to help me improve my immune function. I need to get Seth on this, too.
I don’t happen to have any bovine thymus gland on hand, but I do have frozen liver. Liver is chock-full of B vitamins, which help to build and repair immune cells in the body.
The best way to eat liver is raw. You can freeze it for 14 days (this destroys any pathogens) then simply grate it into some milk or broth or put it into fresh vegetable juice.
More information on liver: http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/liver.html
Cod liver oil is another excellent way to take liver. I could go on and on about cod liver oil. It is the one supplement everyone should take. Even Dr. Oz on Oprah said so!
Remember, our grandmothers were always telling us to eat our liver and take cod liver oil.
Another thing that helps is coconut oil. It is antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal and helps to support the immune system. You can put it in a smoothie and also use it as a lotion. The pores in your skin absorb the nutrients. (http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/nutrition/coconut.htm)
I am going to start taking a high dose of a quality probiotics supplement to battle my candida. I ordered some ThreeLac which is what Jenny McCarthy used to help her son. Regular probiotics supplements you get in the store are not effective on candida because they are only a “maintenance” dose. With candida, you have to bring in the big guns.
However, I think I’m also going to order some Bio-Kult. This is the probiotic developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. She reversed her son’s autism as well. Here is their story: http://www.bio-kult.com/nicholas.html
Unfortunately I don’t have any of these yet! My ThreeLac has not come in the mail.
So today I will drink a quart of colostrum kefir (from Organic Pastures — chock full of probiotics). Colostrum is the cow’s first milk which is loaded with antibodies. Kefir is fermented milk.
I am drinking a big glass right now. I added a heaping tablespoon of some over-the-counter probiotics I got at the health food store, as well as some coconut oil. I also just took my cod liver oil.
I am also going to drink at least a quart of chicken stock and take my liver supplements. I have some frozen liver I can also grate into a glass of freshly juiced fruits and vegetables. I have some kale here, as well as tomatoes, broccoli, beets, carrots and strawberries. All high in antioxidants. I know, sounds like a nasty drink but I bet it will taste better than a V-8.
The highest ranking fruits and vegetables are prunes, raisins, berries, oranges, pink grapefruit, grapes, kiwi, spinach, kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, beets, red peppers, carrots and tomatoes.
(http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29448.asp)
If I feel well enough, I may have to make a trip over to Rawesome today to get some more high-antioxidant fruits, veggies and more colostrum and kefir. I need to stock up on eggs anyway. (They are only open today and Saturday.)
Oooh! I also have my beet kvass. I should try to drink a quart of that as well. Beet kvass is a lacto-fermented beverage that is super high in antioxidants as well as probiotics. All you do is cut up 6 medium sized beets, put them in a gallon of pure filtered water with a little sea salt and some homemade whey. Then you let it sit on the counter for a few days before you move it into the fridge.
Apparently foods that are lacto-fermented have a LOT more vitamins. The fermentation helps increase the vitamins. Here is an article on kvass: http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/kvass.html
I will also drink lots of hot tea with lemon, and do a steam bath. As recommended by Alla, our nanny, who just arrived. The steam bath helps you detoxify.
And rest of course.
I’m actually glad this happened. When you get a cold, it’s just a sign that your body is fighting. And this tells me my immune system is compromised. Now I will take the steps I need to take to strengthen it.
I will let you know how I recover.
This is one of the most fascinating blog posts I have ever read:
Termites Don’t Eat Healthy Trees
“The inner ecosystem of the body is the prime determinant in disease risk.”
This makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
I love the part about his trip to the Himalayas — how the more sickly people were bitten by leeches and the healthier, sturdier people were not.
I also really like his explanation of cancer. The toxins and waste matter in the body have nowhere else to go. So they try to localize — into tumors. Gosh, doesn't that make sense to you? It does to me.
Allopathic (Western medicine) has never made sense to me. OK, sure, having a C-section was helpful when my baby was breech. I do appreciate Western medicine during those times when surgery is required.
It's just that the standard protocol of suppressing and covering up symptoms instead of treating the cause DOES NOT WORK.
Which leads one to ask the question — logically, how would injecting vaccines into nutritionally depleted, sickly kids with weak immune systems and very few helpful bacteria in their guts help make their immune systems stronger? It doesn't make any sense.
Many parents with autistic kids have been speaking out about the lack of good bacteria in their kids' digestive tracts. These kids tend to be allergic to dairy and wheat (casein and gluten). Uh, for the most part that's pasteurized dairy and refined flour, by the way. I have read the testimony of some parents who say their autistic children tolerate raw milk just fine.
I wonder it all of this relates to the phenomenon of all these kids being allergic to peanuts. I wonder if they had more good bacteria in their gut, they might not be allergic to everything.
Long day of meetings — but it was very interesting and fun.
I still managed to make a good dinner:
Chicken sausage cooked in coconut oil (in a seasoned cast iron pan)
Homemade sauerkraut!
Fresh spinach salad with heirloom tomato, grated carrot, hard-boiled egg and gorgonzola with vinaigrette
Organic rose wine
Everything was organic — even the coconut and olive oil. I seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
The sauerkraut was really good. Although I think it needs to ferment a bit longer. I let it sit for just over a week. It was good — but I think another week will make it even better.
I'm also in the process of lacto-fermenting some dill pickles and orange marmalade. Lacto-fermentation involves using whey. I'll let you know how those turn out. The pickles probably won't be ready till December — I have heard that they take about a month. Not sure about the marmalade.
Oh and by the way, lacto-fermentation is really really good for you — due to the probiotics. Pretty much everything you buy in the store is pasteurized — which means all the good enzymes and probiotics have been destroyed.
OK, it's time for bed now. Glass of milk and then bed.
A short interview with food writer, Nina Planck:
I'm going to buy her book.
We are going to the farmer's market today in Hollywood. I want to find a good local source for organic pastured eggs, plus I want to buy some pickling cucumbers to make my own pickles. At the Weston Price chapter meeting last week, we had a fermented foods potluck and our chapter leader brought pickles she had canned herself. They were the BEST pickles I ever tasted!!! I did a taste test with hers against Bubbe's Pickles. There was no comparison. The Bubbe's Pickles were really rubbery and tasted weird. The homemade pickles were crunchy, tart and delicious. Like no storebought pickles I've ever tasted.
She said that she got the recipe from a book called “Joy of Pickling”. She also said that grape leaves are the secret. When asked where she gets her fresh grape leaves, she said that you can get them at the farmer's market from certain vendors. They don't advertise — you have to ask.
On the National Center for Food Preservation website, it says:
Grape leaves contain a substance that inhibits the enzymes that make pickles soft. However, removing the blossom ends (the source of undesirable enzymes) will make the addition of grape leaves unnecessary
Interesting! I will have to try that and see if it actually works. A lot easier than finding organic grape leaves.
Other than the addition of grape leaves, she used the recipe from Sally Fallon's “Nourishing Traditions”:
4-5 organic pickling cucumbers
1 TBS mustard seeds
2 TBS fresh organic dill
1 TBS sea salt
4 TBS homemade whey
1 cup filtered water
All you do is wash the cucumbers and put everything in a wide-mouth mason jar, add filtered water as necessary — liquid should be at least one inch from the top of the jar. Cover and let sit unrefridgerated for 3 days — then move to fridge.
Nourishing Traditions says it takes 3 days a month to make pickles but my chapter leader said it takes a month for pickles and at least a week for sauerkraut. I'm going to start my sauerkraut today, and if I get the stuff for pickles, I'll start them too.
Not incidentally, it is important to use real homemade whey. Lots of people make pickles with just salt or with vinegar.
“Regular” pickles are soaked in vinegar and sealed in sterile jars via a hot-water bath. The vinegar, heat and resulting vacuum seal kill off potentially dangerous bacteria and keep the contents safe against new growth. Those who enjoy working under pressure can also preserve produce — minus the vinegar — in a pressure canner. The pressure causes mass germicide by bringing the container's temperature above the boiling point.
(From http://www.sevendaysvt.com/food/food-features/2007/totally-pickled.html)
It is much better to make “lacto-fermeted” pickles and sauerkraut with real homemade whey (the recipe for making whey and cream cheese is also in Nourishing Traditions — you can also search my blog; I posted it). Homemade whey (*not* whey powder from health food stores) made from yogurt or raw milk contains probiotics which not only aid digestion and promote immunity, they also, amazingly, INCREASE the vitamins in food.
I think fermentation with salt (regardless of whey) increases vitamins, but I think using the whey includes the live cultures which are good for the gut and promote immunity (the “good” bacteria that kill of the “bad” bacteria in your intestines).
Here are some excerpts from an article about the benefits of fermenting foods:
The process probably first arose as a way to preserve foods. In the 18th century, the English explorer Captain Cook loaded 60 barrels of sauerkraut onto his ship for a 27-month voyage, and not one sailor came down with scurvy, an ascorbic acid (vitamin C) deficiency in which the muscles become weak and the gums turn soft and spongy. It turns out that fermentation increases cabbage's already naturally
