What is fermentation?
It is a used as a food preservation process where bacteria and yeasts break down sugars. Fermented foods are a great source of probiotics because they contain live bacteria (UMass Chan Medical School).
Why incorporate them into our daily lives?
Not only do fermented foods boost the food's shelf life and nutritional value, but they can also give your body a dose of healthy probiotics, which are live microorganisms that are crucial to healthy digestion.
Fermented foods have probiotics, which is crucial for digestion.
Probiotics can restore normal microbial balance and, therefore, have potential, although not conclusively or scientifically proven, role in treating and preventing anxiety and depression.
What foods are fermented?
Through the process of fermentation of dairy products, the bacteria help break down the lactose (a sugar), making fermented dairy foods such as kefir, yogurt, and cottage cheese (be sure to choose the fermented with active cultures!) acceptable for individuals with lactose intolerance.
Live cultures are found in not only yogurt and a yogurt-like drink called kefir but also in Korean pickled vegetables called kimchi, sauerkraut, and some pickles.
Yogurt, kimchi and kombucha are examples of organic fermented foods/drinks.
Not all fermented foods are created equal.
However, not all fermented foods are created equal. Some contain live microbes, and those that do not contain live microbes when consumed are sourdough bread, tempeh, alcohol, such as beer and wine, and chocolate. Living cultures cannot survive confident cooking and heating processes, so although they are delicious, those foods are not a source of live microbes. The jars of pickles you can buy off the shelf at the supermarket are sometimes pickled using vinegar and not the natural fermentation process using live organisms, which means they don't contain probiotics.
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Fermented Foods To Incorporate:
Kefir
Plain Yogurt
Dry Curd Cottage Cheese, Farmer’s Cheese, or fermented cottage cheese
Certain aged cheeses (check label for live and active cultures)
Fermented Vegetables
Tempeh (choose gluten-free)
Miso (refrigerated)
Pickles (in salt, not vinegar)
Sauerkraut (choose refrigerated)
Kimchi
Kombucha (no sugar)
Other probiotic drinks (no sugar), like beet Kvass, apple cider
Various other cultured products
You can also easily make fermented vegetables, such as sauerkraut, at home!
Try incorporating at least one serving of one or more of the fermented foods below to support your gut health. When cooking fermented foods, add them as a topping or mix them in at the end to avoid killing the beneficial probiotics with high heat.
Here is a short video from TED-Ed on how our food affects our gut.
Conclusion
Fermented foods can affect the gut microbiome in the short and long term and should be considered an essential element of the human diet.
Summary
There is no magic formula for long-term, sustainable weight loss.
Balance. Portion control. Keep nutrition simple. Eat Smart. Eat Healthy. 🌱 🌾 🌿
Personally
I eat a high-fiber, mostly plant-based 🌱 diet, no red meat, drink 4 liters of water a day, exercise, and am focused on keeping nutrition simple. I am sharing what works for me and what I routinely recommend to my patients.
"Balance. Portion control. Keep nutrition simple. Eat Smart. Eat Healthy. 🌱 🌾 🌿"
Gut Health ➕ Patient Advocacy with Navigation ➕ Life Balance
If you were looking for information about Private Healthcare Navigation and Patient Advocacy from Executive Health NavigationClick here for Executive Health Navigation✴ Connect with Dr. Dooreck on LinkedIn, where he shares information on Health, Diet, Nutrition, Exercise, Lifestyle, and Balance.
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