Holistic Nutrition Bytes--San Francisco Nutrition Consultation » probiotics

Click Here for Our FREE Tele-Seminar on Digestive Issues

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:41:53 +0000

Did you miss our live call tonight? If you have heartburn, bloating, candida, or suffer from constipation, click this link for a free tele-seminar with holistic nutritionists Karen Diggs and myself. We discuss problems & solutions:

http://tinyurl.com/yguada8

The Coconut Kefir Experiment

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:17:33 +0000

Kefir is a fermented beverage (usually made with milk) that is slightly tangy and offers millions more gut-friendly probiotics than yogurt. Probiotics help to recolonize your intestines with good bacteria, and they keep the bad bacteria that may cause yeast infections or sugar cravings in check. If you drink it several times a day, it can heal digestive woes, cut down on sugar cravings, reduce gas/bloating, curb appetite, and cleanse the body and digestive tract.

Most of the kefir you’ll see in stores is made by adding kefir culture (often called kefir grains or kefir starter) to slightly heated milk and letting it ferment at room temp for about 24-36 hours. Fermented beverages are easier to digest, and people who are sensitive to dairy may be able to tolerate them. But if you have a dairy allergy, you should avoid dairy kefir. It’s a shame, really, because kefir is teeming with those beneficial probiotics and is a better choice than yogurt for this reason, and it has less added sugar in most cases.

Recently I’ve seen coconut milk kefir cropping up in the stores. I tried it, and it’s good enough, but still has added sugar to it. Not much, but some, and some other junk like carageenan too. So, I decided to make my own using coconut water.

Coconut water comes from young green coconuts (not the brown and hairy ones) and is an excellent beverage. It is high in essential minerals and has the same Ph balance as your blood, so it is alkalinizing and has a lot of potassium and magnesium, excellent after exercise or to prevent dehydration. It offers the highest source of electrolytes you can get. Coconut water is your elixir if you’re hung over, providing you with vital nutrients and minerals to rejuvenate you after a night of drinking, or even a couple of drinks, which is enough to really disrupt your body chemistry.

ANYWAY. I decided to take matters in my own hands and produce my own kefir using coconut water instead of coconut milk, because of coconut water’s excellent nutritional profile. I read up on the process: purchase kefir grains or kefir starter, crack open 4-5 young coconuts and extract juice, heat to 95 degrees, pour in kefir, let ferment at 75 degrees for about 48 hours. Easy enough.

A couple things here. I am not particularly up for taking a machete to 5 young coconuts, so I bought the boxed coconut water, which is contraindicated because it doesn’t ferment as well. The fresh young coconut water is pretty sweet, so the sugars feed the culture for it to ferment, and during this process, the beneficial probiotics are born. I read that you can add a little table sugar to the boxed coconut water to make up for that, which I did. I then heated it to about 95 degrees (which, when applied to the inside of your wrist, feels like body temp) and poured in the grains, poured it all into a big glass jar (about a liter’s worth of liquid), covered it with cloth and waited.

I was expecting an effervescent, sour beverage, kind of like kombucha. After about 36 hours, it smelled yeasty, like bread, an indication that it was doing what it’s supposed to do, but it was still sweet. Properly fermented, it should be a bit sour. I waited longer. And longer. Bear in mind that kefir is finicky: if you overheat it, you can kill the kefir starter and nothing will happen. If the room isn’t 75 degrees, it won’t be happy and won’t ferment properly. Both of these could have been the case in my experiment. After about 60 hours, I sampled again and it tasted….. like nothing, really. Not sweet, not sour, but kind of like fermented water. Not unpleasant, but I’m not exactly sure if it really turned out. Plus, it should be clear and mine has a lot of milky residue in it, like kombucha.

Here is what I learned: it pays to get a good kefir starter. Get one from a friend, or buy the expensive one. I saw a Body Ecology starter for $25 but bought the boxed kefir grains for my first attempt. May go back and buy expensive on. Make sure you don’t heat over 95 or 100 degrees. Make sure it sits in 75 degree room, next to window, on top of fridge, whatever.

You can make kefir from almost anything: water, milk, juice, coconut milk, coconut water. But it is picky. I’ll try again and report back. I’d love to hear from any kefir experts out there if you have any tips! It’s great to be able to make your own so you can control what’s in it!

Lose Those Last 5-10 Pounds

admin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:56:28 +0000

Losing weight is hard. But look at all your options! Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Slim Fast, countless ephedrine-fueled diet pills, The Special K diet (replace 2 meals with special K cereal. Of course you’ll lose weight–you’re only consuming about 1200 calories daily). The main thing these diets have in common is that they do not address the underlying reason behind the weight gain or inability to shed weight. And they do not change your habits; they merely offer a magic pill or 3 highly refined meals delivered to your door (what happens when you go off the meals, in most cases? You can guess).

The math is pretty easy: you’ll lose weight if you eat less and exercise more, taking in fewer calories than you are burning. But the physiology isn’t always that easy. You may find it difficult to lose weight if you are overly stressed and have high cortisol, low thyroid hormone, bad bacteria overgrowth in your gut, or too many toxins stored in the body from your environment, lifestyle, or food supply. Or you may hit a plateau, meaning you can’t lose those 5-10 pounds. Here are a few tips.

1. Sorry, but you have to exercise. With that said, change up your routine so that your body doesn’t get used to your exercise pattern. Always integrate strength training into your routine for 2-3 days a week–it boosts metabolism and increases bone density. Interval training is very effective. Instead of running 5 miles, try sprinting for 1 minute and jogging for 2 in intervals. Do this only for 30 minutes, and your performance will increase dramatically over jogging at the same pace for an hour. Plus, long term jogging is extremely hard on the joints.

2. Reduce stress. If you have high or low cortisol due to chronic stress, you will have low thyroid hormone, so no matter what you’re doing, you won’t lose weight. Take time each day for meditation/deep breathing/yoga/whatever relaxes you. Consider adaptogenic herbs to boost adrenal hormone levels, which will normalize thyroid. Try a combo of ashwaganda, rhodiola, licorice root, schizandra berry. Also try tyrosine to boost thyroid levels naturally.

3. Correct dysbiosis. Dysbiosis is a fancy way of saying your gut is off balance. We have billions of bacteria living in our intestinal tract: some good, some bad. When the bad overtake the good due to poor diet, antibiotic or birth control use, or too much sugar, it wreaks havoc on your body chemistry and can prevent weight loss. Take a high quality full spectrum probiotic, do an herbal digestive cleanse, and eat more probiotic food: cultured vegetables and krauts, miso, kefir, rejuvelac, kombucha.

4. Remove gluten, dairy, soy for 8 weeks. These are the most common allergenic foods, and if you consume foods to which you are sensitive/allergic, it affects everything from hormone balance to gut ecology (see above), sabotaging weight loss efforts. If you’re really feeling adventurous, cut out refined sugar for this period too. You’ll be amazed by how much your energy will increase. Your cells need glucose to function, but too much is stored as fat.

5. Try a 2-3 week liver cleanse. Your body stores toxins in your fat cells to protect your organs (smart!), and when these toxins build up, you cannot shed weight because your body knows when the weight comes off, the toxins will recirculate in the blood stream, and you’ll feel crappy. If you’re very toxic, you’ll feel somewhat crappy on a liver cleanse, but this means it’s working! Eliminate gluten, dairy, soy, alcohol, coffee, and sugar for 2-3 weeks. Eat seasonal, organic whole foods and lots of leafy greens. Ask me about our detox workshops, or click the workshops tab above for more.

Good luck and stay motivated! Don’t weigh yourself every day–only once a week.

Transitioning into Fall (recipe)

admin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:12:08 +0000

Autumn is just around the corner, beginning with the Fall equinox on September 22 this year. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, this season corresponds to the element of metal (acknowledgment) and represents the organs of the lungs, large intestine and the skin, meaning this is the ideal time to take special care of these organs. This phase (metal) means acknowledging and letting go of emotional baggage and unhealthy attachments. This is a great time to plan a colon cleanse and to cleanse and nourish the skin. We are currently offering a holistic cleanse beginning on September 26. You don’t have to live in San Francisco to participate. Click the workshop tab above for more detail.

Autumn means shorter days, longer nights, cooler weather, and slowing down. Autumn is the perfect time for baking, roasting, slow cooking, and making nourishing one-pot meals. Stay healthy during the seasonal transition by keeping your body in harmony. Try skin brushing to stimulate the lymph and detoxify the skin. Take warming epsom salt baths and drink ginger tea to help digestion.

Eat seasonally to assist your body in the transition from summer into fall. This means more root vegetables, more warming foods, more cooked foods. Summer brought us a bounty of stone fruits and berries and raw summer salads. Soon at the market you’ll find winter squash (yams, pumpkin, acorn, butternut, kabocha, buttercup, delicata, spaghetti squash, the list goes on); other root veggies such as parsnips, carrot, turnips, fennel, onions. Also include more brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cooked greens like kale & collards. Apples and pears and figs are around now too –both terrifically high in fiber.

Changes in seasons and weather can wear down your immunity. Did you know the majority of your immune system is in your gut? Keep healthy by taking probiotic supplements. You’ll enhance colon and gut health AND improve your skin. Probiotics improve colon and gut health by keeping you regular, thereby assisting the body in removing toxins. This keeps your skin clear, keeps your weight in check, and improves your immunity. Look for full spectrum probiotic supplements; eat cultured vegetables and fermented dairy for full benefits.

Longer nights mean time to rest and slow down. Drink herbal teas with yarrow for lung health and nettles for minerals to aid the adrenals, prevent fatigue, and keep immunity strong. Here is a delicious autumnal recipe. Easy and delicious. I’ve often sipped it for breakfast topped with extra cinnamon and a dollop of plain yogurt for a warming breakfast.

Autumn Butternut Squash Soup

1 sweet onion, chopped
2 ribs celery
2 carrots
1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and sliced
1 large green apple
2 tsp or so ghee or coconut oil
3 cups (less for thicker soup) vegetable or chicken broth

In a large saucepan, melt ghee or coconut oil and add onion, carrot and celery. Cook 5-10 minutes, until onions are slightly caramelized (add broth to prevent sticking if necessary). Add squash and apples and broth, cook till tender, about 15-20 minutes. Add spices to taste: salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger. Pour into blender and puree till smooth. Top with yogurt or toasted nuts if desired.

Diverticu-what?

admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:36:14 +0000

Diverticulitis. Diverticulosis. What?

Both are conditions of the large intestine (colon) that result from poor diet, low fiber intake, too much processed meat, and/or weak connective tissue. Diverticulosis results from the development of pouches in the colon wall. This alone may or may not produce immediate symptoms, but diverticulitis (-itis always refers to an inflammatory condition) occurs when one or more of these pouches become inflamed or infected due to a food particle or other matter lodged in the pouch. Ouch.

Diverticulitis can be really painful, often causing extreme discomfort on the lower left side of the abdomen. Can also cause nausea, vomiting and other fever-like conditions. It often sends folks to the hospital and after diagnosis, home with antibiotics and a “low residue” diet, i.e. no small particles that may become lodged in the pouches. Surgery may be required.

Let’s discuss. Both conditions occur most often in older people who had a lifelong low fiber intake and overall heavily processed or poor diet, or who suffer from constipation. There is also a genetic component, but I firmly believe that lifestyle can override genetics in this and many cases. The disease is common in the US, Britain, Australia, Canada, and is uncommon in Asia and Africa. Why? Because Asia & Africa have higher fiber diets, tend to consume more whole foods, and consume less refined foods. These 2 areas are both cold spots for colon cancer and other digestive disorders. In North America, we love our processed junk foods, meaning lower fiber, higher sugar, and higher risk of diseases associated directly with diet: diabetes, heart disease, colon cancer. Are we making the connection here that what we eat dictates our overall health status?

The conventional approach is to eat more fiber. Sure, eating more fiber is great, but you must build your system up. Adding fiber all at once can result in painful clogging. So don’t go out and buy some psyllium to add to your juice and think you’re out of the woods.

Diverticulitis is an inflammatory condition, so we want to reduce intestinal inflammation. Step one is to eliminate inflammatory foods: sugar, coffee, alcohol, gluten (the protein in wheat, rye, barley), dairy, and soy. This may sound bland, but it’s not! There is a delicious world of foods waiting for you.

Your diet will include free range meats such as chicken, grass fed beef or buffalo, lamb; wild fish; organic eggs; plenty of good fats with lots of omega 3 fatty acids to reduce inflammation, especially flaxseed oil, but also olive oil, coconut oil, butter (a great healing fat, believe it or not), walnut oil, avocado; starchy veggies such as yams, red potatoes, beets, carrots, other root veggies; and all the non-starchy veggies you can handle. A few examples are cucumbers; leafy greens like spinach, kale, chard; celery; cruciferous: broccoli & cauliflower & cabbage; plenty of garlic, ginger, and onions, etc etc. You can snack on rice crackers, hummus, fruit smoothies, nut butters. You are cutting out all processed, refined foods and switching to a whole foods diet. You’ll get plenty of fiber and good fats to reduce inflammation and to make sure you’re pooping every day. EVERY DAY. At least once.

You’ll drink plenty of herbal teas and green teas. While you’re healing, consider finding these soothing herbs to make a tea to reduce the inflammation: marshmallow root, chamomile, aloe vera (not an herb but you can drink the juice), cat’s claw, slippery elm, peppermint. Try taking 500 mg glutamine per day to help heal the intestinal wall. Also take a probiotic supplement to build up the good bacteria in the gut and foster regularity.

You’ll also want to consult with a practitioner like a nutritionist or naturopath to run a digestive panel. This is a simple take home test where you’ll collect and send off stool samples for testing (sounds as glamorous as it is). Then, depending on what your results show (parasite? pathogen?), you can go after whatever gut invader you may be harboring with various herbs and nutrients that will kill it. This will dramatically reduce inflammation and leaky gut and till allow your intestinal wall to heal fully.

Also, reduce stress (do I sound like a broken record with this phrase). Stress causes inflammation and is linked to flare-ups. Do the best you can. These are big changes, and no one expects you to be perfect. One day at a time!

Allergies and Digestion?

admin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:07:13 +0000

Researchers have reported that consumption of probiotics can alter the immune system response to common causes of allergies. “These data show that probiotic supplements modulate immune responses…and may have the potential to alleviate the severity of symptoms,” Claudio Nicoletti and colleagues at Britain’s Institute of Food Research wrote in a report about the study.

There is suggestion that probiotics help prevent the development of allergies. The small study found that probiotics changed the immune system’s response to grass pollen, a common cause of allergies, and balanced antibodies in a way that might alleviate allergies in those suffering with the condition. “The probiotic strain we tested changed the way the body’s immune cells respond to grass pollen,” said Kamal Ivory, a researcher who worked on the study.

This is not surprising, because nearly 80 percent of your immune system is in your gut. Probiotic bacteria are micro-organisms living in the gut. They must exist in the proper ratio to the “bad” or potentially pathogenic bacteria that also live in the intestinal tract, or dysbiosis can result, causing digestive problems and symptoms. Probiotics also make certain vitamins needed by the body including folic acid, vitamin B6, niacin and vitamin K. Probiotic supplements can be used to restore the ecosystem of the gut after a dose of antibiotics, or to help stablize gut flora. Aside from supplements, you can get probiotics from fermented foods like cultured vegetables and yogurt or drinks like kefir, rejuvelac, or kombucha.

We have several pounds of bacteria in our intestinal tract, and they play a key role in digestion and immune system function. When your gut ecology is out of balance, bad bacteria may overtake the good and lead to illness, weakened immunity, or susceptibility to allergies – food, environment, or seasonal.

You may have unbalanced gut ecology if you experience gas and bloating regularly (more than once a week), have alternating constipation and diarrhea, frequent “indigestion,” or (for women) chronic yeast infections/vaginitis. Get more probiotics in your diet by increasing your consumption of cultured vegetables (krauts) or fermented dairy, or try a full spectrum supplement that contains acidophilus, bifidus, and lactobacillus.

Inflammation

admin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:40:48 +0000

We hear a lot about inflammation. Internally, it can be linked to accelerated aging, heart disease, cancer, irritable bowel and chron’s disease, and arthritis. So what is inflammation?

Think about what happens when you cut your finger. It swells and turns red as your body sends white blood cells to the injury site to prevent foreign invaders from causing infection. The swelling caused by this reaction is inflammation, and it is good, in this instance. But this same low-grade inflammation can occur inside your body, making you susceptible to pain and disease.

A main cause of inflammation is low-grade intestinal infection caused by parasites, yeast overgrowth (candida), fungus, or pathogenic bacteria. Your immune system is constantly fighting these infections, and similar to the reaction you get when you cut your finger, the attack it mounts on these foreign invaders causes inflammation in the gastro-intestinal tract. The bacteria H pylori is a perfect example: this insidious bacteria always causes inflammation in the gut and can lead to heart burn (inflammation in the esophagus) and ulcers. Systemic inflammation is always implicated in cardiovascular disease, and h pylori has been linked to heart disease.

Eating foods to which you are allergic (most often gluten or dairy) can exacerbate this intestinal inflammation and worsen infections or even cause them, because inflammation damages the gut lining, making it more permeable so that viruses and bacteria and parasites have an easier way in.

Another cause of inflammation is stress, of course. Stress causes high cortisol, and high cortisol leads to inflammation. Correcting cortisol lessens the body’s inflammatory response, so its ability to handle inflammation improves. Cortisol is your body’s natural anti-inflammatory hormone, but when stress raises cortisol, it actually causes inflammation. Chronic stress and digestive problems lead to inflammation, causing high cortisol, which causes an inability to burn body fat, and weight gain leads to more inflammation. A vicious cycle!

Other sources of inflammation include toxicity from your food, water, or environment. Pollution, chemicals from cosmetics, use of alcohol or drugs (legal and otherwise), and the Standard American Diet of caffeine, sugar (a HUGE contributor to inflammation), and refined foods all contribute to inflammation.

So, how do you know if you have it? Symptoms include the following:
-high blood pressure
-high cholesterol
-weight gain
-heartburn (acid reflux)
-inflamed skin conditions like eczema or acne
-chronic pain and arthritis
-diagnosis with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, colitis, Chron’s disease, or gastritis
-yeast infections or candidiasis
-diabetes

What should you do about it?

First off, clean up your diet. Cut out gluten, soy, and dairy, and consider food allergy testing to determine which foods are causing your gut to be inflamed. Eat dark leafy greens like kale, collards, spinach, and chard–high in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids–and eat other omega-3 rich foods like salmon, walnuts, and grass fed beef. Cut out sugar, booze, and caffeine. Consider a fish oil supplement to boost your omega-3 levels.

Clean up your gut with a good digestive cleanse. Consider parasite testing, then choose the proper herbs or meds to kill whatever uninvited inhabitants are lurking. Correct dysbiosis (overgrowth of bad bacteria) with probiotics and probiotic-rich foods like cultured veggies and kefir. Choose a probiotic with S. boulardi.

Finally, reduce stress and test your adrenal hormones to correct high cortisol. You can bring high cortisol levels down with bio-identical hormones, but you need to test first. Get plenty of sleep and don’t over-exercise! Meditate or do some deep breathing.

Healthy Skin

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:32:10 +0000

Your skin is your largest organ and is often the first outward sign of internal imbalance. If you suffer from acne, rosacea, or problem skin, a few natural adjustments just may make all the difference.

Conventional treatments include topical solutions that usually contain salicylic acid or antibiotics. These might do the trick, but these methods treat the surface rather than uncovering the underlying cause of your skin troubles. Plus, taking antibiotics for an extended period of time can be incredibly disruptive to your inner ecology. Antibiotics provide a perfect environment where yeast (or bad bacteria) can outgrow the good bacteria, become pathogenic, and create toxic waste products that weaken your body and overwhelm your immune and endocrine systems. This is one reason you may experience yeast infections from antibiotic use.

First off, take a look at your diet: are you eating mostly processed foods? Are you eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) of hamburgers and french fries, pasta, muffins, potato chips, coffee, sugar, soda, and candy? These refined foods lack nutrients, contribute to inflammation, congestion, unstable blood sugar, and deficiency. For beautiful skin, make sure you are getting enough antioxidants to fight free radical damage, a number one cause of wrinkles and aging. Antioxidants also protect you from damage incurred by sun exposure, a necessary source of vitamin D. Antioxidant-rich foods include fruits such as berries, cherries, and citrus, leafy greens, and green & white teas.

Hidden food allergies or sensitivities can trigger acne and rosacea, and cause inflammation, skin eruptions, and other “unexplained” skin issues. The seven most allergenic foods are citrus, wheat, milk, eggs, nuts, shellfish, and soy. You can eliminate any one of these foods for 14 days and reintroduce the food on day 15 on an empty stomach to see if you have a sensitivity. Watch for any symptoms whatsoever (bloating, fatigue, congestion). Anything adverse means you are sensitive to said food. Try a gluten, soy, and dairy-free diet for 60 days to reduce internal inflammation. Often, cutting out wheat can reduce acne quite dramatically.

Secondly, consider your liver. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: your liver is your hardest working organ. It must neutralize and detoxify everything you breathe, eat, drink, apply to your skin, and are exposed to in your environment. If your liver becomes congested from poor diet, too many over the counter or prescription drugs (VERY hard on the liver), too much alcohol, sugar, or processed foods, it cannot thoroughly detoxify your body. The result? Toxins back up into your system, hormonal imbalances occur, you may experience constipation, and all of this can manifest as acne or skin eruptions or rashes. Drink plenty of filtered water, eat organic, get enough fresh produce, and try milk thistle or oregon grape root to help a sluggish liver detoxify.

Thirdly, take a look inside your bathroom cabinets. Read the labels on your products! Are your products full of sulfates, parabens, phthalates, and other chemicals you cannot pronounce? Watch out for sodium laurel sulfates, “fragrance” — the name under which endocrine-disrupting chemicals hide — and propylene glycol.

Use only organic, natural cleansers, lotions, and toners on your face. Be aware that just because a product is labeled organic does NOT mean it won’t contain chemicals! Read labels! Look for aloe vera, witch hazel, carrot, rosehip, natural oils (like borage or pumpkin seed or jojoba), green tea extracts, herbs, and essential oils. Tea tree and neem can be useful for acne.

Make sure you are getting enough vitamin C, which is the building block of collagen, necessary for healthy skin and maintaining elasticity. Zinc is an important antioxidant and deficiency has been linked to acne. Probiotics and probiotic foods such as kefir, yogurt, and cultured vegetables help maintain regularity, and a backed up digestive tract means inner toxicity, which can cause acne. A good digestive cleanse using psyllium and flax powder combined with digestive enzymes and probiotics could be just what you need to detox your colon and prevent toxic build-up.

Cultured Vegetables

admin — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:07:24 +0000

Repairing and maintaining digestion is the heart of my work in many ways. Testing for bacterial pathogens and parasites and eliminating them, repairing leaky gut, then restoring proper gut ecology improves health in ways people never thought imaginable; they are often used to feeling sub-par or have written their symptoms off as normal: “You mean I should be pooping every day? I’m not supposed to have gas?” Toxins from digestive infections affect the whole body, causing hormonal imbalance and liver congestion.

Cultured veggies are one of the top foods that help foster proper gut ecology, which essentially means you’re maintaining the proper ratio between good and bad bacteria in your intestinal tract. Too much bad bacteria means yeast infections, bloating, constipation, weight gain, cravings, even acne.

Raw, cultured vegetables have been around for thousands of years, but you may know them as sauerkraut. Over here in the holistic health community, we don’t refer to them as the same krauts like you’d find in the supermarket, because those have been heated and pasteurized and contain chemical preservatives (sodium benzoate, anyone?). The pasteurization (heating) process destroys precious enzymes.

Cultured veggies are made by fermenting vegetables of your choice (my faves are cabbage, ginger, beets, and carrots) in stainless steel. The fermentation process produces tons of probiotics and beneficial enzymes, good for digestion. Eating them makes me feel so good and healthy.

Here are some benefits of raw, cultured vegetables:
-improved digestion
-increased longevity via improved detoxification, better immunity, cell rejuvenation due to natural enzymes
-help control cravings
-help the body maintain alkalinity (remember acidoisis = degeneration)
-tons of probiotics

Eat 1/4 – 1/2 cup with every meal. They are slightly tart, which complements meat and veggie dishes very well. Eat more if you’ve undergone a recent round of antibiotics or if you take hormonal birth control, both of which upset your good gut bacteria. Cultured veggies help you digest meat proteins. When eaten every day, you should notice an improvement in regularity. They contain more probiotics than yogurt and can be enjoyed by those avoiding dairy!

Here is a recipe I have on file from the Body Ecology book. Be creative with your veggies. Enjoy.

Version 1
3 heads green cabbage, shredded in a food processor
1 bunch kale, chopped by hand
(optional): 2 cups wakame ocean vegetables (measured after soaking), drained, spine removed, and chopped
1 Tbsp. dill seed

Version 2
3 heads green cabbage, shredded in a food processor
6 carrots, large, shredded in a food processor
3 inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

To make Cultured Vegetables

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Remove several cups of this mixture and put into a blender.
3. Add enough filtered water to make a “brine” the consistency of a thick juice. Blend well and then add brine back into first mixture. Stir well.
4. Pack mixture down into a 1½ quart glass or stainless steel container. Use your fist, a wooden dowel, or a potato masher to pack veggies tightly.
5. Fill container almost full, but leave about 2 inches of room at the top for veggies to expand.
6. Roll up several cabbage leaves into a tight “log” and place them on top to fill the remaining 2 inch space. Clamp jar closed.
7. Let veggies sit at about a 70 degree room temperature for at least three days. A week is even better.

The SuperFoods You’re not Eating

admin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:03:03 +0000

Forget all the buzz about acai berries (although, not a bad nutritional profile. however, how much longer until these “sustainably harvested” rainforest berries destroy some amazon environment?). Here is a remarkably unexotic list of some of the best foods out there.

Beets! And don't forget the greens!

Sure, they taste a little like dirt and they’ll tint your poop a lovely burgundy, but beets are a superfood. Betaine, their primary metabolite, is an excellent anti-inflammatory agent and liver-protective agent. Beets improve liver function and detox largely by thinning the bile, allowing it to flow more freely through the liver and into the small intestine, stimulating digestion and assisting in removal of toxins. Beets are high in folate, potassium (good for blood pressure regulation), and iron. Delicious steamed and served tossed with ginger and balsamic, or grated raw into an apple-carrot salad. Good for juicing with celery, green apple, and ginger for a power punch nutrient drink! Best in springtime. Look for baby beets, which are sweeter. And don’t forget the greens! Beet greens taste a little like spinach (same family) and can be sauteed up for a lovely side dish.

Nutiva's a good enough brand, but I try to remain neutral.

Coconut oil and coconut butter are making a comeback. Unfairly victimized as a “bad” fat due to its saturated fat content back in the day, many have wrongly shied away from coconut oil. But it is highly stable, making it good for high temp sauteing or frying, and it is high in lauric acid, making it anti-parasitic and anti-pathogenic (read: it’ll kill parasites, bacteria, and yeast). It also may boost metabolism and thyroid function. Your brain is something like 70% fat, and your cell membranes need saturated fats to remain pliable, so this is an important fat. Oh, and it is delicious. Try coconut butter in smoothies or in place of butter as a spread. Use it in your skin or in your hair for extra beauty.

Spirulina, chlorella, and other micro-greens make excellent additions to smoothies and should be consumed daily. They are high in trace minerals, necessary for every body function and sorely lacking in our diets. Minerals are crucial for good cardio function, good sleep, and enzymatic reactions. These greens foods help alkalinize the body and give you a boost. Also great for detoxification.

Kale!

I write a lot about leafy greens, which should really be the foundation for every meal. Kale is one of my faves and on the most nutrient-dense of all the leafys (others include chard, dandelion greens, spinach, collards, bok choy, arugula, mustard greens), high in vitamin K (needed for blood clotting), A, C, minerals, and fiber. Kale also contains a sulfur phytonutrients that is cancer-preventive and helps liver detox potentially carcinogenic substances. Delicious sauteed with onion and garlic in olive or coconut oil. Red russian is my fave. Also try purple, lacinato, or dino kale.

cultured vegetables (kraut)

Raw cultured vegetables (krauts) are some of the most health-promoting foods out there. Made by culturing cabbage and any combination of other veggies (like beets, onions, carrots or sea veggies) and spices like cayenne and ginger all together in stainless steel, the veggies are never heated. Therefore, the resulting culture is high in enzymes and is filled with friendly micro-organisms that help balance your “inner ecosystem,” the balance of bacteria in your gut. Krauts are excellent complements to meals – they enhance flavors and help digestion immensely. But don’t grab any kraut of the shelf: unless it says raw or organic, it may contain chemical preservatives or may have been heated, killing the beneficial enzymes. Eat every day.

Kefir... thick and yummy.

Yogurt is so 2008. Try kefir: a cultured, enzyme and probiotic-rich food (like krauts) to foster good digestion. It is more nutritious than yogurt because it supplies more protein, probiotics, and B vitamins. Kefir can be made at home and is thick, rich, and very delicious, like a drinkable tart yogurt smoothie. The new hot thing is young coconut kefir, which is dairy-free, although those sensitive to dairy have better luck with kefir since the resulting enzymes from the culturing process aid in digestion. Coconut water is very high in magnesium and potassium and makes an excellent and VERY healthy kefir. An all-around delicious protein-rich treat.

Of course, a shout out to all those other superfoods you may be eating: salmon, lamb, walnuts, avocado, broccoli, blueberries, pomegranate, etc, etc.