I'm talking bacteria. I'm talking about living food such as pickles, punch, kombucha, kim chee, sauerkraut, and more. Food that, properly prepared, introduces a host of hard-working life-giving microorganisms to your intestinal tract and suppresses the growth of certain bad bacteria.
Intestinal flora. : the "forgotten organ."
To be honest, this conversation gets over my head at the word bacteria. I have very little scientific background and feel utterly incapable of describing to you which bacteria exactly are the ones we need not kill. But I know my story, so lets start there.
Within three years I had at least eight urinary tract infections. That means antibiotics. Lots and lots. During those years I would pop a probiotic now and then and occasionally take a spoonful of yoghurt. Apart from that, however, my food was dead and my gut was dying.
I was eating brown rice, mostly local meats, some hand prepared beans, really lots of fresh vegetables and organic fruits. Wasn't I doing okay?
No, I felt terrible.
My poor intestines! {I think it's an absolute RIOT that at the age of eight I asked my mom to choose some really really big words for me to learn how to spell - I was home-schooled - and she chose Rhododendron, Rhinoceros, and Gastrointestinal. Are you kidding me? I guess it is MY word now, officially.}
So here's what I've done: I've utterly absorbed the book, Nourishing Traditions, and live almost entirely on foods prepared from those recipes. And I lacto-ferment my own pickles {and carrots and cabbage and lemon juice and tea of course.}
It's shocking: you wash your pickles really well, sterilize your jars, mix up some spices, dill, salt and whey, pop the pickles in the jars and pour this concoction over them. Lid 'em up and let them sit on your countertop for 3 to 7 days dependent on frequent taste tests. (<---- not a recipe! I'll post the precise measurements under the Recipes tab.)
They're brilliant! Really yummy! And absolutely full of good bacteria.
After one day of eating living foods, my body started to respond. It got hungry. After six months on this living diet, I am happy to say I've not had one UTI. I'm hungry every day, three times a day, my gut is peaceful and quiet and I think I'm finally beginning to gain a little weight {a necessity if I'm to survive the winter.}
Now this is life!
Do you want to feed your microorganisms? Do you want to urge them on and reinforce their troops? Do you want to feel better?
I'm guessing you do.
Following is a collection of links, further reading for your enjoyment.
Nourishing Days' series on lacto fermenting vegetables (great how-to)
The inspiring story behind Pickl-It (boy cured from autism, inspiration)
Popular Sciences article on pickles (bad recipe. But I love the clean-cut discussion they have about traditional vs quick pickles.) <---- very informative!
COMING UP NEXT: a week of preparations for my launch into demonstrating how I meal plan the Nourishing Traditions way.
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