June 21, 2013
1. Fermented foods improve digestion.
Fermenting our foods before we eat them is like partially digesting it before we consume it. Often those who cannot tolerate milk can eat yogurt and that is because the lactose (which is usually the part people can’t tolerate) in milk is broken down as the milk is fermented and turns into yogurt or kefir.
2. Fermented foods restore the proper balance of bacteria in the gut.
Do you suffer from lactose intolerance? Allergies? IBS? Gluten intolerance? Constipation? Yeast infections? Candida? Asthma? Frequent colds? All of these conditions have been linked to a lack of good bacteria in the gut.
3. Fermented foods help increase immunity.
Lactic acid bacteria enhance gastrointestinal and systemic immunity, thus keeping us healthier and better able to fight infection. Studies have shown the good bacteria help recognize foreign substances in the body, and they work in conjunction with the immune cells to destroy those foreign substances. They also stimulate mucus secretions in the gut, boost antibody activity, assist white blood cells to fight infections, and even actively suppress cancer cells and tumors.
4. Fermenting food actually increases the vitamin content and helps with absorption.
You can ingest huge amounts of nutrients, but unless you actually absorb them, they’re useless to you. When you improve digestion, you improve absorption. In the fermentation process, the beneficial bacteria create enzymes and additional vitamins, which makes them even healthier than they were in their raw state. Fermented dairy products for example consistently reveal an increased level of folic acid.
5. You emotional health may depend on it.
Your gut serves as your “second brain”, and produces more serotonin than your main brain does. Serotonin is known to have a beneficial influence on your mood and those who are low in serotonin are often battling depression symptoms. Your gut also home to countless bacteria, both good and bad. These bacteria outnumber the cells in your body by at least 10 to one, and maintaining the ideal balance of good and bad bacteria forms the foundation for good health—physical, mental and emotional.
