Gut Bugs are Essential for Whole Body Health
We hear it all the time, gut microbes are essential for the health and healing of the whole body, not to mention prevention of everything from colon issues to depression and cancer. Natural medicine has encouraged fermented foods forever, mainstream medicine is finally catching on!
Although the mainstream medical recommendation is for a fecal transplant?? Are they serious? Transplanting someone else's poop into my colon. Sounds like fun... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_bacteriotherapy
How about eating 100% whole foods to heal current problems and to prevent further health issues AND try eating raw, fermented foods to replenish the gut bacteria?
Science is "proving" that having healthy microbes in your gut is what keeps the immune, nervous, gastro-intestinal, and skin healthy. Gut health is an indication of complete body health, right down to each individual body cell. (It is that body cell health thing again. If you have sat through one of my whole food healing workshops, you hear about healing your body cells!)
Whole foods are full of fiber and nutrients that feed the gut bugs you want to proliferate in your gut. Feeding the gut bugs healthy, whole foods keeps you healthy. A fine example of a mutualistic relationship between humans and bacteria.
Above is a picture of a recent lunch I made for myself:
1. My beloved beets, grated raw, from the Kent Family Growers,
2. Topped with Hawthorne Valley Raw Sauerkraut, Nature's Storehouse in Canton carries this,
(Wild Brine Dill and Garlic Sauerkraut Salad from the Potsdam Food Coop is a tasty choice as well!)
3. I then topped it with raw sunflower seeds, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds (yeah, I forgot them in the picture!),
4. Raw, Fermented, Wild Brine pickles and pickled garlic from the Potsdam Coop,
5. Local, full fat yogurt from Prosper's Farmstead Creamery, North Lawrence, NY.
End results:
Yummy lunch full of fiber to feed the gut microbes AND the sauerkraut, pickles, and yogurt are loaded with good, gut building bacteria to replenish mine. (Remember, fermented pickles and sauerkraut must be raw. If you heat can it after fermenting to store on the shelves, you are killing the gut microbes.)
Do your gut and whole body health (Your body cells; it is the body cell thing again!) a favor: Eat good gut bugs for lunch!