NUTRITION

BOOST YOUR DIGESTIVE HEALTH

By Juliane Morris

Each seasonal shift ushers in a unique color palette bursting with life. These transformations in the Earth’s canvas welcome an array of fruits and vegetables, some of which make unlikely candidates for utilizing fermentation. Use these techniques to capture the seasons and enjoy their benefits well after the calendar pages have turned.

If you have heard of fermentation nutrition, you know that fermented foods are full of live cultures that are beneficial to our gut health. Boosting your digestive health with added fermented foods helps to recolonize good gut bacteria, enhance immunity and protect from inflammation. These probiotics attach to gut receptors to motivate a good internal balance and send signals to the immune system to not overreact. Boosting your digestive health with added fermented foods helps to recolonize good gut bacteria, enhance immunity and protect from inflammation.

Fermented food choices bring endless possibilities. Live-cultured yogurt, sauerkraut, cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, cauliflower, kimchi, tempeh and kombucha are only a few examples. Wholesale stores and markets sell these fermented foods, but beware that some store-bought items have been heated to extend shelf life; killing the good bacteria but retaining the flavor. So read the label carefully.

On the other hand, you can grab a few wide-mouth mason jars (with compatible fermentation lids and one-way airlocks to release the C02, or easy open tabs with built-in date trackers) and follow some easy processes and recipes to make your own fermented foods at home. There are plenty of free online resources and social media pages to help you learn the fermentation craft.