The Benefits Of Fermented Foods
If you’re trying to optimise your health and digestion, you’re probably curious about fermented foods. Over recent years, fermented food and drink have gone from widely unseen in western cooking to lining our grocery store shelves. Let’s break down what fermentation is, why it’s beneficial, and how you can incorporate fermented foods into what can and will be a nutrient-dense diet!
What Is Fermentation?
Fermentation has been around since humans learned how to preserve food, thousands of years ago. The process involves bacteria, yeasts, and other microorganisms breaking down starches and sugars into simpler substances. This multiplies the microbes while preserving the food.
Aside from being a great way to naturally preserve food, fermenting and consuming a variety of foods can promote a vast array of positive health benefits. This is largely due to the healthy bacteria that thrive in fermented foods, acting as probiotics. Fermenting foods can also make the nutrients within that food more bio-available.
The Benefits Of Fermented Foods
Restore Gut Health
In today’s landscape of highly processed foods supplements Australia and potential overexposure to antibiotics and probiotic supplement it’s easy for our gut bacteria to be thrown out of balance. Limited diets result in our gut no longer needing to make certain bacteria, while overproducing other types. This can cause all sorts of gut issues and symptoms. Fermented foods can help us replenish the gut bacteria deficiencies we may have, restoring balance.
Strengthen Immunity
In many cases, a healthy gut can indicate a healthy immune system. It’s said that up to 80% (or even more!) of our immune strength resides in our gut, relying on a healthy balance of bacteria to thrive. With a healthy gut, your body will be better equipped to fight off infection.
Get The Most Out Of Your Food
If you want to experience the true benefit of a nutrient-dense diet, it’s well worth incorporating some fermented foods. The probiotics within these foods as well as the fact that fermentation breaks substances down into simpler forms make them more bioavailable. In other words, they are much easier to digest and you’re likely to absorb more nutrients than you would if you ate the food pre-fermentation.
Boost Mood & Energy Levels
When your body is able to absorb more nutrients, maintain a healthy gut bacteria balance, and fight off infection, you’ll likely experience benefits to your general mood and energy levels as well. The more your underlying health improves, the easier it will be for your body to carry out basic functions, allowing it to redirect energy and nutrients to other areas that enhance every aspect of your wellbeing.
Affordable
One of the best things about fermented foods is that they’re easily accessible and largely affordable. Unlike other superfoods that are difficult to source or in short supply, many widely available foods can be easily fermented at home. You can also purchase popular fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and yoghurt from your local supermarket without breaking the bank.
How to Incorporate Fermented Food Into Your Diet
There are many easy ways to incorporate fermented foods into a nutrient-dense diet. Some of the most popular, affordable, and widely accessible fermented foods are sauerkraut and kimchi, both forms of fermented cabbage that are perfect additions to savoury meals. Unsweetened Greek yoghurt with live cultures is another easy and affordable source, as is the increasingly popular fermented tea known as kombucha.
If you don’t love the taste of fermented foods, The Mothers Blend is packed full of fermented goodness. The blend includes fermented chlorella, fermented broccoli, fermented spinach, fermented lentils, fermented pumpkin seeds, fermented beetroot, and fermented molasses. To learn more about our Mothers Blend ingredients, click here.
Incorporating fermented foods into your diet is an easy and affordable way to restore your gut health, get the most out of your food, strengthen your immunity, and enhance your overall wellbeing. For more valuable information on how to achieve a nutrient-dense diet, check out our blog.