And I’m so glad you’re on this journey with me! Fermenting your food is a great way to preserve it to extend the life, but it is also increases the health benefits. Vitamins and minerals increase and become more bioavailable and beneficial yeasts, bacteria and fungi start to digest foods, becoming present in your gut and making those foods more easy to digest.
I am very passionate about improving health! And I am so glad you are here wanting to do just that. Before we get started, let me tell you a little about me and how my journey began.
In The Beginning
My journey in fermenting foods began about 15 years ago when we started a family. First, my doctor told me that eating fermented foods would help the problems I was having with digestion during my first pregnancy. We had our first two children close together and throughout their early years, they were not a perfect picture of health, by a long shot! They always seemed to be getting sick and having digestive problems of their own. It didn’t make sense to me that it was simply daycare or toddlers being picky eaters.
Back then I wasn’t sure what to do, so I started them on a children’s probiotic and saw an improvement from just that tiny addition. Although adding fermented foods while I was pregnant helped, it was the change I saw in my kiddos that got me going down a path of how to serve my family, and their health, in the best way possible!
The Journey Continued
A few years later we moved, and my husband caught every bug possible, back to back to back! It seemed that he was always sick and I thought if we improved his gut health it would strengthen his immune system. It worked with our little ones, so why wouldn’t it work for him?
It was tricky to work taking a probiotic into his busy and irregular schedule, so I dug deeper! I began exploring making probiotic foods at home. I had so much fun and it was easy! Don’t get me wrong, I have had my fermenting blunders in the kitchen, for sure! But, for the most part we have enjoyed discovering new ways to preserve and eat foods and my family and I have experienced better health because of it. We started with sauerkraut and beet kvass because they were easy, and we loved them.
Now we ferment all sorts of things, from fruits and veggies to dairy and other beverages. I try to get everyone in the family to eat at least one fermented food each day.
Smooth Sailing…Well, Kind Of
I have enjoyed fermenting foods so much over the years that I want to share it with you! I want to give you encouragement that you can do it, and it is safe ( I go more into that in this post, check it out.) I want you and your family to feel as good as we do.
Eating fermented foods can help in so many ways. It boosts your immune system, helps with mood and even helps with balancing hormones and getting a good nights sleep. I hope you experience all of the benefits of incorporating fermented foods into your daily diet! And I am so glad you are doing it with me!