Help your Gut Health by giving it Fermented foods and Kombucha

Gut health has become one of the most talked about, trending topics among wellness bloggers and health practitioners over recent years. And it is for a good reason. The state of our gut not only impacts our digestive system, but also every other system in our body. More importantly it affects our mood also.. 🙂 So better have a good gut health 😉
So you can be happy, positive, strong, and nice with your loved ones, family, work buddies. When the gut is weak it can struggle to protect us from foreign invaders, allowing possible toxins to pass into the blood stream and travel to other areas of weakness in the body. So what are the causes of a weak gut in the first place? They are the things that typically define our modern day living: stress, poor digestion, sugar and fatty foods, sedentary living and antibiotics, are some of the main culprits. These dietary choices and lifestyle habits can encourage bad bacteria and toxins to make home in our intestines, overburden our immune cells and cause inflammation in the intestinal wall. If this goes unaddressed, it can lead to foreign particles and toxins leaking into the bloodstream (aka “leaky gut”) and traveling to the brain, skin and other organs.

Therefore, a weak gut doesn’t just show itself within the digestive system (through indigestion, malabsorption, bloating, gas, constipation and other bowel issues). It can also show up in a variety of other conditions, including:

• eczema, acne and other skin concerns,
• PMS and estrogen dominance,
• food cravings and weight gain,
• hormonal imbalance,
• poor immunity,
• hair loss,
• body pain and inflammation,
• anxiety and depression,
• low energy and brain fog,
• learning difficulties, and
• developmental delays.

For these reasons, supporting the gut is the common recommendation I make to the majority of my clients, no matter what wellness goal they’re trying to achieve. While there are many, many ways to nurture your gut, here are some of the tips that I recommend most often.

Chew your food, really well.

Good digestion (and absorption) begins in the mouth. By chewing your food, you’re giving your stomach the time it needs to create hydrochloric acid and other digestive juices that then act as the catalyst for the gut to continue the job. If the gut isn’t receiving its cue, food can sit and ferment, leading to bad bacteria becoming the host of your gut. So, chew your food!

Eat fermented foods and drink Kombucha !

Fermented foods support gut health with good bacteria that are so essential to your gut. Foods like kimchi, sauerkraut and yoghurt, and beverages like kombucha, are the perfect additions to your daily diet. They keep your gut well-fed as they are full of probiotics – the good guys.

Avoid stress, particularly when eating

Get into the habit of enjoying a meal in a calm, peaceful environment. Why? Because when our body is in fight or flight mode (the sympathetic nervous system), it can’t be in rest and digest mode (the parasympathetic nervous system). And so, whatever you eat while you’re stressed will just sit in your digestive tract and possibly ferment, creating bad bacteria. So before you sit down to a meal, take some deep breaths, journal, or take a walk around the block (maybe even a little jog if you have the time). You could also watch a comedy sketch online – whatever helps you decompress! And then, chew and enjoy the food that’s about to nourish you and your body.

There is so much that can be done to care for your gut; it is my hope that these are some easy first steps to get you started!

More than anything, I recommend getting to know your own body. If you ever experience indigestion, gas, irritable bowel, constipation, bloating, skin issues, fatigue, brain fog or PMS, don’t ignore it. It’s your body’s way of trying to tell you something.

Listen to it and drink Kombucha !

Why does kombucha have a little bit of acidity?

Well its all about the Ph Levels :). Have you ever heard of this?
There is low and high PH and they both affect your body in a different way…

IS KOMBUCHA ACIDIC?

The simple answer: Yes, Kombucha is acidic.

To go into more detail, Kombucha is made by placing a SCOBY into a jar with sugar and starter tea, which is usually black tea. The microorganisms in the SCOBY eat the sugar and ferment the starter tea to become Kombucha. In fact, the fermentation process makes the starter tea acidic, usually dropping the pH level below 4. This is an essential process because the acidic environment ensures that any harmful microorganisms don’t enter the brew, making the Kombucha safe to drink. Moreover, this also explains why it’s good to check the pH of your brew because Kombucha that has a pH of above 7 is probably not good to drink.

While there’s no consensus for the ideal pH level of Kombucha, it usually falls within the 2.5 to 3.5 pH range. However, it’s always key to taste the Kombucha to determine when the fermentation process is completed. Also, if you want a more acidic Kombucha, let your brew ferment longer as the microorganisms will eat more sugar, leaving you with a sourer brew.

WHY IS IT ACIDIC?

Kombucha has been around for ages and it would only be able to survive this long if it had a method for defending itself from harmful invasive bacteria.  So, how does it accomplish that? Acidity!

The increasingly acidic nature of kombucha is a natural defensive mechanism against invasive bacteria by inhibiting the growth of harmful microorganisms while still allowing the kombucha yeast and bacteria to grow.  The process of fermentation creates the acidic environment which helps to create a protective barrier around the kombucha. Acetic acid is one of the primary acids to be developed throughout your brewing process and is a driver of the acidity in kombucha.

This is also a key reason why you must always keep a cup of starter fluid for the next brew.  This starter fluid helps to raise the initial acidity of the brew to ward off harmful bacteria from affecting your batch.  Once your SCOBY has begun to work it can effectively lower the PH level of the brew through the byproduct of its own fermentation.

It is also important to note that the longer you allow your kombucha to ferment, the more acidic it becomes, the lower the PH level, and the more tart the flavor becomes.  Therefore, if you want to control the acidity and flavor of your kombucha, you can monitor the kombucha using the tools mentioned earlier to add more of a scientific approach to your brewing methods.