It’s been a while…

Hello all my fit friends! It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything! To be completely honest…I’ve lacked some inspiration lately. I don’t know about you, but I do so much reading, learning, reviewing & critiquing of various health, fitness & wellness articles that I become completely bogged down & don’t want to write anything! I feel like I read SO much of the same stuff, I think to myself…no one wants to read ANOTHER blurb on XYZ, or recipe that does not taste as good as claimed. Haha…you feel me?

Well anyway, fear not, I’m back. And today I’m talking KOMBUCHA. I have been on a pretty serious kick for a couple weeks now. Not quite one/day, but definitely a few a week. I once heard someone call it SCAMbucha! Which made me laugh…because it is so darn expensive. But I personally don’t think it’s a health trend that will go away…at least not until the typical American cleans up their diet!

We often hear how ‘fermented foods are good for the diet’…i.e. sauerkraut, kimchee, pickles, kefir etc. Why you may ask? We all have bugs that live in our gut…’the good bacteria’ that help digest food, absorb nutrients & keep our immune system functioning properly. These foods contain many different cultures of good bacteria–which is why they’re so good for the diet!

The reason I say Kombucha should stay around a while to “heal” the American diet is because, think of how many times/day you wash/sanitize your hands? May seem irrelevant, but stick with me. How about the amount of processed breads/pastas/sugars & carbs you’re consuming? Americans (myself included) are germophobes! We sanitize after touching a door handle! I’m not saying the door handle contains ‘good bacteria’ (please don’t go licking the bathroom door)…BUT by exposing our bodies to different types of germs/bacteria our bodies are capable of creating a defense against different strains of viruses. And the “typical American” is eating loads of processed foods, frozen dinners, packaged cereals etc, all these sugars & processed carbs are feeding the bad bacteria which causes…buzzword…..inflammation! Think of the incredible imbalance going on inside you digestive system!

Read the side of a Kombucha bottle, you’ll see it says ‘live probiotics or live cultures’ then there will be a list of whichever strains are in there…Bacillus coagulans, Lactobacillus planetarium, S. bulardi…..most things we can’t pronounce. But these are the bacterias in your gut that help to fight inflammation & infection. If we started to make a conscious effort to clean up out diets, including more REAL, natural foods we could potentially become a MUCH healthier country—free from many diseases!

I guess I should also mention the very distinct taste of Kombucha. If you’ve tried it, you know what I’m talking about. If you have not, you’ve been warned that it’s a sour taste..don’t get your taste buds excited for sweet beverage. Usually, I find the ginger flavors to be the best tasting, maybe it’s the potency of ginger that helps to cancel out that vinegar taste!

Lastly I also read somewhere that if you’re hankering for something sweet, eat some fermented foods & that will help get rid of the sugar craving. Whether that’s true or not is up for debate. I just ate dark chocolate almonds & washed it down with Kombucha!

Let me know if you’ve ever tried it, what’s your favorite flavors? Do you notice a difference in how you feel after adding more of these foods into your diet?

 

XO