How to get off bread and sugar….and by the way, it`s not your fault.

If you are like most people, you`ve probably sworn off bread or sugar at least once in your lifetime. The trouble is though, that at the best of times willpower often cowers in the face of a true physiological or bacterial craving.

The truth is, if you can`t stop yourself from bingeing on bread or overdoing sugar, it is not your fault.Here is why`s:
1) From a physiological perspective- if you have blatant or subtle nutrient deficiencies, your body is driving you to consume sugar and refined carbs to feel good (although only momentarily). Unfortunately, sugar itself keeps you both on a roller coaster and a hamster wheel! The dips and spikes of sugar ensure that you crave just one thing- more sugar!! And as far as the hamster wheel is concerned, sugar isn`t an empty calorie, it actually puts us in a nutrient defecit, thus perpetuating mineral deficiency and subsequent cravings!2) From a bacterial perspective- if you have sugar cravings, there is a very high chance that you also have a bacterial imbalance in your gut…sugar feeds pathogenic bacteria. These bacteria beasties actually send chemical messages to your brain that will cause you to crave sugar and refined carbohydrates!

So as you can see, people crave sugar, because they have to -in the age of nutrient deficient food!

While there are many ways to nourish ourselves to make cravings a thing of the past, I bet you would love to know about the single most potent food to permantly eliminate sugar cravings altogether, am I right?

How about discovering one food that can address both the body`s physiological craving for food AND the bacterial one?The food most ideally suited to stop your sugar and refined carb cravings is cultured foods!!

Culturing a food, means that you are infusing it with beneficial probiotic bacteria (you know, that good stuff inherently found in yogurt!).So just how DO cultured foods address the root causes of sugar and refined carb cravings?

1) Culturing your food increases the nutritional value of that food. For example, sauerkraut has 100 times the Vitamin C as its unfermented counterpart, cabbage. Eating some probiotic condiments with each meal also promotes better digestion and the assimilation of nutrients. That in itself is a 3 in 1 benefit of cultured foods in terms of meeting nutrient deficiences!2) Cultured food also feeds beneficial bacteria in your gut, therefore helping to crowd out the more harmful or pathogenic flora. In addition, cultured foods do not JUST add good probiotic bacteria to your gut, butthey also provide lactic acid which is not only food for the GOOD bacteria, but it makes your digestive tract inhospitable to pathogenic bacteria! That is a 4 in 1 benefit!and if that is not remarkable enough…..

1) Ancient chinese medicine has taken note that the unique flavour of cultured foods actually has a balancing effect that neutralizes or cancels out our cravings for sugar!

2) Finally, one Ka-RAZY Kool effect of eating fermented foods with your meals is that if you give into a sugar craving and immediately eat a cultured food, the beneficial bacteria will immediately begin eating up the sugar you just consumed, therefore minimizing the amount that you end up digesting and assimilating!Now if my math is correct, that is at least 9 reasons why cultured foods alone, can curb your sugar cravings!

So if cravings, are driving you crazy, and you want to immediately take action- you can purchase the following fermented foods and bubbly beverages at your local health food store:1) Bubbies Pickles
2) Sauerkraut
3) Kombucha

Just make sure they say unpasteurized, because otherwise they will be devoid of probiotics from the heat.

However, if you have a sneaking suspicion that you will eventually get bored of eating only 3 kinds of cultured foods, day in and day out, then you are going to want to get the skills you need, to make them at home (which is way yummier, simple and more affordable anyway)!!

In case you didn’t catch the newsletter that I sent out last Saturday AND for those of you who need a little friendly reminder- the early, EARLY BIRD investment for my online video e-course (co developed with Adrienne Percy): Cultured Kitchen “Learn how to turn simple, every day foods into probiotic condiments and bubbly beverages”ENDS tomorrow at midnight (September 23rd)!But don’t feel rushed to make a decision, it is beyond worth the value at the regular investment too!The minute you enroll, you will recieve the BONUS e-course How to Ferment Anything which will give you all the tools you need to pull pretty much any random fruit or veggie out of the fridge and ferment more economically and faster, than you could get to the store to purchase a commercially prepared version. Pretty cool, huh?

For more info or to register online visit: http://www.whatisfermentation.com/CulturedKitchen.html

Give fermented foods a try and then tell me your story about how cultured foods single handedly eliminated your sugar and refined carb cravings! I would love to hear about it!!

The Top 5 Reasons that I Love Making Ferments!

#1 Delicious, Healthy and Satisfying!
Fermented foods are so freakin’ good for us!!  Our microflora serve both as the frontline of our immune system AND they optimize our digestion….problems with our digestion and our immunity are at the root of many chronic conditions. Digestion is said to be the root of good health, while death is said to begin in the colon. Two sides of the same coin my friends! In addition, as we feed ourselves the sour flavour, our cravings to consume excessive amounts of sweets begins to dimish…no willpower necessary!

#2 Simple, Affordable, Accessible
Ferments are cheaper, more effective and more nutritious than probiotic pills. Eating fermented condiments is one of the ways that our ancestors cultivated and sustained proper microflora ratios! Ferments are not just a source of good bacteria, but they are also a source of lactic acid (which creates ideal living conditions for our good bacteria and is antagonistic to harmful bacteria). Finally, probiotic pills are just good bacteria- they don’t come with added nutritional value that ferments do! Ferments are simple, accessible and sustainable, compared to probiotic pills, which require scientific formulation, manufacturing and transport. 

#3 Making the Fruit of our Work Visible
Work hard once, but eat for months! 1 quart of fermented vegetables will take me no longer to make,  than the time it takes to bake cookies, yet the cookies disappear overnight! Momma, how more satisfying could it be to spend a little time in the kitchen and have lots to show for it, for months? Finally ladies, some work in the kitchen that isn’t invisible!

#4 Life Saving Skill
Learning the simple skill of preparing lacto fermented foods has provided me with a skill that enables me to store food without the need for sterilization (sure you could slave and sweat for hours over those canned tomatoes, but why bother when you could ferment and store them as a living food!). In the unfortunate event of a power outage in summer or in the dead of winter, I can preserve the fruits and vegetables that I do have from freezing or going rotten, through fermentation! Having this skill that could be life saving, not to mention empowering!

#5 Domestic Goddess “ness”
Another reason that I love making ferments, is because they look so darn pretty sitting on my counterop! Not to mention how much I enjoy feeling like a domestic mother  goddess while the whole house comes alive with my little bacteria babies! Making ferments is such a lovely way to bring nature inside, all year round!

Check out my probiotic website for more details about making ferments, to register for your “probiotic diet immersion”  in Winnipeg, MB or to start envisioning  how you can bring my family to yours, for a probiotic immersion in your community!
http://probioticfoods.homestead.com/