A well known fact and advocated by populations over the years, ‘Fermented foods are good for the gut’; but do they benefit besides?
Yes, they provide all essential nutrition you want for a healthy body besides maintaining the right balance between unhealthy and the favorable micro organisms in your body.
Fermented foods help your body grow lactic acid producing bacteria, which are responsible for turning milk products to go sour and ferment the vegetable matters.
These
fermented foods are sometimes also called as pro-biotic foods due to their ability to grow the lactic acid producing bacteria. When taken regularly, these foods turn the entire digestive tract into an acidic medium, enabling fast and efficient digestion of all food materials we take.
Let’s take a look what fermented foods have to offer in addition to gut health:
Better Bowel Movements: Also known to induce the production of acetylcholine in the body, fermented foods make bowel movements easy and orderly, thereby reducing constipation. It also enhances the production levels of digestive juices and enzymes from the stomach, gall bladder and pancreas.
Good for Diabetics: Intake of fermented foods increases the action of the pancreas, by pre-digesting the carbohydrates in the lactic acid. This lessens the work load on the pancreas; else it has to work harder to break down dense particles and carbohydrates.
Improved Immunity and All-round Wellness: Fermented foods are known to produce a number of chemical compounds that destroy and discourage the growth of disease-causing pathogenic bacteria. An improved immunity leads to dip in frequent sickness.
Vitamin Rich: Fermented foods are called as
superfoods as they are rich source of rare yet vital vitamins like K2, B9, and B12 etc. These are necessary for vital chemical reactions in the body. K2 maintains calcium balance in the body, B9 the folate, is required for making of DNA and helps in the proper development of cells. It also contributes to the brain health. B12 or Coalbumin aids the body to get more energy; at the same time keeping red blood cells and nerves in a healthy state.
Add More Flavor to the Food: With fermentation largely a natural process, without addition of any harmful chemical substances, these foods give a richer flavor and a unique taste, adding more to your appetite.
Not just conventional, but even
alternate medicines, studies and practitioners have vouched for fermented foods for years. And if you are still ignorant of the gut benefits fermented foods provide, then you’ll be sure to include them in your diet after discovering.
Let’s take a look
Balance the Production of Stomach Acid: Fermented foods are known to have a soothing effect on the digestive organs of the body. This is achieved by their ability to control and balance the secretion of the stomach acid.
If your body is short in producing hydrochloric acid, the fermented foods increase the secretion of gastric juices and compensate for the inadequacy. When your body is secreting too much digestive acids, the fermented foods protect the lining of the stomach and save it from the corrosive action of these acids.
As we get older, the ability of the body to produce digestive acids gets reduced and by taking small amounts of fermented foods once or twice a day, it can easily be compensated.
Helps Maintaining Population of Healthy Gut Bacteria – Certain groups of micro organisams present in our gut are good for secreting the enzymes that are needed for efficient breakdown of food. These microbes help the body to get more nutrition from the food we eat.
The fermented foods help these microbes to thrive in our gut and become the driving force in the proper maintenance of digestive system.
Supply of Digestive Enzymes: The digestive enzymes that are secreted in our body break the food we eat and convert them in a state so that the body can absorb the required nutrition.
As we age, the amount of these enzymes gets reduced and we lose our digestive power. Eating pre-digested and digestive enzyme-rich fermented foods helps our body to digest easily and supply all the nutrients needed for a healthy body.
Easy to Digest: As the fermented foods are in a semi broken state, they are pre-digested by bacteria or yeasts. These foods are very easy to digest and can be readily absorbed by the body with minimum effort of the digestive organs.
Benefits of Fermented foods are widespread and so are a few myths. Let’s get to the facts
Fermented Foods Must be Canned to Store: Not really necessary as the presence of lactic acid, preserves them. Come close to their flavor and aroma and you would get to know the real state of the foods.
Fermented Foods Must be Stored in a Freezer: Not true, they only require a cool place to be stored and not necessarily are refrigerated.
The list may go on-and-on; however the health benefits fermented foods have to offer; can never be depreciated.
The gut drives it all in the first place. Even the medicines, therapies,
body care gadgets and supplements work faster if you resort to healthier food habits.
Time to be a little more disciplined and health savvy. Including fermented foods, would do a bit!
Learn how to make sauerkraut
Everything you should know about Kefir
Benefits of Kombucha
from Planet Organic Blog http://ift.tt/2bBKdGC
via
How to Save Money When Buying Organic Foods
