Class Notes: Live Culture Foods

Notes 16.09.28

Gut-Probiotics

• 70% of our immune system
• “Hygiene Hypothesis” too clean, more allergies/asthma
• Immune system learns, just like brain
• Most digestive enzymes in saliva-chew-chew
• Hydrochloric acid and pepsin
• Mucous lining protects
• Direct intestinal barrier
• Less acid 30’s and 40’s when problems start
• 15% certain bacteria make it through the digestive acids
• (one to 10 billion) needed so some will make it into lower intestines
• 400 species of bacteria weighing about 2kg
• Complex coevolution of bacterial strains, cultivated through our food supply – now we can use therapeutic foods to reeducate a compromised immune system
• Activation of neural pathways between gut and brain
• Disruption to the balance of bacteria through medication exposures, gluten, herbicides, stress, and infection can set the stage for the innate immune system to prepare for attack
• Probiotics research have been limited to a handful of strains out of the more than 7000

Sprouts

• Super alkaline food
• 100 times more enzymes
• Essential Fatty Acids
• Lysine
• Complex biochemical changes
• Biophotons research
• Breakdown of complex compounds into a more simple form
• Transformation into essential constituents and breakdown of nutritionally undesirable
• Proteins, fat, certain essential amino acids, total sugars, B-group vitamins
• Chlorophyll detoxifier

Kombucha

• At least one beneficial yeast
• Acetobacter (the beneficial bacteria in the SCOBY)
• Gluconic acid (a pH regulator)
• Acetic acid (an anti-microbial acid, which also stabilizes blood sugar)
• Analgesic (pain reliever)
• Anti-arthritic compound, an anti-spasmodic compound
• A liver-protective compound
• Several anti-bacterial compounds
• Many store bought are heat treated (pasteurized) to prevent growth once contained, just like most yogurt
• Look for fine print: “contains live culture”

Kefir / Yogurt

• Probiotics feed on the “bad” unhealthy bacteria in our stomach and intestines
• Protecting the mucosal lining where unhealthy yeast and bacteria reside
• Natural balance to your internal microflora
• Good bacteria/yeasts: 10-15 strains in water kefir compared to 30-50 in milk kefir
• May be 40X more live culture count in kefir than yogurt
• Bacteria and yeast found in commercial yogurt are transient meaning they will not colonize your digestive tract
• Saccharomyces kefir, which can dominate, control and eliminate destructive pathogenic yeasts in the body
• Most lactose gets eaten by kefir & yogurt

Fermenting

• Widespread fermentation practices in traditional cultures
• Filtering out pathogenic microbes as E. coli and intestinal parasites
• Creates new nutrients
• Vitamin production
• Mineral absorption
• Detoxification
• Boost Immune system
• Antioxidant: scavenges free radicals (cancer precursors)
• Reconnecting to the natural world through our food; communicating through our guts to our brains, that nutrients are plentiful, our bodies are safe, and that our inflammatory systems can be put at ease
• 2 mouthfuls of sauerkraut equal to whole bottle of probiotics with 60 times more bacterium varieties
• Pesticides changed and/or removed

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