The health world lately is much ado about the microbiome. But what is it? Why should you care? What difference does it make to your life? This is a brief and incomplete break down of the microbiome. We will continue to explore this topic sporadically in this blog. But this is the 101 - the very simple basics.
Indeed no man is an island, and you are never alone, because you are in fact a host to millions of micro-organisms spanning hundereds of species - including various bacteria, fungi and viruses. These microorganisms (microbiota) have evolved together with us and have a symbiotic relationship with us. It's a "one hand washes the other" situation. We provide shelter and food for these microorganisms and, as is turns out, they assist us in a variety of ways, many of which we are just now discovering.
The microbiome appears to be linked to immunity, cognitive function, obesity and variety of other health outcomes. It is therefore important to ensure you have a varied and balanced population in your gut. Put simply - it is important to feed your friends!
Research shows that eating a variety of plant based foods are beneficial to your micro-biome. Probiotics are useful to ensure the good microbiota flourish and have been shown to reduce the instances of certain health problems.
Another important way to feed your friends is to make and/or eat fermented foods. These foods naturally contain a healthy dose of probiotics and its an easy way to include these in your diet.
With much thanks to my personal health guru (Carla), I can share this awesome recipe for homemade lacto-fermented pickles…
Easy Homemade Pickles
• pickling jar
• pack of small pickling cucumbers
• salt
• water
• extra herbs or flavours of choice
optional: carrot sticks
For every cup of water dilute 1tbsp of salt. I use Himalayan salt which gives the water a darker look.
Wash your cucumbers and pickling jar to make sure nothing unwanted grows. it is recommended to use a mason jar as they seal better but I have successfully re-used glass jars from store bought pickles. Pack your pickles tightly in the jar so that when turned upside down no pickles can come loose. This is where I find carrot sticks to be helpful as I use them to fill the gaps between pickles and make sure everything is in tight.
Once you’re sure the jar is packed tightly pour in your salt water mix filling most of the jar and leaving only a small amount of space at the top of the jar. Then add your flavours. I personally like the dill, but you can add a clove or two of garlic or pickling spice or pepper. Then close the jar tight … seriously tight! Then put away in a cupboard for at least a week. in winter months sometimes as much as two weeks is needed.
For further reading these articles are a really interesting place to start:
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0156374 May 31, 2016 1 / 15
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0222394
Awesome info and I'm so glad you've taken to lacto-fermented pickles!