Fermentation: the Key to Health and Fighting Antibiotic Resistance - Part Five

Fermentation History

• Humans all over the world have been fermenting food since ancient times.  Milk was the most predominant.  This is probably what the Bible refers to when Abraham served the angels that came to tell him he was to have a son.
• Winemaking dates back to 8,000 years ago in the Caucasus region of Georgia.
• 7,000 year old jars which once contained wine were excavated in the Zagros Mountains of Iran.
• Water kefir was probably part of the beverage that Jesus turned into wine at the wedding of Cana.
• Fermenting beverages in Babylon around 5,000 BC
• In ancient Egypt approximately 3150 BC
• Pre-Hispanic Mexico about 2000 BC, and Sudan 1500 BC
• Milk fermentation in Babylon about 3000 BC
  

  

Fermentation (or Culturing) Process

• Fermented food and drinks are alive with nutrients and flavor
• Stinky aged cheeses, tangy sauerkraut, rich earthy miso, smooth wines, tempeh, and tamari
• It preserves food
• Preserves nutrients
• Also creates new nutrients - microbial cultures create B vitamins, including folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and biotin
• Have been shown to function as antioxidants, scavenging cancer precursors known as "free radicals" from the cells of your body

The vegetables already have many beneficial bacteria on them so be careful when washing.  You will see that fermenting vegetables is literally as simple as washing cutting and packing with no weird probiotics to sprinkle on or anything like that!

 

Living Life for Him,

The Cultured Mom

 

Fermentation: the Key to Health and Fighting Antibiotic Resistance - Part Four

Chlorination and CBP's

• The most widely used method of killing bacteria in water
• Powerful carcinogenic residues, including Dioxin
• Destroys Vitamin E in the body = heart problems
• Has been linked to clogged arteries
• Risk of bladder cancer is doubled if you drink chlorine treated water
• Chlorination byproducts (CBP's) in drinking water showing that more than 100,000 women are at elevated risk of miscarriage, or of having children with birth defects because of CBP's in tap water.

CBP's are formed when chlorine reacts with organic matter, including sewage, animal waste, and soil and plant material. - Farm Runoff, Chlorination Byproducts and Human Health; January 8, 2002.
Some have asked about using colloidal silver and/or hydrogen peroxide as alternatives for destroying bacteria.  We will explore these alternatives in future posts.    What about swimming or showering in chlorinated water, thus exposing our skin (our largest organ) to the harmful effects of chlorine?  Due to the need for many of us to hydrate safely we have been conditioned to drink tap water and consider its chlorine additive as safe.  We are so conditioned to consider ingesting chlorine as safe, in fact, that scientists have bound it to a sugar molecule and now call it Splenda!
The Imperial College of London found that chlorine used to disinfect tap water can contribute to an increased risk of having a stillborn baby:

• up to 21% greater when drinking and washing in water laced with the CBP's
• unusually small babies
• UK water companies to restrict their use of chlorine to the minimum levels possible
• sillbirths or birth defects such as spina bifida

I have been challenged to protect my children's health all the more, including the as of yet unborn children.
Note: Colorado Springs Utilities (which treats 30 million gallons/day) has been using UV light since 2007 to treat their water, killing far more e.Coli and pathogens than the other ever did.  Additionally, it's faster and safer for the employees.
Again, we are destroying our immune system when ingesting chlorinated water.  How much of our immune system does the gut comprise?  Right.  80%

Living Life for Him,
The Cultured Mom