Cultured Vegetables: Learn Why These Foods Should Be a Staple in Any Healthy Diet

Health Benefits of Cultured Vegetables

Cultured vegetables have a long history dating back to the Ancient Chinese, Romans and even Genghis Khan’s army. It is what was consumed by Dutch seamen and found to prevent scurvy.

Sauerkraut, German for “sour cabbage”, is the most familiar form of cultured vegetables although most commercial varieties of sauerkraut are pasteurized and do not contain the necessary healthy bacteria that make this food such a healing and health building one. There are raw versions of cultured foods available in health food stores and online. A company called Veggies with Culture is a good source for these.

Fermented vegetables are teeming with the healthy bacteria known as lactobacillus. These bacteria enter into the digestive tract when the cultured food is consumed. Eating or drinking cultured foods and beverages is the most natural and effective way to get many enzymes and good bacteria into the intestines. This is a very important part of any optimal health program and a much less expensive alternative to purchasing costly probiotics and enzyme supplements.

Cultured vegetables include foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, tsukemono and cultured pickles. Fermented beverages include drinks like kefir and kambucha. Cultured vegetables are a great way to add raw vegetables to the diet when uncultured raw vegetables are too difficult to digest. Cultured vegetables benefit digestive health greatly and heal candida because they are able to balance the good to bad bacteria ratio in the intestines. This is especially important in today’s society because it is estimated that up to 90% of the world population is unknowingly suffering from candida which can go undetected by conventional doctors and can wreak havoc on a person’s health.

Sauerkraut is made from shredded cabbage, placed in an airtight container with a vegetable culture starter and left to sit out at room temperature for 3 - 7 days while the healthy bacteria go to work. It is then refrigerated and can last up 8 to 12 months if kept cool.

According to Patricia Bragg, daughter of the acclaimed natural health pioneer Paul Bragg, cultured vegetables “alleviate candida problems, ulcers, and in general, help to rejuvenate and promote longevity.” Cultured vegetables have also been used in the treatment and prevention of cancer

Another major benefit of cultured foods is their high content of enzymes that are so important for good health. Often times, natural health experts will say that good bacteria and enzymes are the key to disease prevention. Consuming live enzymes with every meal will have an amazing positive affect on overall health and longevity. Because of the live enzymes content, fermented vegetables aid in the digestion of all foods they are eaten with, especially starches and proteins. They also improve the absorption of the nutrients from the foods the are eaten with.

According to Viktoras Kulvinskus, co-founder of the Hippocrates Health Institute and author of Survival into the 21st Century and other books, consuming cultured vegetables is one way to prevent swine flu.

Sources

Cousens, Gabriel, MD, Conscious Eating, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California, 2000