Exploring Fermented Foods and Health

Welcome back, everyone. We're here today with our Total Wellness Tuesday episode, episode 2132. So if you're looking for all of today's resources, show notes, links, you name it, it will be at stephencabral.com forward slash 2132. And of course, you can always... access all the previous podcasts at stephencabral.com forward slash podcasts. And there's even a search box right at the top to search your topic of preference. Well, today we're going to be talking about the problem with fermented food and supplements. We'll talk a little bit about the supplements, but I'll probably make that a show for a different day on the difference between fermentable supplements or fermented supplements and maybe just regular supplements, right? So we'll talk about that, but I always like to give you both sides. So I'm not someone, and I always say this, I'm not someone that has a dog in the race. I'm not someone that honestly cares when it comes to food or nutritional supplements, which form is best. I honestly don't. I do whatever is best for the individuals that I'm working with and, of course, inside of our private practice. But at the same time, again, there's just no vested interest. So. Meaning if I feel a product is what's best for the greatest amount of people, that's exactly what I'm either going to formulate or recommend. And we recommend hundreds of different products inside of the private practice. So that's what I want to share with you here today. Always the pros, always the cons. And then I let you decide once you have all the information that you need to make the most educated and informed decision. So let's tackle this topic right out of the gates. What is fermented food in the first place, right? Well, probably at some time or another, you've eaten fermented food, whether... on purpose or not on purpose. And we'll go through the pros in just a minute. So fermented foods, most people are most familiar with yogurt, right? So it could be a coconut yogurt. It could be a cow's milk yogurt. It could be a goat. It could be sheep-based yogurt. Any of those are typically fermented. And that means there's some type of bacteria either added or it started to create bacteria through a fermentation-based process. So that's totally normal. Another one that... most people have tried at least at some point is sourdough bread. Sourdough bread can be made with yeast or without yeast. One of the big benefits is it can be made without yeast. So you're using some type of bacteria-based starter to actually begin to ferment the bread. Okay. Other forms that I learned about in Ayurvedic medicine are kefir. Now, you may have studied Ayurvedic medicine, you may not have, but that's okay. Kefir or even a cork is another form of essentially drinkable. yogurt. So it's a thin yogurt. It's not doing it quite justice, but it is a fermentable drinking yogurt or thicker milk, if you want to think of it that way. And it's been fermented. So again, it has that living probiotics. And probiotics, if you're unfamiliar, are good bacteria. Now, it actually can be bad bacteria too. And we'll talk about that in a moment or a little later in the show. But it's bacteria fermentation. And those probiotics basically means good bacteria or pro-bacteria, okay? So the next one, I think that a lot of people have maybe at least tasted in their lifetime. That's some type of sauerkraut. Okay. Typically made with cabbage, but you can make a beet sauerkraut. You could make a carrot sauerkraut. So any of these are fine. The most common typically of cabbage as part of a probiotic-based mixture. Another one is kimchi, right? So I love kimchi, spicy. And I don't know the exact origin, so I apologize on where kimchi is originally from. I felt like I've eaten it mainly at a lot of Korean-based restaurants. And it's, I mean, I always love it. It's fantastic. But I can't actually say for sure. So I apologize that I don't know the exact origins of that. But kimchi is a lot like sauerkraut, but with more peppers and spices added to it as well. Okay, other ones are natto. and tempeh. And those are essentially more soy, fermented soy-based. And then there's also miso, which is typically fermented soy-based soup, or at least a starter. So those are the main, again, you could make a lot, you could ferment a lot of different things. I'll put it that way. You could literally ferment olives. You could ferment a lot of different products, but I gave you the most common. Now, how can you ferment a lot of different products? Well, The way that we're working with is we're basically taking anything with a carbohydrate, right? So anything that is able to be broken down. So there's this process called fermentation. I've made my own sauerkraut before, and essentially I'm getting cabbage. I'm using a little bit of brine, a little starter, apologies there. And what is happening is that the bacteria are actually beginning to break down the starch and sugar, which are the carbohydrates. into an alcohol and certain acids. So it's actually making it much more acidic. And this is acting as a natural preservative, which is why sauerkraut or canning of foods, they can last for months or even years. And it's also what gives it that tart flavor, right? That zesty flavor of most fermented based foods. So not difficult to purchase, right? It used to be difficult to purchase maybe 20 years ago, but now, I mean, you can go to your local Sprouts or Whole Foods or whatever. any one of those nice health food stores, especially local health food stores, and you'll be able to see some in the refrigerated section, typically refrigerated section. But again, you can purchase them right off the shelf. But the only problem is when they're right off the shelf is that they're going to continue, oftentimes, to ferment. And then they're loaded with lots and lots of good bacteria, probiotics. But as we're going to get to in just a moment, those might not be the right ones for you. So here's the pros, though. Let's go through the good of probiotics. probiotics and fermented-based foods. Well, the nice thing is we're adding more probiotics to our typical diet. Now, a lot of people say, well, I don't want to use nutritional supplements or nutritional supplement probiotic because I'm eating probiotic food. And that's completely fine. One thing I would just say to you is just look at the strains that are added. Because when you're eating fermented-based foods, it's typically two to three strains of probiotics in a greater amount. Now, that might be the perfect probiotics for you. the perfect probiotic strains, but it's oftentimes not quite as diverse. Now, I will say this. I personally feel that fermented foods are a nutritional supplement, like that you're making it as a supplement. It's like making a cup of tea or a cup of coffee. It's an add-on to the meal, and there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, it could be very, very healthy for you, again, given the right individual. So the pro is, too, when you're eating fermented foods, you could be eating not just... A lot of probiotics are 10 billion, 20 billion, 50 billion, 100 billion. When you're eating probiotics, or sorry, I keep saying that, when you're eating fermented foods, you could be getting anywhere from a half a trillion to a trillion probiotics in like a half a cup or three heaping tablespoons. A lot of people don't eat just one tablespoon of fermented foods, although that might be a good place to start. Now, that's not going to be with the yogurt. Okay, so you're not going to get that much. I mean, yogurt, you might get 5 billion, okay? So it's not a huge amount. But whenever you're doing fermented sauerkraut, you could ferment that for quite some time and you could literally be getting a trillion good bacteria in about three heaping tablespoons. So if you're someone that's really looking to repopulate the gut with specific strains, then fermented foods are just going to give you a lot of those good probiotics. All right, here's the thing. Whenever you ferment foods in general, it's breaking them down, right? So it's taking, let's say, any cruciferous-based vegetable fiber or it's taking any type of starch and it's breaking that down and making any of the cellulose or the fiber, the starch itself, much easier to digest, all right? Because it's literally, I know that this sounds kind of derogatory, but it's not. It's actually what it is. That food is rotting. It's breaking. down. It is literally all the enzymes and bacteria are breaking it down, making it much easier to chew up and digest, all right? Now, one of the pros is that they're often high sulfur-based foods. So if you look at a lot of the sauerkrauts, you're getting, and a lot of these fermented beets and sauerkrauts, you're getting foods that can be high in sulfur. Now, that sulfur could be great for detoxification-based pathways. It can be good for the overall immune system. So that's pretty fantastic as well. And these good probiotics can also, if they're helping your gut, can actually help the immune system. And the last thing I'll add is that not only is there a lot of bacteria, right, a lot of good bacteria, but there's also a lot of prebiotics. A lot of people nowadays are starting to supplement with prebiotics. I really don't see a need to supplement with prebiotics. I really never have, and I've only seen it work in reverse for many people. Here's why. If you are following the healthiest diet in the world, which is one eating seven to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day, you're getting a lot of prebiotic. So you're getting a lot of prebiotics from all the different vegetables you're eating and some of the fruit. Now, again, I always have to say this as a caveat. If you get bloated, if you have gas, if you have indigestion, when you eat fruits and vegetables, please run a bacteria and parasite stool test or run a candida metabolic and vitamins oat test. Because. There is most likely SIBO overgrowth, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or there's candida overgrowth, or both. And that's the reason why you're getting bloated or you have joint pain or your brain fog. And we'll talk about that in just a moment, okay? So really important. But we know that the only anti-cancer diet in the world there is, is a diet high in antioxidants and brightly colored fruits and vegetables with their phytochemicals that we're also now even beginning to discover all the ways in they enhance our immune system. and our body. All right. So lots of pros to fermented foods. Again, good bacteria replacing and displacing a lot of the bacteria in the gut. It's a prebiotic, so it's feeding then the bacteria that's already there. And then also easier to digest. So nice assortment right there. And then the vegetables, meaning the sauerkraut or the fermented ginger, fermented carrots. One of my favorites, and I keep mentioning that over and over, is that there's a fermented food that I enjoy, which I'll find the brand for you because it's a local brand up in Maine. And it's fermented carrots, fermented ginger, and there might be some cabbage in there as well because cabbage is a really good base for sauerkraut and these types of fermented base foods. That's one of my favorites without a doubt. I also like fermented beets. So that's a really nice one. Same company makes those. And of course, I like sauerkraut and kimchi. Why do I have those more over the sourdough bread and the yogurt and the tempeh? Well, the truth is that the former that I just named, which is the sauerkrauts and the fermented gingers, the fermented vegetables for the most part, okay? So when you ferment vegetables, you're going to get a lot more of the good bacteria. As I mentioned before, you're not getting a lot of good bacteria in sourdough. You're getting some, some, there's no doubt about it, but we're not eating bread right as a health food. And then also with yogurt, again, 5 billion, maybe 10 billion. If you make your own, okay, you can certainly add more. It's just going to make that yogurt much more tart. All right. So let's go into some of the negatives, though, because the podcast is called The Problems With Fermented Foods. Now, why would I do a podcast, though, talking about the problems? Well, here's the thing. I'm making this fair, making it balanced, is that, you know, in our Western-based mindset, whenever something is good, it's like it has to be for everybody, right? And we just get so dogmatic that everyone has to be doing this and it's the best thing ever. And it's just not. Again, when you have a clinical practice, and again, I love... research-based science and all of that, but it's very skewed in one direction, right? It's like, what is the outcome of this study? Okay, there is the results. That means it's obviously good for everyone or bad for everyone. We know that that's not true. And so when there's practitioners, and of course, there's hundreds of thousands of practitioners, what we do is we see thousands of people a year in our practice, and then we say, oh, this is what the research says, but this is actually what happens in real life, right? So I think it's important to always have both, right? The practitioner side or the clinician side, however you want to describe it. And then, of course, the research arm, right? So you have doctors, integrative health practitioners, and then you also have the PhDs and the scientists on this side. So, again, you need both, no doubt about it. It's like you need a medical doctor and then you need a natural health coach or integrative health practitioner. Okay, so what are the cons? Well, the same things that make fermented foods amazing are also the side effects and the problems with them. So let's just digress just for a second. Fermented foods, naturally high. in bacteria, okay? But they're also off, I like to call it off-gassing because it is partially a gas and you're creating some alcohol, right? Because if you've ever uncorked a bottle or jar of sauerkraut, there is literally a pop. All that gas is being released, right? Well, that's actually what's happening. That same thing can happen inside of your body because all those prebiotics in the bacteria can actually cause gas and bloating in your intestines. Now, lots of bacteria going in. What are they doing? Well, they might be killing off some of the bad bacteria. That's certainly possible, but it goes a little bit deeper. For people with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, or candida overgrowth, the bacteria is to a greater degree filling up the intestines, especially the small intestine, with more bacteria. Now, sometimes it's just a two-week transition. And after two weeks, your gut feels fine. There's no issues. Okay, that is the case for some people, all right? Now... Here's the other thing though, the prebiotics, right? So the prebiotics can actually cause more feeding, more growth of the bacteria that's already there and the yeast that's already in the intestines. Since a lot of our practice does specialize in digestive-based issues, we see this as a real problem for a lot of people. More gas, more bloating, more skin rashes, and we're gonna talk about those right now. And that's a direct result of the candida overgrowth that's in the gut. Remember, you have 26 feet of intestine. And if it's not balanced, this can cause a real issue when you put more bacteria in. Before I get to that, I just want to say this, that not everybody does well with the alcohol, partial alcohol that's created in this fermentation-based process, especially with the fermented veggies. So I just want to note that a lot of people's liver detox process, phase one, phase two, does not do great with the additional acids on their kidneys and on their liver, as well as the alcohol that has to be processed and broken down. which is why kombucha, I didn't even mention kombucha, which is a fermented food, fermented beverage as well, can oftentimes have a fair amount of alcohol. Now, as much alcohol as a spirit or beer or anything like that? No, of course not. But there's certainly some alcohol in that, and I just want you to be aware of that. Kombuchas actually had to be pulled off the shelves, certain brands, because the alcohol content was just too high, believe it or not. But it's a natural alcohol. It's a natural fermentation process, which is just like making wine. or beer when you go to break down starch, well, what's going to happen? Well, it's going to start to ferment and it's going to create ethanol, right? Some alcohol. Okay. So really, really important. But other people get often strange symptoms from fermented foods. I'd like to share those with you. They are headaches and migraines, allergies, a little bit respiratory issues, not quite asthma, but a little bit more difficulty breathing. They get hives and skin rashes. They get fatigue and low mood. Let me just read those again. I'll actually just say them backwards. So we've got low mood, right? Some low mood. I would even say brain fog. We've got fatigue. We've got skin rashes and hives. We've got allergies, maybe some respiratory distress. Again, not major, not saying that. And then migraines and headaches. Okay. Why those? Well, it's very interesting because fermented foods by their very nature contains higher levels of what's called biogenic amines. And the most popular one that we really talk about is histamine. So they contain larger amounts of histamines, and that's because histamines are essentially produced by anything that's been aged. Okay, fermented foods have been aged, right? You're going to create fermented veggies over a period of a couple weeks, or that they've been smoked. Now, most foods, fermented foods aren't necessarily smoked, but they could be. And so aged foods are actually fermented. fermented, and the last one is escaping me right now. Well, aged, fermented, and smoked. There you go. So anything fermented and obviously fermented foods are fermented. So when we look at this, we have to understand, and a lot of that vinegar or the brine that might be in there is going to create some of that histamine as well. So when we look at this overall equation, we're saying, okay, greater amounts of histamines are being produced by the body and from the fermented fruit itself. And those histamines, believe it or not, cause, in at least 40% of the cases, migraines as well as headaches. Okay, so we have more tension based headaches. It's going to create inflammation in the body and it can create the allergies, right? Allergies, histamines, skin rashes can make itchy skin or hives, low mood fatigue from causing brain fog. So just keep that in mind. I already talked about, and this is really important, so I don't want to glaze over this, but if you are feeling those symptoms from eating fermented foods, I can't recommend enough going back and listen to my previous podcast on histamines, okay? I believe I have two other podcasts on histamines. We'll try to link them up here today at stephencabral.com forward slash 2132. So we want to watch out because of histamines. We want to watch out if you have candida overgrowth or SIBO. The last one we want to watch out is for liver detox issues. This is more of an epigenetic genetic issue where you have poor detox sulfate, sulf-fer pathways. This is... which is basically the sulfur from something like cabbage, gives you more brain fog or gives you more fatigue. And then the other specifically would be breaking down of alcohol in the body. You might be not someone that processes it as well. So what do we do? Well, it's not that we can't eat fermented foods, but here's what we typically need to do. We need to clean up the gut first. We know that when people's gut is balanced, even if they have pre-existing histamine issues based on genetics, epigenetics, We know that they'll be far less, and here's why. When the gut is balanced, your body is able to better produce its own enzymes to degrade histamines, and it degrades them faster than it would be if you don't have those enzymes. So the enzyme is called diamine oxidase, and diamine oxidase is best produced by the body and best produced by... the good bacteria in your gut when balanced. So the very first thing that you want to be able to do is to rebalance your gut. Now, if you get bloating, if you get gas, if you get any of these symptoms that I just spoke about when you eat fermented foods, or even I would say probiotics, is to run the Candida metabolic and vitamins test and the bacteria and parasite stool test. Those two tests are the most important. We will link them up here today at stephencabral.com forward slash 2132. You'll run those labs right at home. You'll speak with one of the Equal Life Health coaches, or again, you can work with your local integrative health practitioner, level two, and then you'll get a plan to rebalance your gut. The plan will most likely, if they find anything, right, if they find yeast overgrowth or bacterial overgrowth or H. pylori or parasites, you're going to begin with either the parasite protocol or you'll begin with the CBO protocol, plus most likely the citricidal drops if there's bacterial overgrowth there as well. And then what we're going to do on that program, because it's 12 weeks, you gradually rebuild your gut. That's it. You just gradually rebuild the gut and you heal and seal the gut. And then after that, and I learned this 15 years ago when I was becoming a GAPS certified practitioner as well, working with a lot of children with autism and ADD, ADHD, any kind of mind-mood-based health issues, is that in autoimmune issues, we would start with just one half. to one teaspoon of fermented food. That's it. So the fermented food is almost always a sauerkraut based version. And for kids, it would be a half a teaspoon. That's it literally per day. That's all we would do. And then we'd work up to one. We wouldn't do, and that's already after we started adding in some good probiotics, but we wouldn't do it for everyone. And the reason is that those people still with histamine issues and had bad reactions, we just chose not to. And again, there's a lot of people to this day who just don't eat fermented foods, nor do they need to. I'm really still one of those people. First of all, I try to be dairy-free. I'm okay with some goat and sheep-based fresh cheese or fresh whey, something like that, if it's from goat or sheep, but not cow. That affects the majority of people. I've spoken about that before. Eight to nine people out of 10 are gonna have an IgG sensitivity to cow's milk, but that doesn't mean I can't have some fermented foods. It's just not a staple of my diet. I might have them once a week, maybe twice a week at the most. I do much better. with less high histamine-based foods, and maybe it's the same for you. So what I'm saying is everyone's an individual, right? But we can keep our minds open and we can use the best of everything for our body. And fermented foods may just be great for you if you begin to rebalance your gut and then slowly start to add them in, maybe by one teaspoon or so each day for a week, see how that goes, then maybe even take it to one to two teaspoons the following week, maybe even every other day to see how you do. So hopefully today's show was helpful. always happy to do follow-up questions. Please feel free to list them right here on YouTube or on the Instagram comments, and we'd be happy to get back to you. Take care, everyone. Have an amazing day.

Well, today we're going to be talking about the problem with fermented food and supplements. We'll talk a little bit about the supplements, but I'll probably make that a show for a different day on the difference between fermentable supplements or fermented supplements and maybe just regular supplements, right? So we'll talk about that, but I always like to give you both sides. So I'm not someone, and I always say this, I'm not someone that has a dog in the race.

I'm not someone that honestly cares when it comes to food or nutritional supplements, which form is best. I honestly don't. I do whatever is best for the individuals that I'm working with and, of course, inside of our private practice. But at the same time, again, there's just no vested interest. So.

Meaning if I feel a product is what's best for the greatest amount of people, that's exactly what I'm either going to formulate or recommend. And we recommend hundreds of different products inside of the private practice. So that's what I want to share with you here today. Always the pros, always the cons.

And then I let you decide once you have all the information that you need to make the most educated and informed decision. So let's tackle this topic right out of the gates. What is fermented food in the first place, right? Well, probably at some time or another, you've eaten fermented food, whether... on purpose or not on purpose.

And we'll go through the pros in just a minute. So fermented foods, most people are most familiar with yogurt, right? So it could be a coconut yogurt.

It could be a cow's milk yogurt. It could be a goat. It could be sheep-based yogurt.

Any of those are typically fermented. And that means there's some type of bacteria either added or it started to create bacteria through a fermentation-based process. So that's totally normal.

Another one that... most people have tried at least at some point is sourdough bread. Sourdough bread can be made with yeast or without yeast. One of the big benefits is it can be made without yeast. So you're using some type of bacteria-based starter to actually begin to ferment the bread.

Okay. Other forms that I learned about in Ayurvedic medicine are kefir. Now, you may have studied Ayurvedic medicine, you may not have, but that's okay.

Kefir or even a cork is another form of essentially drinkable. yogurt. So it's a thin yogurt.

It's not doing it quite justice, but it is a fermentable drinking yogurt or thicker milk, if you want to think of it that way. And it's been fermented. So again, it has that living probiotics. And probiotics, if you're unfamiliar, are good bacteria.

Now, it actually can be bad bacteria too. And we'll talk about that in a moment or a little later in the show. But it's bacteria fermentation. And those probiotics basically means good bacteria or pro-bacteria, okay? So the next one, I think that a lot of people have maybe at least tasted in their lifetime.

That's some type of sauerkraut. Okay. Typically made with cabbage, but you can make a beet sauerkraut.

You could make a carrot sauerkraut. So any of these are fine. The most common typically of cabbage as part of a probiotic-based mixture. Another one is kimchi, right?

So I love kimchi, spicy. And I don't know the exact origin, so I apologize on where kimchi is originally from. I felt like I've eaten it mainly at a lot of Korean-based restaurants.

And it's, I mean, I always love it. It's fantastic. But I can't actually say for sure.

So I apologize that I don't know the exact origins of that. But kimchi is a lot like sauerkraut, but with more peppers and spices added to it as well. Okay, other ones are natto. and tempeh.

And those are essentially more soy, fermented soy-based. And then there's also miso, which is typically fermented soy-based soup, or at least a starter. So those are the main, again, you could make a lot, you could ferment a lot of different things. I'll put it that way. You could literally ferment olives.

You could ferment a lot of different products, but I gave you the most common. Now, how can you ferment a lot of different products? Well, The way that we're working with is we're basically taking anything with a carbohydrate, right? So anything that is able to be broken down.

So there's this process called fermentation. I've made my own sauerkraut before, and essentially I'm getting cabbage. I'm using a little bit of brine, a little starter, apologies there.

And what is happening is that the bacteria are actually beginning to break down the starch and sugar, which are the carbohydrates. into an alcohol and certain acids. So it's actually making it much more acidic.

And this is acting as a natural preservative, which is why sauerkraut or canning of foods, they can last for months or even years. And it's also what gives it that tart flavor, right? That zesty flavor of most fermented based foods.

So not difficult to purchase, right? It used to be difficult to purchase maybe 20 years ago, but now, I mean, you can go to your local Sprouts or Whole Foods or whatever. any one of those nice health food stores, especially local health food stores, and you'll be able to see some in the refrigerated section, typically refrigerated section. But again, you can purchase them right off the shelf. But the only problem is when they're right off the shelf is that they're going to continue, oftentimes, to ferment.

And then they're loaded with lots and lots of good bacteria, probiotics. But as we're going to get to in just a moment, those might not be the right ones for you. So here's the pros, though.

Let's go through the good of probiotics. probiotics and fermented-based foods. Well, the nice thing is we're adding more probiotics to our typical diet.

Now, a lot of people say, well, I don't want to use nutritional supplements or nutritional supplement probiotic because I'm eating probiotic food. And that's completely fine. One thing I would just say to you is just look at the strains that are added. Because when you're eating fermented-based foods, it's typically two to three strains of probiotics in a greater amount.

Now, that might be the perfect probiotics for you. the perfect probiotic strains, but it's oftentimes not quite as diverse. Now, I will say this.

I personally feel that fermented foods are a nutritional supplement, like that you're making it as a supplement. It's like making a cup of tea or a cup of coffee. It's an add-on to the meal, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I mean, it could be very, very healthy for you, again, given the right individual. So the pro is, too, when you're eating fermented foods, you could be eating not just... A lot of probiotics are 10 billion, 20 billion, 50 billion, 100 billion.

When you're eating probiotics, or sorry, I keep saying that, when you're eating fermented foods, you could be getting anywhere from a half a trillion to a trillion probiotics in like a half a cup or three heaping tablespoons. A lot of people don't eat just one tablespoon of fermented foods, although that might be a good place to start. Now, that's not going to be with the yogurt. Okay, so you're not going to get that much. I mean, yogurt, you might get 5 billion, okay?

So it's not a huge amount. But whenever you're doing fermented sauerkraut, you could ferment that for quite some time and you could literally be getting a trillion good bacteria in about three heaping tablespoons. So if you're someone that's really looking to repopulate the gut with specific strains, then fermented foods are just going to give you a lot of those good probiotics. All right, here's the thing. Whenever you ferment foods in general, it's breaking them down, right?

So it's taking, let's say, any cruciferous-based vegetable fiber or it's taking any type of starch and it's breaking that down and making any of the cellulose or the fiber, the starch itself, much easier to digest, all right? Because it's literally, I know that this sounds kind of derogatory, but it's not. It's actually what it is. That food is rotting. It's breaking.

down. It is literally all the enzymes and bacteria are breaking it down, making it much easier to chew up and digest, all right? Now, one of the pros is that they're often high sulfur-based foods.

So if you look at a lot of the sauerkrauts, you're getting, and a lot of these fermented beets and sauerkrauts, you're getting foods that can be high in sulfur. Now, that sulfur could be great for detoxification-based pathways. It can be good for the overall immune system.

So that's pretty fantastic as well. And these good probiotics can also, if they're helping your gut, can actually help the immune system. And the last thing I'll add is that not only is there a lot of bacteria, right, a lot of good bacteria, but there's also a lot of prebiotics. A lot of people nowadays are starting to supplement with prebiotics. I really don't see a need to supplement with prebiotics.

I really never have, and I've only seen it work in reverse for many people. Here's why. If you are following the healthiest diet in the world, which is one eating seven to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day, you're getting a lot of prebiotic.

So you're getting a lot of prebiotics from all the different vegetables you're eating and some of the fruit. Now, again, I always have to say this as a caveat. If you get bloated, if you have gas, if you have indigestion, when you eat fruits and vegetables, please run a bacteria and parasite stool test or run a candida metabolic and vitamins oat test. Because.

There is most likely SIBO overgrowth, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or there's candida overgrowth, or both. And that's the reason why you're getting bloated or you have joint pain or your brain fog. And we'll talk about that in just a moment, okay? So really important.

But we know that the only anti-cancer diet in the world there is, is a diet high in antioxidants and brightly colored fruits and vegetables with their phytochemicals that we're also now even beginning to discover all the ways in they enhance our immune system. and our body. All right.

So lots of pros to fermented foods. Again, good bacteria replacing and displacing a lot of the bacteria in the gut. It's a prebiotic, so it's feeding then the bacteria that's already there. And then also easier to digest.

So nice assortment right there. And then the vegetables, meaning the sauerkraut or the fermented ginger, fermented carrots. One of my favorites, and I keep mentioning that over and over, is that there's a fermented food that I enjoy, which I'll find the brand for you because it's a local brand up in Maine. And it's fermented carrots, fermented ginger, and there might be some cabbage in there as well because cabbage is a really good base for sauerkraut and these types of fermented base foods. That's one of my favorites without a doubt.

I also like fermented beets. So that's a really nice one. Same company makes those. And of course, I like sauerkraut and kimchi.

Why do I have those more over the sourdough bread and the yogurt and the tempeh? Well, the truth is that the former that I just named, which is the sauerkrauts and the fermented gingers, the fermented vegetables for the most part, okay? So when you ferment vegetables, you're going to get a lot more of the good bacteria.

As I mentioned before, you're not getting a lot of good bacteria in sourdough. You're getting some, some, there's no doubt about it, but we're not eating bread right as a health food. And then also with yogurt, again, 5 billion, maybe 10 billion.

If you make your own, okay, you can certainly add more. It's just going to make that yogurt much more tart. All right.

So let's go into some of the negatives, though, because the podcast is called The Problems With Fermented Foods. Now, why would I do a podcast, though, talking about the problems? Well, here's the thing. I'm making this fair, making it balanced, is that, you know, in our Western-based mindset, whenever something is good, it's like it has to be for everybody, right?

And we just get so dogmatic that everyone has to be doing this and it's the best thing ever. And it's just not. Again, when you have a clinical practice, and again, I love... research-based science and all of that, but it's very skewed in one direction, right?

It's like, what is the outcome of this study? Okay, there is the results. That means it's obviously good for everyone or bad for everyone. We know that that's not true. And so when there's practitioners, and of course, there's hundreds of thousands of practitioners, what we do is we see thousands of people a year in our practice, and then we say, oh, this is what the research says, but this is actually what happens in real life, right?

So I think it's important to always have both, right? The practitioner side or the clinician side, however you want to describe it. And then, of course, the research arm, right? So you have doctors, integrative health practitioners, and then you also have the PhDs and the scientists on this side. So, again, you need both, no doubt about it.

It's like you need a medical doctor and then you need a natural health coach or integrative health practitioner. Okay, so what are the cons? Well, the same things that make fermented foods amazing are also the side effects and the problems with them.

So let's just digress just for a second. Fermented foods, naturally high. in bacteria, okay?

But they're also off, I like to call it off-gassing because it is partially a gas and you're creating some alcohol, right? Because if you've ever uncorked a bottle or jar of sauerkraut, there is literally a pop. All that gas is being released, right?

Well, that's actually what's happening. That same thing can happen inside of your body because all those prebiotics in the bacteria can actually cause gas and bloating in your intestines. Now, lots of bacteria going in.

What are they doing? Well, they might be killing off some of the bad bacteria. That's certainly possible, but it goes a little bit deeper.

For people with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, or candida overgrowth, the bacteria is to a greater degree filling up the intestines, especially the small intestine, with more bacteria. Now, sometimes it's just a two-week transition. And after two weeks, your gut feels fine.

There's no issues. Okay, that is the case for some people, all right? Now... Here's the other thing though, the prebiotics, right? So the prebiotics can actually cause more feeding, more growth of the bacteria that's already there and the yeast that's already in the intestines.

Since a lot of our practice does specialize in digestive-based issues, we see this as a real problem for a lot of people. More gas, more bloating, more skin rashes, and we're gonna talk about those right now. And that's a direct result of the candida overgrowth that's in the gut.

Remember, you have 26 feet of intestine. And if it's not balanced, this can cause a real issue when you put more bacteria in. Before I get to that, I just want to say this, that not everybody does well with the alcohol, partial alcohol that's created in this fermentation-based process, especially with the fermented veggies. So I just want to note that a lot of people's liver detox process, phase one, phase two, does not do great with the additional acids on their kidneys and on their liver, as well as the alcohol that has to be processed and broken down.

which is why kombucha, I didn't even mention kombucha, which is a fermented food, fermented beverage as well, can oftentimes have a fair amount of alcohol. Now, as much alcohol as a spirit or beer or anything like that? No, of course not.

But there's certainly some alcohol in that, and I just want you to be aware of that. Kombuchas actually had to be pulled off the shelves, certain brands, because the alcohol content was just too high, believe it or not. But it's a natural alcohol.

It's a natural fermentation process, which is just like making wine. or beer when you go to break down starch, well, what's going to happen? Well, it's going to start to ferment and it's going to create ethanol, right? Some alcohol.

Okay. So really, really important. But other people get often strange symptoms from fermented foods.

I'd like to share those with you. They are headaches and migraines, allergies, a little bit respiratory issues, not quite asthma, but a little bit more difficulty breathing. They get hives and skin rashes. They get fatigue and low mood. Let me just read those again.

I'll actually just say them backwards. So we've got low mood, right? Some low mood. I would even say brain fog. We've got fatigue.

We've got skin rashes and hives. We've got allergies, maybe some respiratory distress. Again, not major, not saying that.

And then migraines and headaches. Okay. Why those? Well, it's very interesting because fermented foods by their very nature contains higher levels of what's called biogenic amines. And the most popular one that we really talk about is histamine.

So they contain larger amounts of histamines, and that's because histamines are essentially produced by anything that's been aged. Okay, fermented foods have been aged, right? You're going to create fermented veggies over a period of a couple weeks, or that they've been smoked.

Now, most foods, fermented foods aren't necessarily smoked, but they could be. And so aged foods are actually fermented. fermented, and the last one is escaping me right now.

Well, aged, fermented, and smoked. There you go. So anything fermented and obviously fermented foods are fermented.

So when we look at this, we have to understand, and a lot of that vinegar or the brine that might be in there is going to create some of that histamine as well. So when we look at this overall equation, we're saying, okay, greater amounts of histamines are being produced by the body and from the fermented fruit itself. And those histamines, believe it or not, cause, in at least 40% of the cases, migraines as well as headaches.

Okay, so we have more tension based headaches. It's going to create inflammation in the body and it can create the allergies, right? Allergies, histamines, skin rashes can make itchy skin or hives, low mood fatigue from causing brain fog. So just keep that in mind. I already talked about, and this is really important, so I don't want to glaze over this, but if you are feeling those symptoms from eating fermented foods, I can't recommend enough going back and listen to my previous podcast on histamines, okay?

I believe I have two other podcasts on histamines. We'll try to link them up here today at stephencabral.com forward slash 2132. So we want to watch out because of histamines. We want to watch out if you have candida overgrowth or SIBO. The last one we want to watch out is for liver detox issues.

This is more of an epigenetic genetic issue where you have poor detox sulfate, sulf-fer pathways. This is... which is basically the sulfur from something like cabbage, gives you more brain fog or gives you more fatigue.

And then the other specifically would be breaking down of alcohol in the body. You might be not someone that processes it as well. So what do we do?

Well, it's not that we can't eat fermented foods, but here's what we typically need to do. We need to clean up the gut first. We know that when people's gut is balanced, even if they have pre-existing histamine issues based on genetics, epigenetics, We know that they'll be far less, and here's why. When the gut is balanced, your body is able to better produce its own enzymes to degrade histamines, and it degrades them faster than it would be if you don't have those enzymes.

So the enzyme is called diamine oxidase, and diamine oxidase is best produced by the body and best produced by... the good bacteria in your gut when balanced. So the very first thing that you want to be able to do is to rebalance your gut. Now, if you get bloating, if you get gas, if you get any of these symptoms that I just spoke about when you eat fermented foods, or even I would say probiotics, is to run the Candida metabolic and vitamins test and the bacteria and parasite stool test. Those two tests are the most important.

We will link them up here today at stephencabral.com forward slash 2132. You'll run those labs right at home. You'll speak with one of the Equal Life Health coaches, or again, you can work with your local integrative health practitioner, level two, and then you'll get a plan to rebalance your gut. The plan will most likely, if they find anything, right, if they find yeast overgrowth or bacterial overgrowth or H.

pylori or parasites, you're going to begin with either the parasite protocol or you'll begin with the CBO protocol, plus most likely the citricidal drops if there's bacterial overgrowth there as well. And then what we're going to do on that program, because it's 12 weeks, you gradually rebuild your gut. That's it.

You just gradually rebuild the gut and you heal and seal the gut. And then after that, and I learned this 15 years ago when I was becoming a GAPS certified practitioner as well, working with a lot of children with autism and ADD, ADHD, any kind of mind-mood-based health issues, is that in autoimmune issues, we would start with just one half. to one teaspoon of fermented food.

That's it. So the fermented food is almost always a sauerkraut based version. And for kids, it would be a half a teaspoon. That's it literally per day.

That's all we would do. And then we'd work up to one. We wouldn't do, and that's already after we started adding in some good probiotics, but we wouldn't do it for everyone.

And the reason is that those people still with histamine issues and had bad reactions, we just chose not to. And again, there's a lot of people to this day who just don't eat fermented foods, nor do they need to. I'm really still one of those people. First of all, I try to be dairy-free. I'm okay with some goat and sheep-based fresh cheese or fresh whey, something like that, if it's from goat or sheep, but not cow.

That affects the majority of people. I've spoken about that before. Eight to nine people out of 10 are gonna have an IgG sensitivity to cow's milk, but that doesn't mean I can't have some fermented foods.

It's just not a staple of my diet. I might have them once a week, maybe twice a week at the most. I do much better. with less high histamine-based foods, and maybe it's the same for you.

So what I'm saying is everyone's an individual, right? But we can keep our minds open and we can use the best of everything for our body. And fermented foods may just be great for you if you begin to rebalance your gut and then slowly start to add them in, maybe by one teaspoon or so each day for a week, see how that goes, then maybe even take it to one to two teaspoons the following week, maybe even every other day to see how you do. So hopefully today's show was helpful.

always happy to do follow-up questions. Please feel free to list them right here on YouTube or on the Instagram comments, and we'd be happy to get back to you. Take care, everyone. Have an amazing day.

Transcript for:Exploring Fermented Foods and Health

Transcript for:
Exploring Fermented Foods and Health