Today’s consumers are demanding products with greater nutrient levels, better taste and that fit within various lifestyles like paleo, vegan, macro etc., all while being more natural without additives or artificial flavourings. Sure, we can eat more fruits and vegetables, have our greens powder or take several vitamins, but there’s a piece missing that provides even more nutrients to the body.

Fermented foods have recently gained popularity due to their wide array of health benefits for the modern diet and lifestyle. Our ancestors prized fermented foods as an abundant nutrition source and they were right! These foods are literally alive with thousands of nutrients at levels that no other food or supplement has.

The actual process of fermentation does some pretty amazing things to foods. Firstly, it significantly increases the bioavailability of nutrients making digestion of the food much easier. Secondly, it helps to break down anti-nutrients such as phytates, goitrogens and allergens. Thirdly, fermentation produces a wide range of key nutrients such as B vitamins, antioxidants and many phytonutrients. Certain diets may lack key nutrients either through restrictions on types of foods or lifestyle choices, however, fermented foods can provide these key nutrients. Plus, they are great tasting and becoming widely available in grocery and natural health stores.

Fermented Foods and Digestive Health
Imbalances within the digestive system have become a common area of complaint for many people and unfortunately, these imbalances can have a great effect on our bodies and, therefore, our general health. So what do we do? Turns out that fermented foods powerfully supports digestion and on a multitude of levels.

When a food is fermented, the microbes are busy breaking down and transforming the food into a form that’s much easier for us to digest. In addition, fermentation provides a huge amount of various digestive enzymes that help support our digestive process and reduce the demand on our own digestive enzyme production. For those with weak digestion, these extra enzymes provide a significant level of support.

Where it gets really interesting is the many unique compounds produced during fermentation. These nutrients include neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine and histamine which help to balance digestive secretions such as stomach acid. Also, fermented foods increase serotonin (the happy hormone) which not only influences transit time, but helps to regulate the gut-brain link. This link, as you can imagine, plays an important role in our overall health. Other nutrients produced through fermentation are short chain fatty acids which are key sources of energy to the digestive lining cells and support the repair and maintenance of the digestive lining itself.

A Natural Probiotic
It is well known that our gut flora plays a significant role in health and digestion and what we consume has a big effect on our gut flora. Fermented foods are a rich source of many species of beneficial microbes that can help create balance within the digestive system. But fermented foods aren’t just beneficial microbes. They also contain everything necessary for those microbes to survive and thrive including food, colonising factors and the environment itself. Our ancestors never took a capsule of probiotics, rather they consumed fermented foods which gave them a diverse and healthy gut flora.

Your Flora Symbiotics
Considering all the benefits that fermented foods have on our digestion and overall health, Living Alchemy has created a range of Your Flora Symbiotic formulas that feature the ancient wisdom of whole food fermentation. Made with 35 strains of beneficial microbes from kefir and kombucha cultures, we ferment certified organic, non-GMO soy into our world renowned Kefi-soy^TM. Fermented soy is the most researched fermented food for digestive health and in particular, the gut flora.

The Kefi-soy^TM within all of our Your Flora formulas provide a diverse range of microflora contained within their natural ecosystem, rich in colonising factors, enzymes and nutrients for the most natural and complete support for your digestive microflora. With each Your Flora formula we add select organic herbs and foods to provide targeted actions for specific digestive imbalances.

About the Author: Living Alchemy Team

Living Alchemy is a Canadian company that produces an innovative range of whole food supplements made with organic ingredients. It is their mission is to be leaders in natural health solutions, using innovative natural food supplements to support health and vitality. Learn more about Living Alchemy at livingalchemy.com