I had heard of kefir and kombucha a few years ago. I was intrigued by how they were thought to improve overall health and so I went on EBay and bought live kefir grains. I maintained them and they flourished, but I only added them to smoothies and homemade pancakes. I didn’t know how else to use kefir and with not making these two foods over a recent period of time, my grains have sat in the refrigerated milk. I put them in a jar of new milk the other night, but I might have killed them with depriving them of their food, lactose. Cultured Food for Life has re-spurred my interest in using kefir and other cultured foods to improve and support overall health.
Donna Schwenk of CulturedFoodLife.com wrote her first book, Cultured Food for Life, after so many requests from people she met. Probably like many others, I wanted to use cultured foods, but wasn’t sure on their maintenance and how to use daily or at least a few times a week. Donna takes you by the hand and provides baby steps on taking on these new and rewarding foods.
The recipes included make the featured probiotic foods seem very versatile. Not every recipe has a picture. There are 16 pages in the middle of the book with beautiful colored images and I believe 135 of Donna’s recipes are included in this title.
Donna started her own cultured food journey with kefir. Her daughter was a preemie and would not nurse at 10 1/2 months. Then she began to experience colds and did not sleep well. Donna started adding kefir to her bottles and then her daughter’s health flourished. Donna recaps a few other stories in her book with how the health of others has been changed by the addition of cultured/fermented foods.
Cultured Food for Life addresses the use of kefir, kombucha (a fermented tea), cultured vegetables, sprouted flour, and the benefits from sourdough. She has taken great care in explaining how to start and keep up these live cultures. You don’t want to jump in and do everything at once, start with one thing and become comfortable with it. After reading this book, I learned that taking probiotic pills or eating yogurt was not enough to improve and maintain a healthy digestive system.
If you would like to learn more about Cultured Food for Life, I suggest visiting CulturedFoodLife.com and signing up for the free e-Book. This will give you an overview on probiotic foods and instructions on making kefir to get your feet wet.
