Our Week in Review: What Kultured Wellness is all About, Q&A’s
Hi everyone,
I’ve had some great reminders this week for why I started Kultured Wellness. It’s lovely to hear from all of you and hear how far you’ve come, but also to be able to remind myself of the health journey I’ve taken; how good my gut health is now and how much variety I can have in my food, it’s truly freeing.
The little things that I’m so grateful for!
This innocent lunchtime grub looks perfect. Salmon, fermented beetroot, mixed herbs, greens and raw onion. Now, this may seem yum to you but a salad like this 5 years ago would have sent me into a tailspin of extreme gut symptoms that would last for days. That onion was my enemy. I tried everything from Fodmaps to juice fasts. I am so grateful now every time I eat a food that used to cause me pain that it’s all in the past. I love Brussel sprouts now!! All you IBS crew would understand how strange that is!
Eat fermented foods, understand your genes and bunker down as healing takes time but you get there.
Our arch nemesis, Strep, is back in our family. Time to break out the big gun oil of oregano for us all. Thanks, Dr. Axe for this awesome graphic.
Don’t forget to share your feedback and any things you’ve found helpful with us using the #KulturedWellness tag on Instagram and Facebook.
Wellness Profiles
We’ve launched a new section on our blog, Wellness Profiles. This is a chance for us to get to know other health and wellness specialists and share with you all their wonderful tips and advice from their experiences.
Kale Brock was our first guest on the wellness profile, check it out!
We look forward to sharing so many more wonderful professionals that we love collaborating with to offer the best in health, nutrition and wellness guidance.
Q&A
We’re focused on yoghurt this week. We’ve had lots of questions coming through about how to make yoghurt and the various differences you can see. Here is some back to basics answers for you all! Enjoy delicious, creamy and gut healing yoghurt.
Q – Why hasn’t my yoghurt risen?
A – In warmer weather, your yoghurt may expand more so it is important to leave plenty of room in the jar so that it doesn’t explode! In milder temperatures, the yoghurt may not expand as much if at all, but you will know it is ready when it has a tart taste and you can no longer taste the sugar from the coconut cream.
Q – Why did my yoghurt split?
A – As a living fermented food, your yoghurt may appear to “split” as the good bacteria go to work. Just give the yoghurt a stir with a wooden spoon before eating to make sure you consume all this potent probiotic liquid!
Q – Why is my yoghurt gritty?
A – If your yoghurt batch has become gritty, it may be because the coconut cream has solidified under very cool temperatures. Bringing it out of the fridge for a while or turning your fridge up may help. It’s important if using appliances to mix your yoghurt, to only blend on low speeds as high-speed blending can also cause a modified texture.
Q – Can I make your kefir or yoghurt using cow’s milk, rice milk or soy milk?
A – While this is possible we do not recommend it. Rice, almond, soy or any other non-dairy kinds of milk will require sugar to be added to the fermenting process to take place. In addition, many non-dairy kinds of milk available have added oils and preservative that will negatively affect your gut bacteria. Unless you are using raw cow’s milk we do not recommend using cow’s milk. The pasteurisation process in commercial cow’s milk negatively affects the bacteria in the milk and will in turn negatively impact the bacteria in our cultures.
Q – How do I flavour my kefir or yoghurt?
A – You can add fruit such as mango, kiwi or berries to the beginning of the fermentation process (approximately a handful per batch) to flavour your ferments remembering that the sugar will be eaten by the hungry bacteria, leaving only the good nutrients! Just pop some pieces in with your kefir, or blend it into your yoghurt mix before fermenting.
Kirsty’s Learnings
I watched this recently on Catalyst. Very interesting. What do you do to reduce the harm these devices might be causing you?
Thought for the week
How can we reclaim our past wisdom? How can we navigate the supermarket aisles with empowerment and not overwhelm? How can we defy the lies and outdated studies that have mislead us all these years? First by taking responsibility, second by questioning everything and thirdly by stripping it right back to basics.
Be healthy, be well!
Kirsty