18 March 2013

3 reasons I drink something my mom thought would make me sick

Sometimes, rebellion really pays off.

A few years ago I brought home a kombucha SCOBY. My mother came over and promptly begged me to throw it out. She took one look at the gelatinous cream-coloured disc with tendrils of brown gunk hanging from it, and pronounced she was quite sure drinking this strange brew would kill me, or at the very least, make me extremely ill…

I persevered. And not only did the kombucha not kill me, it dramatically changed my health for the better…

What IS kombucha anyway?

Kombucha is essentially a ‘cultured tea’. When we talk about things that are cultured, you might think of yogurt but many other foods and drinks fit into this category- including kombucha.

Researchers are just beginning to understand the importance of cultured/fermented foods in the human diet. Some even call them the ‘lost food group’. That’s because cultured foods were traditionally consumed in every part of the world prior to the the industrialization of the food system.

Kombucha was revered by the ancient Chinese as well as Eastern Europeans for it’s health giving and healing properties. It was actually called the ‘tea of immortality’ and warriors drank it before going into battle.

But what about that ‘thing’ on top?’

The thing. The ‘blob’ that many people find repulsive, is called the SCOBY. A SCOBY is a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeasts. It’s sometimes called a ‘mother’ (as in mother culture) or ‘mushroom’ (although it’s really not a mushroom at all).

It’s what cultures, or transforms, the tea, sugar and water, into the mysterious, effervescent drink we know as kombucha.

The culture used for apple cider vinegar is similar. That’s why you often see it labelled as containing ‘the mother’. The mother, or live culture, is the strands you see floating around and the sediment at the bottom of the bottle.

Why we’ll never be without kombucha again…

I know. That sounds pretty dramatic but the healing I’ve experienced by drinking kombucha has been profound.

First, and most importantly, kombucha helped me kick my sugar habit once and for all. Without an extreme cleanse- without any effort on my part at all other than drinking the kombucha. The cravings just disappeared. Today, I can take or leave cake, cookies and ice cream. My tastebuds are revolted when I bite into anything too sweet. All this coming from someone who used to obsess about dessert…

Secondly, I credit kombucha with helping me heal a chronic candida overgrowth. That’s because kombucha is probiotic and helps rebalance your inner ecosystem. Candida causes all sorts of nasty symptoms including brain fog, bread and sugar cravings, fatigue, acne and yeast infections. You will never rid the body of candida but you can keep it in check. When your gut is in balance, the good micro-organisms will outnumber the bad ones and keep yeasts like candida at bay.

And finally, I discovered that a glass of kombucha will nip a headache in the bud. Whether it’s a tension headache or otherwise, it almost always works. I have a glass of ‘booch’ as it’s sometimes called, and about 10 minutes later, the headache is gone.

That’s my story. But once you become a kombucha convert you hear of so many others. A 65 year old man who once told me that kombucha ‘saved his life’. He had cancer and the doctors had ‘written him off’ he said. Then a neighbour gave him kombucha.

“I didn’t even know what it was, but I had nothing to lose,” he explained to me one summer day after one of my fermentation workshops. “I did what she said and drank a glass every morning. When I went back to the doctor he took one look at my bloodwork and asked me what the heck I had been doing. Then said, ‘Nevermind… Just keep doing it.”

And he did. Fifteen years later, this man was the picture of health as he stood telling me his story…

How (and why) does it work?

While most people- especially those concerned about health, try to avoid sugar, the SCOBY actually feeds on the tea and sugar to produce some pretty important by-products.

One of those is a potent detoxifying substance called glucuronic acid. This organic acid is usually produced only by the liver. It helps to neutralize toxins. Considering the toxic world we live in, you can see why the liver could use some extra help. Kombucha provides an infusion of glucuronic acid and probiotics that helps cleanse our system of toxins…

Kombucha benefits:

• Some studies have shown glucuronic acid to be cancer preventative. 
• There are anecdotal stories of kombucha helping cure or keep in check, conditions like cancer and Lyme disease. 
• It contains glucosamines which replenishes cartilage and joint fluids. 
• It is is a probiotic drink so it can be especially good for improving and boosting digestion. 
• It is very cleansing and helps break up toxic conditions in the body (especially cleansing to the liver and
• blood) regular consumption of Kombucha tea can help to invigorate the entire glandular system
• It has ‘adaptogenic’ effects. What does that mean? It means it can help your system ‘adapt’ more easily to trauma and stress. It can help bring balance back into your inner ecosystem when something is ‘out of whack’.
• It can help normalize acidity levels in the body

So, if you’ve ever thought about trying kombucha, don’t be put off by its looks! You can even start by purchasing good quality raw kombucha from the store but in this post I give you step-by-step instructions for how to make it yourself- at a fraction of the cost…

Filed under:Nourished Pantry || Tagged under: cultured drinks, glucuronic acid, how to, kombucha, kombucha tea, probiotics
Author: Adrienne Percy