Home Brew Kombucha .... Roll the Dice & Your Gut Could Win!
Folks -
Some great conversations happening in the Zwift Channel to talk about value of healthy food choices to help keep your gut / digestive biomes in a healthy place. I am NOT the person to talk to about this, but thankfully we have some real rockstars here on the Team who can contribute.
Officially paging @Sheila Leard and @Leslie Sedlak to the floor to take us to school.
If any of you have input or feedback, please include as well!!!
~ Coach P
Some great conversations happening in the Zwift Channel to talk about value of healthy food choices to help keep your gut / digestive biomes in a healthy place. I am NOT the person to talk to about this, but thankfully we have some real rockstars here on the Team who can contribute.
Officially paging @Sheila Leard and @Leslie Sedlak to the floor to take us to school.
If any of you have input or feedback, please include as well!!!
~ Coach P
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Kombuch"what"? probiotics? PREbiotics? fermented foods?
If you already drink kombucha - YAY - You are receiving some great benefits for your gut health.
If you don't drink kombucha - have seen it in the store but thought "what drink could possibly be worth $4 and not have alcohol in it?" - or have no idea what in the heck we are talking about - Here are a few links to get you started.
https://wellnessmama.com/23994/kombucha-benefits/
https://draxe.com/7-reasons-drink-kombucha-everyday/
Basically, Kombucha is a fermented beverage/food that has probiotics that are great for your gut. And it all starts out with sugar and tea and a bacteria/yeast colony that gets the fermentation process going and ends up as a DELICIOUS beverage, low in sugar and high in general goodness. [your sugar is for your kombucha to 'feed' on, not for you]
AND YOU CAN BREW IT AT HOME!! IT's SOOOOOOPER Easy!
I started brewing Kombucha about a year ago. I purchased my gallon jars from Michaels, cheesecloth, tea and sugar from Target and I was off and running. A year in - I have addd some fun 'extras' to my brews - fun brown growlers, a siphon for easier bottling, and different flavoring options I've experimented with over many, many, many brew cycles.
The Basic process can start two ways
1. You make your own scoby - takes a few weeks - but it's basically free
https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-kombucha-scoby-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-202596
2. You buy/get a scoby from on-line or down the street. [You will be surprised as you start talking to people, how many people you may already know that brew their own kombucha - ask for their next extra scoby!]
https://kombuchabrooklyn.com/
WHAT The HECK is a SCOBY! Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast.
Once you have your scoby:
1. Make some tea
2. Add some sugar
3. Add your scoby and starter kombucha
4. Wait.......for as long as you like! 7-14 days usually.
https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-kombucha-tea-at-home-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-173858
You taste your kombucha along the way - some people like it more vinegar tasting, some people like it more sweet. Some like with more carbonation, some with less. Some with flavor, some with less. It's up to you! And it all depends on your environment/temperature/process at your abode on how your batch turns out.
Personally, I start in a large jar for 11 days, then move to growlers with flavors (mango, strawberries and ginger, lemon) for 3-5 days, then into the fridge for enjoyment. To be honest, my batches usually start disappearing once they are in the growlers, even if they are warm in the cupboard, it goes fast around my house - All the more reason to make my own!
Enjoy!
Many athletes deal with bloating, resistant weight loss and reflux. Start with looking at what is causing it. This can be as simple as eating more fiber from veggies and hardy grains which ultimately feed good bacteria. Another option is to eat or drink more fermented foods .... enter KOMBUCHA ! I haven't gone the extra step in making my own. Leslie is the Kombucha Master Chef. If you haven't tried it yet, go slow. Drink one cup a day.
It would be unfair to have a discussion about healthy biomes without mentioning the Peek a Poo Game.
So here you go ... this is science. It can say so much about YOU. We own our bacteria and can change it for the better. You should only be a 3 or 4.
Feedback?
Will bookmark for future reading!
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/resistant-starch-101#section5
I had gut issues for years (IBS), as well as inflammatory conditions (endometriosis, asthma, numerous upper respiratory infections). I got so desperate three years ago, that I stopped eating gluten. Took a couple of months, but my symptoms subsided and eventually disappeared. I don’t even catch colds anymore. Along with not eating gluten, I eat no processed foods or foods with added sugar. I cook steel cut oats, rice, quinoa, and sweet and white potatoes ahead of time and let them cool before re-heating and eating, to convert as much of the starch as possible to resistant starch. My gut is so much happier, and overall, I am so much healthier than I used to be.
It's a bit faster to make the first time if you can get a scoby from a friend, though when I started I made my own from a commercial bottle of plain. Easy breezy.
@Alicia Chase thanks for sharing article on resistant starch.
"The main reason why resistant starch works, is that it functions like soluble, fermentable fiber. It goes through the stomach and small intestine undigested, eventually reaching the colon where it feeds the friendly bacteria in the gut".
@Carole Harbison I didn't know you could make it without a Scoby. You have me thinking its time to make my own.
Whenever the scoby gets out of control I'll peel off the older parts to keep it a reasonable size.
I think you'll know if it goes bad. I've never had that happen though.
Heather and I make Sauerkraut in one of these. We make it nice and spicy.... Awesome
https://www.amazon.com/Kenley-Fermentation-Crock-Jar-Liter/dp/B01MCR4D03/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1516813150&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=sauerkraut+crocks&psc=1
This is a complex topic that I absolutely love. I have helped several endurance athletes get over "gut shut down" by just improving their gut health.This is done first by looking at what is causing the inflammation, leaky gut or causing those tight junctions to open up allowing toxins to get out causing nausea, bloating and eventually malabsorption of nutrients.
I like to teach with pictures. Let me breakdown the above photo courtesy of Journal of Sport & Health, Vol.6, June 2017
The lining of your gut needs to have tight junctions and lots of mucus. Endurance athletes are prone to dehydration and toxins getting out and causing nausea. If we can protect the lining of our gut through a whole foods diet and avoiding foods that assault the gut such as gluten for SOME people, then we can set ourselves up for greater absorption of the nutrients and fluids we need when racing.
In the picture above you see TNF, IL-1, I-6 ... these are pro-inflammatory cytokines. These need to stay on one side. If those cytokines get into circulation and the athlete becomes dehydrated or has “leaky gut” these endo-toxins get out. This is the beginning of the gut shutting down.
A healthy microbiome is thought to help:
- delay symptoms of fatigue by utilizing fuel efficiently
- improving hydration during exercise
- provide tight junctions ... no leaky gut
Bottom line. Improve the health of your gut by:If you have GERD, IBS, IBD get on top of it before your next race. Use the Out Season to fix these issues.
Trying to do it when racing is hard.
Feedback anyone? Success stories?
#healthyTeamEn
I agree that some of the other fermented foods are better than store bought Kombucha, but Buch is certainly the most convenient...
It may sound expensive, but there was a period in my life that Jess and I were splitting a bottle of wine almost every night and even the cheap stuff at ~$12/bottle is a LOT more expensive than a $4 bottle of Kombucha! And let's not even talk about the period that Jess and I were going through a very expensive bottle of Scotch every week...
Both the kitchen.com and the brooklyn kombucha sites in my first post show examples of what a scoby should look like and how to 'peel' the old to reveal the new. The first few batches, you may not even need to peel off the top layer.
WRT the fizziness - that all depends on if you do a second fermentation (in your bottles before you put into the fridge) as well as if you add any flavors. A second fermentation happens after you have poured your buch into bottles - you set them back into the cupboard for 3-7 days. The longer they sit, the more fizzy (and vinegary tasting) they get. Also if you use add-ins like fruit (esp berries) there is typically more carbonation. One trick is to do one of your bottles in a plastic bottle. Check it daily and feel the pressure build. Everybody's brewing environment is different, so it may take shorter or longer to get your "fizzy" where you want it to be. Experiment for a couple of brews, take note of how long you did your first and second fermentation, and go from there.
@Sabra Gonzalez You can def put in the fridge right after adding 'yummies', but you won't get as much carbonation. Experiment with bottling a couple of days earlier, adding flavor, then back to the cupboard you go for a couple days, then try the fridge. If fizz is what you are trying to perfect - a plastic bottle for a few brews could really help you get that dialed in. Happy Brewing!
Went to the store and saw several brands. Any recommendations of good brands: Kevita Master Brew Kombucha, Health Ade Kombucha; GTS Synergy Organic Kombucha; GTS Kombucha Organic and Raw. I'm sure there are other depending on the grocery store. Any recommendations @Sheila Leard ? Thanks.
If you're sensitive to caffeine be careful of drinking it late, the tea might affect you.
My second favorite is Kevita. I envy those who making there own. I'm not that adventurous.
I think the home brew "seems" way healthier, because I'm not convinced that the store bought bottled brands don't add extra sugar after the fermentation process to make it taste better. But if you are too lazy to brew it yourself (like I am), then you take what you can get.
Anyway, I highly recommend anything by GT's. They are the gold standard. I hope you enjoy it!