Should I eat Kimchi/fermented/pickled foods?

[simon43]

I've been scouring the shelves of the supermarket here in Naypyidaw to try to see what healthy food options are available for me, apart from the fresh fruit and veg.

 

I would like to eat fresh bean salad (kidney beans, black beans, butter beans), but this is not available.  I can buy canned beans/legumes, although I need to check the level of sodium in each serving.

 

Also available is fresh Korean kimchi, (maybe for the  folks at the north Korean embassy LoL).  Kimchi seems to have similar bacteria to probiotic yogurts.  But kimchi is fermented red cabbage, and I already eat raw red cabbage every day.

 

The Myanmar folks seem to be big on pickled foods, but I'm sure if adding pickled foods to my current diet is a healthy option or not.

 

Basically, I'm trying to vary my diet with healthy options, so that I don't end up eating like a rabbit every day.

[Jingthing]

Kimchi is much better than yogurt for your purposes. Yes. Eat it. 

[dontoearth]

11 hours ago, simon43 said:

I've been scouring the shelves of the supermarket here in Naypyidaw to try to see what healthy food options are available for me, apart from the fresh fruit and veg.

 

I would like to eat fresh bean salad (kidney beans, black beans, butter beans), but this is not available.  I can buy canned beans/legumes, although I need to check the level of sodium in each serving.

 

Also available is fresh Korean kimchi, (maybe for the  folks at the north Korean embassy LoL).  Kimchi seems to have similar bacteria to probiotic yogurts.  But kimchi is fermented red cabbage, and I already eat raw red cabbage every day.

 

The Myanmar folks seem to be big on pickled foods, but I'm sure if adding pickled foods to my current diet is a healthy option or not.

 

Basically, I'm trying to vary my diet with healthy options, so that I don't end up eating like a rabbit every day.

If you would like to reduce the sodium content of canned beans just put them in a strainer and run them under cold water for a few minutes.  The salt concentrates in the brine and cooking water.  This will not make them NO sodium but it will make them low sodium.

[Taggart]

If you like it, eating kimchi is ok but I would stay away from the fermented drink kombucha tea.  Far away.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19460826

[tropo]

I would suggest brewing your own kefir. There are no probiotics more powerful. You can make it with UHT milk if you can't find fresh milk. I use UHT milk to brew it when I visit the Philippines.

[Jingthing]

Some relevant background on the potential benefits of both kimchi and other foods:

 

 

[simon43]

I would suggest brewing your own kefir. 

 

I read an old thread about kefir where you described how you make your own kefir.

 

I'm in Pattaya (wild holiday...), and found the health food store near to Foodland that makes kafir.  I tried a sample - it tastes very much like the tart taste of the natural yogurt that I buy in Myanmar, although the latter is set, not runny.  I like tart, (but not tarts!).

 

Based on this sample and information from Dr Google, I'd like to make my own kafir.  But how can I bring the kafir grains back to Myanmar?  I will stay in BKK for a week before I return to Naypyidaw, and I'm not sure how I can keep the kafir grains 'fresh' for that period of time.

 

I appreciate your advice :)

[tropo]

30 minutes ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

I read an old thread about kefir where you described how you make your own kefir.

 

I'm in Pattaya (wild holiday...), and found the health food store near to Foodland that makes kafir.  I tried a sample - it tastes very much like the tart taste of the natural yogurt that I buy in Myanmar, although the latter is set, not runny.  I like tart, (but not tarts!).

 

Based on this sample and information from Dr Google, I'd like to make my own kafir.  But how can I bring the kafir grains back to Myanmar?  I will stay in BKK for a week before I return to Naypyidaw, and I'm not sure how I can keep the kafir grains 'fresh' for that period of time.

 

I appreciate your advice :)

 

I've known them to survive a week in the post, just in a plastic bag.

 

There's a new mob in BKK that sells the grains. http://hkprobioticsbangkok.wixsite.com/store 

 

Stick them in the fridge until you're ready to leave, or just get them on your last day. They're hardier than you might think.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if you're feeling like a new man when you start drinking it daily. If your digestive system is healthy, everything else improves. Would you believe it cured my wife's travel sickness? and she was really bad - got sick on a bus or the back seat of a car. It also eliminated her cellulite. She didn't have much, but it's gone.

 

 

[black fox]

im a complete ignoramus about kefir seeds so bear with me,can they be bought in pattaya? also whats the procedure for brewing them?

[FruitPudding]

Yes.

 

We neglect the microbiome in our guts. We ruin our stomachs.

 

We get round (not fat) bloated bellies.

 

We get leaky gut (in 20 years modern medicine might recognise its existence)

 

We autoimmue diseases (and other related things), such as arthritis, psoraisis, celiac disease, sclerosis, IBS, acid reflux, poor mental health.

 

Did you know there are more bacterua in our gut than human cells in our bodies? We are more bacteria than human.

 

An upset in our gut microbiome upsets everything.

 

Google it.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2017 by FruitPudding

[JHolmesJr]

On 29 March, 2017 at 10:06 PM, simon43 said:

I would like to eat fresh bean salad (kidney beans, black beans, butter beans), but this is not available.

Im surprised…burma is right at the border with india….their cuisine is somewhat similar.

 

No beans?

[simon43]

Im surprised…burma is right at the border with india….their cuisine is somewhat similar.

No beans?

 

Plenty of fresh beans, but as yet, I have no cooking equipment to prepare them

 

I have been in BKK for a few weeks, enjoying the fresh beans at the salad bars in Villa Market.

[Taggart]

I only started adding beans to my diet on a daily basis a couple of years ago and I'm in my late 60's already.  Minimum 1/2 to 1 cup a day of beans or lentils.  When I was visiting Thailand last month for three weeks I really, really missed having the daily beans in the diet and my gut did too.  Sure maybe once or twice on the whole visit I was able to get to a Tops supermarket for their salad bar along with beans, but that was the odd exception.  Aside from some of their Thai desserts (which I have absolutely no interest in) I don't see beans as being a big food item in Thailand.