I Ate Fermented Foods Daily for a Month

The Experiment

I committed to eating two servings of fermented foods daily for the month of September 2021.

My Experience

This challenge was inspired by a study mentioned in episode 30 of the Huberman Lab podcast. The study showed that consuming two to four servings of fermented foods each day was very effective at increasing microbiome diversity and lowering inflammation. The fermented food diet was found to pack a bigger punch than the fiber-rich diet. These findings were extra appealing to me since my hip condition is accentuated when inflammation levels are high. I did not already consume many fermented foods other than the odd kombucha so I thought this was a great opportunity to try new foods.

I have tried the following fermented foods over the course of the month:

• Kimchi
• Sauerkraut
• Kombucha
• Kefir

The kombucha was consumed as a leisure drink. It can be very refreshing in the summer. It can be quite expensive so my partner (who also did the challenge with me) decided to try to make her own kombucha. She bought her scoby on Amazon. We bought our Kombucha at Costco which slightly reduced the cost per bottle.

The sauerkraut was consumed on sandwiches while we ate the kimchi by itself. To my surprise, I do enjoy eating kimchi by itself. I can see myself eating a couple of forkfuls of kimchi a few times per week moving forward. The kefir was mostly consumed in smoothies. We bought ourselves a new blender which doubles as a food processor. We love it so far. Adding kefir to our smoothies was an easy way to consume fermented while adding a creamy taste and consistency to our smoothies.

Just a heads up that your stools are likely to change while on this challenge as a consequence of shifting the gut microbiota. It is not clear what ideal stools are. Jeff Leach (a microbiome expert and anthropologist) suggests that they may not be what we tend to consider as a “healthy poop“. I particularly enjoyed this podcast episode where he reveals some of the discoveries he has made by studying hunter-gatherer populations who have not been in contact with many of the modern lifestyle factors such as highly processed diets and high exposure to antibiotics.

Everything considered this challenge did not drastically change my health. That said, I did feel generally healthier this month. Placebo or not, it is still a good thing to feel good. I did not get sick during the month (which is very rare for me anyway). I did not feel spikes of inflammation, but I am curious to see if my inflammation levels were significantly lower than my previous baseline. I suspect people may experience more intense results if their baseline was more problematic than mine was to begin with.

Takeaways

1. Make sure to consult your doctor before trying any protocol such as this one.
2. You can try to make your own fermented foods if money is an issue.
3. I will keep adding kefir to my smoothies, eating kimchi, and drinking kombucha when I feel like it.
4. I have also bought some All-Bran Buds to up my fiber intake.

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