GO WITH YOUR GUT

Fermenting foods is as satisfying as baking and gardening, says 'Kimchi Queen' Karen Hodkinson, and boosts health

- Karen Hodkinson

Standing at my kitchen counter, I can hear the effervescent popping and pinging of air bubbles in my water kefir. In this one single jar, lives a community of microbacteria that I have nurtured for about three years. It was gifted to me by a doctor friend – I was her “first successful transplant”; her other kefir grain gifts didn’t survive.

By religiously feeding the right food to the grains and creating an environment for it to thrive, I now make one bottle of water kefir every week. Next to the kefir jar, are other jars of kombucha, kraut and kimchi. These “four Ks” appear to supercharge gut bacteria, boosting physical and mental health.

Professor Tim Spector, one of the most fervent champions of the microbiome diet, advises we eat at least 30 different types of plants each week and consume fermented foods instead of ultra-processed foods, which have a detrimental effect on our gut.

According to a Stanford University study, a fermented-food diet increases immunity and overall health, helping with weight maintenance as well as decreasing the risk of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Often dubbed the body’s “second brain”, bad gut health has also been linked to depression and low mood.

The “gut-pound” has brought a payday to some. Supermarket shelves now heave under the weight of cans of kombucha, kefir and gut shots. Drinking a £2.50 gut shot daily would mean parting with nearly £1,000 a year and that’s before factoring in the £10 jar of kimchi, the £5 tub of miso and the £3 bottle of kombucha. But the good news is that it’s easy to live a fermenting lifestyle without breaking the bank. It also doesn’t have to be complicated.