You may be wondering why I chose to focus on fermented foods to kick off my 2021 menus and for the January page of my 12 Healthy Habits Calendar.  Well, there are two reasons:

• First, we tend to do a number on our gut bugs (aka gut flora or microbiota) in December.  This is because our traditional holiday diet shifts markedly to more refined carbs, added sugars and alcohol.  And the holidays can be psychologically stressful, which may also have a detrimental impact.  Fermented foods add beneficial live bacteria (probiotics) to our diets and give our gut microbiota a helping hand.
• Second, it’s a pretty simple healthy habit to adopt.  And when we succeed at an initial change, it encourages and empowers us to take on another.

So why is feeding on fermented foods so easy to do?  Because this is one of the few “prepared food” groups I’d recommend.  While we certainly can ferment our own foods (and some do), it is not always practical.  As a result, there are a number of high quality producers out there to meet demand.

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