A New Journey to a Better and Better Life!

You are probably wondering what this is?  This is part of my new Journey to even a healthier life than I have created for myself in the last year.  As most of you know, I decided to take a turn in my life to a healthier, happier life.  It was time to make changes.  I was tired of being in and out of doctors offices due to bad health.  I was over weight, constantly sick and had no energy.  There was no motivation to do anything but sit around my house, with an occasional outing.  In February of 2013, after going through knee surgery, my physical therapist suggested the book "Ultra Metabolism" by Dr. Mark Hyman, which opened my eyes as to the foods that I was eating.  After cleaning out my cabinets and fridge, I began a healthier way of eating while incorporating exercise and essential oils.



No matter what age you are, it is never too late to start a healthy journey.  Whether you are in your 20's or 50's or 60's or older.  Don't make the excuse that "I am too old" to get healthy.  Donna started her journey when she was 40, and she continues, 12 years later.  I started mine at age 43.  I guess I call this my midlife crisis, or better yet, my midlife healing.

Now, thanks to Donna Schwenk's Cultured Food Life, my journey continues, just adding another element of healthy eating.  Cultured foods are foods that are boosted to SUPER FOODS by way of fermentation.  This was done years and years ago.  We have just moved away from this method due to convenience and excuses of today's society.  With dedication and motivation from wonderful people like Donna, we can get back to this way of eating and continue to heal our bodies.  Cultured foods, what Donna calls "The Trilogy" helped Donna and her family in so many ways that she just couldn't keep this to herself, so she has her own website, book, products, videos and so much more because she wants to spread the word of good health.

I have decided to jump on this band wagon, because eating the cultured foods have made me feel so much better, even better than I have before.  I will track my journey and let you know of the affects of these foods on me and my family.

How can leaving a jar of milk out on your counter for 24 hours or more be healthy for you?  That is what I thought, but after reading about Kefir on Donna's website, I see the benefits.  It turns into a creamy goodness that is similar to yogurt but has more benefits than yogurt could ever have!  This was the way that people use to preserve milk when they didn't have refrigeration!  Kefir is rich in protein, calcium, vitamin B12, niacin, and folic acid.  It has over 30-50 strains of good bacteria, where yogurt only has about 10.   I urge you to read more about it over at Donna's website! Click Here.

So what is in my picture above?  This is called Kefir Soda.  It is made with a fruit extract.  You do this by coating about a pound of cut up fruit with about a cup to a cup and a quarter of sugar.  I use coconut sugar.  SUGAR!  Yikes, how can that be good for somebody who is diabetic?  Well when you ferment the soda, the cultures will feed off the sugar.  This isn't a really sweet drink like soda, it is more like a fruit water with added benefits because the cultures intensify all of the vitamins and minerals in the fruit!  Not much sugar is left after the fermentation process.  So what else is in this soda?  You can use kefir whey from making keifr or you can use a packet of kefir culture stater.  Blend this with some of your fruit extract and some water, then pour it into a flip top bottle and let it sit for 24 hours or more depending on the temperature of your house.  It will become a bubbly wonder drink.  Bubbles are good!  It means it is fermenting..a natural carbonation process.

If you want the full recipe, I urge you to either become one of Donna's Biotic Pro Members or buy her book. Cultured Food for Life: How to Make and Serve Delicious Probiotic Foods for Better Health and Wellness.








This will just be a first of many posts on my learning about Cultured Foods.  I hope to be able to help Donna to spread the word of these wonderful foods and share with you some of my recipes that I can come up with using cultured foods.  There is so much to learn about these foods.   Keifr, Kombucha and Cultured Foods.  I am very excited to be able to share this with you as I learn more and more.

Some may call me crazy, but I can call it HEALTHY!