fermented foods and Antibiotics recovery

Hi Wardeh,

This is something that has been concerning me lately and I hoped in your wide exposure to fermented foods you would have gleaned some information on the topic that you could advise me with. Just to put it out there before I get into it, I am not asking for medical advice, not really.

Before I knew anything about permaculture I hardly gave antibiotics a second thought. Though of course as with everything in my life now after I began getting into permaculture I start to question things a little deeper. More often than not they lead to a veritable Alice in Wonderland type rabbit hole of knowledge mashed up with people's opinions and experiences. I have read/heard much about how antibiotics pretty much lays waste to beneficial bacteria in your gut as well as whatever offending bacteria there is. So my question is , generally, what types of fermented foods are good to eat to help restore and strengthen the colonies of beneficial bacteria after a regimen of antibiotics?

Thanks,
Elia

A good approach is to choose fermented foods that don't have remaining sugar. (This way you're not feeding undesirable organisms in your gut.) Sauerkraut is incredibly healing, even the juice. A yogurt or kefir that ferment at least 24 hours have no remaining lactose.

Food that would have residual sugar would be wine or 6-8 hour yogurt.

In general, all fermented foods are good candidates for antibiotic recovery. Myself, I would go with sauerkraut and 24 hour yogurt or kefir. In fact, those are staples on the gut-healing diet called GAPS:

http://gaps.me

(maybe another Alice in Wonderful rabbit hole!)