Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ncarroll 2234 days ago
I have a good friend who was hired a couple of years ago at a psychological clinic to build a program for treating depression without pharmaceuticals where possible focusing instead on diet, gut health and exercise. After talking with her I got curious and started doing a lot of research on gut health and food. Up until then, I had never heard of fermenting vegetables and I wondered if an experiment with those would help me get over a bad burnout.

I read about all kinds of chemical and nutritional details and studies and edge cases I didn't understand. I tried fermenting some beans which turned out terrible reminding me I had no idea what I was doing. But I kept at it. One day, a couple of months into the experiment, by then I was fermenting successfully and enjoying it daily, when I realized that my life-long love of sugar was simply gone. I have no idea where it went. I wasn't on a diet, I wasn't restricting my food choices in any way other than to be sure I ate a couple of spoonfuls of ferment each day; it just disappeared. I never expected that to happen...

If you really want to kill that craving, try fermenting nearly any vegetable you like and just eat a little bit each day. It takes time for your gut bacteria to improve but fermenting is quick and easy to do and it costs next to nothing. Feel free to get in touch via the email in my profile if you have any questions at all and good luck!