James Kuiper
My Sexy Food Journey
When I was 17 I was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. Aggressive chemotherapy put the cancer into remission, but a few years later I still felt terrible, and the same pre-cancer symptoms began surfacing. I got sick all the time and found it impossible to recapture the old me. After years of digestive discomfort and research I introduced fermented food into my diet, and within months I felt much healthier and happier. Now, five years down the line, I’m a completely different person. Real live probiotics and organic food has restored my gut flora, overall wellness, and introduced a healthier, sexier me.
Through all the searching and brick walls I had endured prior to discovering fermentation, I actually still see getting cancer as a blessing. It made me re-evaluate everything. Western medicine is fixated with treating symptoms, but it does very little to tackle the root cause of the problem. All disease begins in the gut. I realised I was allergic to loads of processed foods–pasteurised dairy, refined flours and sugars, iodated salt, and just about anything that was chemically preserved–and started to modify my diet. I felt a bit better, but going on a removal diet was not enough. I realised I had to add good stuff into my system too, like probiotic rich foods. That’s where Sexy Food comes in.
I spent a year as an apprentice on a sprout and micro-green farm and, using the knowledge I gained, developed a vegetable burger patty which became legendary at various Cape town markets. This put me in contact with loads of people in the organic health scene, with the particular focus in cultured probiotic food.
People say that fermented foods are the next big thing, but really they’re as old as the hills. Before we had freezers and canned food everyone had to do this. Fermented food creates umami flavours, textures, and scents without the use of chemicals, preservatives or harmful ingredients… it really is a whole new world of fun.
Cultured foods have allowed me to rebound from a state of anxiety and emerge as a healthier, more energetic human being. I continue to see their power today, particularly during the pregnancy of my wife and her post natural birth, which consisted of an organic probiotic food diet that brought about perfect results. That’s my Sexy Journey, and I know the sexy lifestyle will do amazing things for you too.
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The Brain-Gut Connection
“Go with your gut.” We hear this saying all the time, but what does it really mean? When looking into recent research and the growing importance of probiotic eating, this common statement carries a lot of scientific truth. The gut is essentially like our second brain. Of course it is not capable of thinking and decision making, however it has a profound impact on our thoughts, attitudes and ultimately how we view life. Many of us in this day and age don’t realise just how crucial gut-health is in contributing to the way we think and behave. But, did you know that our gut has more neurotransmitters in it than our entire brain? When our gut is happy our mind and mood are too.
But, how? The mucosa lining in the gut holds the voltage used to communicate with the corresponding nerves in the rest of the intestinal tract. The integrity of the mucosa is determined by its mineral content as well as the hormones in the body that help regulate attitude and mood. This in turn determines the impulses from the brain. This means both systems are essentially co-dependent. Thus, in order to strengthen this connection and feel your sexiest self, it is important to fix and nourish the microbiome (gut environment) with mineral rich probiotic foods. In other words, by nurturing and restoring your gut health, you are in fact healing your body and mind, your gut and your brain. This is where I come into play.
Starting Your Sexy Food Journey
The first step in maintaining a strong gut flora is incorporating as much probiotic-rich food into your diet as possible. Sexy Food emphasizes the proliferation of beneficial bacteria by cultivating probiotics in natural foods rather than in supplements and powders, which provide far less diversity of beneficial bacteria. Sexy Food has developed a platform to inspire you with a lifestyle of probiotic-rich foods and quality organic ingredients that provide strong gut health. When you open the door to a Sexy Food fridge, you also open the door to a healthier and sexier lifestyle, starting in the soil rather than in the laboratory.
