It started waay back …
Just before I turned twenty-one I, along with a good friend, embarked on a three-month experiment with vegetarianism. I had a blast playing with new recipes and discovered all kinds of new tastes and textures that really agreed with my gut.
I stayed eating the vegetarian way for about 18 years. Fish and chicken were added as my children entered daycare and school (Yes, I succumbed to pressure). At the same time we figured out that one son had lots of allergies, peanuts and dairy being the strongest. So peanuts disappeared in a flash and dairy was greatly reduced as a presence in our daily eating.
However it wasn’t until years later, when I was battling with vicious migraines that I let go of my beloved cheese. And voilà – freedom from daily illness and debilitating pain. I had allergy testing done to clarify what was truly challenging me and discovered – horror of all horrors – that I reacted very strongly to yeast and wheat as well.
(It was probably gluten – but in those days we barely knew the word gluten)
It took me at least a year, probably more, to settle into a gluten & dairy free food plan that not only worked for my health, but also tasted great AND that my family would eat as well (big challenge).
But the bonuses? OH MY!
This change in eating habits lifted the depression that had been increasingly impinging on my life, disappeared those nasty migraines forever, and brought my energy levels into the realm of – ‘thank goodness, I can make it through this day’.
This experience turned me into even more of a die-hard foodie, always on the lookout for super healthy fresh foods that taste great. It was this search that brought me to fermented foods, and in particular, cultured veggies. It was a gradual shift – no dramatic healings – just a constant and ever expanding sense of increasing energy, decreasing sugar cravings and an overall sense of well-being … body AND mind.
NOTE: my sensitivities to dairy and yeast preclude eating Kefir or Kombucha. Hence a focus on cultured vegetables only AND developing a wide variety of cultured veggie recipes. Because we couldn’t have my taste buds getting bored now, could we?
Once I had convinced myself of the healing properties of cultured veggies, I was determined to pass it on to my poor long-suffering (not really) husband who deals with AS (Ankylosing Spondylitis), a particularly nasty kind of arthritis. He was suspicious and resistant. I practically had to spoon-feed it to him – until – a month or two in, he noticed that a number of symptoms had eased off or disappeared. That made my husband happy and compliant with my cultured veggie offerings.
It turned me into an evangelical cultured food preacher – which prompted me to develop the Get Cultured! workshop.
Once I started my Get Cultured! workshops on the Sunshine Coast, public interest just exploded! Hundreds of people have become part of the Get Cultured community over the years and are experiencing remarkable benefits from preparing and adding cultured veggies to their meals. I hear from people every week about how much better they feel!
In order to get more cultured veggie benefits into more meals, I’ve been hard at work developing the amazing in-person workshop as an online offering. There is big Get Cultured news coming up next week!
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Just in case you missed it, you can find tips on cultured veggies and travelling by clicking
