Hi David:

Kim Chi is a food  I have never heard of , and thought I would share my findings.

Kim Chi while being low in calories. One serving also provides up to 80% of the daily required amount of Vitamin C and carotene. . Most types of kimchi contain onions, garlic and peppers all of which are salutary. The vegetables being made into kimchi also contribute to the overall nutritional value. Kimchi is rich in vitamin A, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), calcium and iron, and contains a number of lactic acid bacteria . In 2000, a novel bacteriocin -producing lactic acid bacterium (strain MT-1077^T) was isolated from Kimchi and was named Lactobacillus kimchi.

Kimchi has a reputation of being a healthy food . The US magazineHealth named kimchi in its list of top five "World's Healthiest Foods" for being rich in vitamins, aiding digestion, and even possibly retarding cancer growth. However, some research focused on high-sodium dietary dependence has found overconsumption of kimchi and soybean paste ( hangul: similar to miso ) to be alliums and unfermented seafood were found to be protective factors. One oncological study found one type of kimchi to be a protective factor against gastric cancer while two other types of such high-sodium kimchi as dongchimi (hangul: ) were risk factors.

Kim Chi being very high in sodium,  I made a Google query and found a  source  made without salt which might be worth checking out is
http://www.rejuvenative.com/catalog_sfgk

It is made from fresh, shredded, unheated vegetables which are put into stainless steel containers and left to culture for five to seven days. No water or vinegar is added. These delicious, high-fiber, low-fat, unheated, organic, cultured vegetables are one of the richest sources of lactobacilli and enzymes available. Lactobacilli are probiotic microflora, naturally implanted by mother's milk, normally present in a healthy human digestive tract.

David Mendosa, Health Guide

5/30/08 10:59pm

Dear Joan,

 

Thank you for your research and for finding the Rejuvenative Foods brand of low-sodium kim-chee. It is that brand of kim-chee that I eat, and in fact just had some for dinner. But I haven't been able to find the low-sodium variety here. You have inspired me to keep looking!

 

David

Earlene

6/ 2/08 8:12pm

Many fermented foods may be grown at home. There are many websites with directions. Fermented foods were all home made in the begining and were usually lactic acid fermentation with no salt. There are ways to make kim chee using the whey left behind from straining yoghurt and only adding salt to taste. A few years ago I bought five dollars worth of kefir grains and was in heaven for a short while. When they are happy they are like tribills(sp?). I could not use enough kefir to maintain the number of grains that grew. I had to put some of them down( I won't say where) and felt like I was destroying a pet. It was the best kefir I ever had.

David Mendosa, Health Guide

6/ 2/08 9:52pm

Dear Earlene,

 

Thanks for this contribution. A friend of mine makes the most wonderful sauerkraut at home by following the directions posted online by the owner of Rejuvenative Foods -- which sells their raw sauerkraut for a lot of money. And the homemade is much better. Now all I need is time....

 

Best regards,

 

David

My daughter, my husband, and myself have been on low carb for insulin resistant diabetes for quite some time.  It works wonders of course, since we are not eating things that raise our blood sugars, we are clinically non-diabetic with no meds.

However, my daughter has expressed some concerns because she read that protein causes as much of an insulin release as carbs, but doesn't affect blood sugar, b/c at the same time, the liver releases an enzyme that deactivates the insulin.

Now she's concerned that eating low carb will tire out her beta cells, just as though she was eating high carb.

Can you shed any light on this? 

Best,

Dee Sperling

Central Square, NY

David

On July 14^th, I posted an article How Healthy is Your Veggie Burger?

Much of the "natural" soy protein used in foods today is bathed in a toxic, explosive chemical solvent known as hexane

Before printed the article I checked out the following site.

 www.nowpublic.com/.../neurotoxic-pollutant-hexane-used-leading-natural-soy-brands

Which states in part , : "The Cornucopia Institute report

"Part I of the comprehensive report explores the reasons for asking these questions, including why organic consumers should be wary of Chinese imports, given the lax oversight by the USDA over organic certifiers working in China."

"Gardein^TM is a Canadian company that produces meat analogs - soy-based "chicken" and soy-based "beef" - for popular brands and private labels. While the company describe its process for making these meat analogs as "pure and simple," it does not mention that it starts with hexane-extracted soy protein.""

I further checked out www.gardein.com. Click on Products USA

You will find Kellogg's Morning Star Farms products.

Joan

David Mendosa, Health Guide

7/18/09 1:54pm

Dear Joan,

 

Your message disturbs me and should also disturb all of those people who follow a vegetarian diet. Thank you for sending it.

 

First, please let us know where you write your articles.

 

Second, I found the nowpublic.com link that you send, although it was bad. The correct link is http://www.nowpublic.com/health/neurotoxic-pollutant-hexane-used-leading-natural-soy-brands .

 

Third, I was particularly disturbed because I had been thinking of adding soy protein to my morning breakfast of GreensFirst (http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/67280/drink-veggies ). I've experimented with whey protein, but whey may be inflammatory, according to some preliminary research by BalancePoint Health. I've tried rice protein, but don't particularly like the taste. Egg white protein mixes quite poorly. So I was planning to use soy protein -- until I read your message.

 

I eat few soy-based products now. Up until about a year ago I used to enjoy MorningStar Farms Breakfast Patties Made with Organic Soy. But they contain wheat gluten to which I have been tested as sensitive and which aren't good for millions of us (far more than the number of people who know that they have celiac disease).

 

So I will stick with egg white protein after all. It does have the great advantage of having perhaps the most complete -- most perfect -- protein there is.

 

Best regards,

 

David

verdungal

7/18/09 4:11pm

Hi David

I write my articles on my sharepost under the name verdungal.   How Healthy is Your Veggie Burger was posted  July 14th

Regards

Joan