This will be most likely my last post for 2012, and since it is the time of the year where we all tend to indulge in yummy foods, here is a post about food!
I first started to experiment with fermented foods in 2001. At that point, I was working as a cook and ski instructor in Norway.
In 2000, I had gone a major shift in the way I looked at food and nutrition. That was when I first heard about Weston Price and his studies through Anthony Bova’s “Spartan regimen”. This lead to reading books and more research on my behalf, and of course experimenting. I still use the guidelines today, but I am no food nazi 
Basically I started adding more lacto acid fermented products and raw enzymes to my diet. and it’s been the smartest thing that I ever did for myself.
Sourdough rye bread is really popular with Danes, and since most of the guests at the lodge I was working at were Danes, we made our own sourdough rye bread in the kitchen. I have since learned different ways to make a “sour dough starter”, from just water and flour, to using cultured milk and flour and easiest of all, using wild berries/ fruits and flour.
In Norway, kefir is a common dairy product, found next to yogurt in supermarkets. However, I have to stress that commercial kefir, like commercial buttermilk, resembles in no way the real home made stuff!
So anyway, I was getting my taste buds challenged with new flavors, and decided to make my first batch of raw sauerkraut. I got the recipe of the Price foundation website, and I think that this first batch was made more as a challenge than as a real interest in eating sauerkraut. I simply couldn’t believe that all it took was some cabbage and salt, and voila, magically all this wonderful stuff would happen.
But sure enough, after 3 days fermenting away on a shelf, my sauerkraut was ready! I got hooked on the taste straight away. How different it was from the cooked sauerkraut dish that I knew!Suddenly I had found a hobby. Raw sauerkraut is always to be found in my house, and I still get amazed every time I open a new jar.
Another food I love making is Idli. Idli and dosas are traditional Indian fermented food. Idli is a thin batter like for pancakes, dosas have athicker batter that has to be steamed, . The general process is:
- Separately soak rice and lentils at least overnight in water.
- Put into a blender and grind to a puree
- Mix together, add salt with water to make a batter.
- Leave at room temperature overnight.
- Fry off and enjoy with raita (a yogurt side dish very like tadziki)
Rice volume is double that of lentils. So basically, you can use a combination of grains and pulses, in a ratio of 2 to 1. Do not use grains that have gluten, it just makes a sticky mess when you blend the mixture. I have made tasty idlis with red lentils and buckwheat, lentils and millet, amaranth and lentils, so again, experiment!
The beauty of lacto acid fermentations is the increased nutrition that results out of the process. The process also removes the anti -nutrients like oxalates and phytates found in grains, nuts and pulses, making the fermented foods easily digestible.
Raw fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and kefir, are teeming with live enzymes and probiotics supporting your digestive functions.
Another benefit of fermented foods – such as sauerkraut, some cheeses (Jarlsberg and Emmental), natto and miso- is that those foods contain substantial amounts of vitamin K2, which can be hard to obtain otherwise.
Vitamin K1 is found in: spinach, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, green beans, asparagus, broccoli, kale, green peas and carrots.
Vitamin K2 has so many functions not associated with vitamin K1 that many researchers insist that K1 and K2 are best seen as two different vitamins entirely.
What can high-vitamin K foods do for you?
- Allow your blood to clot normally
- Help protect your bones from fracture
- Help prevent postmenopausal bone loss
- Help prevent calcification of your arteries
It’s important to note that vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin. This means that in order for your body to absorb it effectively, you need to eat some fat along with it. I spread miso on crackers, and top up with butter, as a better tasting substitute to good old Vegemite.
Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year!
Over the last 20 years ( I am turning 42 in 2 weeks time as I write this) I have tried many things, different diets, sports, exercise protocols, supplements, colonics, this and that. You name it.
Inspired by the results 
As a follow up to my post 
For starters, these weighted ropes minimize the risk of injury compared to when using traditional free weights. Battling Ropes provide a form of non-impact weight resistance exercise through various wave patterns that I like to begin with before advancing patients to other high-impact weight resistant exercises. Also, the relative light weight (the 1.5” 50’ rope is approx. 23 lbs.) and distribution of that weight over a long surface area makes it a safe alternative for overhead weight training and peace of mind that the rope can be dropped at any time. Thus, if a rope is accidently dropped, it will cause little or no harm to a patient. This is especially important when working with a brain injury or stroke patient where the risk of a dumbbell falling on the patients’ foot or head with overhead activities is higher due to decreased motor control. The same goes when working with my geriatric patient with age-related disease processes such as osteopenia or rheumatoid arthritis.
the patient. It also creates a new twist to common exercises. The Turkish Get Up with the Battling Ropes, for example, can now have an additional direction of force going in either direction from the left, the right, or from behind or front as they perform the exercise. This really helps me challenge my patients with balance/asymmetrical stabilization issues. This principle also helps me utilize the ropes when doing reactive neuromuscular training made popular by therapists like Gray Cook and others. The 2-vectors of force direction helps when I use the ropes with physical therapy exercises such as PNF patterns, pendulum exercises, and wand exercises. I can also employ different types of movement prep exercises for the shoulder, back, and core such as ones I call ‘hummingbird’, ‘wall angels’, ‘iron cross’, ‘airwaves’ and ‘tug-of-war’ that have proved helpful for my shoulder and back patients.
For my spinal cord injury patients who are wheelchair bound or patients who’ve undergone surgeries for a joint replacement or a lower extremity fracture, the battling ropes system provide an excellent opportunity to increase cardiac and overall aerobic strength while they are without the use of their lower extremities. The patients can receive a tremendous amount of cardiovascular conditioning and core strengthening through these ropes. The ropes also allow patients who are temporarily disabled (e.g. a patient with a compound fracture in their leg, or their leg is in a long leg cast) to still maintain core and upper body strength and conditioning while they try to wait for their bones to heal.
Another aspect of physical therapy and rehabilitation is the need to incrementally increase weight resistance quickly and efficiently for a patient going through rehab. Especially in the early or acute phase of their rehabilitation, progress can be as little as 1-2 lbs of weight at a time. Machines like the Keiser air machines can change in resistance in very small increments but can be expensive for some clinics. Other machines like the cable machine or dumbbells can have increments of 5-10lbs between weights which are too big of a gap for some patients. The ropes can act like a less expensive version of the Keiser, allowing for those small increments of weight to be added to the patient based on the amount of length of the rope that is used. The patient, for example, using 20 ft. of rope vs. 21 ft. of rope from its anchor will make a difference in their shoulder press, wrist curls, or other exercises in their rehab protocol. I can make the difference in weight by utilizing even smaller increments. This is especially important for my neurological patients trying to regain motor control where improvements can literally be 1-2 lbs at a time.
in smaller increments than other traditional weights. The ropes also provide another avenue of conditioning for my brain injury, paralytic and lower extremity surgical patients who cannot use their lower extremities at the early phase of their rehabilitation. The ropes system creates a whole new set of dynamic rehabilitation exercises that complement traditional weight resistance exercises. Finally, battling rope exercises, especially in a physical therapy setting, are one of the safest weight resistance exercises that also minimize the risk of injury to the patient when using it. Applying Battling Ropes into physical therapy treatments for my pediatric, neuro-rehabilitation, cardiac rehabilitation, and geriatric patient treatments have made a significant impact on speed of recovery and return to their prior level of function. I highly recommend the Battling Ropes system into any physical therapy program. For any further questions please contact me at 
