April Danann

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Monday, 10 June 2013

Best Probiotic Ever - Homemade Goat's Yogurt

So you think you are in control? Have you always felt like this or is this something new? Perhaps….just maybe – this control can be taken back (in your life, in your gut, in your mind) and it’s easier then you might think.

I happen to know – we are far less in control of our lives then we previously thought (ask me how I know). There are bacteria, viruses, yeasts, fungi and whatever, deep within our guts – some of which wield great power.

It’s a bit like a continuous battle in there. Everyone is fighting for the top spot, so there are winners and there are losers. However, much of the time, for most of us – this is a complete waste of energy, because those who are doing the fighting are not worth keeping around.

When our guts are full of non-beneficial bacteria (those who feed themselves, but really don’t care for you), we are on the losing end and the bottom of the food chain. I mean, all it takes is a small number of ‘bullies’ to set up a factory farm for themselves….

What we need to do is tip that balance back in our favour…fill our digestive tract with the good guys (bacteria, yeasts and organisms who work with you) in order to create a state of health.

Personally I don’t believe supplements or probiotics help the situation. They are not a food group for me (I only want real food) so, I leave them out of my diet. The best way to bring back the gut is to clean it out, detox and then re-populate….

For the vast majority of us, our internal gut flora was never set up from birth. Our guts were not populated with sufficient numbers of healthy and beneficial organisms. But, even if they were – one round of antibiotics and you might be back at square one.

Fasting changed all of that for me (yep! Reset, repopulated and rebuilt the lining of my gut) and now for the first time ever, I am aware of the inner workings of my gut and ‘who’ is in charge.

Central command has completely shifted to the good guys (how do I know? Things have started moving ahead again in my life, I am ‘living’ again) – one thing I am eating lots of to help this process along is my own special (well, I think it’s special) goat’s yogurt.

Over these past few weeks I have been growing and developing my own bacterial culture for my goat’s yogurt and have been enjoying it in nearly everything from a sweet dessert to my latest warm weather treat of tzatziki.

To make this dish, I strain the yogurt for a couple of hours to take some of the whey off. Then with the thicker yogurt, I add in 1 full grated and strained cucumber (the key here is to strain some of the liquid off).

Next I crush 3 cloves of garlic into the yogurt mixture and add salt and pepper to taste. If this gets a chance to sit for an hour or two (I like it cold) it tastes even better.

Tzatziki is nice with served with roasted lamb (or BBQ), on fresh herbed bread or as a dip for your crisp summer vegetables. And any yogurt based dish tastes so much better when you make it yourself!

April
Homemade tzatziki

1 comment:

  1. Never tried goat's yogurt. Seems a nice alternative to some plain yogurt I have been taking ever since. Great probiotic supplement!

    ReplyDelete