Podcast 14: Fun Facts About Fermented Foods

Sarica Cernohous is a licensed acupuncturist in Arizona and California, having attained her Master’s of Science degree in Traditional Oriental Medicine from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in 2001. Her formal education encompassed not only acupuncture, but Chinese Herbal medicine, the unique and involved theoretical construct of Asian medicine, western biomedicine, and both western and eastern perspectives on nutrition. It was during this experience that she began to grasp a much deeper appreciation for the traditional ways of studying and implementing whole food nutrition. Some years into practicing, she came upon what for her would be a transformative book, “The Maker’s Diet” by Jordan Rubin. The information in the book—based upon the concept that we should eat foods more in alignment with the foods our ancestors consumed--became a catalyst for even greater change in her approach to nutrition, and her respect for the power it holds. She began to see her kitchen not as a place of sheer consumption, but rather, a venue for creation and study. Beginning with using alternatives to pasteurized cow’s milk, then moving into making yogurt and kefir, and next onto soaking and sprouting beans, her experiences in traditional methods sparked further questions and continued interest in their functionality. And this interest continues today! A member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and the National Association of Nutrition Professionals, she now teaches on these methods and the reasons for them. From fermentation and culturing, to low-heat dehydrating, to soaking and sprouting and the use of bone broths, her commitment and passionate respect for these methods have become a cornerstone of her practice. She uses these techniques daily in the care of her family, and is always building upon the knowledge she has gleaned both formally and on the counters of her kitchen, to push the envelop of understanding about the functionality of these techniques in our busy, modern lives. She shares many of her recipes and insights on her website, naturallylivingtoday.com.