Belly Fat and Fructose

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By Dorota Trupp, Nutritionist

Fructose and Belly Fat

Fructose (in form of high fructose corn syrup) is commonly added to many processed foods instead of sugar due to the fact that it is sweater and less expensive.

What are the  consequences for the consumers?

Eating too much fructose is linked with an increase in belly fat, that promotes obesity, elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance, inflammation, and dyslipidemia (abnormal amount of lipids (e.g. cholesterol and/or fat) in the blood).

In the study from The Journal of Nutrition, researchers at GHSU’s Georgia Prevention Institute followed 559 adolescents and their consumption of fructose, a sugar commonly added to foods and drinks as high fructose corn syrup. In measuring their fat, those with higher fructose consumption added more belly fat. Those students had higher resting blood pressure and levels of c-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation. They had lower levels of HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol thought to be protective, and adiponectin, which promotes insulin sensitivity and is anti-inflammatory. Those factors put them at greater risk for developing cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.

What processed foods contain fructose?

- soft drinks of all kinds

- canned sauces

- fruit juices

- baby processed foods

- dried and canned fruits

- yogurts

- breads

- frozen pizzas

- cereal bars

- boxed cheese

What’s the solution?

The solution isn’t easy, as fructose is so wildly spread in our food supply, the strategy that will certainly work is simply avoidance of all processed foods and soft drinks. Switching to home prepared, whole foods is the most realistic and effective preventative strategy.

Learning how to cook and avoiding all packaged foods, will improve quality of life and prevent many other nasty health aliments too.

@ Trupp Cooking School

Learn how to cook

Considering self-help strategies

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By Dorota Trupp, Nutritionist

Self-Help Strategies

Many people come to recognise the need for self-help due to certain problems they face in their lives. Generally, these issues – say, a chronic lack of confidence, or a phobia – have spiralled out from something difficult that has happened in the past. These traumatic experiences can range from illness, the ending of a significant relationship or the loss of a job to accidents or falling victim to childhood or sexual abuse. Now, we can’t change the past, but we certainly can change our response to past events and move on, continuing to build our lives without being overshadowed by old experiences. This often can be achieved with the help of a trained practitioner, and it can also be done through self-help strategies.

Throughout my life, I have faced traumatic events, as we all have, and I too have been negatively affected to some degree by the misfortune that came my way. Fortunately, I discovered self-help strategies quite early on, and I continue to use them regularly today. And oh my goodness, what an improvement in the quality of life self-help can bring!

During my childhood, my family moved cities on average every 3 years, due to the demands of my father’s successful career. But I had one very stable point of reference, thanks to my father’s family’s farm and the grandparents with whom we spent all our holidays. This was my true home. It helped me to cope with the fact that my family was a bit dysfunctional, which led to my parents divorcing when I was 12 years old. Worse was to come, as my father died soon afterwards, and my life became an experience in poverty and uncertainty. This all forced me to grow up more quickly than the average Polish teenager.

Although I turned out OK, this didn’t happen overnight. I had to put in a lot of extra work to get myself ‘sorted out’. The far-too-early shift from childhood play to adult responsibilities stressed me out. My emotional and physical health suffered badly, and the future didn’t look too promising.

At about the age of 19, I realised that my fate was in my hands, that only I could determine my future. Some helpful literature was dropped into my hands and it prompted me to look at myself from a different perspective. Due to this, I decided to stop blaming situations, people and God for my misfortunes. This choice was painful and hard to make, as it is much easier to blame others for what’s happening to you than it is to make a great effort to change the way you think, the way you experience things, and the way you react when life challenges you. But I promised myself that I would grasp any opportunity that I felt would give me freedom and happiness.

Luck was on my side from the very moment that I started this rebuilding process. Situations arose which pushed me to my limits. Some of them were so scary, and others were unexpected, but the outcomes were positive. I started embracing change. I moved from one big city to another, seeking hard work and an education.

I eventually left Poland for England where I met Walter, and soon we were married. Fate gave us the opportunity to move to Australia, which we’d never visited before. It was a bit crazy to move to such a distant country, but, well, we did just that! We had one weekend in which to decide, and no guarantees, but we listened to our intuition and made the move. Upon arriving in Australia, finding myself in an entirely new environment, I needed to start from scratch yet again. Over the next few years, I worked to regain my physical wellness, invested in my education, and established my family and, eventually, a business.

As I journeyed through different environments, cities, countries, educational institutions and jobs, I met many inspiring people and I made some great friends. I lost some too, which was painful at times. I had to leave so many people behind, a pattern that had been part of my life from very early in my childhood. It took me a long time to accept that it was part of the transformation I was undergoing, and to understand that I could still keep all my dear family members and friends who live in Europe deep in my heart.

Having now spent 10 whole years in one spot – Melbourne – I have to say I feel settled and I am happy that I had the courage to take my chances in life. I still love travel, but only for holidays!

With this retrospective and personal blog post, I simply want to reach out to others who may be experiencing some life challenges/changes at the moment, people who maybe feel a bit scared or helpless or demotivated. I want to say to you that you are not alone! And I have some advice.

During my journey, I came to understand that to allow the transformation of your physical world, you first need to change your own thoughts. Rather than stick to the same old patterns of thinking, you need to open up your mind to what is around you. This is the essence of self-help. And so I suggest that you seek out self-help teachers and give them a try. I have learned a lot from others as I have grown and changed, and for this I am thankful.

On the photo: Dr John Demartini & Dorota Trupp

Recently, for instance, I attended a talk on financial independence by Dr John Demartini, a human behaviour specialist. He explained some thought-provoking strategies and the very interesting concept of the personal value system. I immediately did some simple exercises to determine what are my values and I was amazed with the results. I highly recommend this exercise. Discovering your own value system will help you to love your life as it is, to drop the envy you feel towards others who you see as having it all and instead be happy with who you are. What you value mirrors the wealth that is present in your life. This means that everyone is wealthy, each in their own unique way.

Dr Demartini also teaches you how to identify the aspects of your life that need more attention, and then how you can link and shift your values so you can achieve more balance in your life. For example, if you wish to achieve better health and improve your cooking skills, the first thing you need to do is to identify where these things sit in your value system. Are they at the top along with all your other priorities, the things that you spend a lot of time thinking about and talking about, the stuff that motivates you and gets you excited? Or are they at the bottom along with the other  things you never think that much about and which you don’t put any time and energy into – in other words, the stuff you don’t really value that much?

To work out where health and cooking ability lie in your value system, ask yourself how much time you spend daily on activities that will benefit both of these things. Do you like to cook several times a day? Do you like to exercise frequently, or take care of your body in other ways? Do you read about these topics, talk to your friends about them, think about them most of the time? If the answer to these questions is yes, then it looks like health and cooking are two of your top priorities and you are probably very healthy and cook wonderful meals for your family. You are wealthy in this respect.

Now let’s have a look at someone who is sick and who can’t cook, someone who has never bought a cookbook and eats out every day, who visits doctors only when there’s an emergency. Where do you think health and cooking rank in this person’s value system? Not very high up, or perhaps not at all. This person could not expect to make a strong recovery from illness or become a 5-star chef … unless, that is, they shift their values. To shift your values, you simply need to become aware of the need to include certain activities in your lifestyle and to link them with other aspects of your life that are already at the top of your value system.

For example, let’s say that at the top of your value system is the wellbeing of your children. Simply make a note that by looking after yourself now, you will benefit your children and grandchildren in the future. They will be able to spend time with you for many more years if you’re an active, fit grandparent than if you are dogged by poor health. This will make it easier for you to focus more on daily activities that promote your own wellbeing, such as undertaking weight-loss exercises or learning how to cook good food yourself.

Can you see how easy it is to shift your lower values by linking them to your highest values? I have also found that routinely setting new goals helps you to understand yourself better and gain more control over your life too.

I asked a few friends who came along to Dr Demartini’s talk to tell me about their experiences in using these self-help strategies. I asked them if it changed their life in any way and if they would they recommend this approach to others. Here’s what they said:

On the photo: Justyna Kalka (left), Zulu Flow Zion, Dr John Demartini and Suzana Grau (right)

On the photo: Dr John Demartini and Bernardeta Griffiths

Bernardeta Griffiths – music teacher, hapkido and yoga instructor

‘Through Dr Demartini’s self-help strategies and teachings, I have learned how to count my blessings and live a happier life. I would recommend this experience to anyone.’

Justyna Kalka – nutritionist, hapkido black belt

‘Dr Demartini’s teachings are truly inspirational. They are like a breath of fresh air after living in the pollution of negative thoughts and the self-destroying patterns that we often play out in our lives as a result. He’s an amazing speaker, leading and guiding his audiences to breakthrough realisations and tears of gratitude. I have since used Dr Demartini’s tools and techniques to simply better myself, whether it’s to do with my career, excelling in university studies, my self-confidence, clarity about my value systems and the goals that are in line with them, or my family and other relationships. I think it is very easy for us to slip into our comfort zones and stop questioning our daily experience of life altogether in any deeper sense. However, when we are not reaching for progress, aren’t we allowing decay? This is how it goes for our physical self, so the same must be true of our mental capacities. Well, Dr Demartini has challenged the way I think in a very profound and enlightening way. I would recommend his teachings, from the bottom of my heart, to anyone who is ready for change.’

Zulu Flow Zion – musician, healer, lifestyle coach

‘It has definitely helped me, mostly in the area of getting to know myself, to be myself and love myself more. Really, it’s the key to having an awesome life once you break it all down.’

Suzana Grau – founder of Aluna Temple, actress, storyteller, singer

‘My personal experience with self-help techniques is that whatever you follow for at least 40 days will open a path to transformation, to change! I think it’s important to find a tool that works for you, such as dance, singing, yoga – to work through your body, and to work through stories within your heart and mind and transform them into those you want to see. Consistency and repetition is rule number 1! The longer you use a tool, the more it offers. Yes, I use self-help tools to transform my life and other people’s lives too.’

Good Fats & Bad Fats – The Myth about Fats Uncovered!

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By Dorota Trupp, Nutritionist

Article originally published by Nourish Magazine, May 2013

There has recently been a revolution in the way scientists look at fat. First it was proven that low-fat diets can actually contribute to weight gain. Then, just as significantly, it was shown that saturated fat consumption has a neutral effect on heart disease risk.

In March 2010, researchers from the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute and the Harvard School of Public Health, conducted a meta-analysis of 21 epidemiologic studies involving 347,747 people. They found ‘that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease’.

In addition, leading US scientists recently reinvestigated a highly influential 1966 study that endorsed man-made polyunsaturated vegetable fats (linoleic acid) such as margarine, as a healthier alternative to butter. Their conclusion? Processed polyunsaturated fats increase mortality from cardiovascular disease. Those processed fats (containing trans-fatty acid) promote inflammation in the body, which is a leading cause of heart disease. What many have believed to be the truth for the past 60 years, has now proven to be false.

THE GOOD FATS

Saturated fats are fatty acids that are solid at room temperature and liquefy when heated. Animal-based sources of these fats include butter, ghee, beef tallow, pork and duck fat, while plant-based sources include tropical oils such as coconut oil and palm fruit oil.
The benefits of saturated fats include the following:

  • Dietary saturated fats carry vitamins A, D, E and K2.
  • They lower lipoprotein, a substance in the blood that indicates vulnerability to heart disease.
  • They protect the liver from alcohol and other toxins.
  • They enhance the immune system.
  • They protect the digestive tract from harmful microorganisms.
  • For calcium to be effectively incorporated into the body’s skeletal structure, at least 50 per cent of the dietary fats you consume should be saturated.
  • They do not go rancid, even when heated, and so they are an ideal choice for all-purpose cooking.

Mono-unsaturated fats

Mono-unsaturated fats remain in liquid form at room temperature and harden up when refrigerated. Olive, canola and peanut oil and foods such as nuts, seeds and avocados all contain these fats.

Mono-unsaturated fats have many health benefits and are heart-friendly. Like saturated fats, they do not go rancid easily and can be used for low-heat cooking (although saturated fats are much safer for cooking).

Polyunsaturated fats
There are two types of polyunsaturated fats: omega-6 (linoleic acid) and omega-3 (linolenic acid). Your body cannot make these and hence you must eat foods that contain them. They stay in liquid form, even when refrigerated. They are highly reactive and oxidise easily.

Omega-6 fats are found in vegetable oils such as those derived from safflowers, corn, sunflowers, soy and cottonseed, as well as nuts, seeds, fish, wholegrains and some vegetables. They can be very beneficial to your health when consumed cold, unprocessed and in small quantities. When we eat too much of them in the form of man-made, highly processed vegetable oils, they have a pro-inflammatory effect on the body.

Omega-3 fats have anti-inflammatory properties and are extremely healthy. They are found in fatty, cold-water fish such as salmon, mackerel and herring, as well as in flaxseeds, walnuts, hemp oil and leafy green vegetables. In general, modern cultures consume too little omega-3 fats and too much omega-6 fats.

THE BAD FATS

Eating the small amounts of trans fats that occur naturally in some foods will not harm your health. However, the trans fats created when plant-based polyunsaturated oils are hydrogenated have been linked to countless chronic diseases. This happens in the production of margarine. It is important to note that trans fats are found in most processed foods like frozen pizzas/pasta, baked goods, cereals, ice-creams and take-away outlets where highly processed vegetable oils are used for cooking.

Choose fat wisely
Most people, especially growing children, benefit from more fat in their diet rather than less. But the fats we eat must be chosen with care. Stay away from man-made (processed) vegetable oils and stick to the animal-based fats and some vegetable oils (like olive oil) that have long been part of the human diet.

References

1 See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2824152/

2 See http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.e8707 and http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3684797.htm

3 See http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/skinny-on-fats?qh=YTozOntpOjA7czo0OiJmYXRzIjtpOjE7czozOiJmYXQiO2k6MjtzOjU6ImZhdHMnIjt9#studies

Prevention is Better than Cure

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By Dorota Trupp, Nutritionist

We live in an age in which the possibility of good health is as strong as it’s ever been. Never before have people been so educated and spoken so openly about what it takes to prevent illness and achieve optimal health. And yet, more people than ever are suffering from cancer. How can this be?

According to the American Cancer Society, cancer is the second leading cause of human death. Every year, nearly 8 million people worldwide die from various forms of the disease. It is estimated that by the year 2030, this number may rise to 22.2 million cancer deaths per year.1

We all live in fear of this disease and we have different ways to deal with it. I have to admit, that I was shocked by recent news of Angelina Jolie double mastectomy as a breast cancer prevention strategy. I am not here to judge her, but somehow this news didn’t sit well with me. I understand her fear and reasons of making such a decision but I learned from my own personal journey that there are many successful ways to prevent cancer and removing your organs in a prime of your life feels very extreme to me. I am worried that Angelina’s example may set many other woman to make such drastic decision, omitting gentle preventative ways. To balance this extreme news, let me tell you about my personal experience with cancer and share with you the lessons I learned from it.

Angelina Jolie

At the age of 14 I lost my father to bowel cancer. For as long as I could remember, prior to being diagnosed with this fatal disease, he had experienced ill health. Being a busy man, I imagine that he never found the time to fully understand the reasons for, or the solutions to, his symptoms – that he never thought about his health outside the square. I think that, like most of us, he trusted that the medicine he received would resolve all of his complaints, never realising that it takes so much more to establish and sustain good health. For instance, he smoked cigarettes up until the last day of his life. He never really changed any of his habits, giving up the bad ones for something better.

Medicine, both conventional and unconventional, can achieve great healing results. But what we often forget is that listening to our own bodies, taking responsibility for our own wellbeing long before a disease strikes, is at the heart of truly good health. I believe that if my father had understood that, he may have stood a good chance of living a healthier life and possibly preventing his death at a relatively early age from cancer.

Changing your lifestyle and long-term habits is very challenging, however, and not just when your sick. It is often just as difficult when you are healthy. But it is extremely important to do this if you want to maintain your wellbeing. You absolutely have to persist at adopting new ways of living and looking after yourself, even when you do not feel like it.

My father Janusz Leszek Pawlak

Changing habits was something I had to do myself to achieve better health. When I was younger, I suffered a lot of bad health. I was born 8 weeks premature and had a fragile immune system, which meant that I constantly endured infections and spent lots of time in bed and in hospital. I became overmedicated and sensitive to many foods, and I had no energy. I also had scoliosis, an abnormal curving of the spine which had caused me a great deal of back pain since my early childhood. In general, being sick was something  that was the norm for me, something that I took for granted.

I hit rock-bottom in my early 20s when I was fighting numerous gut issues and was told I had to have a suspicious lump removed from one of my breasts, as well as being diagnosed with precancerous changes in my cervix that also needed urgent surgery. It was my darkest moment. I was left thinking, why me? I already lost my father, whom I had loved dearly, and I did not understand why I had to suffer the same fate at an even younger age.

It may sound strange, but while my father never changed his lifestyle, in his career he was constantly adapting, which was one of the reasons I had looked up to him as a role model. He was always open to new enterprises and wasn’t shy about taking risks and trying different things to improve his business. This was something that also felt natural to me. And so, just as my father had shown great entrepreneurial spirit in his successful career, I similarly applied myself in an effort to regain my health. I decided to take control of my body. I said to myself, ‘Right, I will go and do whatever it takes to get myself healthy’.

Believe me, it was not an easy journey. I began by cooperating with medical doctors and natural medicine practitioners, and eventually my health got better. But the really significant changes happened when I began studying natural medicine. In doing so, I learned about and adopted many more healthy practices that have since helped me to strengthen my body and my mind.

I am now in my mid-30s – a happy, healthy mother and wife and a busy businesswoman. It seems I seldom have a reason to visit a medical doctor these days, but this has not meant that I have given up any of the healthy habits I have adopted to sustain my wellbeing. I am fully committed to maintaining my beneficial habits, whether I feel like it or not. I do it because I know that this gives me the greatest chance of avoiding my father’s fate. To me the greatest wealth is health. I worked hard to achieve it.

“The greatest wealth is health”. On the photo myself on one of our weekly de-stressing visits to the farm.

Here is a list of the habits that have helped me to overcome my illnesses and maintain good health, and which you will also find to be of great benefit:

-       Undertake regular cancer screening such as Pap smear tests and faecal occult blood tests (FOBT). These tests save lives.2

-       If you have any health-damaging addictions, such as cigarettes or alcohol, give them up right now. Cigarette smoking in particular is a major risk factor for cancer. 2 Giving up this habit alone can change your fate.

-       Don’t use indoor tanning beds (solariums).

-       I can’t stress enough how important good nutrition is. The World Cancer Research Fund estimates that about one-quarter to one-third of all cancers can be attributed to diet.2 So adopt a wholesome diet that includes all the major food groups and which involves home-prepared meals. This way you will avoid ingesting the many harmful food additives, trans fatty acids and sugars that processed and badly cooked foods contain. In other words, try to eat a diet that is as close as possible to what your grandparents ate – I promote such a diet in the Trupps’ Wholefood Kitchen cookbook. There are many inexpensive plant based foods that have proven anti-cancerigenic properties. You can easily include these daily in your salads, or vegetable juices.

-       Do some sport at least three times a week, though preferably daily, to maintain physical fitness.

-       Keep up a positive mindset by listening to positive-thinking CDs, reading encouraging literature and surrounding yourself with positive people.

-       Let go of any hurtful, difficult or painful personal relationships, and don’t let yourself get stuck in a job that causes you great worry. If you remain in a highly stressful situation for a long period of time, this will greatly impair your health.

-       Get enough rest. About 8 hours of sleep a night allows your body to regenerate and re-energise.

-       Use nutritional supplements to provide extra nutrients.

-       Drink only filtered water.

-       Include fermented, probiotic-rich foods in your diet to maintain a beneficial intestinal flora balance. This will dramatically improve your digestive health.

-       Don’t shy away from visiting chiropractors, masseurs, acupuncturists, naturopaths, nutritionists and other alternative medicine therapists when you feel there is a need to restore balance in your body.

-       Do sporadic practitioner-guided detoxification diets that help to rejuvenate your liver, which is a master detoxification organ. When your liver works optimally, your overall health is better.

-       Replace the mercury amalgams of old-fashioned tooth fillings with the new, non-toxic dental materials.

-       Avoid toxic chemicals in personal body care and plastics. Switch to brands that promote natural ingredients.

-       Have daily cold showers and skin brushing to stimulate blood circulation and detoxification. You can apply these after your regular warm/hot shower.

-       Maintain a healthy bodyweight through diet and exercise.

-       Set yourself regular goals to achieve. Write them down and then put them where they are always visible. These goals should include: ‘Achieve excellent health!’

-       Keep educating yourself in regards to body care and always strive to try new ways of sustaining your health.

-       If it happens that you are diagnosed with cancer, refuse to be a victim. Withdraw from everything that causes great stress in your life and focus solely on your healing. Take responsibility for how you feel, seek help, and change your habits.

Some of the impressive cancer researchers I come across, that you may find interesting to know of:

Dr Burzynski Clinic

Dr Gonzalez

Gerson Institute 

Be well!

My beautiful family: Walter and Sol Trupp.

References

1 American Cancer Society (2013), Rising global cancer epidemic, http://www.cancer.org/research/infographics/rising-global-cancer-epidemic

2 American Cancer Society (2013), Cancer prevention and early detection – facts and figures, http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@epidemiologysurveilance/documents/document/acspc-037535.pdf

Energise and Alkalise Your Body

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By Dorota Trupp, Nutritionist

Hello. I hope you’re all having a great week. Here is a little energiser that I thought you would all appreciate!.

Alkaline Avocado Power Shake

 

Alkaline Avocado Power – Shake

Ingredients:
1 cucumber
2 tomatoes
1 avocado
1 handful spinach leaves
1 lime
½ red capsicums
250ml vegetable stock
1 tablespoon flaxseed oil

Method:
Wash all of the ingredients thoroughly and then chop the cucumber, tomato, pepper and avocado roughly. Place with the avocado in the blender and mix into a paste.

This recipe comes from our ‘Energise and Alkalise Your Body’ cooking course, in which we discuss the pros and cons of an alkalising diet. For those of you who have found themselves wondering what this fashionable diet is all about, here’s a brief explanation.

The alkalising diet is based on the belief that certain foods, when consumed, leave an alkaline residue, or ‘ash’, in the body. Elements such as calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc are said to be the principal components of this ash, which helps to maintain your alkaline–acid balance. This is important because eating too many acid-producing foods can affect your body’s ability to fix damaged cells and absorb nutrients, as well as your overall energy levels. The general rule is that your diet should comprise 70–80 per cent alkaline foods and 20–30 per cent acidic foods.

The alkalising diet is perfect for those people who want a gentle clean-out of their body to help them regain energy and lose weight. Some proclaim that the alkalising diet also can cure or prevent many illnesses and physical complaints, including allergies, osteoporosis, even cancer. The proponents of the alkalising diet include Robert O. Young, Edgar Cayce, D.C. Jarvis and Herman Aihara. A similar diet called the Hay diet was developed by the American physician William Howard Hay in the 1920s.

In general, the alkalising diet involves eating certain fresh citrus and other low-sugar fruits, vegetables, tubers, nuts and some grains and legumes. It also involves restricting dairy, meat, sugar, alcohol, caffeine and fungi intake.

Have I tried this diet? Yes, I have. I have applied it over the course of six weeks and it helped me to lose some weight. I haven’t lasted on it longer since it is not a diet that agrees with my constitution – namely yin, a ‘cold and deficient’ type of constitution that uses food to get warmed up. But I can see it working for longer periods for those who have the opposite constitution to mine – yang, a ‘hot’ type of constitution that uses food to chill down and usually leans towards a mainly plant-based (vegetarian) diet.

Who shouldn’t consider the diet at all? Prospective parents and nursing mothers – those require “building” type of the diet that would be higher in animal sourced protein, fats and dairy.

Energise and Alkalise Your Body Cooking Class

Latest Gossip @ Trupp Cooking School

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It was wonderful to see Marco Pierre White while he was in Melbourne shooting MasterChef: The Professionals.

Walter was head chef of Marco’s restaurant group back in London, and seeing him brought back some great memories!

In fact, this was when we first met each other, while working together at Marco’s The Criterion Restaurant in London, Piccadilly back in 2001.

Marco Pierre White, Dorota & Walter Trupp

We also had the pleasure of seeing Matt Preston. We first met Matt 10 years ago, just after arriving in Melbourne. Back then, Walter was head chef at Langton’s Restaurant and Matt was a food critic who judged Walter’s creations! We are so happy to see him achieve success, hosting such a prestigious and popular TV show!

Dorota Trupp, Walter Trupp and Matt Preston

You can tell we had lots of fun at MasterChef : The Professionals TV Studio!

MasterChef Kitchen

How to make Probiotic Foods

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‘Heal your gut with the lost art of fermentation & probiotic foods’ cooking course on the recent set of HealthTALKS TV show.

By Walter & Dorota Trupp

A few weeks ago, Trupp Cooking School had the great pleasure of working with the inspiring team from HealthTALKS, a Melbourne-based TV show that delivers holistic health information that you just won’t find anywhere else. With their help, we recorded a segment in which we share some exciting information about probiotics and fermented foods, and we present it here for you. Many thanks to the HealthTALKS crew for this wonderful opportunity to tell you about the key ideas from one of our bestselling classes. Enjoy it!

This new video follows up the Dorota Trupp video interview with Dr Natalie Kringoudis and Melissa Ambrosini which we posted a few weeks ago, accompanied by a blog post that made you aware of how important it is to keep your gut in shape, and explained how you can easily accomplish this by introducing fermented foods into your diet. You can check that out here.

In addition to this, Walter Trupp, who is one of the top fine-dining chefs in the industry, as well as an in-demand cooking teacher, has put his extensive knowledge to work in the following post to show you just how easy it is to prepare delicious probiotic drinks. (For an in-depth lesson in the preparation of fermented foods, enrol yourself in Trupp Cooking School’s renowned Heal your gut with the lost art of fermentation & probiotic foods course.)

Milk kefir

Milk Kefir

To source a key ingredient for this drink online, google “milk kefir grains”. Alternatively, your local chemist may be able to source it for you. You’ll also need raw milk, which is often disguised as bath milk in health food stores and fresh food markets; if you can’t find any, use non-homogenised full-fat cow’s milk or goat’s milk. (You may try Margaret Blackney 03 5282 1831 or 0425 711 601 at margblack@optusnet.com.au) 

Combine the kefir grains and the milk in a ceramic or glass jar and let the uncovered mixture sit for about 24 hours at room temperature – during summer, it may only need to sit for 12 hours, while in winter, it may have to sit for up to 48 hours. This fermentation process encourages bacteria that will ensure that, even though the liquid is unrefrigerated, it is very safe to drink and will not make you sick. Actually, the opposite will take a place. Its a very healthy drink.

After fermentation, separate the bacteria from the kefir and store it within fresh milk in the fridge until you need it again. Refrigeration will slow the fermentation process down, allowing the bacteria to last for several weeks.

Kombucha – fermented tea

Kambucha Tea (right) and Water Kefir (left)Obtain SCOBY, which stands for symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. Again, you can do an online search or ask your local chemist for help.

Brew any kind of tea (except peppermint or Earl Grey) and add brown sugar until it tastes really sweet; do not use honey. Pour the tea into a ceramic or glass jar, allow it to cool, and then add the bacteria. Now let it sit and ferment for two weeks until it is no longer so sweet. Kombucha is sugar-free because this substance will disappear during the fermentation process, so this is how you can tell when it’s ready.

Water kefir

Water Kefir

Obtain water kefir crystals online or with the help of your local chemist. In a ceramic or glass jar, combine them with filtered water, half a sterilised eggshell (this will feed the bacteria the necessary minerals), brown sugar, a little baking soda and, for flavour, sliced lemon or dried fruit. Let the mixture ferment for between 24 and 36 hours.