Hello,
I am new, I started the fast programme this week. I thoroughly enjoyed Dr Mosley’s Clever Guts Diet book and love the recipes in the 8-week blood sugar book.

I would like to start pickling vegetables. Please can anyone tell me whether they are as good for me as the fermented recipes, and or whether they are generally meant to be a healthy option?

Thanks
Wendy

In the past there likely would not have been as much distinction between traditional pickling processes and traditional fermenting processes. Both would have discouraged potentially harmful microbes, and permitted potentially beneficial ones. Similarly in the past all cheeses would have been made from organic and unpasteurised milk, and would have been ‘live’ when eaten.

In general fresh (or fresh frozen) bright and dark coloured vegetables have health benefits because of their fibre, vitamin, mineral and antioxidant content. The bright and dark colour is an indicator of antioxidant content.

Vegetables which have been processed or preserved may be equally or less (or occasionally more) beneficial, depending upon the individual veg and the method of processing or preserving.

Some pickled or preserved vegetables will have been processed (inc. long cooking) such that the nutrients have been reduced or lost, and some will have enough salt and sugar added to mean that a sensible serving size is tiny.

For safety’s sake I would encourage you to use recipes that are traditional and natural, AND are backed by someone with a solid background in microbiology, food technology or suchlike. Unfortunately randomly excluding some steps or some ingredients may render the end product unsafe.