OUR STORY
As a family-run business, Good Gut was born out of our love and passion for the remarkable health benefits that Mother Nature provides.
We strongly believe that the gut plays a vital role in our health, and after experiencing first-hand the transforming health benefits that kefir can have, we spent years experimenting and perfecting our recipes so that we could share our probiotic health drinks with others.
We live by Hippocrates’ quote of “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. In March 2019, this was truly put to the test in our family when our eldest daughter (aged 7 years at the time), was diagnosed with neuroblastoma kidney cancer (also known as Wilms’ Tumor). We knew that nourishing and supporting her body with the right foods and maintaining a healthy gut was now of utmost importance as she had a year of intense chemo, radiation and also a surgery ahead of her, and would help heal and strengthen her body in her journey back to health. Today we are so blessed that she is in remission.
OUR MISSION & VISION
We’re 110% committed to developing natural beverages that will make a positive difference to the health and wellness of the community, just as they have done so for us. Our mission is to help others learn about and experience the remarkable power that our gut has on our health and lives. Our hope is that through our delicious probiotic water kefir, we help inspire and empower you and your family to live happier healthier lives.
Another mission close to our heart is ensuring that we don’t harm our precious planet through any of our processes, including our design and packaging. This is why we only use PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottles for our water kefir, which means they are safe, strong, shatterproof and chemically 100% recyclable into the same PET products.
WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT
We believe each and every element plays a vital part in delivering the healthiest and most delicious water kefir to our customers. Good Gut is handcrafted, using authentic brewing methods brewed in small quantities to ensure we can give each batch the love and attention it needs.
We source the highest quality fresh natural ingredients to ensure that every batch has the exact same goodness and taste. Our kefir is fermented in UV filtered water and it contains no preservatives, colourants or sweet enhancers.
After many years of experimenting with different combinations of herbs, spices and fruits, we believe we have perfected the delicious flavours we supply. Our water kefir also gives you the option to reduce sugar levels to your preferred sugar content. By leaving the product outside the fridge it will allow the fermentation to start again and the good bacteria will further consume sugar. Please take care when doing this, as not storing the product correctly or should the product consume too much sugar, then traces of alcohol can become present.
GOOD HEALTH STARTS IN THE GUT
Our microbiome and gut health is the key to the quality of life and our overall well being – physically and mentally. In fact, 70% of our immune system is dependent on the gut. Isn’t that amazing?
The gut (gastrointestinal tract) is a really long tube that begins at the mouth and runs to the derriere. The gut microbiome is a mini-ecosystem made up of trillions of microorganisms, mainly comprising bacteria and their genetic material that live in the intestinal tract. These gut bugs are vital to our health and well-being.
The goal is to have a gut filled with a large number and variety of “friendly bacteria”, and keep them fed well to ensure they help things run smoothly. There are a few ways to feed these microbes: eat a diverse, whole-food diet rich in plant foods, get enough sleep, and stay hydrated. Another easy way to do this is to eat and drink fermented products (such as Good Gut Water Kefir), which deliver live bacteria (probiotics) to your gut. When your gut lining is strong, you’ll have good health, glowing skin and vitality.
By feeding the “troublemakers”, they’ll turn a healthy gut into a colony of unfriendly bacteria. These troublemakers include stress, processed and sugary foods, and antibiotics, which all wreak havoc on our microbiome. When there’s an imbalance in the bacteria in your gut, you might experience uncomfortable symptoms such as fatigue, bloating, skin condition, allergies, mental health disorders and autoimmune conditions.
A healthy gut contributes to a strong immune system, heart health, brain health, improved mood, healthy sleep, and effective digestion. Take care of your gut, and it’ll take care of you!
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Water kefir is a probiotic beverage made with water kefir grains. These grains consist of bacteria and yeast existing in a symbiotic relationship. The term “kefir grains” describes the look of the culture only. Water kefir grains contain no actual “grains” such as wheat, rye, etc.
Water kefir and other fermented / or cultured foods can help you to bring back a balance between the good and the bad yeast and also bacteria in the gut. Kefir also contains loads of probiotics that are essential to gut health.
No. The water kefir grain’s “feeds” on sugar and in return it creates the probiotics and alive digestive enzymes. The sugar is fermented out through the process, therefore the sugar content is low. Water kefir is alive and therefore it can vary from batch to batch. Temperature and time also play a part in the fermentation process, and therefore sugar content can vary from batch to batch. We always aim to have our beverages very low. If the kefir is too sweet for you just take it out of the fridge and leave it outside the fridge (NOT IN DIRECT UV LIGHT OR IN THE SUN, this will cause the cultures to die). The fermentation process will start speeding up again and it will consume more of the sugar. Over fermentation and incorrect storage can lead to traces of alcohol.
Kefir is completely natural so you can drink any given amount. As with all things in life, too much of a good thing can sometimes lead to some unexpected consequences! It’s best to start with ½ a cup on the first day. The good bacteria will overtake the bad bacteria, and the more you drink there may be a possibility of “looseness ”. Please note that if this happens it’s only for the first day and also doesn’t happen to everyone. After 1 day you can drink as much as you want.
Yes, fermented foods (water kefir is considered a fermented food) are considered functional foods. These foods offer vitamins, minerals, enzymes, pre-digested nutrients, minerals and billions of live probiotics. Probiotic supplements contain just one or a select variety of bacteria and that’s usually that. It’s better to eat something beneficial in its “whole food “form whenever possible.
Yes, it’s absolutely normal. What you are seeing is some of the beneficial yeast and bacteria. Depending on the flavour of kefir, you might also see some of the pulp from the fresh fruit/vegetables we used to flavour the kefir.
There is no right or wrong time to enjoy water kefir. It’s a delicious refreshment at any time of day, with or without a meal.
Both have excellent health benefits and help promote healthy gut bacteria. Water kefir and kombucha are similar, because they both use a live culture to ferment. However, the probiotic strains are different in each culture. Water kefir is water fermented with sugars and the water kefir culture. Kombucha is tea fermented with sugars and the kombucha culture
Good Gut water kefir can be enjoyed by almost everyone, of all ages. Because each bottle contains billions of living probiotics, we recommend a smaller serving size for children under ten years old. Pregnant women should steer clear of fermented beverages, as well as people with a histamine intolerance or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
Keep your water kefir refrigerated to avoid re-fermentation and over-carbonation. Keep in mind that this is a living and carbonated beverage. Avoid shaking before opening, and always open slowly as the contents are under pressure.
