Cabbage: A gut superfood?

With more and more trendy foods being declared superfoods ( who fancies a kale and bee pollen smoothie?) we often forgot the more humble and traditional wonder-veggies right in front of us. Today’s post is about the humble cabbage. While this veg certainly doesn’t taste or smell the most appealing, it’s benefits to our health extend far beyond the disaster that is the cabbage soup diet. Instead, cabbage can be a fantastic gut healer. I have personally found it a real help for my overall gut health and have used cabbage for crohn’s disease, which I suffer from.

How can cabbage help?

As well as being rich in a whole host of vitamins and minerals, cabbage is an amazing source of L-Glutamine. Most often discussed in terms of body building (for building muscle), this amino acid also has an amazing impact on the lining of the gut. This is why, cabbage has long been recommended for the treatment of stomach ulcers: because it heals ulcerations in the digestion track. However even if you don’t have ulcers, this is especially significant for those who might be experiencing leaky gut (which is linked to IBS, IBD and autoimmune disease). I’ve explained before on this blog, how leaky gut can make your gut more permeable so particles like gluten which are too big to digest, can slip through the digestive tract unprocessed (and thus cause a reaction). Cabbages and l-glutamine can help repair permeable areas of the gut, making it stronger and able to digest food more effectively.

How to use it

• If you are looking for a veggie alternative to bone broth then try cabbage broth (aka cabbage water). This may sound like something your grandmother swears by, but cabbage water has been drunk for generations for good reason. It’s a gentler way of getting the nutrients without digesting it whole, so it may be a good choice if you have ulceration or inflammation (since consuming raw cabbage could irritate the gut lining.) Simply boil or steam cabbage for 15-20 minutes  then drain the water away and drink immediately.

• Add it to your morning juice. You can get a surprising amount of juice out of one piece of cabbage (see my post on using it in juice here). While it is does give a distinctive taste, add celery and a small apple to the mix to disguise it. Adding around 1/6-1/5 o a cabbage to your juice gives you the l-glutamine is a super absorbable form.

• Make raw sauerkraut. As a fermented food, sauerkraut is an amazing source of non-dairy probiotics. You can buy raw sauerkraut in the health food shops (don’t just buy a supermarket tin). Better still, make your own by adding salt to fresh cabbage and refrigerating for a minimum of three days (see a more detailed guide to this here) If you suffer from diarrhea, start with 1 teaspoon a day to ensure it doesn’t irritate the gut.

I hope this guide to cabbage helps! Do you use cabbage? If so, please post your tips and suggestions below!

Jenna