Sourdough Yes or No?

For mold? Maybe not, sadly.

As a naturopathic doctor (aka hippy-dippy doctor), I have had the benefit of working with lots of cool hippy-dippy people! People who strive to live healthy lives, take charge of their health, exercise regularly, and grow and make their own food from scratch, including sourdough. 🥖

The health benefits of fermented foods, such as sourdough, cannot be argued. They’ve been used for centuries to boost immunity and resilience. Normally, I’m a fan.

‼️ But mold changes the rules of the game.

I learned this from my patients.

Since their symptoms were connected to a lack of flora balance, I’d add more fermented foods to help with the balance. As I recommended more and more fermented foods, my mold-sick patients got sicker and sicker. That’s because mold was there, using the fermented foods for its own benefit, further throwing off the balance.

This was made worse if the person was also exposed to a high level of endotoxins.

Endotoxins are more common in “grey water” such as sewer or toilet leaks, crawl spaces, and flood situations – and less common in “clean water” leak situations such as slab condensation.

You can test this by taking a 4-6 week hiatus from fermented foods, then re-add them by eating them a few times per day over 4 straight days. If you don’t see a worsening of symptoms, it’s a good sign. But if you do, it’s not something helping your immunity, rather it may be harming it.

For those who did not tolerate their sourdough, even being in the vicinity of the starter could cause symptoms. So the starter had to go to grandmas, friends, the man cave, or the heated garage, in those examples.

But don’t worry, most got their sourdough back after conquering mold. 🙌🏻

All in all, trust your body!