@OneMoreStepAlongTheRoadIGo
It really sounds as if you are on the same road that I took last February, I hope you find it equally easy to travel.
I started eating fermented foods after hearing a zoe podcast about the research study that showed that people who ate 6 small portions of fermented foods each day reduced the inflammation markers in the blood by around 20%. I was crippled with rheumatoid arthritis at the time and it seemed a very easy change to make. After that I listened to all of the Zoe podcasts and picked up more ideas from nutrition scientists that I incorporated into my eating habits. (loads of plants, nuts and seeds, healthy fats, inulin, fasting for 14 hours, avoiding ultra processed foods, etc).
I did the Zoe programme about 6 months after making the first changes.
I would guess that eating fermented foods from different companies would give a wider range of microorganisms. The important thing is that it has to be raw. Anything you pick up from the supermarket shelves (that isn't in the fridge section) will have been pasteurised, if it ever was fermented, most of the sauerkraut is just cabbage in vinegar or wine.) I order from Loving foods because it is so convenient to have an assortment of fermented vegetables delivered regularly.
Otherwise Vadasz makes some really good live sauerkraut and kimchi that you can sometimes find in the supermarket, though not always as reliably as getting 8 jars delivered ever 5 weeks from LF. I really like the Vadasz super beet kimchi, but found the garlic overpowering in their garlic and dill sauerkraut. I'm going to try the pineapple and turmeric sauerkraut just as soon as the local supermarkets start stocking it.
The physio was a very disappointing yesterday. It was a completely different woman to the one I saw on Tuesday, which took me by surprise. I'd been told the sessions were exactly half an hour long and that I could book the taxi to collect me at 1pm after the 12.30 session, so I got stressed when she didn't call me in until 12.35 and then wanted to sit and ask me all the same questions that I'd already answered on Tuesday.
She hadn't looked at the notes in advance and didn't have a clue why I was there. She didn't get the electrotherapy set up until 8 minutes to 1, which didn't leave much time for it to have any effect. It did seem to help a bit though. Once the machine was set up she sat at the computer and finally started reading the notes from last week (shame she didn't do that before I arrived, or at 12.30 when my appointment should have started).
When she read that I'd lost a lot of weight she asked me if I'd done it with Weight Watchers or Slimming World, as if they were the only two possibilities. I said no, I'd tried both before and never managed to loose more than 10kgs each time, and ended up being fixated on food and dieting.
She asked again why I didn't do Slimming World and I said truthfully that I found it annoying that they didn't explain the reasoning behind their rules, that they were too fixated on low fat, and used too many ultra processed foods (including that damn cooking spray that wrecks non-stick pans), and that classifying foods you were supposed to restrict as "syns" made if feel like a religious cult. Whereupon she got very huffy and told me that she lost 10kg with Slimming World last year and she thought it was brilliant.
It's not NHS, the local NHS don't do one-on-one outpatient therapies any more. They only offer a choice of three different groups at the council leisure centres. I had a referral from rheumatology in September, was assessed by a hospital physio at the end of January (who told me that they no longer see outpatients for treatments, only assessments, and instead they run groups at the leisure centres with the local council instead), she referred me to the local groups, and in July they called to discuss which of the groups I should join. They have cardio, strength and weight loss groups, but after a few minutes it was decided I was too doddery for any of the available groups so I was dropped from the list. So what actually happened is that they just kept me waiting from September to July before telling me to fuck off.
I'm a member of Benenden, and when I phoned and explained that the NHS physiotherapy were unable to help me they agreed to pay for up to 10 physiotherapy sessions with a local physiotherapy clinic. The first session last Tuesday was just examination and history taking, and today was supposed to be treating the pain so that I could start training.
I'm disappointed that it turned out to be with a different therapist to the one I saw on Tuesday, I hadn't been expecting that and no explanation was given. I was stressed because she started 5 minutes late, that she hadn't read the notes and didn't have a clue what she was supposed to be doing. I feel that the session didn't really start making any difference until she wired me up to the electrotherapy machine, and by then I was already getting stressed that the taxi would be waiting outside with the meter running from 1pm. It already costs me 26 quid in taxi fares just getting there and back, so I really can't afford to pay for the driver to sit around waiting for me.
I hope I get the other therapist next time, she seemed much more competent.