I am not sure if I should continue drinking my daily kombucha as I am starting today this life change for me. I make my own Jun Kombucha which uses honey instead of regular sugar. Any thoughts about drinking it?

Honey is no different than refined sugar if you’re counting carbs and/or having blood glucose management issues. One tablespoon of honey (about 20 grams) has 17 grams of sugar. Dr. Moseley isn’t specific about how many grabs of carbs a day you should aim for, but most people in this forum stick to around 50 grams. Because I’m insulin resistant, my daily limit is 20 grams, of that, I try to have no more than 5 grams in sugar, and all them come from vegetables or yogurt, no sweeteners of any kind. I don’t even eat fruit anymore.

I understand making kombucha involves a fermentation process? Fermentation does eat some of the sugar (which is why unlike cucumbers and cabbage, pickles and sauerkraut have virtually no carbs), but I have no idea how you’d be able to calculate that short of laboratory analysis.

So I guess the main questions you have to ask yourself is exactly how much honey are you ingesting in your daily kombucha and can you cut back on it? Are you concerned about your blood sugar, or are you doing the BSD purely for weight loss? If it’s the latter, would you consider yourself highly sucestible to the lure of carbs? Even if you have no worries about blood sugar, carb addicts can find it very difficult to stay on the plan if they’re eating sugar every day. It only takes a small amount to stimulate constant cravings.

I agree with Esnecca, I’d be very cautious about using kombucha. I used to make and drink it myself, but now find it way too sweet for my palate having been off the carbs for over a year, so for me it would be a no. Esnecca is also right about the carb cravings issue, if you are someone who struggles with control cravings, kombucha might well make controlling things more difficult.

Whatever you decide to do, best wishes for success on the BSD.

Thank you for your insight. I am doing this for both reasons and I have decided not to consumer any kombucha until my sugar and weight is in control. Thank you.

I’d never heard of kombucha before reading this thread so looked it up. Doesn’t seem to have a very good press! If you doubt me, look at:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha

It’s a well researched article.
Mike

Michael Mosely has a mention of Kombucha in his Gut book and many reputable practitioners in Australia suggest having some to get gut biome back on track..

Have you read the article that I quoted?
Mike

Hi Mike – interesting article. I don’t like Kombucha as I don’t like sweetened teas anyway, so I think I’ll give it a miss.

Jenni – I’m sure like a lot of fermented foods it is a positive thing for the gut biome, but I would say for those trying to manage sugar levels through managing carb intake, Kombucha is probably one to avoid. The problem with trying to ferment non-starchy products is that you have to add sugar in some form, be it honey or molasses or plain white crystalline, to keep the SCOBY alive.

I tried finding adverts for commercial Kombucha – perhaps I didn’t try hard enough, but i could only find two that gave nutritional information – which always makes me suspicious of food items advertised in glowing terms. In a typical 250ml glass of Captain Kombucha there is 14.75g of sugar. A similar helping of Plant Organic Kombucha contains 9.75 g of sugar. Neither seem to sit very sensibly for folk on diets aiming to lower blood sugar levels.
Mike

Oh, and Jenni – I forgot to say – I don’t have Dr, Mosley’s Gut book – just the Blood Sugar Diet book, which has no mention of Kombucha – or if it does I missed it and it doesn’t appear in the index.
Mike

You’re right Mike. It would be hard to fit any volume of Kombucha into the BSD. The need to keep the yeast alive means that you need a fair slab of sugar.

If they find a way of keeping the yeast growing without the sugar, I have a couple of clients who’d love to know what it is before they place next year’s molasses contracts …;)

I have just checked 3 brands of organic Kombucha (in Australia). All of them come in at less than 10 grams of carbs for 330ml. Sugars are altered in the process of kombucha fermenting. As with any other food its up to each person how they make up their calories and carbs for the 800 calories.

Jenni – I’m not in Australia but in rural Scotland – but how much sugar did they contain? Surely that’s the clincher. Sugar is changed in fortified wines or sweet whites fermenting – but it’s still sugar.
Mike

Carbs and calories are the basis of the BSD and Michael Mosley’s writings. They are also the basis of research from University of Newcastle. Let’s leave the discussion here.

Hi Michael

You’re absolutely right. In commercial Kombucha there will be always be a sizeable residual sugar level to ensure the effervescent quality is maintained over a shelf-life. I’d imagine in home-made, the chances are that the sugar content will be higher, unless you keep a small hydrometer in the kitchen 😉

But sugar is, as you say, sugar.