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Sourdough - transform your bread & your health

The Healthiest Bread in the World: Science-Backed Baking for a Better Gut Heath

Vanessa Kimbell is a time-served baker who specialises in gut health and trained in the art of sourdough bread in the Dordogne. A bestselling author, she holds a doctorate in Baking as Lifestyle Medicine and Preventative Health and is a member of BANT. Vanessa combines deep expertise in sourdough with unparalleled knowledge of the science of bread and digestion. At The Sourdough School, she teaches personalised artisan bread tailored to optimise gut health and genetics. Discover healthy bread recipes, tips, and techniques featuring sourdough fermentation, wholegrain benefits, and personalised baking advice—designed to inspire a slower, healthier approach to baking, eating, and sharing bread.

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Home Bakers: Learn To Bake As Lifestyle Medicine

New Prescription Courses

14 April 2023 by Dr Vanessa Kimbell
New Prescription Courses
Baking as Lifestyle medicine on prescription

 

The Sourdough School is a social enterprise that holds a core belief: by altering the way we bake and consume bread, we can significantly impact an individual’s well-being and ultimately enhance their overall life experience.

Baking bread is accessible, time-efficient, and cost-effective. Bread transcends cultures, uniting people across various backgrounds and fostering a sense of purpose. By promoting our bread protocol and disseminating knowledge about healthier bread-making practices, we have the potential to initiate substantial change in the realm of public health.

But it goes beyond just bread. Baking is about fostering connections – with oneself, engaging the senses of touch, breath, smell, taste, and familiarity. It connects us to the environment – the soil, sun, wind, fields, farmers, mills, and our own bread. Furthermore, it links us to our families and communities, creating a cyclical pattern of creation, transformation, nourishment, sharing, and repetition. This is the essence of what we teach.

Our Prescription Courses stand out as a unique social prescription. They not only provide evidence of how our approach positively influences gut and mental health but also offer a world-renowned teaching program that delves into the science behind the research and the transformative power of this knowledge. By implementing our bread-making practices, we can revolutionize the way we approach public health and well-being, ultimately benefiting medical professionals and the communities they serve.

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How the prescription program came about.

Over many years Vanessa taught hundreds of people her approach of making and eating bread; time and time again students would report back changes in mood, sleeping patterns, digestion, weight management and mental health. Often when doctors and medical practitioners would attend the School to learn more about the impact of good bread on health, they would ask what evidence could Vanessa provide for tangible changes to health, and ask how they could share this knowledge with their patients.

It became clear that to really share this approach Vanessa needed to create something that had never been done before. She needed to:

  1. Formalise and prove that it was this approach to baking and eating bread that was transformative to health.
  2. Formally train doctors in Nutrition and Digestibility of Bread so that they could better understand the impact of bread on health.
  3. Find an affordable and practical way for doctors and healthcare practitioners to then share this knowledge with their patients

It has taken a decade of work to research, develop and launch a program to achieve this.

The Research Program

Vanessa researched and developed the bread protocol at The Sourdough School, investigating the impact of our bread protocol on the gut microbiome and mental health.  This has been done as part of a Doctorate in Nutrition & Digestibility of Bread and expected to be finished this year. The research formalised the baking protocol, and the diethyl intervention studies have provided measurable positive changes in the gut  and had positive impact on both physical and mental health of the participants who took part in her research.  We teaches the case studies and protocol as core parts of the syllabus on the Diploma.

The Teaching Program

The Sourdough School Diploma in Nutrition and Digestibility of bread  is currently being made ready to re accredit with the RCGP certification.

When we changed from in person teaching and brought the program to a e- learning platform from in person we have rebuilt the lectures and teaching to be delivered online.

The Prescription Courses

The Sourdough School Diploma and enable doctors and medical practitioners to apply for licence and prescribe the bread making techniques to there patients. Students who qualify (and are healthcare practitioners) may apply for a Practitioners Prescription, which will mean that you are able to prescribe your patients/clients a ‘3 Month Sourdough Bread Making Course’ as a lifestyle prescription free of charge. This means you can use your knowledge in your everyday work and deliver the benefits of our most nutritious bread to the people that need it most in your practice. A variety of Prescription Courses will be available.

 

All reasonable care is taken when writing about health aspects of bread, but the information it contains is not intended to take the place of treatment by a qualified medical practitioner. You must seek professional advice if you are in any doubt about any medical condition. Any application of the ideas and information contained on this website is at the reader's sole discretion and risk.

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Dr Vanessa Kimbell

About Dr Vanessa Kimbell

Dr. Vanessa Kimbell is a leading expert in nutrition and the digestibility of bread. Her doctorate focuses on Baking as Lifestyle Medicine and preventative health, specialising in personalising bread for gut health and genetics. She is the Course Director at The Sourdough School, a world-renowned centre of research and education in bread, the gut microbiome, and the impact of bread on health, based in Northamptonshire. She is currently writing her 6th book and is a best-selling international author.

More information about Vanessa can be found:
The Sourdough School team page: About Vanessa Kimbell

The Sourdough Club: thesourdoughclub.com

Instagram accounts: @SourdoughClub
@SourdoughSchool @vanessakimbell

Facebook: Vanessa Kimbell Baker

LinkedIn: Vanessa Kimbell

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Comments

  1. Susan

    14 April 2023 at 10:06 pm

    SO impressive! Vanessa is way ahead of the ‘game’ of food and nutrition.
    Carry ON. Thank you for all you do.

    Reply

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Todays live for diploma students will be on 'How t Todays live for diploma students will be on 'How to engage your patient in the lifestyle changes of the BALM' with @vanessakimbell 

In their 6pm live session, we help keep our students on track with the syllabus and discuss the application of Baking As Lifestyle Medicine to the 6 pillars of Lifestyle medicine, applying the research papers, application of the Research, and how this ties into prescribing, along with guest lecturers, discussions and sharing knowledge.

#lifestylemedicine #health #functionalmedicine #nutrition #integrativemedicine #healthylifestyle #wellness #lifestyle #rcgp #dietitian #nutritionist #healthcareprofessional #holistichealth #healthyliving #plantbased #guthealth #naturopathicmedicine #selfcare #functionalnutrition  #naturopathicdoctor #foodasmedicine #foodismedicine #lifestylegoals #cpd #lifestylechange #mentalhealth #sourdough #sourdoughschool #bakeforhealth
BAKE, ANALYSE, EAT; RECALIBRATE & REPEAT. 📆 Th BAKE, ANALYSE, EAT; RECALIBRATE & REPEAT.

📆 The Sourdough School Clinic - Thursdays 8pm - for students of The Sourdough School 

✏️ In this weekly live session, we cover technical baking questions. Students can submit their Baking Record Sheets in advance of the session.

📋 We look at the details of our student's bakes - the specifics of the flour, timings and temperatures. Using our sourdough record sheets Vanessa will make suggestions on how they might modify, or recalibrate the next time they bake.

Follow the link in the bio to learn more about becoming a student at The Sourdough School 👆

#sourdough #sourdoughschool #bread #sourdoughlove #sourdoughlover #naturalleavened #leavening #levain #realbread #breadmaking #bakebread #makebread #makerealbread #learntobakebread #breadmakingclass #sourdoughstories #bakingforlove #bakingtherapy #sourdoughbaking
IBS AWARENESS MONTH Do you suffer from irritable IBS AWARENESS MONTH

Do you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)? It can be tough to deal with the uncomfortable symptoms of stomach cramps, constipation, diarrhoea and bloating. But did you know that making dietary changes, such as incorporating sourdough bread into your diet, could help alleviate some of those symptoms?

Studies have shown that sourdough's long, slow fermentation process can reduce IBS symptoms. Plus, during #ibsawarenessmonth, we're exploring how adding different herbs and spices to your sourdough can further improve both the flavour and the digestion of your bread.

Let's talk about gut health, fermentation, and how sourdough can be a delicious and healthy addition to your diet. Join the conversation and share your experiences with IBS and sourdough.

#guthealth #healyourgut #healthygut #guthealing #guthealthmatters #letfoodbethymedicine #foodasmedicine #gutbrainconnection #nutrientdense #micronutrients #digestivehealth #nutritionfacts #microbiome #breadandguts #ibsawarenessmonth
THE SOURDOUGH SCHOOL – HAND CARVED WOODEN LAME THE SOURDOUGH SCHOOL – HAND CARVED WOODEN LAME

One of the biggest issues around using a plastic lame to score sourdough, of course, is that eventually the blade will become blunt and the lame could end up in landfill.  So several years ago I talked to my dear friend EJ about developing a lame with a replaceable blade. And he came up with this very beautiful hand carved wooden lame.

Very sadly EJ is no longer with us. Recently a friend of EJ’s who is also a wood turner and carver offered to make these again for us in remembrance of our dear friend.

Follow the link in the bio to our shop where you can find our full selection of wooden sourdough tools 👆

#sourdough #sourdoughschool #bread #sourdoughlove #sourdoughlover #naturalleavened #leavening #levain #realbread #breadmaking #bakebread #makebread #makerealbread #learntobakebread #breadmakingclass #sourdoughstories #bakingforlove #bakingtherapy #sourdoughbaking
The Baking As Lifestyle Medicine (BALM) Protocol The Baking As Lifestyle Medicine (BALM) Protocol

The current food system is broken at multiple levels, from the pesticides used in our soils to the emulsifiers and additives adulterating industrially-processed foods. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the bread we eat.  The figures reported by the UK Flour Millers say that bread is bought by a staggering “99.8% of British households” and that “the equivalent of nearly 11 million loaves are sold each day. Approximately 60-70% of the bread we eat is white and sandwiches are thought to account for 50% of overall bread consumption. Average bread purchases are the equivalent of 60.3 loaves per person per year.” 

Most bread sold is made by modern processing methods that strip heart-healthy whole grains of their nutrient contents, resulting in low-fibre bread with a high glycemic index. Over time, white processed bread can increase a person’s risk of insulin resistance alongside other lifestyle diseases.

We’re on a mission to revolutionise the bread making process at every level – from soil to slice. The rules governing this are laid out in our Baking As Lifestyle Medicine protocol. 

#lifestylemedicine #health #functionalmedicine #nutrition #integrativemedicine #healthylifestyle #wellness #lifestyle #rcgp #dietitian #nutritionist #healthcareprofessional #holistichealth #healthyliving #plantbased #guthealth #naturopathicmedicine #selfcare #functionalnutrition  #naturopathicdoctor #foodasmedicine #foodismedicine #lifestylegoals #cpd #lifestylechange #mentalhealth #sourdough #sourdoughschool #bakeforhealth
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