Pink is the new Kombucha

This trendy Hollywood drink has been floating around alternative health circles for years: Kombucha (kom-BOO-cha), a vinegarish ‘tea’ of suspect origin (signs point more to Russia than China, depending on who you read) is said to harness the powerful energies of the fungus cultures used that live off black tea and sugar beds.

Not for the faint hearted, the pretty jewel toned bottles on shelves and in ads reveal something more sinister up close: sinewy strands of, well, live yeast & bacteria. That’s suppose to be a good sign. Each batch of Kombucha is started when the original culture doubles in size. The ‘Mother’ gives way to babies that must be culled, and are used for new batches. Synergy, the most popular bottled brand on the market, uses cultures of the original batch from 1995, when the founder’s mother was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer. As time passed, doctors were astonished the cancer had not progressed to the lymph nodes and bones, as was typical of the type she had. The only thing they could remotely consider to be stunting the spread was her use of Kombucha. Doctors encouraged her to keep drinking it, and today, combined with the help of the chemotherapy and radiation treatments she accepted, she is considered cancer free.

There is no question this is an inspiring story, but is there any weight to it? There has been talk in recent years that adjusting the alkaline/acid levels in the body can help with cancer resistance, as the cells simply cannot live in this type of environment. We’re open to seeing more studies.

Purely from the point of tastebuds, Kombucha’s potency will vary depending on what stage it is at. It can start at light and refreshing and go all the way to pure vinegar (if it has been bottled too long). You will find the fermentation will cause greater amounts of carbonation in some bottles vs others. And because it is live, culture growth will vary greatly. Above is a bottle of GingerBerry, quite lovely in a shade of pink I couldn’t get to show up in the film. You can see the sediment and floaties. Pretty tame compared to what was in the below Multi_Green version. I’m not even showing you the Rapunzel braids clinging to the inside of the lid…

I will attest to the fact that there is a rather calming influence this drink has. I’m not sure if it is because it is so opposite of colas, even fruit drinks, that it truly does help detoxify the body, or that the body just celebrates the lack of sweets.

A word of caution: avoid going overboard. Recommendations are 4 – 8 ounces a day, though many people claim to drink more. I felt like I had heart palpitations hours after consuming a full bottle and won’t try it again. And there have been reports linked to deaths were Kombucha was the only common denominator (people drinking as little as the 4 ounces a day). Just do your research and don’t go crazy.

Final note, the stuff can get expensive. I purchased mine at Whole Foods Milwaukee, on sale, for 2/$10. (on a side note, I was shocked to see many items priced higher than my beloved Columbus Circle store in NYC, but that’s another rant). It seems many pay at least $3.00 a bottle. You can try a do-it-yourself homebrew via Google, but take care on cleanliness and toss if any bad mold should appear. No one needs a home grown bacterial infection.

Drink Pink: Campbell’s Pink Soup Campaign

Aren’t big into beauty products? (okay, play along with us for a moment…) Everyone still gets hungry.

In what we find the most interesting twist of a campaign for National Breast Cancer Awareness month, Campbell brings it home in the pink ribboned soup can.

Campbell will donate $250,000, or roughly 3.5 cents per pink can, to the Susan G. Komen Foundation through Kroger in exchange for its doubled order (7 million cans for October, vs the normal 3.5 million). Support the cause if there is a Kroeger near you!

Give a little, Give a lot

Until recently, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation had a mere week every October to raise funds and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis, and we have always offered our 65 Roses bath bomb for this event. This is a cause we dearly want to expose to a greater level, but a month just wasn’t cutting it. CF now has every May to bring attention and efforts to fundraising. Giving up the week in October gained a whole month in May. We’ll discuss this in the coming months…

One big reason for the move is that the National Breast Cancer Awareness movement has gained incredible momentum and has really become the fundraiser for October. It is fantastic to see what the Pink Ribbon campaign has done to provoke people to take part and give of their time and monies. If philanthropy or fundraising or the subject at hand really isn’t on your heart, don’t fret. It is impossible to be all to everyone and everything. But there are some pretty painless ways to help out indirectly, and some of the top beauty companies worldwide are providing that path to go down.

During the month of October, check out the slew of products where a portion of the purchase price is donated to the cause. Here at Solessence, we are offering our impossibly pretty-in-pink Days of Wine & Roses line.

But don’t stop there – chances are there is a delicious lip gloss, hair product, limited edition lip gloss or fantastic fragrance you’d love to try that is also donating. Buy it and you do yourself and humanity a favor. Purchasing a product seems like so little, but collectively, it will mean a lot.