ABOUT

The Living Goodness range of fermented foods – sauerkraut and kimchi – is the brainchild of Peter Kearns and his partner Fiona Dykes.
 

The idea came about after Peter was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, a serious digestive issue, and candida, an all too common yeast imbalance, whilst living in London five years ago. Peter, who has always lived his life to the full, discovered that his years of over-indulgence had caused some serious health issues, including an overnight stay in an NHS hospital.

Faced with the possibility of these issues reoccurring or needing a radical lifestyle change, Peter started researching alternative therapies to heal himself. All paths of research led to the science of probiotics via fermented foods and their incredible effect on gut health. The more he researched, the more Peter discovered the most effective way to heal his inflamed pancreas and kill off the candida was through alkalizing his system and consuming large amounts of probiotics.

In his studies, Peter discovered fermented foods provide high doses of probiotics - often a lot more than commonly digested probiotics like yogurt and supplements. Armed with that knowledge Peter set about making fermented foods like sauerkraut in the hope of curing himself. And yes, incredibly within a month, his candida level had gone from a count of 186 to a 101.  In only six months, Peter’s inflamed pancreas had settled back to normal. By simply consuming a large amount of fermented food daily, Peter killed off his candida, re-alkalised his system and reinstated all the good bacteria / live probiotics in his body. And the other good news, Peter could still drink a beer or two!

Not long after this, Peter and Fiona, disillusioned with the London lifestyle, made the decision to move back to New Zealand. With the relocation, they saw this as the perfect opportunity to start a new business, especially when they were surprised by the lack of fermented foods in the New Zealand market. Added to that their love of cooking, the perfect new venture was set in stone.

From hand-bottling the first few jars of sauerkraut, to selling at a local market, to the birth of the Living Goodness brand today, Peter and Fiona’s mission is to share their knowledge of fermented foods, whilst simultaneously unleashing the most delicious range of raw probiotic foods onto the New Zealand market.