Fermented foods seen by two athletes

Who are you?

Hello everyone, we are Eleonora and Davide, we are a couple in life and we share the same passion for sport: triathlon!

Triathlon is a sport made up of 3 disciplines, swimming-cycling-running and the races take place without interruptions between one discipline and the other, practically all in one go!

There are various distances, the shorter ones that engage the body for about an hour of racing, the Olympic distance seen at the last Tokyo Olympics and the longer ones, called in jargon “half Ironman” and “Ironman”. These last ones are the races that Davide and I prefer. They are endurance competitions, that is, much longer races for the total distances, in which the body is in motion even for an entire day! Yes, we are not joking, even for 11-12 hours.

What does sport represent for you?

Sport is a passion that brought us together, but that has always characterized our lives individually.

We practice it at an amateur level even if the commitment we put into it is very close to the professional one. We are two people who believe in things done with commitment, dedication and passion, and this involves a particular lifestyle because we fit our full-time work with sport, family, affections.

For us, sport is first of all fun, there is effort, as in all goals and dreams that are pursued, but sport also represents sharing! With the team we train with and with the athletes we meet outside our city or country. And it is also discovery and travel, both for the places we visit during some races and travel intended as an experience of the race itself. Sport puts anyone in front of the mirror, there are no excuses or alibis, you have to accept your limits and try to improve yourself and every time it is a discovery.

How do you feed yourselves?

Practicing sport on a daily basis leads to knowing your body very carefully and to developing a certain sensitivity towards your well-being and how we eat.

Food is the fuel for all human beings and in our case, where we need good fuel to train, the quality and choice of food and drinks has become increasingly conscious.

We prefer simple foods and cooking methods and we pay attention to where our foods come from and how they are made. For some years now, fermented foods and drinks have been part of our diet and are an integral part of our nutrition (the fourth discipline of triathlon).

How did you discover fermented foods?

The real rediscovery happened when Davide met Jessica and Lorenzo, founders of VIVI ferments, and from there we really experienced the true benefits of professionally produced fermented foods and drinks.

Since we started drinking VIVI ferments water kefir we can no longer do without it, or rather, our body can no longer do without it!

In addition to the great benefit it gives to our intestine for the quantity of “live and good” bacteria useful for digestion and the regulation of daily functions, we find it very satisfying just after completing a training session, for example after a running or cycling session (indoor). The drink is fresh, fragrant and flavored with natural infusions, and is naturally fizzy. It is very satisfying and does not tire the stomach, especially after the athletic effort just performed.

We then discovered that these drinks are already known by other athletes like us, but they are not yet very widespread, in fact you can't find many of them on the market and they are often pasteurized or not naturally fermented kefir. So very different in terms of biodiversity, vitality and inevitably goodness!

Very important! These drinks do not have sugar. Surely for those who do a lot of physical activity there is a need to replenish completely, but sugar is harmful for an athlete, both for performance and recovery.

Davide and I have shared this passion for many years, but it is above all the approach and lifestyle that unite us.

We really like water kefir when we prepare an aperitif on Friday evening, after a week of work, or in my case mid-morning when I would like to have lunch, but there is still a bit of time until the lunch break, or even paired with dishes! We recently tried it with sushi and we find it perfect!

We will try other combinations, but it will definitely be a post-workout drink! Good bacteria are more than welcome in our gut and drinking this fresh, fizzy and tasty drink is a real pleasure.