Which of these do you think is easier to digest and would cause least bloating?
In the past when I ate saurkraut it boosted my vitamin C right away according to blood tests. The kale just kind of keeps it at the minimum level. However I only eat 1/3 cup shredded or so. Maybe a half cup somedays. Which would you say is easier to digest and would cause least bloating?
Probably depends on the sauerkraut. If it’s home-fermented with the resulting anaerobic bacteria (probiotic) in large quantities - which is why one would go through the bother of home veggie fermentation - then it depends on how adapted you are (actually, how adapted your gut biome is to being a welcoming environment for such treats).
Not being used to eating naturally fermented foods, they will produce a lot more CO2 than you are used to, and you will feel gassy and bloated.
That’s why you ought to eat a spoonful or two the first day, then again the next, then work your way up to as much as you’d like. That gives the probiotic bacteria a chance to propagate.
Whenever I eat from our fridge’s sauerkraut stocks, I eat as much as I want with no bloating at all.
But if you’re buying store-bought mass-produced sauerkraut, there’s not likely any live bacillus in it … it was tricked into being sour through the addition of vinegar, not through natural fermentation. And there’s not likely much bloating/gassy reaction - again depending on your gut biome state.
I can’t speak for kale, but if you’re trying to compare the two, I’d want to know more about (1) the pedigree of your sauerkraut and (2) how you normally react to your portions of kale.
it is home made saurkraut by my mom. She just uses sea salt and water and organic green cabbage.
Awesome! That’s the recipe of choice for growing those bacterial buddies you want to ingest and colonize.
So, yes that sauerkraut will be likely to lead to plenty of gassy bloating (CO2 production) until you’re a regular consumer. When you are, the gas will become less pronounced and your general digestion prowess will typically improve.
Can’t speak for where you are along that spectrum, nor how the post-prandial sensations will compare between your kale and your Mom’s delicious sauerkraut. Eat up and report back! 
The fermented food not only is easier to digest, but it helps digest other food, and helps boost the immune system.
At least in my case, not sure if it is true for everyone. raw Kale will give me lots of problems. I stopped eating it.
Now because sauerkraut is acidic, if someone has more stomach acid, not sure how the body will react, but in my case I know I have low stomach acid.
I don’t mean to tell you how your stomach reacts to what you eat - only you know what you actually experience. But here are some thoughts on stomach acidity…
The pH of sauerkraut that’s r-e-a-l-l-y sour can be as low as 4.5. That’s where I try to get my sauerkraut, pickles and kimchi down to when I let them ferment at room temperature. Can’t always get that low, but that’s my target.
Concerns over eating acidic foods simply doesn’t square with the realities of the pH levels within the digestive tract of the human body. Stomach acid has a pH of around 1.5 during digestion … which is more acidic than battery acid.
Swallowing anything with a pH low enough to contribute to stomach acidity (i.e., reducing it below its normal levels) would burn the lining of your esophagus. Hence stomach acid reflux (GERD) destroys the epithelial cells lining one’s throat. Vomiting is a rather caustic experience for anyone’s throat. It burns.
Put differently, we cannot readily eat food that has too high an acidity (i.e., too low of a pH) that would aggravate an already “acidic” stomach. Anything we could swallow without burning our throats would serve to increase the pH (i.e., lower its acidity, not increase its acidity).
[Tangential to this: The theory that stomach ulcers are caused by too much acid has been thoroughly debunked. It’s been proven to be caused by bacteria and an antibiotic can resolve the problem.]
The bacterium in question is known as Helicobacter pylori, and its role in the causation of stomach ulcers was demonstrated (in the 1980’s, as I recall) by two Australian researchers.
Also, interestingly, I have read that GERD is caused, not by too much stomach acid, but by too little. If true, this means that proton-pump inhibitors are precisely the wrong treatment for the problem.
Yes, and I recall reading somewhere that it took about 10 years for their research to finally be accepted - and for them to win the Nobel prize.
Kale is poison, so no reason needed not to eat it. Nature tells you this by making it taste like a donkeys a-hole soaked in cat pee. Nature does that so when you take a bite you run away screaming. Saurkraut turns me into a 6mo pregnant women in about an hour, and I’m a dude. I tried a handful of times for the “real” guy bacteria, but the results never changed, same with kimchi which I love. Digestive enzymes can help a little but for me not completely.
I’ve heard it said that one should always sauté kale in bacon grease, because the bacon grease makes the kale slide easily out of the pan and into the garbage. (And I’ve also heard it said that that is a shocking waste of bacon grease, lol!)
Gets award for funniest post of the day 
I’m waking up my sleeping husband with my giggles. This includes Paul’s post too. You guys crack me up.
EDIT: my always charming and ever supportive husband woke up completely, let me read to him both posts that caused my laughter to wake him, and now he’s got that high squeaking snort with tears rolling down his face he is laughing so hard. From a deep sleep! For anyone not getting this reaction, try reading it out loud to someone. I could barely talk clearly I was laughing so hard and it was the second time.
EDIT 2: perhaps we need to get out more…
I don’t get offended, so you can express your thoughts. Even me can be wrong sometimes 
The fact that there is big deference in the acidity between the stomach acid and say ACV, does not mean the ACV will not alter the acidity value inside the stomach.
In my teens I suffered a lot from JERD and what doctors told me stomach acidity, and I was always prescribed antacid liquids and chewable stuff. That was in the seventies. Until I caught helicobacter pylori (I think due to low stomach acid, not sure ) with stomach ulcers and lots of pain. It took few years, not from the stupid doctors, but I figured it out in my own that I had low stomach acid and still. Luckily I did not use any acid blockers at that time.
I feel relived and more comfortable when I eat fermented foods like sauerkraut or just ACV.
I may not have scientific explanation about it. If one’s stomach acid is low, one way one can tell if there is burping and comfort after consuming little ACV.
Gastrointestinal distress, is how I characterize it. I can eat it cooked, though, with no issues.
Can eat other fermented foods, such as fermented pickles. Can eat kimchi, but don’t buy the varieties made from cabbage, only radish.
But that’s the same with many plants for me – well cooked, no problem. Raw or sometimes even lightly cooked, issues.
For sauerkraut, I’ve tried it many times and finally gave up trying to eat it.
As for kale, I can eat it, but it takes a recipe like this one:
Kale has to be well cooked for me, and pressure-cooking it in the instant pot makes it so.
Interesting. I’m guessing that the cooking process kills the anaerobic lactobacillus that produce the CO2 gas you find uncomfortable.
Are the other fermented foods (pickles, etc.) you enjoy home made? Or store bought (which rarely have live lactobacillus given the production/preservation methods)
How does yogurt affect you, if at all?
I both buy and make my own pickles. The only fermented pickles I can buy are Bubbies:
Yogurt does not affect me.
I also ate some fermented seaweed that was fine.
Goat’s milk kombucha, fine.
It could just be the cabbage. Some people can’t eat cabbage.
I have issues at times with bell peppers, zucchini, etc. Can eat them if cooked; have a harder time if not.
Those are the Dudes’ two dogmata: “Show me the science,” and "Find out what works for you."
