A simple story:
When Steven Kent did an internship at The Farm, a hippie commune in rural Tennessee, he had an epiphany. Eating a steady diet of sauerkraut, pickled vegetables, sourdough bread and other fermented foods, he found the digestive problems that had plagued him since college largely vanished.
There is more here about tempeh (fermented tofu) and a small Northern California company that Kent started called Alive and Healing that makes only tempeh.
I’m a college student as well and I suffered from irritable bowel syndrome for the last few years after taking acutane for 2 months. My symptoms have largely disappeared after drinking the fermented milk drink kefir.