My friend Lissa asked what kefir is for, so I thought I'd make a post about it, rather than just respond to her.
My husband actually taught me about kefir. He drinks a protein shake every morning with kefir and homemade yogurt. Culturing your milk is much healthier than regular milk, not only for the probiotic benefits, but for the protein content as well. Brent is always trying to get me to eat better, and this is a really easy way to improve your diet. I'm not great at it yet, which is why it's a goal on my 101 list. But I digress. . . .
Kefir is a live-cultured food, much like yogurt or homemade sauerkraut (store-bought sauerkraut has been pasteurized and thus has killed all the living enzymes). I believe you can make non-milk kefir products, but I've only ever done it with milk. The difference between kefir and yogurt is that kefir remains thin and has WAY more strains of culture, resulting in not only a much higher protein content, but a tangier taste (think plain yogurt flavour, but much stronger and a little yeasty) and considerably more healthy intestinal flora.
Brent and I make our own kefir and yogurt rather than buying commercially prepared substitutes. We do it because 1. it's way cheaper and 2. that way you don't get all the extra sugar and whey and preservatives and gunk.
The flavour does take a little getting used to, but I really like it now. When I first started drinking it I could only manage to get it down (like I said, it's REALLY tangy) by putting it in a smoothie with lots of fruit. Now I can just drink it straight if I'm in too much of a hurry to make a smoothie.
So if you have any digestive troubles, I highly recommend drinking kefir, or at the very least taking an encapsulated probiotic supplement. It really helps the IBS that accompanies Fibromyalgia for so many people.
If you're interested in making your own kefir, first you obtain some kefir grains. I think Brent bought our grains freeze-dried over eBay or something. In a glass jar we put the grains and fill the jar with milk. We let it sit over night (or longer in cold weather) until it's a little bubbly and frothy on top. Be careful not to let it go too long, or you will end up with a curds and whey substance which is not very pleasant. Then we strain it, put the grains in a separate container, and put both in the fridge.
Making kefir, like making yogurt, is an ongoing process. You need continually to make it and consume it to keep the grains and strains of bacteria live and healthy. One batch will last about a week in the fridge.
I've had several people tease me or roll their eyes at me for doing this type of thing. I mean, honestly, who makes their own sauerkraut? It is definitely not the mainstream anymore, but when you've been plagued with health problems for years and western medicine and pharmaceuticals are of no help to you, you begin to look elsewhere. And what you'll find is that natural, healthy living is better for your body, better for your budget, and better for the environment. Yeah, it takes a bit more work and I am FAR from where I ought to be in the green and healthy living department, but I'm working on it.
