Kefir = great results!

Thanks for sharing. Chock full of good stuff!

I thought we "Lymies" aren't suppose to have dairy??? Can you buy kefir????

Kefir is fermented milk and is very healthy.
It is full of probiotics which we need for good gut health.

I buy mine -organic, sugar free from the grocery store,

I know Traveler makes her own.

Brendoni,

Oh my gosh!! Is that why I suddenly have more energy? about 7 weeks ago I started drinking Kefir. Just once a day. I was a hot hot mess energy wise before that. As I look back when I started drinking Kefir I gained a tremendous amount of energy. I mean getting up at a decent hour, not napping, doing all kinds of stuff all day long and no naps. Still had energy at 9 pm!!!

Then I ran out of Kefir for a few days and went right back to my sluggish horribly fatigued exhausted self.

You might be on to something here!

Now that I know what could have helped me so much I will not run out again.

I buy organic, unsweetened at the food store. I have the grains but I am afraid to try to make it myself. Does anyone know if I use skim milk to make Kefir?

Btw, I make a shake with my kefir. I use a cup of kefir, a cup of berries, 1/3 cup coconut milk, handful of spinach or kale. I add in protein powder and glutamine powder. I drink it as a meal, either at breakfast on my off antibiotic days or lunch when I take antibiotics. Nommy!!! I also use kefir as a dip for veggies. Kefir plus herbs tastes like dip and its good for you!!

Rawls says kefir and Greek yoghurt are ok dairy. My doctor told me I could transition the dairy kefir to coconut milk.

You are on the right track. My LLMD suggested that I incorporate fermented foods too. It's been almost a week since I've been consistent with it. Although I'm allergic to most dairy products, I can tolerate kefir only because it is nonfat milk and lactose free. But it's good to always listen to your body and see how you feel with it

Tastes like a delicious glass of buttermilk, yum!

I'll get it more often and hope the energy boost works for me too.

joee said...
I find that mixing the kefir with vanilla flavor protein powder cuts the sourness right out.

I should try flavoring it...

Joee, it may very well be what's given you that boost. It's not just my experience – I've read before that others have had the same effects. It's been the first time in 7 months I have started feeling "normal".

It's super easy to make at home, and much, much cheaper than buying from the store. It may even be healthier. Use whole milk – they say organic is better, but I buy regular as I can't afford organic (I buy organic vegetables/meat, though). Look at the link I posted above for instructions.

The only risk of making at home is, depending on how warm your environment is, you can start getting a very big yield and may not know what to do with all that kefir. Either you can refrigerate it to slow it down, toss out or give away some of the grains, or use it for other purposes. I now use kefir in place of milk/cream for almost everything. I use it for sauces on (GF) pasta, in casseroles (delicious!), etc.

Also, if you have a little extra time (it doesn't take much), you can make soft cheese – just put the kefir in a cloth, hang it for 12-24 hours and let it drain. Then you can flavor it with salt/herbs so its not too "kefiry". Another wonderful and easy thing to do is to make kefir "sour cream" – buy regular thick cream from the store, add some kefir, let ferment, and what comes out is a wonderful spread for crackers, addition to recipes, etc. These are fun things to do when you're feeling Lymey and can't concentrate/focus on much else. All these recipes are in the link I shared above.

Girlie, I wasn't a huge fan of the taste in the beginning either (although my body loves it so much now I crave it). One of the easiest things to do is to add a spoon of raw honey, it cuts the sour flavor and makes it taste much nicer. Or, as was mentioned above, make it into smoothies with berries. I also mix yogurt & kefir for overnight oats, which is a great breakfast and you hardly even taste the kefir – you can find overnight oats recipes online easily.

Good information!! Thank you brendoni!

Wow Brendan thank you.
I have been trying different overnight oats and I'm excited to try Kefir in them now!

With the good hype aside, its great to hear this helps some people.

Can someone explain or know the technicalities of what/how kefir does? Its really just close to liquid yogurt, no?

Is it technically any better than high-end probiotics? (besides the "its natural" hype?)

I read here the milk is changed and should be OK with people.

Hmm...well..........dont mean to rain on other parade, but this is confusing, as it made me feel worse last summer- bought a half gallon.

It was tasted like liquid bitter yogurt - taste was ok. But it did nothing positive for me and made me bloat like a bellied-up road killed racoon - then tired. Ok, not that bad, but you get the point. Thats what all milk products can do to me, depending on the quantity.

I also feel better grain free. What grains do they use in this?

Maybe it depends how dairy or grain sensitive people are? Must be more to this.

A continuous flow of energy is what I need, not spikes and valleys from adrenaline, thyroid, and glucose. Still looking for that 100% reset button.

NOTE: ANY real milk , no matter how modified it is for intolerance (all the methods to do this I have purchased), does not agree with me, wrecks my gut, makes me tired. Cheese will too.

Post Edited (astroman) : 3/4/2017 10:52:02 AM (GMT-7)