This is all nice and dandy but honestly it can become an obstacle when you want to go out of town for a business trip or for vacation. You can’t just leave your kefir grains now… can you?

If you want to go on a vacation or you just don’t feel like making kefir for a couple of weeks, place the kefir grains in fresh milk and store them in the refrigerator. These little critters can usually last for two weeks with their recovery period not being too long, when you do decide to bring them back out and grow them again.

Since kefir grains are basically little tiny organisms, they can go out of balance at extreme temperatures. The longer they are kept they’re the longer they will stay ‘dormant’, so to speak, resulting in a longer recovery period to get them started again.

If you really do have to keep them in the refrigerator or when you do decide to get them out, repeat what you’ve been doing before and be sure to keep giving them a change of milk every day and to keep them at room temperature so they’ll be happy. When you don’t see results right away, this is the recovery period taking place. Just keep doing what you’re doing and eventually, they should go back to what they were.

Sometimes, the grains can become so outbalanced that it takes so much time and so much milk is wasted, it would be easier to start over with new grains.

If you need to store the grains for longer than 2 weeks, the only way to store them is by freezing them. This is a good idea for the extra grains you don’t need, but is eating up so much of your fresh milk. Again, the longer you freeze them the longer the recovery period will be.

When you get them out, you may think they are inactive and dead, but most likely they’re just ‘asleep’. Leave them in room temperature and keep giving them fresh milk every day. Do this regularly and each day that pass, you’ll taste the kefir getting a little better each day.

But not only oatmeal can give you that smooth and soft skin. Here’s another wonder food that’s not only good for the diet but also great for the skin. Pamper yourself with an organic facial at home with kefir.

Kefir contains alpha hydroxyl acid (AHA) which reduces signs of aging such as the dreaded wrinkles. It is a form of lactic acid which harmonizes with our skin and hair’s acidity. This lactic acid in kefir dissolves the lipids that old skin cells hold together and helps remove dead skin cells.

The alpha hydroxyl acid in kefir also reduces the appearance of freckles and scar tissue. So yes, kefir can help improve the overall feel of your skin and bring out a new radiance. But before you head out to a lavish spa, try these formulas you can make at home.

First up is an organic facial cleanser. What you need are kefir, oatmeal and baking soda. All you have to do is mix the oatmeal in kefir and then add a touch of baking soda.

Simply scrub the mixture onto your face in circular motions. With the powers of oatmeal and kefir combined, there is no doubt you will be getting its benefits. It will help you achieve a cleaner, clearer and healthier skin.

Another facial treatment you can make is a kefir honey oatmeal mask. For this recipe, you need to measure up ½ cup of uncooked oatmeal, ¾ cup kefir and 2 tablespoons of warm honey. Mix the kefir and oatmeal and put in the fridge for 10 hours.

Strain but keep the liquid and discard the oatmeal. Add the honey at this point and mix well. Apply the facial mask, which is great for oily skin, leave on for 20 minutes and rinse well.

Kefir mask

It is such a wonderful facial mask that leaves your skin feeling slightly softer yet tightened. But of course, do not forget to moisturize. You can even apply home-brewed kefir alone for a therapeutic facial mask.

These kefir cleanser and facial mask recipes also give a calming effect on your skin. So, kefir is not only a delicious and healthy food that goes into the digestive system with all its friendly bacteria or probiotic cultures. Kefir offers skincare benefits, too.

Kefir, probiotics and health

Probiotics has been marketed as the latest discovery in healthy eating. The hype is that it improves digestion and boosts the immune system. They have actually been present all along in yogurts and other fermented foods in Asian and European cultures like cottage cheese, kimchi, miso, tempeh and sauerkraut.

Probiotics are actually more commonly known as friendly bacteria which cause cabbage to sour, thicken milk into yogurt and create other fermented foods.  But with the popular appearance of probiotics in dairy, kefir is one of those labels. Kefir can be made from pasteurized milk which means that the probiotic bacteria are added in the process to form this drinkable yogurt.

Commercial claims of the health benefits of probiotics and kefir such as balancing the digestive health actually have scientific basis. People who have adverse reactions such as diarrhea due to antibiotic therapy and bowel or colon problems benefit from probiotics. Rotating antibiotics with probiotics tend to reduce inflammation and probiotics like kefir aids in proper digestion.

These strains of friendly bacteria are naturally occurring in the digestive system. There are probiotic strains that reside in the colon and there are some strains found in milk and milk products. They must be live and active cultures in order to have any effect.

Other health claims of probiotics and kefir are still in the early stages of research but are very promising. But then again, the increasing popularity of kefir as a food source is not only for the health and nutrition conscious people in general but for pregnant women as well. Probiotics in pregnancy prove to be safe and beneficial.

Being live microorganisms or good bacteria that live naturally in the intestines, they are introduced into the body during birth. Without probiotics, we would be at risk of infection, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and weak immune systems. These good bacteria prevent the growth of aggressive bacteria to protect us from diseases.

When a woman is pregnant, there are digestion concerns. The hormones, stress and fatigue disturb the balance of the good bacteria leading to indigestion, constipation, nausea and vomiting. Aside from the prescribed medications for pregnant women, obstetricians also recommend probiotic consumption.

Pregnancy causes the immune system to work harder. Since a great deal of the immune system lies within our intestines, an increased intake of probiotics would be beneficial for both mom and baby. Food like kefir, cultured with probiotics, is the best example.

Even in pet care, daily supplements of probiotics are prescribed in many cases.  For instance, they can be components of a complete raw food diet to determine causes of allergies in dogs. Even higher doses than in live yogurt or kefir are usually given to them as daily supplements.

However, make sure to read the labels of these products as some of them in the grocery shelves only have very few live microorganisms. It’s also necessary not just to rely on probiotics alone. Probiotic benefits such as from kefir are great but some supplementation is even more favorable.

Kefir is a fermented probiotic milk drink. Its name is usually translated to “pleasure” or “good feeling” which corresponds to its health-promoting properties. But it is not only recognized for its health benefits as it has beauty benefits as well.

Kefir is a sort of liquid sparkling yogurt with its own naturally sweet, mild and yet tangy flavor. Its distinct taste and magical reputation as an elixir to long life explains why people have made kefir and other fermented drinks as their choice of beverage. But the goodness of this dairy is now incorporated into beauty and skin care products.

Its active probiotic content is just one of the many reasons why kefir is in good rep. These probiotics which are also found in yogurt are live naturally-occurring microorganisms functioning internally in our body. It functions to promote healthy digestion, boost immunity, and contribute to our total health and wellbeing.

Probiotics in kefir are healthy bacteria. They play a key role in the digestive tract by aiding digestion of food and absorption of nutrients and minerals. Because of that, both health and beauty of our skin benefit from it.

Probiotics provide such protection from allergens which can cause skin problems. It wards off pollutants and inflammation-inducing free radicals. It keeps down the production of pro-inflammatory chemicals by the intestinal cells making our gut healthy.

So, this healthy anti-inflammatory gut is actually translated into a healthy glowing skin. Imagine putting kefir on your face. Imagine all the goodness of this dairy product being absorbed directly into your skin.

Kefir beauty products

Beauty products containing kefir have anti-inflammatory properties that delay premature aging caused by free radicals. It also promotes collagen synthesis, strengthens the skin’s defense and helps in skin repair. With antioxidants added to its composition, the better these beauty products are.

Kefir in beauty products is clear and calming. It protects the skin from environmental toxins that can lead to buildup of dead skin cells and blemish-causing bacteria. The result is a healthier skin without irritations.

As soon as the first signs of wrinkles show up, we all turn to anti-aging beauty products and these ones with kefir are just as effective. With continued use, it will be as good as the health benefits you would be getting if you have it by drinking. The result is a healthy, properly hydrated, supple and young skin.

This is just a reflection of the fact that kefir doesn’t really compete with milk. It is often consumed as a healthy snack just like yogurt; hence, it is priced as Class 2 milk. And while the USDA does that, have you heard of water kefir?

Water kefir

It’s an effervescent drink that can be cultured at home and served as a healthy alternative to soda. There’s even a workshop about making this drink. The process is so easy and more so, it tastes really good.

Water kefir is composed of 40 strains of probiotics, the beneficial bacteria that both yogurt and kefir are famed for, and yeast. Kefir grains are generally needed for making or growing any form of kefir and you can buy them in a lot of companies and places online. For this recipe, its sugars are mostly eaten on the process of fermentation and the longer you leave it, the stronger the kefir will be.

But first, here are just a few points to bear in mind about making water kefir. Never fill your bottles more than ¾ full. The carbon dioxide produced in the fermentation creates pressure and this pressure potentially forces the lid off the jar which could even explode.

Do not have your kefir grains come in contact with metal like metal containers, spoons and metal strainers. Any type of metal could interfere with or destroy the microflora in kefir grains.  If you can, try to have those handheld bottle capper and caps, and recycled glass bottles.

Now, for your basic water kefir, you would need ¼ cup of organic sugar and you may replace a tablespoon of this with rapadura which encourages faster growth. Other ingredients include half an inch of ginger root that is peeled and thinly sliced, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or 2 slices of organic lemon -whereas if it’s non-organic, you have to remove the peel- and 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda. Of course, you need 4 tablespoons of water kefir grains for this and 1 cup of spring water.

Mix your spring water, ginger root, lemon and baking soda in a quart glass jar and stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar is dissolved. Add in the water kefir grains and spring water making sure that it’s not more than ¾ of your container, loosely cap and let it ferment for 24 to at room temperature.  After which, you can strain the kefir.

Water kefir

Strain into your glass bottles with your hands or plastic strainer and seal strongly enough to hold out the pressure. Store airtight at room temperature once again for 1 to 3 days and then refrigerate. When it’s ready, expect a lot of fizz, so open carefully over the sink and serve chilled.

The strained kefir grains can still even be used in the next batch to ferment. You can also experiment with this drink with fresh fruits or fruit juices. There you have your water kefir, a sparkling healthy probiotic drink.

Eating your way to a healthy body

If you’re a doctor, nutritionist or simply someone who is very conscious of their health, it comes as no surprise that the key to reducing and even preventing illnesses has to do a lot with what you eat.

According to specialists and experts in the field, what a person eats can help his or her immune system by being the energy or fuel to fight off sicknesses, infections, illnesses and diseases caused by bad bacteria and or viruses.

It’s ironic how people take lots of medicine when they are sick when the fact of the matter is, a lot of foods have the same building blocks or functional properties as that of medicine. What’s more, food that is natural like fruits and probiotic food stuffs, are not synthetically made, often cheaper than medicine and do more than one function as compared to medicine.

Going back on topic, diet is the key to staying healthy and even fighting off sicknesses. Diet is what provides the building blocks for the immune system to function.

For example, food like oranges, carrots, orange cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, and other “orange” colored food give the immune system much needed beta carotene and carotenoids.

Another example is our favorite friendly bacteria. According to Patti Milligan, a registered dietician, “immunity starts in the gut, and there’s always a war between the good, friendly bacteria and the bad bacteria. So eating yogurt, kefir and fermented food like sauerkraut and tofu help cultivate the army of friendly bacteria.”

Mushroom and nuts on the other hand have zinc and selenium that also build the immune system. While garlic is another often overlooked food that has been proven time and time again to be able to combat viruses and stimulate immune cells into action.

Another immune system booster is green tea. There’s a reason why the Chinese have been drinking this stuff for centuries and it’s because green tea is wicked high in antioxidants. It has flavonoids and polyphenols that keep the immune system nourished and functioning properly.

Other food stuffs that are good for the immune system and body in general are naturally Vitamin C, Zinc lozenges, chicken soup made with garlic and ginger, vitamin D and so forth.

In lasting, if you’ve been a regular reader of this blog, you must know that I am a true advocate of eating healthy food to become healthy. With this post, I simply would like to reiterate that and want to urge you to switch to a healthy food lifestyle instead of a junk food + medicine lifestyle.

With this I leave you with a word of advice from Shannon Parnett, who is a registered dietitian and clinical nutrition senior manager at Banner Boswell Medical Center at Sun City.

“In order to maintain a healthy immune system you must maintain a healthy lifestyle,” Parnett said. “Choose more nutrient rich foods, maintain a healthy weight, be physically active, minimize stress, use good hand hygiene and get plenty of rest.”

The biggest misconception when it comes to probiotics is thinking that all probiotics, like yogurt, kefir, kimchi, are the same and even interchangeable. They’re not.

The term probiotics is simply a term coined for thousands of different bacteria. In fact, the FAO/WHO defines probiotics as “Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host.” That’s any health benefit, not some magic cure for all.

There are simply thousands and thousands of strains of bacteria and each one may offer a variety of health benefits. Some may colonize the gut, others may live in the stomach, others may even have an affinity for your nose and each one may improve your health substantially. Other bacteria that are still considered “live and active cultures” may absolutely do nothing and moreover, others may even harm you to a certain degree.

Take for example your yogurt. Yogurt is very similar to kefir and even looks pretty darn close to it. But the health benefits you get from kefir are different from yogurt. This is because of the strains of bacteria in yogurt and kefir. Both may have lactobacillus bacteria, but not the same strain. Heck, even kimchi has lactobacillus bacteria in it.

So where am i going with this?

I think probiotics is a very complex topic, but I feel that we need to clear the shroud of misunderstanding even bit by bit. The more we understand how the food we eat can ultimately affect our well being, the better we can be in control of our health and our life.

My take on all this is simple. It’s hard, impossible even, to compare one fermented food from another. The best thing to do is to eat a variety of fermented foods, which provides a wider variety of bacterial strains, which may likely offer a wider range of health benefits.

If you’re new to kefir and haven’t consumed homemade kefir, much less made kefir from kefir grains at home yourself, you’re probably wondering as to how safe kefir is for yourself, for your kids, for your family and for your friends.

Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

In general kefir is safe. Many people have and are still making and drinking homemade kefir. And there are little to none reported events regarding food borne illnesses and kefir.

But if you want a more detailed explanation, continue reading…

In the past, making fermented Kefir was actually a traditional way of preserving milk. This was of course before the invention of the mighty refrigerator. And it is this fermentation process that makes fermented foods safe for us to eat. But don’t take my word for it… take the NCHFP’s:

According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation:

Fermented foods are generally considered to be less likely to cause foodborne illness due to the fermentation process. The competitive activity and metabolites of the culture help to – partially or completely — kill or inhibit the growth of illness-causing microorganisms.

Scientific research has shown that properly fermented kefir at a pH less than 4.5 inhibits most pathogens. But not for Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Yersinia enterocolitica.

Does this mean kefir is not safe? Yes and no. You can make kefir a lot safer by doing the following:

1. Use quality milk from a reputable source

There is a lot of debate going on right now on raw milk versus pasteurized milk, so I really won’t go into that. All I can say is, if you really really really want to be on the safe side, pasteurized milk is the way to go.

2. Use quality kefir grains from a reputable source

This is the second part of the kefir equation. Your kefir grains should be from someone who has had experience taking care of it.

Another way of making sure that your kefir is 100% SAFE, is by pasteurizing the kefir itself. Now, I don’t really recommend this because once you kill the “bad” bacteria that may be present in kefir, you’re most likely going to be killing the good ones as well. And i feel this just completely ruins the kefir. But if you’re happy with just the taste of the kefir and not the probiotic benefits, here are the steps for pasteurized kefir:

1. Strain and remove kefir grains from kefir
2. Place the jar (w/out lid) of kefir in hot water bath
3. Stir keifer while heating to161degF or 72degC (use thermometer)
4. Hold at this temperature while stirring for around 15 seconds
5. Remove kefir jar from hot water bath
6. Cool in cold water bath
7. Place in refrigerator (shelf-life of 7-10days)

Again, pasteurized kefir will not have the probiotic health benefits of unpasteurized kefir, but it will still have the taste. On a sidenote, this is also why commercial kefir is not as healthy as homemade kefir. Commercial kefir goes through pasteurization that kills all the probiotic kefir goodness.

Summing up, my suggestion is this…

If you’ve been drinking homemade kefir for a very long time and have nothing but awesome and wonderful benefits from drinking it, by all means continue doing so.

If however, it’s going to be your first time why not try a little first?

Lastly (promise this is the last),  it’s been said that because of the tiny risk of pathogen growth in home fermented kefir, it is not recommended for people with weak immune systems like, very young kids, the elderly, pregnant women, chronically ill, etc. etc. etc.

Is this true? Again, maybe… maybe not.

We’ve had readers and commentors and friends who were one of the above and have been loving kifer ever since. But again, don’t take my word for it. Everyone’s body system is different and ultimately how we react to kefir depends on it as well.

Similar to kefir, you will want to experiment with different recipes or ways of culturing it. The more you experiment, the better you will become when making kombucha tea.

Very limited studies have been conducted on Kefir. This is also true for Kombucha tea. They both have many claims for their health benefits but I would gladly tell anyone not to rely on these solely to cure their health problems. Taken with a healthy, nutritious, well balanced diet, Kefir and Kombucha will do you wonders.

The primary benefit of drinking kombucha tea is that it detoxifies your blood and starts cleansing your intestinal tract immediately. It helps restore your intestinal flora, restore balance to your immune system and makes your body heal itself. If you keep going to the bathroom within the next couple of weeks, stop taking kombucha.

So can you take both? I suggest that you don’t. Pick one ore the other, but from all of what I’ve heard over the years, sticking with Kefir is the better choice. Aside from the taste being more acceptable to people I surveyed, kefir boasts more health benefits and good bacteria strains compared to Kombucha.

I still highly recommend that you take a look at Kombucha vs. Kefir. Then you can decide for yourself.

Everybody knows about the fermented foods, but most don’t know they are. Some fermented foods are beer, wine, kimchi, yogurt and yes, Kefir from kefir grains.

Fermented foods enrich our diets with new and enticing aromas and different textures. It preserves food and enriches the food with protein, amino acids and vitamins. It also detoxifies your body naturally!

So enjoy fermented foods. Do not fear them because you have been drinking and eating them all along.

Don’t be afraid to try new ones like kefir!