Exploration of Kefir, a Fermented Nourishment and Its Advantages
Exploring Fermented Foods: Why Kefir Should Be Part of Your Diet
If you're interested in incorporating more fermented foods into your diet, consider adding kefir to your shopping list. Enriched with probiotics and essential nutrients, kefir offers a multitude of health benefits, from promoting gut health to supporting muscle maintenance.
Kefir surpasses yogurt in numerous aspects, making it an appealing alternative. Elizabeth DeRobertis, MS, RD, CDN, CDE, CPT, a registered dietitian and the director of the nutrition program at Scarsdale Medical Group, White Plains Hospital, explains that kefir contains more than 30 different strains of probiotics, significantly more than regular yogurt.
To create kefir, kefir grains, which are colonies of live yeast and bacteria, are added to milk and allowed to ferment. This process thickens the milk, resulting in a texture similar to runny yogurt. Kefir can be flavored with sweeteners or fruits like blueberries or strawberries, or it can be enjoyed plain. Not only can it be made with dairy milk, but it can also be crafted using coconut milk, nut milk, water, or coconut water.
Here's a breakdown of the ways kefir can benefit various areas of health:
- Improves Gut Health: Consuming kefir is one of the best ways to support your gut microbiome, the community of live bacteria in your gut. The drink's abundance of probiotics helps keep your microbiome balanced, aiding digestion, reducing bloating, and promoting digestive regularity, especially after antibiotic usage or gastrointestinal upset.
- Reduces Inflammation: As the probiotics in kefir support the gut, they also lower inflammation. This is due to the probiotics' ability to calm overactive immune signals in the gut, helping regulate the body's inflammatory response. This may be helpful for easing inflammatory conditions, including mild gastrointestinal disorders.
- Helps Bone Health: Kefir provides essential nutrients for bone strength and density, such as calcium, magnesium, vitamin K2, and vitamin D (in fortified versions). These nutrients work together to enhance absorption and bone mineralization, while K2 helps direct calcium into bones.
- Supports Immune Function: The probiotics in kefir also benefit the immune system by stimulating immune tissues in the gut, where much of the body's immune activity begins. Additionally, kefir contains B vitamins and zinc, which help fortify the immune response and improve resilience to everyday infection.
- Maintains Muscle: Kefir contains complete protein, including all essential amino acids, which helps preserve lean muscle mass, particularly as we age.
Knowing where and how to buy and store kefir can help you make the most of these benefits:
- You can find kefir in the refrigerated dairy section of most major grocery stores, or at specialty health markets. Opt for the plain variety to avoid added sugar.
- After opening a bottle of kefir, store it in the refrigerator and consume it within two weeks. As a fermented beverage, it won't necessarily go bad, but the tangy flavor will intensify if stored for too long.
In the kitchen, kefir's tangy flavor and loose, thin consistency make it a versatile ingredient. Use it in place of buttermilk and yogurt, or explore unique ways to incorporate kefir into your recipes, such as overnight oats, cold soups, smoothies, or even homemade ranch dressing and marinades. Happy experimenting!
- For those seeking to enhance their diet with fermented foods, kefir's food cooking could be an appealing addition.
- Incorporating kefir into your living can lead to numerous health benefits, ranging from promoting gut health to supporting muscle maintenance.
- Martha Stewart's healthy drink recipes might include kefir as a nutritious and probiotic-rich ingredient, boosting the wellness aspect of food-and-drink.
- As part of a health-and-wellness lifestyle, experimenting with fitness-and-exercise routines should be accompanied by a focus on healthy-cooking alternatives like kefir recipes.
- Science suggests that kefir's probiotics, when combined with a balanced diet and regular exercise, can improve nutrition and enhance the body's overall wellbeing.
- The thickness achieved through kefir's cooking process introduces a new texture to various food-and-drink choices, making cooking with it an intriguing lifestyle shift.
- Connoisseurs of health-and-wellness may find that drink recipes like kefir, as well as fitness-and-exercise routines and a nutritious lifestyle, provide a holistic approach to personal wellness.
