Fun Food Friday: Kefir!!
16 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
in Fun Food Friday! Tags: Calcium, Hormone-Free Dairy, Kefir, Lifeway, Organic, Probiotics
Every Friday I’d like to introduce you to a new or interesting or extremely healthy food that I either love or just started eating. This week it will be…… Kefir!
For those of you who don’t know what Kefir is, it can be described as the “cousin” of yogurt. It is bascially a liquid yogurt drink. Now before you say “yuck!” because I know that description isn’t really appealing, try it out! I drink a single-serving bottle of kefir everyday at work for my mid-morning snack around 9:30, and it keeps me satisfied until 1:00 for lunch time!
Kefir can come in many varieties. When I first started drinking it, I tried the low-fat version, which contains 2gm of fat. Now I drink the non-fat version and there isn’t really a noticeable difference in taste. I am a fanatic about low- and non-fat dairy products, so I urge you to try one of those two… there’s no sense in drinking a full-fat yogurt drink. You might as well eat ice cream.
The brand I prefer is Lifeway, which is organic and can be found at Whole Foods and other fine, trendy, organic healthfood stores. Lifeway does not use milk that contains any antibiotics or bovine growth hormones. It contains 10… yes 10… probiotics, which means it has more of those little probiotics guys than a 6oz serving of yogurt! If you don’t know what probiotics are, you’re missing out – they are helpful GI bacteria that help regulate your digestive system and keeps you healthy!
In it’s convenient drink format, Kefir is easy to take with you and have on the go – whether in the car on the way to work, on the job, or right out of the fridge. Remember, this is a milk-based product so you must keep it refrigerated at 45 (preferrably 40) degrees F or below.
Speaking of milk, for those of you who are vegan or lactose-intolerant, there are many soy versions available. They contain the same great probiotics but unfortunately none that I have found (but I haven’t really searched that hard among the soy variety) are fat-free. But that’s okay, because fat from soy milk isn’t bad at all!
At 11 grams of protein and only 160 calories and 25 carbs, Kefir makes a great snack in the morning, afternoon, or post-workout. With plenty of protein and calcium in not very many calories, Kefir is a fun food you should add to your meal plan!
Love it!
My name is Christine and I am passionate about nutrition, exercise and wellness! Read more about me in the "About" section of this blog and check out my other pages!
