Kefir cocktails combine the beneficial properties of kefir and the fruits with which it is consumed.
Kefir is a fermented milk drink that many people like. It brings great benefits to human health and is widely used as a dietary product.
Adding finely chopped fruit to kefir adds a unique taste to kefir cocktails and brings double benefits.
You can select combinations of fruits with kefir that are indicated for certain health problems.
Kefir cocktails have long been part of our daily diet. They can be found on the menu of both healthy people and in therapeutic and preventive nutrition for patients with a variety of diseases, ranging from pancreatitis and cholecystitis to obesity and diabetes. They are widely used in weight loss programs.
Delicious kefir cocktails can be prepared by adding a variety of fruits and berries. Thanks to this, the beneficial properties of kefir will be enhanced and drinking it will be even more pleasant.
Varieties of kefir
Every store sells many varieties of this amazingly refreshing, tasty and healthy fermented milk product. It is produced with various fillings (fruit, berry), it is enriched with probiotics (bifidobacteria, acidophilus and lactobacilli), it comes with a reduced or increased content of lactose, protein and mineral salts.
Kefir - benefits and harms are determined by its composition and varieties. You can verify this in any supermarket. There is fat kefir (3.2%), low-fat (2.5%) and low-fat (0-0.5%), and depending on the degree of ripening it is divided into weak (one-day), which has the lowest percentage of lactic acid and alcohol and strong (three-day) - a strong drink with an acid and alcohol content of up to 0.65%).
Depending on the type of kefir and the method of its preparation, it has different effects on the body. For example, nutritionists recommend drinking weak kefir for constipation, and three-day kefir, on the contrary, for indigestion and dysentery. But all varieties of the drink undoubtedly have a beneficial effect on the body, increasing its tone and defenses.
Kefir in folk medicine
A recipe made from kefir with the addition of garlic is very popular. It is used in the treatment of stomach, dysbacteriosis, to remove parasites and worms. Before going to bed, it is advisable to consume a head of garlic, washing it down with a fermented milk product. The garlic should first be cut into small rounds.
Small rounds of garlic should be swallowed without chewing. The best results are obtained by drinking a garlic drink before bed. Kefir should not be too fatty, it is better if it is 1%. This method is effective in treating worms.
Another effective recipe used for weight loss and normalization of sleep is kefir with the addition of cinnamon, ginger and pepper. It is prepared as follows:
- Pour 300 grams of kefir with a fat content of 3.2% into a mixture of cinnamon and ginger, taken in equal proportions, one dessert spoon at a time. Add ground pepper and half a dessert spoon to the resulting liquid.
- Mix until smooth and drink before bed, preferably instead of dinner.
The mentioned ingredients promote rapid fat burning, and in combination with kefir they protect the stomach from the harmful effects of such a mixture of components. Cinnamon will remove harmful toxins from the body, ginger and pepper have a warming property, which, as a result, promotes better fat burning.
The fermented milk drink helps eliminate excess food and protects the gastrointestinal tract. The effect of the fat-burning drink can be observed after a week of consumption.
Kefir has a unique set of bacteria and fungi, compared to other products made from milk. Based on the list of beneficial properties included in its composition, you can be sure that the product has all the necessary substances for the proper functioning of the human body and is an easily digestible product.
Therapeutic properties of kefir
Regular inclusion of the drink in the diet:
- normalizes the functioning of the entire gastrointestinal tract;
- enhances intestinal motility;
- eliminates dysbacteriosis;
- Helps cleanse the body of free radicals and carcinogens.
- increases immunity;
Not everyone knows that up to 80% of immune cells are located in the intestines, which is why the health of the entire body directly depends on its condition.
When consuming kefir, the load on the heart and blood vessels is reduced due to better and faster breakdown of incoming food. This probiotic drink, taken an hour before bed, is especially beneficial. If you make it a rule to drink this healing drink every evening, you can significantly lose weight, normalize stools, cleanse yourself of waste and toxins, and increase your metabolism.
Why do we need spices?
You can talk a lot about the benefits of kefir. The product contains a large amount of vitamins, amino acids, minerals (mainly phosphorus and magnesium), etc. Also, fermented milk product has a positive effect on the immune system, the digestive tract, the state of the nervous system, metabolism and all processes occurring in the body.
What if you add spices to this “milk miracle”? Will they help get rid of excess fat tissue and tidy up your figure? Definitely yes!
Kefir is already an excellent means for losing weight, so why supplement it with spices? The fact is that when used correctly, they not only significantly increase the benefits of a fermented milk product, but also allow you to achieve results in a much shorter time.
Compatibility of kefir with various foods
The beneficial properties of kefir depend on how well this drink is combined with the products that we simultaneously consume with it.
There are a number of products with which kefir is contraindicated:
- whole milk;
- seafood;
- fish;
- eggs;
- meat.
Products with which kefir should not be combined, but still possible if necessary:
- legumes;
- mushrooms;
- seeds;
- nuts.
Products that, when consumed simultaneously with kefir, have an excellent effect on all organs and systems:
- bran, fiber;
- vegetables, including leafy greens;
- fruits, including dried fruits;
- berries, including dried ones;
- juices;
- Bee Honey;
- jam and other sweet preparations;
- bread;
- whole grain.
How to make weak kefir at home
For sourdough, you can use pharmaceutical compositions or a regular store-bought drink. For every 200 ml of homemade village milk, you should take 5-6 ml of ready-made kefir. Then the liquid is placed in a jar in a warm place for a day and your healing one-day drink is ready. You can drink it yourself, or you can prepare medicinal cocktails.
Kefir menu for diet
It is impossible to imagine a diet without proper nutrition. If you follow a healthy and nutritious diet with the addition of kefir products and drinks, you can achieve acceptable results:
- Breakfast Eat a banana and cottage cheese, or scrambled vegetable eggs, or porridge with the addition of an apple or berries.
- Second breakfast: Take some fruit, a glass of juice, tea (brewed coffee) with milk of your choice.
- Lunch: Serve with a vegetable salad, a portion of light soup and bread, or prepare a poultry/fish, meat dish for the salad and serve with a side dish.
- Afternoon snack Curd cheese, fruit of your choice.
- Dinner: For dinner, one of the listed kefir cocktails will do.
Kefir cocktails for health and weight loss
Drink with apricots
Useful for diseases of the heart and blood vessels: atherosclerosis, arrhythmia, hypertension, as well as for the prevention of anemia, stroke and myocardial infarction.
Recipe: During the 2-3 season, soften the apricots with a fork and mix with a glass of kefir. And the rest of the time, instead of fresh fruits, you should take dried apricots or apricots (after removing the seeds from them). Dried fruits are soaked for several hours in warm water, then crushed with a knife or blender and mixed with the drink.
Kefir with prunes
Dried plums, as well as fermented milk drinks, normalize digestion, relieve constipation, help strengthen intestinal motility and significantly improve its bowel function. Therefore, the combination of kefir with prunes is a miracle cure for the intestines and the entire gastrointestinal tract.
Recipe: Wash several fruits, remove the seeds and soak for 3 hours in cool water, then chop the fruits with a knife and mix with kefir, and drink the water in which the plums were lying in the morning on an empty stomach. To enhance the cleansing ability and greater antibacterial effect, add a little honey to the finished cocktail.
Kefir with strawberries
This delicious nutritious cocktail is an effective remedy for metabolic disorders, pancreatitis, obesity, peptic ulcers and problems with the heart and blood vessels. The drink also relieves swelling, improves immunity and saturates the body's cells with antioxidants.
Recipe: Mash two heaped tablespoons of fresh berries and stir in a glass of kefir. Instead of fresh berries in winter, dried, frozen or ground with sugar are used.
Drink with grated apples
Apples are rich in vitamins, antioxidants, organic acids, pectins, dietary fiber and iron. The cocktail is useful for obesity, heart and vascular diseases, as well as for normalizing blood composition. In addition, apples are available almost all year round.
Recipe: To prepare the drink, grate one apple and mix the pulp with a glass of kefir.
Diet on fruits and kefir
Stomach ulcer.
Efficiency: kg in 5 days Time frame: days Cost of products: rub. General rules Allowed products Fully or partially limited products Menu Diet Exit from the diet Contraindications Pros and cons Reviews and results Price of the diet General rules The kefir-fruit diet is based on eating only fruits and kefir as main meals. Author-compiler: Vladimir Konev - doctor, medical journalist Specialty: Epidemiology, Hygiene, Infectious diseases read more
Note! Information about diets on the site is for reference and general information, collected from publicly available sources and cannot serve as a basis for making a decision about their use
Foods that boost immunity. Diet for hiatal hernia. Diet for thrush during pregnancy.
Diet based on kefir to improve appearance
Nutrition before strength training. Diet from a beauty salon in Tallinn. Two-day diet. Recommended doctors.
Harm of kefir to health.
In order for a fermented milk drink to bring maximum health benefits, you need to know about some contraindications to its use.
When does kefir harm our body?
- If you have gastritis and stomach ulcers with high acidity, you can only drink a fresh drink, otherwise heartburn will occur, which will worsen your condition.
- You should not go on a kefir diet when trying to lose weight. This can negatively affect the immune system, since not all vitamins and minerals along with other beneficial substances are present in this drink.
- Pregnant women and nursing mothers should not consume kefir. Even small doses of ethyl alcohol present in the drink are undesirable for the developing fetus and small child.
- Don't forget to look at the expiration date of the drink when you buy it at the supermarket. It should be no more than 7-14 days. If kefir has a longer shelf life, it means it contains preservatives.
- A single dose of kefir should not exceed 200-250 ml. Large amounts of it can cause increased gas formation.
Everyone really likes kefir and the benefits it brings to us. It is easy to avoid harm if it is used incorrectly. You just need to know the features of this drink. Kefir fruit cocktails greatly improve its taste and bring even greater benefits than pure kefir.
By including kefir in your diet, you will provide an invaluable service to your own body, improve performance and good mood for many years. Be healthy and cheerful!
Well, friends! I believe that kefir should definitely be included in the diet of any person who cares about their health. Since it goes well with berries and fruits, try to drink just such tasty and healthy kefir cocktails.
What brand of kefir is best to drink for weight loss?
After you have found out which kefir is best for weight loss, it is worth studying the ratings of more popular manufacturers. In addition to the product name, the review displays calorie content, fat content, some basic characteristics and price. Brands that are in demand and have good reviews are presented, such as “House in the Village”, “Prostokvashino”, “Danone”, “Biomax”, etc. Moreover, each manufacturer offers customers kefir of different percentages of fat content.
Fermented milk biokefir product "Vkusnoteevo"
Fat content:
- 1%.
Calories:
- 34.6 calories per 100 g.
Characteristics:
- production – Voronezh;
- shelf life – 13 days;
- storage conditions – 2-4 degrees;
- weight – 1000 g;
- composition - normalized cow's milk with kefir grain starter, bifidobacteria.
Price:
- 80 rubles.
House in the village
Fat content:
- 1%.
Calories:
- 37 calories per 100 g.
Characteristics:
- production – Moscow;
- shelf life – 15 days;
- storage conditions – 2-6 degrees;
- weight – 1000 g;
- composition – kefir with live leaven.
Price:
- 83 rub.
Biokefir Biomax
Fat content:
- 1%.
Calories:
- 43.4 calories per 100 g.
Characteristics:
- production – Moscow;
- shelf life – 15 days;
- storage conditions – 2-6 degrees;
- weight – 1000 g;
- composition – normalized milk, kefir grain starter, bifidocultures, vitamin premix.
Price:
- 93 rub.
Bioproduct kefir, enriched with bifidobacteria, Activia 1%
Fat content:
- 1%.
Calories:
- 39 calories per 100 g.
Characteristics:
- production – Moscow;
- shelf life – 24 days;
- storage conditions – 2-6 degrees;
- weight – 835 g;
- composition – skim milk, cream, dairy culture starter, yeast, bifidobacterium actiregularis.
Price:
- 93 rub.
Prostokvashino
Fat content:
- 1%.
Calories:
- 36 calories per 100 g.
Characteristics:
- production - Vladimir;
- shelf life – 14 days;
- storage conditions – 4-6 degrees;
- weight – 930 g;
- Ingredients: skim milk, whole milk, kefir grain starter.
Price:
- 69 rub.
The benefits of kefir after training
Regardless of the purpose of training, one of the main goals of athletes is to maintain muscle mass. That is why, after each lesson, coaches always remind their students of the need to close the protein window. And kefir comes in very handy in this matter.
In 2015, the “Protein Summit” was held in the United States with the participation of 40 scientists: nutritionists, physiologists and cardiologists. The meeting resulted in revised standards for recommended consumption of protein foods. They were increased almost 2 times. And now people who regularly engage in strength training are prescribed to consume 1.6-2 g of protein per 1 kg of weight.
100 grams of kefir contain 3 grams of protein. Let's try to think a little:
- a girl weighing 50 kg
needs 80 g of protein per day. And two 200-gram glasses of kefir will fill this need by 15%; - an athlete weighing 90 kg
needs 144-180 grams of protein, and two glasses of fermented milk drink will provide 6.5-8% of this need.
Excellent indicator! Especially when you consider that the bulk of the protein in kefir is casein. Its main advantage is long digestibility. By maintaining protein levels at a certain level for several hours, casein saves the athlete from brutal hunger after training and prevents overeating.
In addition to replenishing protein deficiency, kefir drunk after training:
- fights dehydration;
- eliminates the calorie deficit that inevitably disappears during exercise;
- saturates cells with calcium;
- heals the digestive system;
- speeds up metabolism.
If the body does not absorb milk well, this is not a reason to give up kefir. The fermented milk product contains much less lactose, which often causes flatulence, abdominal pain and diarrhea in adults.
Compound
The usefulness of a product is determined by its composition. Kefir contains unique substances that promote calcium absorption, normalize intestinal microflora, and enhance metabolic processes.
Vitamins:
- Vitamin A, RE 22 mcg;
- Retinol 0.02 mg;
- beta carotene 0.01 mg;
- B1, thiamine 0.04 mg;
- B2, riboflavin 0.17 mg;
- B4, choline 23.6 mg;
- B5, pantothenic 0.38 mg;
- B6, pyridoxine 0.05 mg;
- B9, folate 5 mcg;
- B12, cobalamin 0.4 mcg;
- C, ascorbic acid 0.7 mg;
- D, calciferol 0.03 μg;
- H, biotin 3.2 μg;
- RR, NE 0.8 mg;
- Niacin 0.1 mg.
Macronutrients:
- Potassium, K 146 mg;
- Calcium, Ca 120 mg;
- Chlorine, Cl 110 mg;
- Phosphorus, Ph 90 mg;
- Sodium, Na 50 mg;
- Magnesium, Mg 14 mg;
- Sulfur, S 29 mg.
Microelements:
- Aluminium, Al 50 µg;
- Fluoride, F 20 mcg;
- Strontium, Sr 17 µg;
- Tin, Sn 13 µg;
- Copper, Cu 12 µg;
- Iodine, I 9 mcg;
- Molybdenum, Mo 5 µg;
- Cobalt, Co 0.8 µg;
- Iron, Fe 0.1 mg;
- Selenium, Se 2 µg;
- Chromium, Cr 2 µg;
- Zinc, Zn 0.4 mg;
- Manganese, Mn 006 mg.
Digestible carbohydrates:
- Mono- and disaccharides (sugars) 4 g
Sterols (sterols)
- Cholesterol 8 mg
In addition, the composition contains saturated fatty acids 1.5 g, monounsaturated fatty acids 0.76 g, polyunsaturated fatty acids 0.12 g, Omega-3 fatty acids 0.023 g, Omega-6 fatty acids 0.078 g.
Kefir helps you lose weight: what is the phenomenon and principle of action?
If you are wondering whether kefir helps you lose weight, then the answer is definitely yes. In groups and reviews, kefir diets occupy one of the first positions in terms of effectiveness and balance of the diet. The principle of action is a large number of prebiotics.
Its productivity, immunity and general health depend on the presence of healthy microflora in the intestines. It is useless to torture yourself with fasting or mono-diets if the intestinal microflora is disturbed. You can get rid of 6-7 extra kilograms in the form of toxins, excess fluid and fecal stones with the help of fermented milk products.
Kefir helps heavy people lose weight quickly with its high protein and low fat content. It's no secret that protein diets help “burn” excess weight in a matter of days, putting the body into a state of ketosis. When losing weight, a fermented milk drink does not violate the caloric intake of the diet; it is allowed in the most strict diets as a snack or late dinner.
Probiotics help get rid of flatulence, better absorb fiber-rich foods, and speed up metabolism. Recent studies by American nutritionists have found another advantage in using it as a basis for a diet menu: the calcium in the composition activates the body’s functioning, promoting the rapid absorption of food.
Which kefir is best to drink for weight loss?
The main task of everyone who doesn’t mind getting rid of extra centimeters at the waist is to find the ideal product in composition. Kefir for weight loss must contain the following components in order to bring 100% benefits:
- Natural sourdough. Sourdough made from fungi, yeast and fermented milk cultures when converted to 10n units indicates a natural composition. If a fermented milk drink only lists one or two categories, then it is a fermented milk drink.
- Protein content less than 3% is a violation of cooking technology. There should be protein in the main product, at least so that those who are losing weight do not lose a lot of muscle mass.
- Calcium and a rich vitamin composition help restore strength, lose weight faster, and better adapt to hard training and mental work.
- Additionally, the composition may contain live or kefir bacteria, pasteurized milk, and bifidobacteria.
Farm or store-bought kefir for quick weight loss and general intestinal health should not contain:
- reconstituted milk;
- powdered milk;
- fruits;
- dyes;
- preservatives for long-term storage;
- Palm oil.
It is important to find not only the ideal composition, but also the optimal shelf life. If you doubt whether you can drink kefir while losing weight, if the shelf life is more than a couple of months, then your suspicions are justified. Natural fermented milk product should not be stored longer than 10 days. The extremely short period of time is due to the viability of special bacteria that improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. Then the drink will become useless, or rather, harmful. It's all about the large number of preservatives in the composition.
Separately, we need to talk about the fat content of the drink. Many people who are losing weight are perplexed if a nutritionist advises eliminating low-fat foods. The most common question asked by people with excess weight problems is: can you drink kefir on a diet if its fat content is above 1%? First of all, you need to look at the amount of protein, and then at the fat content. If the product contains up to 2% fat and at least 3% protein, then it is excellent for a diet.
How to check kefir for weight loss after purchase:
- Shake well in the bottle. If there is an incomprehensible sediment or clots at the bottom, then the likelihood that this is not a natural product increases several times.
- Heterogeneous consistency. Pour some into a glass. If the product breaks up into separate lumps, whey, then the process of improper fermentation has already spoiled the drink. It is not recommended to drink it.
- Impaired taste, bitterness, and excess acid may indicate that kefir is unsuitable for food.
- A simple thickness test: sip a little of the drink. If there are “whiskers” left above the lip, the product is thick, with a pleasant sour smell, then it is edible.
Storage tips
Fermented milk products must be stored carefully. You should always follow the deadlines set by the manufacturer. It is strictly forbidden to store the opened product in a warm place or drink from the bottle. Bacteria from saliva will quickly enter the finished product and spoil it.
Do not neglect the temperature regime. The ideal storage temperature should not exceed 10°C. Only a tightly closed lid, coolness and a normal shelf life will help kefir for weight loss quickly bring benefits and the desired minus on the scales.
Some storage tips
- Follow the temperature conditions specified by the manufacturer. Do not leave kefir in a warm place.
- Always seal opened packaging tightly. In this condition, it can be stored in the refrigerator for about three days.
- You can leave the pack in a cool, dark place at a temperature of no more than 10 degrees.