Why is simple kefir useful?

Kefir is familiar to almost all residents of our country, many people love this drink, but not everyone knows about its beneficial properties. Nutritionists call kefir a natural antioxidant. It is able to effectively restore strength after a serious illness and slow down the aging process, prolonging the period of a person's active life.

The benefits of kefir

To obtain a healthy tonic drink, fresh milk is fermented by adding special kefir fungi to it, containing over two dozen beneficial microorganisms. As a result of this process, a drink is obtained enriched with vitamins and microelements. Kefir contains a small amount of alcohol, but you should not be afraid to get drunk, its amount does not even exceed 1%.

The unique composition of kefir gives the drink numerous healing properties:

• It normalizes metabolism, helps to restore sleep, relieves fatigue.
• When eating food that is heavy for the stomach, kefir facilitates its digestion.
• It is useful to use kefir to eliminate dysbiosis and remove toxins from the intestines.
• With the help of kefir, you can deceive the feeling of hunger and use the drink to reduce body weight.
• Kefir is an excellent prevention of atherosclerosis, as it effectively removes unnecessary cholesterol.

• With the help of kefir, you can raise immunity and increase resistance to colds.
• The use of kefir helps to normalize the activity of nerve endings.
• Kefir is useful for the effective restoration of cellular structures.
• The drink is recommended to be consumed by nutritionists during periods of recovery from injuries, treatment or operations.
• With the help of this drink, the intestinal microflora is effectively restored after treatment with heavy antibiotics.
• Saturates the body with calcium, which is beneficial for the normal state of bones, teeth, hair and nails.

The harm of kefir

This product is completely natural and has a limited shelf life. In this regard, when buying, you should certainly be interested in the shelf life and the date of production of kefir. Otherwise, you can get serious health problems.

In other cases, kefir should be completely excluded for people with gastrointestinal diseases, in which there is a high acidity of gastric juice. Another serious contraindication is sensitivity to the components of the drink and their intolerance. It is also worthwhile to carefully consume a healthy drink for people who are prone to indigestion. In no case should you drink kefir for those people who do not tolerate milk protein or suffer from an intestinal disorder.

How to give kefir to children

In childhood, it is very useful to use kefir, the whole point is in how much you can give a drink to a child and at what age to introduce it into the baby's diet. Despite all the usefulness of the product, it is impossible to introduce it into the menu of a child under one year of age. The fact is that it is difficult for an infant to process a large amount of milk protein in a quality manner. This affects the kidneys of the baby.

The use of kefir by infants can lead to the appearance of blood in the feces and the loss of hemoglobin. Also, the difficulty in digesting this drink is associated with the large amount of a substance such as casein. This causes colic and diarrhea in the baby. Fatty acids found in abundance in kefir are also harmful to the health of children.

Feeding the crumbs with kefir puts too much stress on the child's digestive tract. Because of this, there may be frequent disruptions in the work of the intestines, which leads to the development of dangerous diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to start feeding with kefir from the age of one.

The child needs to be gradually accustomed to kefir. On the first day, you need to give only 50 ml, the next day the amount of kefir is increased to 80 ml, and then the amount is brought to 100 ml. The fourth day is skipped and the baby's well-being is monitored. If there is no diarrhea and the child's stool is normal, then on the fifth day they give 150 ml. In the future, the dosage should not be increased, since the stomach of a small child is not able to digest a larger amount of kefir. When choosing a product for a child, babies under the age of three should buy low-fat kefir, and then gradually increase the fat content of the product.

Kefir during pregnancy

For women waiting for the birth of a baby, kefir is very useful. Experts advise drinking this drink before going to bed, a glass every evening. It perfectly calms the nerves and helps women who suffer from insomnia and poor sleep easier to fall asleep.

In the morning, a glass of kefir will be an excellent substitute for a full breakfast. This is especially important for those women who are monitoring weight gain and do not want to gain too much during pregnancy. It is useful to drink kefir for those pregnant women who suffer from toxicosis. Kefir with a low percentage of fat will be more useful in this case, and to improve the taste of the drink, you can add a slice of lemon or a spoonful of honey to it.

While waiting for the baby, a woman may suffer from specific ailments that are explained by her condition. For example, in the second half of pregnancy, many expectant mothers experience heartburn. The reason for this is the increased size of the child, which puts pressure on the internal organs. In this case fermented milk drink you need to drink on an empty stomach.

For those pregnant women who suffer from constipation, it is useful to drink kefirchik not only in the morning, but also in the evening. A small spoonful of vegetable oil added to the drink will help increase the laxative effect of kefir.

Often expectant mothers are worried about thrush. For its treatment, you can use the same healthy drink. For this purpose, biokefir with lactulose content is ideal.

Kefir contraindications

Taking into account the possible harm from the use of kefir, it is possible to formulate a list of contraindications when it is better not to use kefir. These conditions include:

• High acidity of gastric juice.
• Peptic ulcer disease.
• Children's age up to a year.
• Milk protein intolerance.

For everyone else, kefir will only be useful. However, when consumed, it is imperative to take into account the freshness of the product and its storage conditions.

How to make homemade kefir

A delicious and very healthy drink is enough to simply prepare yourself. For him, you need to buy a regular milk with a fat content of 3.2% and a special starter culture. It is sold ready-made in packages of 30 g. Such a package will be enough to make kefir from 1.2 liters of milk.

Before preparing kefir, be sure to boil the milk. An exception to this clause is the use of UHT milk... It will only need to be heated to 40 degrees.

If you boil milk, then after boiling, cool it to a temperature of 40 degrees, and then pour it into a clean, sterilized glass jar. After that, add the leaven there and mix well. Then the mixture of milk and starter culture must be poured into smaller sterilized containers and covered with lids.

These jars must be placed in a dark, warm place and wait 8 hours. After that, the drink can be drunk, and for storage it must be placed in the refrigerator. If desired, you can add dried berries, nuts or other additives to kefir. If you want a harder drink, increase the fermentation time.