With regards to your gut, terms like 'healthy bacteria' and 'probiotic' are widely recognised nowadays. Our gut bacteria are vital to our health therefore it is important we look after them. Our modern diet of processed foods and sugar etc isn't great for our gut bacteria. With lots of new research emerging all the time about the links between our gut, brain and immune system it becomes increasingly apparent that we should be looking after these friendly bacteria in our guts.

This brings me round to this weeks blog feature - Kefir. Kefir is a fermented dairy drink made with kefir grains which are a yeast/bacterial fermentation starter. Kefir contains much higher concentrations of probiotics than most other fermented dairy products such as yoghurt etc. Due to the fermentation process kefir generally has a much lower lactose content than other dairy products so may be better tolerated by individuals that suffer from a lactose intolerance. However for people that are very lactose sensitive, kefir can be made with rice, coconut or almond milk as a dairy alternative.

Some of the problems people have found to improve whilst using kefir are eczema, IBS, bloating, acne, and ulcerative colitis. I have only been trying kefir for a few weeks however I have noticed an improvement in my skin and less bloating.

If you would like to try Kefir it is very simple to make.

Firstly get some Kefir grains, an empty jar, a piece of kitchen roll or muslin, an elastic band and some milk (or non-dairy alternative)
Place the kefir grains in the jar and fill the jar approximately half full with milk.
Then cover the top of the jar with the kitchen roll or muslin and secure with an elastic band, this allows the drink to breath whilst fermenting.
Now leave this at room temperature for 24hrs.
Now the kefir should be ready to drink. Firstly strain the contents into a glass and this is the part you will drink. The solid kefir grains can now be placed back into the cleaned jar and covered with milk ready to start again.
The drink is like a more liquid version of yoghurt and tastes like slightly sour yoghurt.

Give it a try and let me know how you get on!