Earth Friendly Goodies If it's Good for the Earth it's Good for Your Health My girls absolutely love kefir, a delightfully delicious cultured milk similar to yogurt. (and I admit I’m a little addicted as well) Someday we’d even like to make our own if we can find a good source of milk kefir grains, but until we do we like to try various store bought kefir when we find it.
We recently found a good one at a local co-op made by Nancy’s – Organic Blackberry Kefir – I’m salivating just thinking about it. Nancy’s makes four varieties of Organic kefir in 8oz and 32 oz sizes – plain, raspberry, blackberry, and blueberry.
Not only is their kefir loaded with tons (well, billions actually) of live probiotic cultures including L. Acidophilus, B Bifidum, L. Rhamnosus, and L. Casei (which besides being fun tongue twisters are actually great for digestive health and the immune system) Nancy’s organic kefir uses all organic milk, fruit and inulin (a prebiotic – probiotics best friend that enhances nutrient absorption).
In fact the organic milk comes from grass fed cows which provides a massively huge amount of good nutrients not found in “regular” milk.
The natural health geek in me has to mention a couple of points: one Nancy’s Organic Kefir uses Agave Nectar which while it is a low glycemic sweetener, has very high levels of Fructose which many even geekier natural health guru’s believe should be avoided like the plague.
Also in order for it to count as a low-fat drink it contains organic nonfat dry milk (in addition to actual organic milk) – which kinda defeats the point of all those good for you fats found in grass fed milk. There is a widespread misconception that low-fat or non-fat milk is good for you – but that is a whole post in and of itself.
That being said Nancy’s Organic Kefir is still one of the best for you kefirs I have found in stores and I’ll certainly buy it again – now if they made a full fat grass fed naturally sweetened variety I’d have to say it would be the perfect kefir.
This Post on Nancy’s Organic Kefir Shared on Fight Back Friday
I used to drink this stuff but don’t any longer. It uses agave nectar which is sweeter than sugar and mostly fructose, which, according to some of current research, is essentially a poison since its not metalbolized anywhere in the body except the liver. There is no godly reason to make a yoghurt drink this sweet. No wonder people get addicted to it. They know you will become addicted to it because of the fructose.
I hear what you’re saying – there is quite the debate over whether Agave is better than other sweeteners or something that should be avoided at all costs – I guess I fall somewhere in the middle – if you only have it once in awhile it isn’t bad. Personally I try to avoid Agave and other added sweeteners for that matter, but it still won’t stop me from enjoying a treat now and then. 🙂 and overall there is more beneficial ingredients in Nancy’s Kefir that make it a better choice than others out there.
This actually tastes good. I read the posts above and despite the agave issue, I will still drink this. I think it’s OK as long as one does not drink it like water or everyday.
Exactly, Cynthia life isn’t any fun if you don’t treat yourself sometimes. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
I agree that if they made a full-fat grass fed kefir, that would be the best. But even so, I like this product. I’m on the fence about agave as well, but I’m not going to worry too much about it. I’d never checked out Nancy’s website. Lots of good information there too. Thanks for the tip.
I’m in love with this drink! I’m addicted to it! But yes, you have to drink this moderately.
absolutely your right that once you love drinking on it you have to take it moderately so that it will not turns into an overdose.
I was amazed, actually. It’s still tart, but the sweetness of the strawberries makes added sweeteners unnecessary. I’m going to make it a point to have 1/2 cup kefir each morning (or evening, depending on how my mornings go) because it really has made me feel better in the last two days. I look forward to the day when I’m not a complete wuss and can actually enjoy drinking the kefir. Many natural foodies claim that their bodies begin to crave it after a few weeks, and I’m sure mine will too.
Organic Blackberry made with real organic blueberries is my favorite among those Nancy’s lowfat products.
Does organic blackberry tastes that good? hmmmm I will try to look for this later.
I have never tried Kefir but it sounds rather nice and good for ones body. With all the positive comments above I think I’ll give it a try. Thanks for all the info.
Thanks for stopping by Jenna, I hope you like it. 🙂 It makes a nice addition to smoothies too if you don’t like it plain.
To freeze berries, place them on a cookie sheet – not touching. Put them in the freezer until they are hard. Take them out and put them in a Zip-Lock bag. You will have individually frozen berries – so you can remove just the amount you want at any time and make your own smoothie!
Richard Slim
Thanks Richard that’s a good tip for freezing berries – we picked a bunch of strawberries last fall. Your suggestion would have worked much better. 🙂 We love making green smoothies too.
I started buying Nancy’s and we LOVED it! Then I found a full fat, organic, green-fed kefir that is sweetened with honey. It is raw too, never heated above the cows body temp. Is that what you are looking for? It’s made by Jordan Rubin’s new company… I have a link, but wasn’t sure if you would want me to put it in the comments.
Yes Kare we’d love to have a link that contributes to the discussion. I heard that Lifeway has a whole milk kefir as well but I haven’t seen it in stores anywhere yet. Other than making your own kefir there doesn’t seem to be many in store options for whole milk kefir from grass fed cows.
I buy mine through http://news.mybeyondorganic.com/Web/us/en/products-dairy-amasai-overview.dhtml My favorite is the Milk and Honey, but Raspberry is right behind it! I didn’t realize it was the only one available on the market! I found a treasure indeed! =)
Nancy’s Kefir is simply delicious. My kids really love it. Now I have finally found something that is healthy and without the need to coerce my kids to eat it. Thanks!