My Journey with Milk Kefir

It’s been 6 months since I drank milk kefir. First time I heard it from my friend, after I read many articles about kefir in google, I became more interested and started my experiment with milk kefir.

What is kefir?

Kefir is probiotic drink made from fermented milk and kefir grains which contain good bacterias. These bacterias eat lactose in milk, because of that kefir is very suitable for people who suffer lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance is a condition that the body can not produce lactase enzyme which is needed to digest lactose in milk. And the result is bloating, diarrhea, naussea, etc after drinking animal’s milk.

What are the benefit that I get after experimenting with milk kefir?

1.     Kefir cure lactose intolerance

I almost never drink milk because of lactose intolerance. Every time I drink milk, my stomach will be bloated and sometimes diarrhea if I drink too much at once. My limit is half glass of fresh milk for a day and also not for everyday.

After 6 months drinking milk kefir, I tried to drink half glass of fresh milk and after 1-2 hours, I didn’t feel anything, no bloating or diarrhea. After a few days, I tried again drinking one full glass of fresh milk, and the result is still the same. It seems my lactose intolerance recovered. 

Update December 2023 : i drank 700 ml in a day, no diarrhea, a little bloated, a little farting, that's all.

2.     Food during diarrhea

In these past 6 months, I had a diarrhea once and after going back and forth toilets 5 times, I began to feel weak and lose my appetite. Despite trying to eat banana, I still felt weak and nausea.  I mixed bananas and kefir and my stomach felt better and my body became stronger. For 2 days during diarrhea, beside taking medicine, I only ate bananas and kefir. On the second day, I felt much better and i recovered faster than usual.

3. Kefir as hair mask

I have a long and dry hair, instead of buying an expensive hair mask. I use kefir as hair mask once a week and my hair grow faster and smoother.

How to do : apply kefir on the scalp (can be mixed with black coffee powder, coffee will make the hair shiny), cover it with shower cap, leave it for one hour. After that, rinse it. My hair is dry so I just rinse it with warm water and wind dry, but my hair will smells like cheese. For oily hair, it’s better to wash it with a little shampoo. If you mix kefir with coffee powder, rinse your hair with cold water otherwise it will be crumple.

4.     Kefir as face mask

Kefir can lift dead skin and moisturizing the skin. Just apply kefir on your face and leave it for 30 minutes, do it 1-2 times a week.

Side effect of kefir

Kefir is rich in calcium, protein and vitamin B but drinking too much kefir will make you gain weight. The first few months, I drank 200-300 ml in one day and I gain a few pounds, later I reduced it to 100-150 ml per day and do a little exercise to maintain my weight. Everyone is different, so it’s better to start from 100 ml while checking your weight.

How to make kefir 

It’s very easy to make kefir but must be kept clean because the bacteria in the kefir are vulnerable to dirt. First of all, buy milk kefir seed, the shape is like mini cauliflower. 50 gram of milk kefir seed can make 1-2 liters of milk kefir, depends on the quality of the seed and room temperature. The hotter the room, the faster kefir can be cultivated. 

Put the kefir seed into a glass container, fill it with fresh milk (I use 1 liter of fresh milk for around 3 grams of kefir seed) and cover it tightly. 

After 12-18 hours (depend on the room temperature and the quantity of kefir seed), the milk will thicken like yogurt, and the milk kefir is ready. 

Separate the milk kefir and the seed using sieve. 

Put the kefir in the fridge. The remaining kefir in the sieve is the seed and just put it into the glass jar, fill it with milk again and ready to make another batch.

If you don’t want to cultivate the kefir, soak the kefir seed with fresh milk and put it in the fridge. It can stay in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.

Making kefir is not hard, just need a little experiment to adjust the kefir seed, the quantity of milk and the time to cultivate. Kefir is a cheap healthy drink and also can provide many health benefits. For those who are interested, don’t hesitate to try it.