Prolific Kefir..lol

[sbdmom]

Hi
I am new here : Someone here was kind enough to offer some kefir grains and I have been playing with them. (waving "hi" to Quaniliaz) At first I had them in a quart jar but it didnt take long to figure out that container was too small. Now they are in a 1/2 gallon mason jar. Still everytime I strain I have at least a cup (if not more) of what looks like cottage cheese. I assume that means they are HEALTHY. I can see how this can quickly get out of hand..lol..Over the weekend I have moved them into the fridge to "slow them down".. My questions are :

Will the cottage cheese type looking stuff grow into bigger grains ? or is that it ?

When will it be ready to share ?

How much kefir does your family drink in a week ? (I have three kiddos and two thirds are lukewarm to the idea of smoothies. The hubby who is diabetic and really could benefit from cultured products is not interested..lol) my counter and refigerator look like a laboratory

Can I make kefir with low fat milk ? ( I am about 40lbs overweight and continually fight the urge to go low fat..lol , however, I CRAVE coconut milk so I am have a jar of 1/2 coconut milk / organic milk kefir going)

How do you stay on top of it all ?

Thanks

SBDmom

[pampered_mom]

I usually have to tap my strainer on the edges of the container in order to get the curds (the cottage cheesy looking stuff) to go through the strainer and back into the kefir. Then what I'm left with are the actual kefir grains. It sounds like you need to strain a bit more to actually see your grains and then most likely it will be less than 1 cup.

[Vaquitita]

i'm having this problem with my water kefir grains. i just got them last week, and they've doubled! other than giving them away, what else do people do with their superfluous grains? awhile back, someone mentioned eating them. what are the benefits to doing that? i've tried them, they're kinda tasty...

[desertpenguin]

i eat the grains when we have extra...or rather, i just blend them into our kefir smoothies. i'm assuming the benefits would be about the same as consuming the kefir..maybe a little extra of all of the good stuff since it's direct?

sbdmom-when i strain my kefir and there is a lot of it all clumped up like that, i pour some fresh milk or purified water through the strainer and mash gently with my fingertips. the curds will go through the strainer because they're not as firm as the grains.

as far as switching to low fat milk, you can do that...but i don't see any benefits of low fat milk vs whole fat milk for trying to lose weight. low fat milk will contain more lactose in it which is a sugar... i think sugar causes much more weight gain than fat does.

as for sharing, i think you need 1 tbsp of grains to 1 quart of milk, so if you have 2 tbsp you can give 1 tbsp of grains away.

i usually do some mixture of storing the milk with the grains in it in the fridge w/o fermenting it first, letting it ferment at room temp on the counter and straining and putting the grains in fresh milk, and fermenting it at room temp and not straining it and storing the whole deal in the fridge. dh won't drink kefir and ds only drinks so much! so otherwise i would have way too much for me to drink.

[sbdmom]

Thanks

HI
Thanks for the replies I am curious about

"as far as switching to low fat milk, you can do that...but i don't see any benefits of low fat milk vs whole fat milk for trying to lose weight. low fat milk will contain more lactose in it which is a sugar... i think sugar causes much more weight gain than fat does."

I never thought of it that way before !

A year ago I was following a more "traditional" diet with healthy fats my sugar cravings were non exsistant... however, no matter how much I excersised I dont lose much weight... Over the course of a year with an excersising 2-4 days a week I lost 10 lbs..lol

Jan through May this year I was doing a low fat diet, I lost about 20lbs that way, however, I find myself craving fats and sugar AND I was getting increasingly cranky and moody which is why I stopped.

This summer I got lazy, it went by so fast too, 6lbs have creeped back. I am feeling bleach ! wondering if I have thyroid issues,
so I looking to buckle down get healthy, enjoy good food, look to this board for support

Sbdmom

[Vaquitita]

if your having cravings, moodiness and can't lose weight you could try reading the diet cure by julia ross. so far i've tried taking l-glutamine and my cravings disappeared. i just started taking 5htp hoping to help my irritability among other things. alot of her advice is very tf friendly, in fact nt is listened among the suggested reading.

[sbdmom]

Thanks for the reccomendation, I'll add that to my book list..lol
(I am also interested in eat fat, lose weight, I have the nourishing traditions cookbook.)

Is there a brand 5htp that is better than other or are they basciallty the same do you think ?

Sbdmom

[desertpenguin]

you might also try metabolic typing. the premise of it is that everyone is individual and therefore require different amounts of protein-fats-carbs. check out The Metabolic Typing Diet by Wolcott.