[Junegoddess]

I need to go sugarcane-free... and realistically, at least for a bit, I need to go other sweet stuff-free, too. I've been dancing on the edge of diabetes for too long. I don't eat much sweet stuff, not even much fruit, but apparently I need less.

So... I love my water kefir. It has proven it's worth twice recently, when (for the first time ever) I dodged two intestinal illnesses that other family members got. (No one else drinks the water kefir yet, although they're impressed with it's intestinal protection now!) I am allergic to dairy and coconut, so other kefirs aren't an option, and I have NO idea why, but the local kombucha I've bought makes me feel weird... like I'm allergic to it... so I haven't bothered buying my own scoby to see if I can make it better at home.

I love sauerkraut but have not yet made the leap into my own ferments... not sure I could get enough happy buggies in my diet from just veggie ferments. If I have to give up my kefir, I need another source of good bacteria.

I know it's possible to make water kefir with maple syrup and even honey, instead of sugar... but I don't think those would be much better for me, healthwise. I tend to overbrew my kefir, so it's pretty darn sour and it's hard to imagine there's much sugar left in it... but... I have no way of measuring.

Maybe I'm just silly and a bit of maple syrup or honey kefir wouldn't hurt me. I seem to maybe be actually allergic to sugar cane now, so that's my main motivation, but I also want to just cut out all sweet stuff for a while, to help my insulin resistance.

I know we have a few hard-core low-carbers around... how do you get your friendly bacteria?

 

[dogmom327]

Hopefully you'll get lots of responses so you can get a variety of opinions but here's my two cents.

I'm really sugar sensitive and I've never reacted to water kefir (as long as I let it ferment for the full 48 hours). I even continued to drink it on a candida diet and kept the yeast infections at bay.

 

[Junegoddess]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dogmom327 Hopefully you'll get lots of responses so you can get a variety of opinions but here's my two cents. I'm really sugar sensitive and I've never reacted to water kefir (as long as I let it ferment for the full 48 hours). I even continued to drink it on a candida diet and kept the yeast infections at bay.

I often forget to "deal with" my kefir, so it goes 72 hours (or even longer on occasion!) I've been doing a secondary brew lately, so I've been better at catching it at the 48 hour mark, so I can take out most of the grains, add some candied ginger and dried figs, and let it sit out another 12-24 hours.

I just noticed this morning... after eating a leftover Easter cookie, I was getting an itch in my throat. Not an illness coming on, a different thing... almost like I was getting hives. Like the sugar was bugging me. I've been slowly realizing that sugar does this lately (the cookies were homemade, so I know what's in 'em.) Well, when I drank a nice big glass of water kefir, in the hopes of feeling better after too much sugar, I felt worse. It was some shorter-brewed stuff, made with rapadura.

Unless I get some fabulous advice on this thread, I think my initial step will be to make sure to brew longer... maybe 60 hours, if I can coordinate that. And make skip the candied ginger, since that's made with white sugar. I'll make some more ginger syrup with rapadura so I can still get the ginger kick... hmmm....

 

[cristeen]

If it's sugar-cane you're reacting to, make a ginger syrup with some honey.

As for whether or not water kefir is "safe" on a SF diet, that's entirely up to you and your body. Every one of us has to make certain judgment calls when adopting a diet like that... is buckwheat a grain (for grain-free), is honey "sugar" (for sugar free), etc. And what works for me may not work for you. I say listen to your body and go with that.