Heathy gut biome (and diet in general) is the root, the key, to overall health. Especially important in times of misery like recently.
I present to you the latest optimization of my daily or every-other-day (what’s the word for that?) drink:
That’s self-fermented kefir with pure cocoa and sweetened with erythritol.
(500 ml kefir, 1 daringly heaped teaspoon of cocoa powder, 3 level teaspoons of erithritol)
Real kefir is nothing like that Kalinka stuff in the supermarket which is labeled “mild”. (Same system with yoghurt mild. – Made with starter powder consisting of a more or less meager microbiome.)
– Let it ferment for a long time (until the milk components start separating) and there will be almost no lactose left.
– You can optionally use…
— goat milk (no casein, although allegedly that’s a lot less with grass fed animals)
— grass fed (the animal’s food reflects in its products)
— high fat milk (complements the low-carb nature of this drink and tends to dissuade the body from converting protein into sugar due to lack of other energy sources)
— ESL or fresh instead of superheated (But if you choose no-homo*, the cream might create a smeary film on everything – a hassle. I personally prefer organic grass-fed 3.8% ESL homogenized cow milk.)
— organic / non-GMO
Instant cocoa drink powder is mainly just glucose and most of the rest is other sugar, i.e. extremely fast sugar, causing insulin spike which is the root of so many problems. (Industry-pushed addiction mechanism.)
Pure cocoa means almost all the weight is actually cocoa. It is very rich in antioxidants and minerals (especially zinc which is crucial for a strong immune system) and supports the generating of happy- and sleep hormones.
It is also surprisingly rich in fiber, which helps with the fact that kefir doesn’t have any. (Alternatively you could add a bit of psyllium husks for that.)
Cocoa has lots of fat and protein and only moderate carbs of which almost none are sugar. (Kefir itself is kinda even in those three, and the longer you ferment, the less of the quick lactose will be in it.)
Erythritol is one of the few sugar alcohols that do not cause an insulin response at all, i.e. not only is it not sugar, but it also has virtually no calories. I am using one that has a tiny bit of stevia in it (also virtually no carb) in order to bring its sweetening power up to sucrose (table sugar). (Stevia alone has a bitter-ish aftertaste.)
Xylitol would be a taste alternative without erythritol’s cooling effect (mostly pure on the tongue only), but it has an insulin effect – roughly 40% of sucrose I think, so kinda defeating the low-carb purpose a bit.
But maybe you can adjust your taste buds and don’t need sweetener at all. I only added it ‘for science’, and it tastes nice, but I can also enjoy it without. The kefir buffers the cocoa’s mild bitterness nicely.
Don’t overdo erythritol. Some people might get diarrhea from it, although less so than with other sugar alcohols. (Then again, that’s not always bad, and drinking kefir for the first time might trigger it, too, because your body can finally get rid of some baggage. – Then you need good renutrition. Same as after a period. It’s always a loss of resources.)
*) non-homogenized
DISCLAIMER (sigh): This is not professional health advice. (duh) – For that you have to try to find a doctor who is competent.
Special thanks to Dr. Eric Berg on Youtube (who is only a doctor in chiropractics) who I now consider my general practitioner (paired with my own gumption) after repeated disappointments with local doctors and the healthcare system in general. – Why am I paying so much money for it?