Coconut Kefir

I have heard parent’s success stories about helping their child with autism recover with diet and the healing benefits of coconut kefir. So I researched it and found that it is a rockin’ probiotic drink and offers much more than good gut health. Here is the dish on this hard to find, expensive drink.

True coconut kefir is derived from young, green, coconuts from Thailand. (1st obstacle in making this drink) The coconut water is combined with kefir starter to create a nutritionally dense, probiotic rich, non-dairy, drink.
What is Kefir?
Kefir is a starter culture made from gelatinous white or yellow particles called “grains”. The grains ferment the milk incorporating their beneficial yeast as well as friendly “probiotic” bacteria, to create the “cultured” product. The grains are then removed (by straining) before consumption and can be used again.
The naturally occurring bacteria and yeast in kefir combine symbiotically (I love that word!) to provide excellent health benefits when consumed regularly.
Kefir can be made from any type of milk, cow, goat, coconut, soy, or rice. For the lactose intolerant population that cannot digest cow or goat milk, kefir provides lactase, an enzyme that consumes the left over lactose after the culturing process. Therefore, lactose intolerance should not stop anyone from consuming kefir dairy products.
What is the Difference Between Coconut Water and Coconut Milk?
This one had me so confused. From what I’ve researched, coconut water is the liquid that comes from the young, green, coconuts. Coconut milk is derived from extracting the meat of the mature coconut which contains a lot of fat and calories. This fat is not as bad as it sounds though. Coconut oil is 92% saturated fat. Don’t freak out yet! It’s approximately 65% (two-thirds) medium chain fatty acids (MFCA). Most all other fats and oils (saturated and unsaturated, plant or animal based) are mostly long chained fatty acids (LCFA). LCFAs are the fats that accumulate in your fat cells, and clogs your arteries. Your body needs pancreatic digestive enzymes and bile to digest LCFAs and they circulate in your entire body. MCFA rich coconut oil/milk does not need these enzymes or bile to digest. They are readily digested and go straight to your liver, boosting your metabolism.
Benefits of Coconut Water Kefir

• It increases energy and provides a feeling of good overall health
• Aids in digestion, heals the gut with high levels of probiotics
• Reduces sugar cravings
• Contains high levels of minerals like potassium
• It cleanses the liver
• Eases aches and joint pain
• Improves skin tone and complexion. Will help with acne, age spots, skin tags, moles & warts
• Strengthens hair, skin and nails
• Beneficial effects on the endocrine system (thyroid, adrenals, pituitary, ovaries)

Where to Purchase Coconut Kefir
So now you want to know where to get coconut water kefir, right? Well, there are not a lot of companies out there that sell it already in its cultured state. You can purchase young, green, coconuts and use a kefir starter culture to make your own. Or pay a lot of money having it shipped to you from the handful of companies out there that make it.

I found two sources of true coconut water kefir on the internet that I would trust. Body Ecology sells their brand of CocoBiotic beverage for $28.98 for a 44 oz. bottle and $14.95 for an 8 oz. travel size bottle. They also sell their starter culture packets if you want to buy young, green, coconuts and make your own coconut water kefir. A box of 6 packets cost $26.95 and each packet can be used an average of 7 times each. Their website is www.bodyecology.com.

The other source that was brought to my attention is CocoKefir. This company was founded by Michael and Holly Larsen whose daughter was diagnosed with autism.They credit her recovery in part to the implementation of a biomedical approach to healing her gut first, which in turn helped heal her mind. They sell their 16 oz. CocoKefir bottle for $9.99. That’s $0.62 per ounce vs. Body Ecology’s 44 oz. bottle at $0.66 per ounce, and their 8 oz. bottle cost $1.87 per ounce. Their website is www.cocokefir.com.

There is a third option out there. It’s not coconut water kefir, it’s cultured coconut milk. Remember the difference, water comes from young, green, coconuts and the milk is derived from the meat of mature coconuts. But the milk has the MCFAs, of which the water does not. So Delicious makes Cultured Coconut Milk with prebiotics and probiotics, made from organic coconuts. They have original (unflavored), chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. The original one is best since it does not contain any added sugars that only feed the bad bacteria and yeast in our gut. A 32 oz. bottle sells for less than $4.00 and can be found at Whole Foods. You may find it in your local grocery store, but I’m not sure the cost. .

To watch Michael Larsen of CocoKefir interviewed on Fox & Friends click below:

http://youtu.be/cfmNhA_D3mQ

Coconut Kefir and autism cure?

I found this, and decided to copy and paste due to the research Ive been doing....It may be the miracle that we have been looking for!!!  Remember, I didn't write this....



The use of young green coconut water fermented to make a powerful probiotic drink has been propagated by Donna Gates the proponant of the Body Ecology Diet.
The logic of using Kefir starter to ferment young green coconut water has also been extended by us to using other probiotics such as Culturelle, Probiogold and even plain yogurt to ferment the young coconut water. This probiotic drink can be a multiplying factor for all the probiotics you are providing your child.
We first started this probiotic drink off when my son had just finished a round of antibiotics for an infection in his thumb. He was on prescription antifungals and flagyl for Yeast and Clostridia respectively at the time. We had recently also been through a set of Yeast and Clostridia flares that would appear within days of stopping the prescription medication and so we did not dare take him off the Rx medicines.
Despite this he retained certain certain symptoms of these gutbugs – he would be humming and hitting his ears and he would be hitting his chin with the fist of his hand really hard. There was also a lot of laughing and noises.
The interesting thing we observed was that these symptoms disappeared within a few days of starting the fermented coconut water. That was convincing. So we slowly built up his intake to about 300ml a day. Not easy, because the more powerful a probiotic this drink is, the tarter the taste.
We started by mixing it in juice so he was having 100 ml or 150 ml, then slowly started reducing the quantity of the juice till he was only having the coconut water. Over time We were able to control both Yeast and Clostridia flares by increasing the quantity when he was having a flare up of sorts. After getting the flare to subside we would start the Rx medicine for sometime and the biggest proof that the Kefir/fermented coconut water had got everything under control was the absence of a die-off or Herxheimer reaction, along with the disappearance of the symptoms of the flare.
Donna Gates- the Founder of the Body Ecology Diet and the pioneer of this drink has this to say about the nutritional benefits of it:
“Nutritional Benefits of Young Coconut Kefir
Stops cravings for sugar, aids in the digestion of all foods, while toning and cleansing the intestines and the liver, eases aches and joint pains, clears up skin problems like brown liver spots, skin tags, moles, etc., improves vision, makes hair and nails healthier because of its high mineral content (potassium, natural sodium, and chloride), and cleanses the enocrine system (adrenals, thyroid, pituitary, ovaries).”(1)
The biggest benefit of Kefir/ Fermented Coconut water is that we have finally been able to take my son off all prescription antifungals and antibacterials(Flagyl) and that we have established our control in his gut by using this drink, along with supplementing capsule probiotic supplements such as superprobiogold, Culturelle, Saccharomyces Boulardi and Threelac. The capsule probiotics are not enough on their own to control the infections in the gut and it is the large numbers of probiotics that come in through the Kefir/fermented coconut water that form the basis of changing the ecology of his gut whereby the good gutbugs are incharge and the bad gutbugs are held at bay. This is not to say we would have been able to succeed in this endeavour without a diet that starves the gutbugs of sugar and complex carbohydrates. Anytime we have large infractions to the low complex carbohydrate diet we do see the symptoms of Yeast/Clostridia flares resurface.
To prepare the fermented coconut water/Kefir –
1.We take the juice of about 2 young coconuts in a vessel.
2.Heat it gently till it is at an ambient temperature i.e. you can put it on your hand and it does not feel cold. I do not heat it directly on a stove or microwave but put it in a container which contains hot water.
3.Next we add our Kefir starter or probiotic or yogurt starter(if allowed casein) the amount of starter depends on what it is for example I would put two capsule of Probiogold or half a packet of Kefir starter or two to three teaspoons of probiotic yogurt in about 500ml of the coconut water or two Culturelle capsules.
4. Put it in a glass container andcover the container with a cloth, leave it in a dry dark place undisturbed for 24-48 hours. If the weather is cold then I put it in an insulated container with a hot water bottle for about 3-4 days, changing the hot water every 12 hours to keep the temperature inside the container warm.
5.When the coconut fermentation is complete the liquid is covered with a white scurf on top and the colour has changed from transparant gray to an almost opaque gray-white.
6.The final test is in the tasting. If it tastes tart and there is not a single remnant of sweet taste then your probiotic drink is ready.
7.You can refrigerate it and drink it.
8. You should also use it as a starter with the ratio of about 1:10 (depends on the strength of the fermented coconut water, the temperature and climate and the amount of time you allow it to ferment.) this will be much stronger as a starter rather than the original starter you used whether it was capsule probiotics, curd or Kefir starter. This is because it contains live bacteria after they have multiplied and multiplied.
If you started with 20 billion CFUs in your starter it is possible that there are trillions of cfus in the final kefir/fermented Coconut Water you end up with because of this multiplication process.
If you bottle this liquid , you may find that it becomes fizzy like beer or champagne after sometime. Again this is a byproduct of the fermentation process.
9.I do not mix the starters because I feel it may cause a competition amongst the different types of good bacteria so I have different batches fermented with different starters and I mix the end products before giving it to my son to drink
Here are some links to Donnas site on how to prepare coconut kefir:
http://www.bodyecology.com/kefirinstructions.phpwith pictures:
http://www.bodyecology.com/mcoconutkefir.php

Honey is the best cough syrup around!

A teaspoon of honey taken at bedtime could bring in relief for children suffering from severe cough, suggests a new study.
The finding is based on reports of the children’s symptoms recorded after they were subjected to various treatments, and the researchers concluded that honey proved to be far better than a cough medicine.
The research report that was published in ‘Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine’ detailed the study conducted by a group of researchers, who carried out their study on 105 children with upper respiratory infections from a clinic in Pennsylvania. The parents of the children were given a paper bag that contained a dosage device. While some where empty, some had age-appropriate dosage of honey-flavoured cough medicine, containing dextromethorphan. The others had similar dosage of honey.
The parents were enquired about the children’s sleep pattern and cough symptoms before and after bedtime treatment. The symptoms were rated on a seven-point scale.
The paediatricians who read the study said they would advise parents seeking alternative medicines to try honey. However, they cautioned that children below one year of age should not be given honey due to the rare, but serious risk of botulism.
The researchers stated that the benefits of honey could be due to its anti-oxidants and microbe-fighting effects. But the dark variety of honey is better than the buckwheat honey, due to its richness in antioxidants.
The researchers concluded that a teaspoon of honey before bed helps in calming children’s cough, and helped them sleep better.

Holistic Health care Practioner in the making....

  When it comes to your health and wellness, it can be worth it to consider Holistic options. This is because the idea behind Holistic health is that the whole body — mind and spirit included — should be treated. Holistic healing isn’t just about treating symptoms, it’s about a specific lifestyle aimed at complete wellness. While holistic healing methods have not received complete welcome by the community of Western medicine, some doctors are open to the idea of using some holistic methods to complement the treatments most of us are familiar with.  I am in school at this time learning Holistic treatments, cures, and exercises in the hope to help children and adults alike.  My long term goal is to open my own clinic and help those individuals with Autism, Cancer, and so many more ailments.  So if you have an issue, that the "typical" physicians and medicines aren't working, or the side effects from the medicines are just giving you problems, let me know what it is that is ailing you. I love doing research, and would love the opportunity to help you.  You never know, maybe all you'd need is a spoonful of honey.....Blessed Be, and Happy Halloween!!  Lovingly yours, Michelle