Speaker 1: We have a little bit of news for you today
Speaker 1: from the Nutrition Couch because we've known for some time
Speaker 1: that our product reviews are especially popular, so to kick
Speaker 1: us off in twenty twenty two, we've decided that because
Speaker 1: there are so many products out there that we can
Speaker 1: talk about and we get so many requests for product reviews,
Speaker 1: that we are going to release a second episode of
Speaker 1: The Nutrition Couch each week just covering our products. So hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Cusiburrow and Emile and Wood, and we are two illustrators,
Speaker 1: leading dieticians bringing you the Nutrition Couch podcast bi weekly
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, and the first product on our
Speaker 1: list to review is kefia. So today we have chosen
Speaker 1: two popular varieties of keffea to chat about now in
Speaker 1: case you are not familiar, Kefia is a fermented drink
Speaker 1: which is made traditionally using cow's milk or goat's milk,
Speaker 1: and they make it by adding a kefia grain to milk.
Speaker 1: These are actually cereal grains as we traditionally think of grains,
Speaker 1: but colon Le's of east and lactic acid bacteria that
Speaker 1: are a little bit like a cauliflower in appearance, and
Speaker 1: over a period of time, the microorganisms in the keffea
Speaker 1: grains multiply and ferment the sugars in the milk, turning
Speaker 1: it into keffea. And the reason that we like it
Speaker 1: as dieticians so much is that we know that these
Speaker 1: probiotic microorganisms in the product are so so good for
Speaker 1: our gut health. So two of the brands that we've
Speaker 1: chosen you will be very familiar with. The first is
Speaker 1: the Culture Company's Kefia, which is sold in a two
Speaker 1: hundred gram bottle in supermarket, and the ingredients Leanna pretty clean.
Speaker 1: It is basically just whole milk, skim milk, milk solids,
Speaker 1: Kefa cultures to make it, and then the specific culture
Speaker 1: that you find in it. Per two hundred grams serve,
Speaker 1: it comes in at one hundred and thirty eight calories
Speaker 1: or five hundred kilodules. Seven grams of protein, which is
Speaker 1: actually pretty high for one of these products. Seven grams
Speaker 1: are fat, four point six which are saturated, and that's
Speaker 1: because it's a whole milk based product. Then naturally occurring
Speaker 1: carbohydrates seven point two grams. And often people, whenever we're
Speaker 1: talking about dairy foods, think that it's added sugar. We
Speaker 1: much absolutely stressed that in these probio kefeas, it is
Speaker 1: not added sugar, it's naturally occurring that gives us these
Speaker 1: great gut healthy bugs. What I love to see lant
Speaker 1: it's got more than two hundred milligrams of calcium perserves
Speaker 1: or a great sauce, contains vitamin B twelve, very very
Speaker 1: important iodine important for thyroid function, potassium phosphorus, vitamin B
Speaker 1: two for energy production, and a fair whack of good bacteria.
Speaker 1: So I am when it comes to kefea a little
Speaker 1: bit torn because it's not a food that I would
Speaker 1: naturally go and buy myself and add into the diet.
Speaker 1: But what I will say is that whenever I'm having
Speaker 1: clients who are working on their gut health or interested
Speaker 1: in optimizing immune function, or are already including kefea, absolutely
Speaker 1: I am a big fan of it. What's your experience
Speaker 1: with these fermented milk drinks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a big fan. And I think a lot
Speaker 2: of people are like, I don't know, if they don't
Speaker 2: have gud health symptoms, they're like, oh, oh my god,
Speaker 2: how there's fine, I don't need to work on it.
Speaker 2: But that's absolutely not true. For ninety probably five percent
Speaker 2: of people because we know that our gut health has
Speaker 2: such strong links to not only our mood, but also
Speaker 2: our mental health and our imm immunity as well. So
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan that everybody, even if you think
Speaker 2: your gut health estella, should still be actively consuming foods
Speaker 2: and drinks that are going to have positive nutritional benefits
Speaker 2: for your gut health. So I do like kafir, but
Speaker 2: I do I guess if you're new to it and
Speaker 2: you haven't had it before, As Zuzi said, the resemblance
Speaker 2: can sort of be like a little bit cauliflower like appearance.
Speaker 2: The first time I had it, Susie, I nearly spat
Speaker 2: it out because I was like, oh, this is off,
Speaker 2: this is revolting, and I checked the use by data.
Speaker 2: I was like, huh, what's wrong? And I still poured
Speaker 2: it down the drain, went and bought some more and
Speaker 2: then was like, Okay, something's.
Speaker 1: Not right here.
Speaker 2: So it's just the fact that it's fermented milk. It
Speaker 2: does taste very very tart and almost like it's a
Speaker 2: little bit off. So where I use it with my
Speaker 2: clients is part of a recipe. I don't get them
Speaker 2: like shodding, you know. Two hundred meals of it in
Speaker 2: the morning or something like that, because it is a
Speaker 2: little bit hard to get down because it is very
Speaker 2: very tart, and the taste of it isn't I wouldn't
Speaker 2: say it's exactly pleasant. So I love to use it
Speaker 2: in something like a Berchu musical, for example, So instead
Speaker 2: of soaking your oats and orange juice, I would soak
Speaker 2: it in something like a fermented milk, or I'll use
Speaker 2: it as part of a smoothie where we've got some
Speaker 2: fruit in there as well. We've got some extra natural
Speaker 2: sugars to balance out the flavor of that as well.
Speaker 2: But I really like it. I think from a nutritional perspective,
Speaker 2: it's quite strong. As you said, this brand, the culture
Speaker 2: goes quite good. It doesn't add any extra sugars to it.
Speaker 2: Some of the brands out there are flavored, so you
Speaker 2: can get a blueberry flavor, or a mango flavor, or
Speaker 2: coconut flavor. We've chosen this one today is sort of
Speaker 2: just a plane or a natural flavor. As you said.
Speaker 2: The only real ingredients of sort of whole milks give milk,
Speaker 2: some cultures, and it's got three hundred billion c If
Speaker 2: you two hundred grams serving, which is, as you said,
Speaker 2: a fair whack of good, healthy bacteria. It's got the
Speaker 2: calcium in there, so it sort of models like a
Speaker 2: cup of milk. We're actually getting the added gut health
Speaker 2: benefits and the added bacterial benefits as well from it,
Speaker 2: which I think is really important.
Speaker 1: And this company is really reputable when it comes to
Speaker 1: gut health products. They do some scientific work in this area.
Speaker 1: They work with a well known UK dietitian who is
Speaker 1: a specialist in gut health. And it has one of
Speaker 1: the strains, so it's got thirteen actual different strains. And
Speaker 1: my understanding is that the greater the variety of strains
Speaker 1: the better, including one that has some scientific data around it,
Speaker 1: because definitely land we see products that claim gut health
Speaker 1: benefits but not necessarily proven. It's sort of someone's throwing
Speaker 1: together a random a mix of cultures and we don't
Speaker 1: know if the evidence is Therefore, then whereas this is
Speaker 1: a proven one. It's not inexpensive, you know, it is
Speaker 1: a commitment financially at six dollars eighty it will work
Speaker 1: for a liter or five serves, so it is a
Speaker 1: reasonably costly commitment for gut health I think it's really
Speaker 1: important to talk about the stability of these products because
Speaker 1: you do see kefas referred to in baking, and what
Speaker 1: I want to stress is that cooking them is not
Speaker 1: going to get the benefits that a raw product does.
Speaker 1: You're going to destroy some of that bacteria. So whilst
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right to use it in a smoothie drink
Speaker 1: as you described, and indeed I do as well with
Speaker 1: my own clients or a smoothie bowl to mix it
Speaker 1: with some other flavors, I wouldn't encourage you to use
Speaker 1: that kind of product in baking. You're going to basically
Speaker 1: destroy the benefits that you're getting from that live culture.
Speaker 1: But yeah, on all accounts, it's a very nutritious addition,
Speaker 1: and particularly for people who are looking for those extra
Speaker 1: benefits and to see if it specifically aids in their
Speaker 1: digestive comfort, I would absolutely recommend, and I would absolutely
Speaker 1: recommend this is one of the key brands because of
Speaker 1: the cleanness of the ingredient list. Now, the other product
Speaker 1: I've chosen out of interest is I've chosen the table
Speaker 1: of plenty lactose free KEFEA. Now this one is a
Speaker 1: little bit more difficult to find leanne It only sells
Speaker 1: in coals, and they have both a regular and a
Speaker 1: lactose free. But the reason I like it is that
Speaker 1: there's a number of people who have gut issues who
Speaker 1: can't have dairy food, and they may not be able
Speaker 1: to have dairy food because of the lactose load. So
Speaker 1: for that group of people, this is one of the
Speaker 1: few lactose free varieties of Kefia. So I think that
Speaker 1: has a real group of people that that can be
Speaker 1: a big benefit for. As I said, it's only available
Speaker 1: in coals. It's again not inexpensive at seven dollars eighty
Speaker 1: per bottle. Certainly it has a very distinct smell and
Speaker 1: flavor to it as you describe, so mixing it in
Speaker 1: very clean ingredient list. It only has the milk again,
Speaker 1: the cultures probitic cultures, ten different strain and snowmilk powders.
Speaker 1: It's an Australian company, so that's another one to really
Speaker 1: look out for, particularly if you're a bit more sensitive
Speaker 1: to lactose. I actually can't find the nutritionals, but it
Speaker 1: will be very similar. Kefia is like a whole milk
Speaker 1: product in the sense that it will have very similar
Speaker 1: profile with some protein, a small amount of naturally occurring
Speaker 1: a good amount of micro nutrients through it. But yeah, overall,
Speaker 1: I think that for anyone who's particularly committed to their
Speaker 1: gut health, using that a couple of times a week
Speaker 1: as part of your diet to give you that range
Speaker 1: of bacterias, particularly if you're not a yogurt consumer and
Speaker 1: perhaps would prefer something like this in a smoothie and
Speaker 1: can tolerate it and are getting those benefits, I think
Speaker 1: it's a great addition. But yeah, you basically with this
Speaker 1: kind of product, pay for what you get for so
Speaker 1: it is an investment, but a quick scan of ingredient
Speaker 1: lists will make sure that you're getting something without added
Speaker 1: sugars and different additives and something clean like this. Whether
Speaker 1: it's the Culture Club Company or a Table of Plenty,
Speaker 1: are two very reputable brands in the gut health space,
Speaker 1: and we will say none of these are sponsored. If
Speaker 1: we do do a sponsored version, we will very clearly
Speaker 1: share that with you. These are just our independent opinion
Speaker 1: on a couple of the main kefia brands out there
Speaker 1: and our thoughts on their nutritional profiles.
Speaker 2: Put a Table of Plenty is listening would like to
Speaker 2: sponsor a sushi, we'd be more than dude. What I
Speaker 2: will say, just from as you mentioned, it is quite
Speaker 2: a I would say probably a high cost product compared
Speaker 2: to something like a liter of milk, right, this is
Speaker 2: a lot more expensive. But again you are getting some
Speaker 2: really great benefits from a gut health perspective. But this
Speaker 2: is probably something where you don't necessarily have to consume
Speaker 2: the whole serving size as well. Like three billion c
Speaker 2: a few is a lot you could just consume maybe
Speaker 2: you know, fifty to one hundred meals of that and
Speaker 2: still be getting some benefit as well. So don't feel
Speaker 2: like you need to consume an entire serve like a
Speaker 2: whole what was the serving size two hundred grams or
Speaker 2: two hundred meals of it? You could split that down
Speaker 2: and really just use fifty mills of the kafir and
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty meals of you know, normal skim
Speaker 2: milk or normal lactose free milk or sowy milk or
Speaker 2: whatever you normally do as well. There are I guess
Speaker 2: vgan or dairy free varieties. You can actually get water
Speaker 2: based kafa as well, if dairy isn't something that you
Speaker 2: choose to consume or you can't consume. Well, the other
Speaker 2: option is a lot of people don't realize that they're
Speaker 2: actually lactose free tablets as well SUSI, which you can
Speaker 2: just pick up from the pharmacy. So if you were
Speaker 2: just wanting to consume, say, for example, a table of
Speaker 2: plenty Bland which did have lactosein and dairy in it,
Speaker 2: so some people may struggle with that, you can simply
Speaker 2: take something like a lactase tablet beforehand and be you know,
Speaker 2: probably quite easily able to tolerate like a couple of
Speaker 2: dairy or something like that. So just a few points
Speaker 2: from that perspective.
Speaker 1: I would absolutely make that Lita last for ten serves
Speaker 1: and use max. One hundred million at a time, just
Speaker 1: based on the cost alone and also the intensity of
Speaker 1: the flavor with it. It will be much more palatable
Speaker 1: using a small amount and a mixed dish. But it's
Speaker 1: interesting you say that, because it's a live culture, you've
Speaker 1: got to have a good look at the use by date.
Speaker 1: So the other trick at supermarket, and I use this
Speaker 1: all the time across foods, always go to the back
Speaker 1: because supermarkets stuck from the back, So you may pick
Speaker 1: something up from the front, and it may only have
Speaker 1: a couple of days on it, whereas if you go
Speaker 1: to the back, you're more likely to get something that's
Speaker 1: got a much longer use by date, and you'll get
Speaker 1: a lot longer out of it because it's that live
Speaker 1: product that will be quite unstable. And the same with salads.
Speaker 1: You know, if you look at the fresh salads in
Speaker 1: bullies and coals, you may only get a day out
Speaker 1: of the ones at the ft. So always go to
Speaker 1: the back when you're looking at a product, particularly something
Speaker 1: like this, which you really want the freshest one that
Speaker 1: you can have to get the longest shelf life out
Speaker 1: of it when you're at home, because you won't be
Speaker 1: able to freeze something like this. You need to be
Speaker 1: able to consume it fresh, and as such you want
Speaker 1: something that's got a reasonably long use by date, or
Speaker 1: the longest you can find in supermarket.
Speaker 2: That's interesting because I was going to say, perhaps you
Speaker 2: could freeze something like this. I was thinking if you
Speaker 2: were someone that didn't smoothie as you could put it
Speaker 2: in with your fruit, in your cheesy's and that sort
Speaker 2: of thing and put it into container and dump the
Speaker 2: whole thing frozen into a blender and blend it. Do
Speaker 2: you not think it would freeze for a while? Do
Speaker 2: you think it would separate out of it?
Speaker 1: It's not even that. I'm just wondering if the benefit
Speaker 1: of the life culture is preserved when it's frozen. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: I actually don't know, and that's completely transparent to a
Speaker 1: quick search now, But I don't know if probiotic type
Speaker 1: cultures freeze. Well, I would assume that they're alive, they're
Speaker 1: better fresh, But we will check. We will check, and
Speaker 1: at some point we will mention that again because we
Speaker 1: want to have the right science around it. So that's
Speaker 1: just my hesitation with freezing it. But we will double
Speaker 1: check that and let you know in future episodes we
Speaker 1: will mention.
Speaker 2: And the nutrition Couch, Facebook and Instagram pages because we
Speaker 2: will let you know. You know, Susy and I will
Speaker 2: not want to sugarcoat things, And this is just one
Speaker 2: of those questions where we don't actually know, so watch
Speaker 2: this space. But we do hope that you are happily
Speaker 2: able to include a little bit of keifer into your diet,
Speaker 2: whether you know it doesn't have to be in a
Speaker 2: daily basis, even you know, once every couple of weeks
Speaker 2: I think would be beneficial. And make sure if you
Speaker 2: are going to go and buy the carton of it,
Speaker 2: make sure you get through it because as we said,
Speaker 2: you know, the cost is there, but it does have
Speaker 2: some great nutritional benefits. So spread it around with the family.
Speaker 2: You know, the kids can have it, but make sure
Speaker 2: you're sweetening it with a bit of I don't know,
Speaker 2: honey or fruit or something like that, because I guarantee
Speaker 2: if you're going to give it to a five year old,
Speaker 2: they're probably going to split it down the sink because
Speaker 2: it is quite It is an unusual taste, isn't it, Susie,
Speaker 2: Just that fermented milk.
Speaker 1: It's specific. You know. It's interesting though, because a lot
Speaker 1: of my European clients working in Bondie and Sydney, I
Speaker 1: see a lot of European people who are very used
Speaker 1: to products like quark and fermented dairy, so this is
Speaker 1: already on there. You know, they eat cottage cheese all
Speaker 1: the time, whereas I've got clients who are really offered.
Speaker 1: So I think a lot of it's got to do
Speaker 1: with that programming and early experience with food. I know
Speaker 1: Scandinavian people Europeans are often much more familiar with fermented dairy.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's an interesting point overall, but I think
Speaker 1: it's an option for many people and if you do
Speaker 1: like it or can incorporate, there's plenty of benefits. And
Speaker 1: we've shared with you today two of the products that
Speaker 1: we would absolutely recommend based on the nutritional profile. So
Speaker 1: that is the firstly and of our new Wednesday drop
Speaker 1: on the Nutrition Couch podcast reviewing our products. We hope
Speaker 1: that you're going to enjoy hearing about new products each week,
Speaker 1: and again, if there's any that you would continue to
Speaker 1: like us to look at, feel free to dms on
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Speaker 1: a great week.
Speaker 2: Thank you guys. In the next episode,