Kefir Kommunity

Sweeten Your Pout With Kefir (MWAH!)

LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:04:00 GMT

What is bad breath?

No one is immune to garlic breath, but chronic halitosis is nothing to laugh at. Besides causing embarrassment and negatively impacting your professional and social life, bad breath is often a signal that all is not right with the body. Besides food (the breakdown of food particles in and around your teeth can cause a foul odor, as can leftover bits of pungent foods, like onions, coffee, tuna and spices), other causes of chronic bad breath include:

Dental problems If you don't brush and floss daily, food particles will remain in your mouth, where they collect bacteria. Those bacteria can emit chemicals like hydrogen sulfide — the same compound that gives rotten eggs their characteristic smell. Next, a colorless, sticky film of bacteria called plaque forms on teeth; if it’s not brushed away, it can irritate gums and cause tooth decay. Eventually, plaque-filled pockets can form between your teeth and gums worsening the problem…and your breath.

Dry mouth Many common medications, such as antihistamines and antidepressants, can cause dry mouth. Without adequate saliva to wash away bacteria, bad breath bugs multiply and take over. (Need proof that a dry mouth is a smelly mouth? Think of morning breath.) Antacids can lead to stinky breath in a different way: Without sufficient stomach acid, food ferments in the stomach and the decaying odor escapes through the mouth.

Other diseases About 1 in 10 bad breath cases result from an illness, such as cancer, uncontrolled diabetes, kidney or liver failure, chronic acid reflux or a metabolic disorder.

Smoking In addition to causing cancer and premature aging of the skin, smoking dries out your mouth and leaves an unpleasant oral odor. Tobacco users are also more likely to have periodontal disease, itself a source of bad breath.

What are the symptoms?

Remember, bad breath following a grande coffee is much different than the sort of chronic bad breath that repels people and causes them to offer you mints at every turn. If you suspect you may have bad breath, make an appointment with your dentist and share your concerns – he or she can check for gum disease, cavities, abscesses or decay. It can be hard to tell whether you have bad breath, so you may need to employ an honest (and close!) friend to give you the real truth.

What can you do?

Clearly, hygiene is of utmost importance when it comes to preventing bad breath. Remember to brushing your teeth and tongue after eating, floss daily and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. You may want to purchase a tongue scraper to reduce odors that originate from the tongue. Decrease alcohol and coffee intake and avoid other food and beverages that can lead to bad breath. Replace your toothbrush every three to four months and see your dentist twice a year, to have your teeth or dentures examined and cleaned.

If your bad breath is due to plaque, your dentist may recommend a mouth rinse that eradicates the odor-causing bacteria. Research shows that those containing the ingredients cetylpyridinium chloride or chlorhexidine can prevent production of odors that cause bad breath. Other active ingredients, such as chlorine dioxide and zinc, are good at neutralizing odor-causing bacterial byproducts. Your dentist may also recommend a toothpaste that contains an antibacterial agent to kill the bacteria that cause plaque buildup.

If your dentists suspects the bad breath is being caused by a GI problem, diabetes, cancer or another illness, he will refer you to the appropriate physician for follow-up.

One surprising possible bad breath beater: Green tea! A 2008 study in the Journal of Nutritional Sciences and Vitaminology found that green tea’s polyphenols are stealth odor-fighters, inhibiting volatile sulfur compounds in the mouth.

How can kefir help?

According to American Dietetic Association spokesperson Christine Gerbstadt, MD, RD , kefir can help alleviate bad breath. That’s because kefir contains multiple strains of “good bacteria,” aka probiotics, which balance and reduce overgrowth of odor-causing bacteria. You don’t swish it like mouthwash – just drink a cup a day. Gerbstadt suggests sticking with plain kefir (like Lifeway nonfat Plain). As the sugar in the flavored varieties will be partially digested in the mouth, feeding odor-causing bacteria

Sources: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bad-breath/DS00025

http://www.ergo-log.com/teabreath.html

Looking Back On a Hot Summer at Lifeway

LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:59:00 GMT

We hope everyone had a lovely, relaxing Labor Day weekend. Though we’re sad to see the summer come to an end, as we look back on the past few months, we’re pleasantly surprised to see how much excitement has taken way here at Lifeway. Check it out:

We debuted two fabulous new products -- BioKefir Shots and Helios Goat Milk Kefir.

Go Mambo! Rocky Mountain Tour

LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:20:00 GMT

The Mambo Sprouts "Go Mambo!" team just completed week two of their Rocky Mountain tour. Their mobile sampling station cruises around and introduces folks to healthy, natural and organic products. The tour is currently in Colorado and we strongly encourage our friends to stop by the Mambo Sprouts website and see when the fun is coming to their area!

Party Favors!

LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:12:00 GMT

Who doesn’t like a good birthday party? Candy and cake, making a wish and blowing out the candles, opening presents. But imagine our delight when we heard about a Chicago woman’s 85th birthday party: The giveaways were Lifeway Probiotic Wellness bars, wrapped with homemade labels that read, “Happy Birthday Jean!”

Foodchannel.com releases top ten snack trends

LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:19:00 GMT

Itchin’ for a new snack? Your taste buds are in luck: Foodchannel.com just released its 2010 Top Ten Snack Trends list. Oh, and what a surprise…probiotics are on the list!

Shop Healthy at the Farmer’s Market

LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:23:00 GMT

We love the summertime for lots of reasons: Pool parties, fireworks, the ice cream man…and farmer’s markets. It’s always fun to wake up on a Saturday morning and mosey over to the local jam, where farmers from near and (not-too) far congregate to sell their delicious goods. You can literally feel the love and attention paid to every strawberry, every beet, every dozen eggs.

But did you know there are lots of health benefits to shopping at the farmer’s market? Here’s a bunch:

1. The produce is picked at its peak of freshness. Worried you won’t b able to finish a big bag of apples or basket of tomatoes? You can freeze them -- freezing preserves all of the vitamins and nutrients while preventing waste.

2. Besides being incredibly fresh, the fruits and vegetables available are all in season, which means they’ll be at their best color, smell and texture. Have you ever smelled a tomato fresh of the vine? Heaven!

3. By buying local, you’re helping the environment because your food doesn’t have to be shipped on gas-guzzling airplanes and trucks. Before reaching your table, the average food item in American travels a whopping 1,300 miles

4. The person selling your food likely has lots of fantastic ideas for cooking that pork loin or rhubarb. Ask him or her for tips - they’ll be happy to share!

5. Just walking around a farmer’s market gives you a little dose of exercise, and the sunshine is critical for your daily Vitamin D needs.

6. Quite often, produce, dairy and meats sold at the farmer’s market are organic and pesticide- or hormone-free.

6. Towards the end of many farmer’s markets, you can bargain!

On Saturdays, you can find Lifeway kefir at the Morton Grove Farmers' Market between 7:30am and 12:30pm @ 8930 Waukegan Road in Morton Grove. www.mgfarmersmarket.com

The Real Housewives of Probiotic County

LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:20:00 GMT

Move over Bachelorette. Step aside Millionaire Matchmaker. There’s a new reality star in Hollywood. This Fall, probiotics will take their rightful place in the spotlight when they star in a new series of TV documentaries.

A New Pill For Mommies-To-Be?

LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:46:00 GMT

Most women of childbearing age know they need to take a prenatal vitamin to give their future baby the best chance at being born healthy. But according to a new study, moms-to-be might want to add a prenatal probiotic to their daily routine.

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology found that children born to women who drank probiotic-enriched milk from 36 weeks of gestation to 3 months postnatal during breastfeeding were half as likely to have eczema at age 2 than those whose mothers drank milk with no probiotics. And of the children in the probiotics group who did develop eczema, they demonstrated less severe symptoms.

Two of the strains of healthy bacteria found in the milk used in the study -- Lactobacillus rhamnosus and L. acidophilus – are also found in Lifeway kefir. Over and over, we hear from pregnant women and new moms who love our kefir and feed it to their kids, almost from Day 1. One mom even used it to ease her child’s formula-to-milk transition. We say, if there’s a simple, healthy step you can take that will slash your baby’s risk of being born with this itchy, irritating skin condition…why not?

FOX News Expert Dr. Manny on Kefir

LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:25:00 GMT

A viewer wrote in to Dr. Manny asking about the health benefits of kefir. Where did they head for a shining example of kefir production? To our manufacturing facility in Morton Grove, of course!

Say Hello To Our Newest Bundle of Joy!

LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:29:00 GMT

In the Lifeway kefir family, we’ve got bottles of all different shapes and sizes. Mama and Papa Kefir are 32 oz. tall and strong to manage the household. Our first bundle of joy, Daughter Kefir, entered the world at 8 oz of low-fat peachy goodness. And then, imagine how shocked we were when we learned we were having quadruplets! Mama Kefir delivered a four-pack of 5 oz Baby Boy Probugs, all of whom we nicknamed Gooberry, a la George Foreman.