Well, my newest addition to my diet is kefir. It is a wonderful probiotic, and has so many good health benefits. I had heard about it on my favorite message board, and finally decided to try it. It is really yummy. It is very similar to yogurt, but even better for you because of all of the beneficial bacteria.
I also read about it in The Maker's Diet (which is a wonderful book, by the way), and then again in Nourishing Traditions. I have started to slowly (with baby steps) model my eating somewhat around the Maker's Diet plan. Mostly by trying to eat according to what God instruction in the Old Testament. I'm not making a law out of it - I will still eat those foods occasionally, but it is very rare, mostly if someone else serves them. I just believe if God said to stay away from these kinds of food, then it is best. I could go into more detail, but I think I will save that for another post.
Anyway, I first tried kefir by drinking the store-bought, premade smoothies. They are wonderful! My 2 yo DD even likes them.
Then I "graduated" to the kefir starter packets and have had very good luck. I just got my first real milk kefir grains yesterday and have already fermented one batch of kefir milk.
I usually make a smoothie out of my kefir, as I can't take a whole glass of plain kefir. Sometimes I blend kefir with frozen strawberries and honey or Rapadura. Yesterday I blended it with bananas and honey, and boy was that good!!
I also got some water kefir grains, and have been making kefir from apple juice. My next mission is to make it from some fresh coconuts I just bought.
However, I have learned that water kefir can contain small levels of alcohol (from 0.2% to 3%, depending on how it is fermented). I am currently doing some research to find out how to decrease the alcohol level to as little as possible.
But kefir is great for you! Since I've started drinking it, my complexion has cleared up wonderfully, and I have been sleeping much better at night.
Here are some links with more information about kefir:
http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html
http://www.kefir.biz/whatis_.htm
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Kefir_making/