Lifeway Lowfat Kefir Probiotic Cultured Smoothie

By: Tanya Taylor, PhD | Jul 19, 2006

Lifeway Kefir is a cultured milk smoothie made using a group of probiotic bacteria, collectively termed Kefir batches. It is very similar to a yogurt smoothie - in fact, that's just what it tastes like, and it was delicious! It had a very thick consistency. When I poured it into a cup, there were quite a few lumps coming out of the bottle - this is after shaking it. Despite the lumps, the kefir was a smooth going down - like a very thick yogurt smoothie with a slightly tart taste, which was actually very pleasant. Maybe it was because it was so thick that I didn't drink a lot of it at once - just an 8 ounce serving. Of course, a few hours later I went back for more and more and ... until the bottle was fiished. There are other ways of using Lifeway Kefir other than drinking it straight, as suggested on the bottle. I tried mixing some of the kefir with granola, and again it was delicious!

Although I really enjoyed the Lifeway Kefir, there are a few too many calories for my liking. One serving is 1 cup (8 ounces) and there are 4 servings per bottle. One serving has 174 calories. While I didn't drink this all at once, by the end of the day it was finished. This means that I had 656 calories - just from drinking a bottle! Remember the label claim above that you can include 3 servings per day as part of a "calorie controlled" diet - that would be 522 calories. If your "calorie controlled" diet is around 1800 calories then almost 1/3 would be coming from one beverage - no way! There is also 2 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of which are saturated, 25 grams total carbohydrates, 21 grams of sugar, 3 grams of fiber, 14 grams of protein and 10-30% of a few vitamins and minerals - per serving.

Lifeway Kefir was a bit on the expensive side at $3.79 per bottle. With the amount of calories in one bottle, you could have had a Lean Cuisine Pannin which I HEART [review] AND one of Amy's meals like the Indian Mattar Tofu I recently reviewed and loved [link]. BUT, I really did like the granola and the kefir mixed together, and I can also see adding it to mixed fruits for a tasty snack - I am aiming for something like the Dole Fruit Parfait, and I can even include it in a smoothie. So, I definitely think I will be adding this to my "will buy again" list.

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