Gut Nurturing Alternatives to Alcohol at Christmas Time

The big thing at Christmas time is alcohol! So let's go there, let's talk about it!

Traditionally, most families at Christmas will have some sort of alcohol available. Depending on your social life, you may also have the big lead up to Christmas day where there are after work drinks, friends gatherings and the list goes on.  

There is a lot of cultural pressure around the festive season around drinking alcohol, so much so that the only way to get out of it is if you are pregnant!

This culture creates a certain mind-set or psyche around drinking alcohol and can make it challenging when you constantly find yourself the subject of the question "why aren't you drinking?"

The last thing I want is for people to miss out on events or choose not to go to social gatherings because of this culture we have around alcohol.

But to put it simply, whilst you are healing your gut, alcohol is not your friend. If we think about some traditional uses of alcohol, it was used to sterilise wounds and kill off any bacteria in that area. With this in mind, it is easy to understand that when you drink alcohol, it kills off your microbiome.

When you have done the work to create this beautiful nourished microbiome, and you have this microbial diversity, and you are feeling awesome, it can be confronting to think you may destroy this hard work by drinking alcohol at a few social events. If you don't have the diversity in your gut, every time you drink you are lowering that diversity even more and this will have an impact on your energy levels, it will lower your immune system and affect your detoxification pathways.

So, what drinks can you take to gatherings? Or if you are having people over, what can you provide for them that will also support where you are at? I have put together 5 simple yet appealing ways to serve your Kefir throughout the festive season.

KEFIR 5 WAYS

Prep | 5 minutes (plus 24-72 hours fermenting time)

Ready in | 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Kultured Wellness Kefir culture starter
• 2lt coconut water
• 1 continental cucumber
• 1 punnet organic strawberries
• 2 lemons
• 1 lime
• 1 knob of fresh ginger
• 100g cranberries.

PROCEDURE

1. Placing 1 cup of Kultured Wellness Coconut Kefir in to a glass jar.
2. Add in 2lt organic coconut water.
3. Leave on the benchtop to ferment for 24-48 hours.
4. When fermented, place in the fridge to keep cold.
5. Pour the kefir in to your glass and use any of the following to create your kefir in 5 ways:

CUCUMBER AND MINT

1. Slice your cucumber in to fine circles and place in with your kefir.
2. Add in a small handful of mint leaves.
3. Some ice cubes would also be a perfect serving suggestion with this drink.

STRAWBERRY

1. Slice your Strawberries in to fine slices and place in with your kefir.
2. Leaving the strawberries in for a short amount of time will turn the kefir a pink colour.
3. Some ice cubes would also be a perfect serving suggestion with this drink.

LEMON AND LIME

1. Slice your lemon and lime in thin slices and place in to the kefir.
2. Squeeze in some juice from the lemon and lime to add extra flavour.
3. Some ice cubes would also be a perfect serving suggestion with this drink.

GINGER AND LEMON

1. Slice your lemon in thin slices and place in to the kefir.
2. Grate the ginger and place in the glass.
3. Squeeze in some juice from the lemon to add extra flavour.
4. Mix gently with a spoon.
5. Some ice cubes would also be a perfect serving suggestion with this drink.

CRANBERRY

1. Place your frozen cranberries in the kefir and allow the flavour to infuse over a few minutes.
2. Some ice cubes would also be a perfect serving suggestion with this drink.

Grab more gut-nourishing Christmas recipes in our 'Kultured Christmas E-book' including; gingerbread men, Christmas pudding, trifle, and even the most delicious gluten-free, grain-free gut nourishing stuffing you have ever tasted!