7-Day Kefir Diet: A Strict Yet Effective Weight Loss Plan

The 7-day kefir diet, despite its strictness, is not formally considered a harsh mono-diet. This means that throughout the week, you can add one or two other low-calorie products to your kefir intake daily. For example, you can include cucumbers, greens, baked potatoes, or fruits. The daily ration consists of 1500 ml of kefir plus 100 to 400 grams of an additional product. This menu, combined with strong willpower, can yield impressive results: up to 7 kg of weight loss in a week.

The History of Kefir in Russia: A Cinematic Tale

Today, kefir is considered one of the traditional Russian products, and the kefir diet has been popular for many years. However, kefir has only been produced in modern Russia for a little over 100 years. Its introduction to our menu is due to an intriguing criminal-romantic story. Thanks to its successful conclusion, we now have access to the 7-day kefir diet.

The 7-day kefir diet is an express diet for rapid weight loss and is often used to quickly “get in shape” for a special occasion, a holiday, or a vacation.

Choosing the Right Kefir for Your Diet

To ensure the success of your 7-day kefir diet, it’s crucial to pay close attention to the kefir itself. The production of kefir in Russia is regulated by state standards (GOST R 52093-2003). According to these standards, high-quality kefir should contain:

2.8 g of protein per 100 g
0.5 to 8.9% fat

During its shelf life, the number of colony-forming units (CFU) of beneficial bacteria should not fall below 10^7, and the number of yeasts should not fall below 10^4. The live culture of microorganisms in kefir is the main value for the 7-day kefir diet. The kefir starter culture is a symbiosis of two dozen “fungi,” including lactic acid streptococci, bacilli, and acetic acid bacteria, in addition to the yeasts separately described by GOST.

Kefir sold with the “bio” prefix uses slightly different starter culture preparations of the so-called direct inoculation, including, for example, acidophilic bacilli and bifidobacteria. These are considered particularly resilient and do not break down quickly, allowing them to positively influence the intestinal flora during their passage through the gastrointestinal tract. This “bonus” is also a plus for the kefir diet.

The shelf life of kefir is a direct indicator of its real quality, and the quality of the main product is hard to overestimate if you are planning a 7-day kefir diet or an even longer period. A long shelf life with a high probability indicates that stop-additives were used in production, preventing microorganisms from developing. The bacteria in such kefir go into a kind of anabiosis, which ends as soon as the bottle is opened and the kefir gets access to oxygen. Therefore, “kefirs” with a long shelf life, once opened, spoil literally within a day, even in the refrigerator.

Currently, there are many fermented milk drinks on the market that “pretend” to be kefir, so you should choose very carefully, considering that in the context of the kefir diet, this product becomes your main food!

The 7-day kefir diet is based on kefir with a fat content of no more than 1%. In terms of beneficial properties, it is equivalent to the classic 2.5% kefir but has a slightly different consistency and contains fewer fats and calories. The caloric content of 100 ml of 1% kefir is 40 kcal.

Varieties of the Kefir Express Diet

There are several varieties of the kefir diet, but they all share three common principles:

Duration of 7 days
Main product throughout the day is kefir, with a certain amount of low-calorie protein or carbohydrate food
Clear meal schedule (6 times a day at equal intervals, with the last meal no less than 2 hours before bedtime)

Some versions of the 7-day kefir diet involve limiting fluid intake to 500 ml of kefir per day. We recommend avoiding such a kefir diet as it can cause dehydration with severe or even irreversible consequences.

During the kefir diet, you should refrain from sugar, salt, black tea, and coffee. You can drink plain water and herbal tea without restrictions.

Basic 7-Day Kefir Diet

Day 1: Half a liter of 1% fat kefir and 400g of baked potatoes (without salt).

Day 2: Half a liter of 1% fat kefir and 400g of low-fat cottage cheese.

Day 3: Half a liter of 1% fat kefir and 400g of fruits (except grapes and bananas).

Day 4: Half a liter of 1% fat kefir and 400g of boiled chicken breasts.

Day 5: Half a liter of 1% fat kefir and 400g of fruits (except grapes and bananas).

Day 6: Fasting day. Nothing but 1.5 liters of still water.

Day 7: Half a liter of 1% fat kefir and 400g of fruits (except grapes and bananas).

7-Day Kefir Diet with Protein

This diet follows the same pattern as the basic one, but two of the fruit days (you can choose the third and fifth or the fifth and seventh) are replaced with days of lean meat or chicken fillet (about 400 g per day).

“Hungry” 7-Day Kefir Diet

The amount of kefir is increased to 2 liters per day, and the portions of additional products are reduced from 400 to 100 grams.

Apple-Kefir Diet for 7 or 9 Days

This is a very strict diet that is definitely not suitable for people with high stomach acidity.

Daily Menu: 6 meals, each consisting of 1 glass of kefir + 1 apple of any size.

Another variant of the apple-kefir diet: 3 days of only kefir (1.5 liters per day), 3 days of only apples (up to 1.5 kg), 3 days of only kefir. You can drink plain water.

The form of the main ingredients does not matter—apples can be grated and mixed with kefir or baked without sugar (if you really need something sweet, you can add a spoonful of honey).

A gentler option is to use the apple-kefir diet menu for a fasting day within a normal diet.

How to Exit the Kefir Diet

The exit from the 7-day kefir diet should be as smooth as possible. The body, even if not for a long period, has become accustomed to receiving small portions of food. Therefore, a sudden return to the previous diet can not only be harmful but also cause some gastrointestinal diseases.

After completing the 7-day kefir diet, it is advisable to refrain from white flour baked goods, fatty, and sweet foods for at least the same amount of time. This will not only help the metabolism return to normal more gently but also prolong the effect of the kefir diet.

Remember that any mono-diet and diet involving serious restrictions on the composition or quantity of food consumed can be harmful if not followed properly. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet.

For more information on healthy diets, you can visit The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.