The school year has begun and I have not quite hit my rhythm yet. Kids and homework, yes. Studying for my Nutrition course and blogging? Not so much. One thing at a time. Right now my youngest is happily attending her first day of preschool for the year and I am enjoying a precious few hours to get some things done!

I have been meaning to post this for quite some time. It is something I make literally every day for my husband and it seems to prevent the migraines that have plagued him ever since I met him. That being said, I must state that this is not medical advice and his migraines are fewer and further between when he is not eating grains and sugar. I would generally say that if you don’t want headaches you should avoid foods that trigger them for you. I know that some people cannot avoid them though, and a lovely beverage with benefits is a nice way of coping.

I slowly acclimated my kids and husband to milk kefir. I drink coconut kefir these days as I can’t do dairy (made the same way just with bpa free coconut milk) but this can go both ways. I have tried it with cultured hemp milk as well and it is also a winner. I can’t really speak for anyone else but when I drink kefir my brain feels alive. And wet. As weird as that sounds. My husband has expressed a similar feeling… as though the moment it hits your stomach and starts to process, your brain just wakes up. As our gut and brain are connected through the gut-brain axis, this now makes scientific sense to us. You can read more about how probiotics boost cognitive function here and more about milk kefir here.

I have slowly built on this smoothie for the sake of my husband’s migraines, and it works on my brain fog as well. The base is kefir and a bit of cold brew (but you can leave that out if you like). I add cinnamon because of it’s brain boosting benefits, it’s tasty, complements the kefir and the two together act as a metabolism booster, and lion’s mane because it is a healing nootropic mushroom. It enhances brain function, has immune boosting properties and is a powerful anti-inflammatory. I have a blend of cinnamon and lion’s mane with my tea stash as well as a matcha with lion’s mane blend. I use it that much and for good reason.  Turmeric is a great booster as well as it thins the blood.

I took a punt that it would be helpful for Steve’s headaches when I started putting it in and it surely helped. I will sometimes add a bit of cream of tartar for potassium and a couple drops of milk of magnesia for magnesium if it is a particularly rough day. For me, I will drink those salts straight after a workout if I am getting foggy so I figured it would help here and it seems to. But again, this is not medical advice. If you don’t have kefir grains to make your own kefir usually someone local will sell some. I sell them here. You can buy kefir at the store as well but it is less powerful than homemade so I would not necessarily recommend cutting the recipe with water as I do below. I put collagen in ours for both general and brain health but if you are a vegan I would recommend mct oil or powder to boost ketones as ketones are a powerful anti-inflammatory as well. I have also found broad-spectrum (non-psychoactive) hemp oil or cbd oil to be an effective substitute. I will sometimes add a blend of mushrooms including reishi and chaga as well. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!

You can get all the mushrooms and coffee from my Fullscript Practitioner Dispensary here for 20% off.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup cold brew
• 1 cup milk kefir or coconut kefir
• 1-2 scoops collagen peptides (can sub MCT or use both)
• 1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4-1/2 tsp lion’s mane or mushroom blend
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp turmeric (optional, but it helps)
• 1 scoop bhb salts/exogenous ketones OR
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar for potassium
• pinch of pink salt for sodium (ketones are going to be much more effective)
• 1 drop liquid monk (optional)

Method:

1. In a pint mason jar, add cold brew followed by collagen, cinnamon, vanilla, lion’s mane, bhb salts/exogenous ketones OR cream of tartar and milk of magnesia (if using) and stevia/monk.
2. Seal with a leakproof lid and shake shake shake!
3. Add your kefir and water, seal and shake it up again.
4. Drink!