Synergy Kombucha Fruit Drink

Is anybody else out there hooked on this stuff?  I fight to keep it down to one bottle a day, but it's tough!  My husband thinks it's completely disgusting because it smells faintly of vinegar and has, well, slimy stuff floating around it, but I just can't get enough of it!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, "Synergy" is a mixture of 95% kombucha and 5% fruit juice.  I get mine at Whole Foods, where they now devote 4 shelves to the stuff.  Kombucha is a fermented tea said to have all kinds of healthy properties because of the fermentation...loads of good bacteria, enzymes, amino acids, antioxidants, it's a natural antibacterial and antifungal, said to help detox your liver and even rumored to cure cancer.    But I drink it because it's just so darn tasty!

Now maybe I'm rationalizing because it's marketed as a "health drink", but it's fairly guiltfree...low cal (70), low sugar (8g) and it has a nice fizz to it like soda (which I gave up ages ago).   For a sweet indulgence, that's not bad!

Am I alone here?

Before I blab about my experience with the tea I just want to say some one out there can find fault in EVERY SINGLE THING. I've read bad things about garlic... enemas... every single thing that has been tried and tested for years and years and works. Some one can always find something wrong with EVERYTHING. And just because a product or something doesn't do something to YOU doesn't mean that it doesn't for others. Everyone is different. I have read in responses here that detoxing doesn't cause headaches or liver pain ... yes it does FOR ME. Every detox I've done has been miserable the first 2 days. I can barely get out of bed. So saying Kombucha does ____ or detoxing never causes _____.... you can't really say that. You can only say what it does for YOU.

As far as the buzz from Kombucha... I heard it's from the rush of vitamins. It gives you a body high. I don't drink anymore but when I did I could have 3 beers before getting a buzz. 1/2 bottle of Kombucha gives me a body high... I think that's more accurate of the feeling. I don't believe it has anything to do with alcohol. Fruit left out on the cupboard contains a small amount of alcohol. Does it give you a buzz when eating it? Not for me.

OK so my experience: I've had a LOT of trouble over the years with constipation and kidney infections... they pretty much go hand in hand. I'd get blocked up and then my kidneys would get overloaded from all the toxins trying to get out that way.

Well starting 6 months ago things got REALLY bad. I had been taking herbal pills for the constipation and it was working but then....

My liver swelled up, my stomach stopped functioning, and I was in the most severe pain of my life. The herb pills had a lot of garlic and cayenne in them which works but when your stomach doesn't empty.... OWY!!!!! And not being able to "go" was making things MUCH worse in a big hurry.  I'd have pain episodes so bad I would literally pass out. And the 15-20 minutes leading up to passing out = HELL. Absolute hell.

38 dr visits and every test you can imagine later.... my gallbladder, liver, and pancreas are clogged with stones. My stomach works at less than 10%. My liver is swollen and sluggish. I have an intestinal blockage on the right side.

They wanted to go in and remove my gallbladder, scrape my liver and pancreas, remove the intestinal blockage, and put me on a drug that would hopefully get my stomach working again but had the unpleasant side effect of permanent neurological disorders in a lot of people.

That recommendation was NOT my favorite Dr. appointment. Talk about a downer. I started reading about all natural remedies but that problem with that is when your stomach doesn't work you're supposed to avoid fiber and pills of any kind.... they're hard to digest and will increase the pain (and it does, found this out myself). After a week of crying about my diagnosis I was about 1 second away from throwing my hands up and saying "FINE DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO ME!!!" I had already lost 45 pounds from puking and malnutrition (my stomach wasn't absorbing nutrients) and I spent every minute of the day in bed completely ignoring my son....  and it needed to STOP!

One afternoon my dad stopped by and brought a few bottles of Kombucha tea my mom got at a local grocery store. At this point I was sick and tired of people and their dern "this will work for you it's awesome" remedies. The last one had been aloe juice. Gentle on your stomach? Will get your stomach moving? Well if gentle means "great pain" and "moving" means puking YES IT IS!!!

So I read the bottle and was thinking "yeah right, uh huh! Sure it will" (for those of you who say this tea works because you believe it will - bull pucky) and I reluctantly took a drink. Let me just say first of all I was having a bad day pain wise. It felt like my stomach was rotting out and my liver hurt. It was uncomfortable to just sit up. Literally the SECOND it hit my stomach it stopped hurting. Huh. I took another chug.... still no pain. WATER HURT at that point. I was shocked to put it mildly.

10 seconds after I took my first sip it felt like my liver had been dunked in really warm water. Not painful... just weird. So I re-read the bottle. Liver detoxing... supports digestion... I'd say so! Out of force of habit after drinking 1/2 the bottle I lay down with my pain pills nearby waiting for the worst but it never happened. In fact I felt too hyper to sleep.... energy? I hadn't had energy in a YEAR.

Since then I have been drinking 1/2 bottle in the morning and 1/2 bottle after supper. Yes, I can eat now. I eat supper!

I can now eat things that before were absolutely out of the question. In fact, my diet pretty much consisted of apple sauce and yogurt at the time I tried Kombucha. I've had BMs. My liver isn't swollen and doesn't hurt. I did have 2 days of detox headaches and sluggishness like I knew I would but since that I've felt better than I have in a LONG time.

So much so I got a continuous brewing system and organic Scoby and am now brewing my own. Today I bottled my very first homemade tea!!! Exciting day! No more paying $4/bottle! Now it'll cost me about 50 cents a bottle to make! And all those glass bottles from store bought Kombucha... very nice for home brewing.  : D

So my opinion is if it works for you... great! If it doesn't... what's the point of drinking it? Aloe and Fatty Acids and Milk Thistle and Stone Free and coconut oil and all that that worked for others had no helpful benefits for me whatsoever. Kombucha did. I haven't been back to the dr and have NO intentions of letting them cut me open or put me on drugs. I haven't had to take a pain pill in over a week when it used to be a daily (sometimes multiple times a day) thing.

I read that for some you have to start at 1 oz a day and work up from there. It depends how toxic you are. I'm about as toxic as they come and a bottle a day is awesome for me. Just listen to your body. LONG LIVE KOMBUCHA!!!!!!!

I'm a NEW Kombucha customer!! I just discovered it a week ago... and  it is definitely a different drink from all the ones that I tried before... and I like to experiment!.  First day I drank it,  gave me a light headache feeling and was a bit to bitter/strong to my stomach, but I still loved the taste and the kick it gave me!! weehee, so now I drink it like every other day nice and cold and I only drink half bottle before 3pm.

I just lost 28 lbs and I want to keep it off so I'm always looking for healthy foods and drinks that can fully support my weight loss program and Kombucha helps me w/cravings, gives me energy, I feel good drinking it, and it has all that good stuff for your body...  immune system, digestion, liver function etc., it may not be "suitable" for everybody thou, but Thank God it went well w/me.

i drink GT Kombucha citrus every single day (only one bottle).. im fortunate enough to work right next door practically to a whole foods.. its an expensive habit but I love them, they give me energy and i swear it has improved my immune system.. as far as weigh tloss and stuff i wouldnt agree with that but it has a lot of good stuff in it... love love the citrus flavor though!

Yep, this drink gives me a instant high, better than alcohol.  I get suspicious because the high will last a few minutes, sometimes up to 20 or so.   I have been curious if any one gets this state of mind when drinking this substance.

Imagine if we were to deconstruct a McDonalds hamburger to this extent?

Kombucha is good for you. Perhaps those with extreme heath conditions should drink it with caution, but it's an excellent detoxifier and has low caloric/sugar content.

Lay off the Kombucha but don't actually layoff the kombucha.

For those who want the fermentation and do not like the taste of this tea, Whole Foods also carries sauerkraut in the refrigeration section that has live cultures in it. Studies have shown this to be wonderful for you and it is pretty tasty depending on the brand. My favorite is "super sauerkraut salad".

No, you are not alone...I, too got hooked on it. It is wonderful stuff and we should all be drinking it! I had to laugh at the people who talked about a "buzz" and getting drunk on the stuff. If you would have investigated it- you would find that that feeling comes from having your blood detoxed quickly...the more often you drink, the less the sensation.

Not only do I drink it, but I make it. There is nothing yucky or complicated about it! I even got my grandmother hooked. She has colon problems  and it has helped her !!!

It acts as an alkalzer in people with too much acid...and in most standard american diets- we all have too much acid!!! Smart eating or not.....

Where did you learn to make it? Can you suggest a link that has good instructions?

Alright, you guys have convinced me.  I'm picking some up tomorrow to try it out :-).

i freakin love this stuff. i travel miles to get some. like finding excuses to go to a more expensive grocery store to "get something else" when i really just want those. multigreen and gingeraid all the way!

Grape is my favorite...but the guava was okay too! I wish I had a Whole Foods nearby so I could guzzle the grape one daily!

i use to have to go at least 12 miles one way to a New Leaf to get my kombucha til i discovered that the local Nob Hill in town carries them. so if you have a Nob Hill or Raleys nearby i suggest checking them out.

Grape is my favorite too when I'm in the mood for sweet (great with popcorn, yes, I've snuck it into a movie theatre!). Trinity is what I tend to get the most often, something about that ginger zing. And the new botanical flavors are really interesting.

Has anyone else noticed that they tend to "explode" less often lately? New formula or new cap, or just coincidence perhaps!

I have been brewing mine to drink for about a month now. It is very good....It makes for a good helthy feeling and energy production in my body seems to be incresing.

I can hav NO alcohal in My LIFE, I do drink kombucha and it dose hav alcohal,but not much, and I well not condem Myself for "not much", anyway Anchint Chienese docters caller by the drink of life and youth!

Blessed LOVE and helth on You and YouRS!!