On Oct 8,I started seriously supplementing with magnesium (lotion and ionic liquid), building up slowly as Dr. Dean recommends in her book, The Magnesium Miracle.
On Nov 5, I hit my target daily dose of 1,000 mg. (She recommends 700 mg/day for health and more for fixing a deficiency.)
On Nov 15, I read this in The Magnesium Miracle: “Too much calcium causes tension and tightness in all the muscles of the body, but when you have a balancing amount of magnesium, this tension releases within weeks, days, or even hours, depending on the underlying level of magnesium deficiency in your body.” (p 151)
I have had knots in my neck (~1″ below my ears) and on top of my shoulders for-practically-ever. I realizedthe knots in my neck are GONE. Those two spots are still a bit sore and my shoulders are still knotted, but wow, so much win!
On Nov 16, my chiropractor (who sees me bi-weekly) was working my back and said,
“Your muscles are much looser than they’ve ever been … by a lot!”WOOHOO!!
I use it a lot in my cooking and it’s absolutely brilliant as a home remedy for colds/flu. This was posted just now on the fermenting board I administrate:
“Honey/garlic fermented is amazing stuff. My entire family was exposed to the flu a few days ago. Yesterday, half of us started getting very achy and pukey feeling. I went to my cabinet and grabbed that stuff and had everyone take a spoon of it (1 garlic clove with honey). It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve taken haha. Within 30 minutes, I started feeling pretty good! All of us feel 100% fine today!”
The tens of trillions of microorganisms living in your intestines regulate your metabolism, energy levels, satiety, amount of body fat, mood and behavior … for good or for ill. It all depends on whether your gut hosts primarily beneficial bugs or primarily pathogenic bugs.Studies are showing that a preponderance of pathogenic bugs can make you fat.
The good news is that you can easily fix a bad gut biome by ingesting probiotic and prebiotic supplements and foods.
Probioticsare the militant, beneficial bugs that bump off the pathogenic bugs and set up housekeeping in your gut. You can take them in supplement form and/or eat them in raw or fermented plant foods.
Prebioticsare non-digestible compounds that feed the bugs in your large intestines and help them thrive and make lots and lots of babies. Please note that JUST eating prebiotics is not going to heal your gut. The pathogenic bugs eat that stuff too.
Cold potato starch is my personal favorite prebiotic. For some reason, when potatoes are hot, the starch changes to a form that is digestible. Even more oddly, when hot potatoes cool off, the starch changes to a non-digestible form. I like cold potatoes, so often have a bowl of them in the fridge for snacking.
Unsaturated fatcan also be useful in healing an unhealthy gut biome. Bile helps control pathogenic bugs in the gut. Eating healthy, unsaturated fats (like coconut oil) will stimulate bile production and help you grow and maintain a healthy gut biome.
Source:
The microbiota–gut–brain axis in obesity. This article appeared in The Lancet. Published since 1823, The Lancet is currently the second ranked medical journal.
Iodine is essential for healthy functioning of the thyroid gland which, among other things, controls the body’s metabolism. During pregnancy and infancy, it also influences bone and brain development. Adults generally need 150 mcg of iodine per day. Pregnant and nursing women need more.
In the U.S., where iodized salt is commonly used in shakers and processed foods and iodine is used in commercial dairy production, most people get enough. I use sea salt and eat very little of the foods that are either naturally high in or supplemented commercially with iodine. Plus, I am hypothyroid.
Consumer Lab found three of the kelp supplements they tested contained more iodine than the FDA considers safe. Even worse, one contained arsenic.
Both sites approved Nature’s Life Icelandic Kelp, but the label itself says, “This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.” I don’t know what’s going on with that.
My own price check at Amazon sometimes did and sometimes did not match what the reviews listed.
In the past, I have tested positive for thyroid antibodies (Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis). At the moment, my thyroid antibody level is normal, but I am cautious about iodine, because too much could trigger a recurrence.
Since the one tablet per day dose of iodine for some recommended brands was considerably higher than I want to take, I chose Country Life Arctic Kelp from Amazon for $8.50. It contains 300 tablets (3 cents each) of 225 mcg of iodine and is eligible for Amazon’s FREE Shipping offer.
“Beyond their functions of digestion and absorption, the intestines are also one of the body’s major barriers to invasion. Whatever is in the gut is simply passing through and still belongs to the external world. Only after penetrating the bowel lining do substances and organisms enter the body proper. Since this protective function of the gut tissue is critical to well-being,it is generously supplied with its own local immune system, one that works in coordination with the body’s general immune defenses.” – When the Body Says No, by Gabor Maté, M.D. (p. 137)
Stress is a physiological response to a perceived threat. Three of the most obvious physical responses are commonly known as Freeze, Fight, and Flight.
Freeze:We become hyper alert to threat indicators, lifting our heads up to look and listen, which involves tightening neck and shoulder muscles.
Fight:We tighten our hands in preparation for battle.
Flight:We tighten our feet in preparation for running away.
These stress responses are really important to surviving muggers and bears, etc., and cause no long term damage when the stress is relieved in short order.
This is not true when they become chronic responses to problems that cannot be resolved quickly or through Freezing, Fighting, or Fleeing.
This summer, I’ve been having a lot of trouble with pain and stiffness in my feet. A couple of weeks ago, I remembered that a pain therapist had me roll a golf ball under my bare feet to relieve stress. It undoes the Flight tension.
Making “fists with your toes” also undoes the tension in the feet caused by fear, in this case, of flying. It’s bio-feedback on the cheap.
Since I’ve been processing a lot of old fear memories this summer, I ordered a box of used golf balls from Amazon. Now I’ve got one each in two fabric-lined box lids, one here by my office chair and the other out by my spot on the couch. I figure it couldn’t hurt to roll my feet on them a little bit, several times a day, while reciting the surrender prayer.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you. Take care of everything. Amen.
Yesterday, the idea of worry balls came into my head and I realized they are relaxing, because they relieve Fight tension in the hands. So I added two more golf balls to my little prayer regimen. They don’t jingle like Chinese meditation balls, but they roll just fine. Good thing I bought a box of a dozen balls! 🙂
Finally, during the night, when my shoulders and neck were hurting, I thought about Freeze stress. Today, I started also pressing a golf ball into the two hot spots I have on each side of my neck and shoulders.
This stuff actually seems to help and it’s dirt cheap, so I thought I’d share in case you, too, are looking for ways to help yourself …
Amazon just emailed that my vegetable spiralizer is in the mail. I’ve got zucchini, yellow squash, and sweet potatoes in the hydrator ready to go. The manufacturer sent me some tips. Here are two I need to memorize:
To prevent watery zucchini, yellow squash and cucumber noodles, place your vegetable spirals in a wire sieve or colander and salt generously, tossing strands to lightly coat. “Sweat” the noodles by letting them stand for 20-30 minutes. This removes excess water. Rinse with running water, drain well and pat dry with paper towels.
Since sweet potatoes are tougher, prepare them by poking some holes in your potato, wrapping it in a paper towel, popping into the microwave for 30 seconds, then letting cool before spiralizing. Do not overcook or it will turn to mush!
I picked this model because I have very limited storage space in my kitchen and am only cooking for 2. There are much better ones for cooks with more storage and bigger families.
I administrate a Facebook group called Fermenting: Healing Through Food and, today, someone asked if heating sauerkraut destroyed the pro-biotics. I had always heard this was true, but thought I’d google for an actual temperature to share with her, in case she wanted to try to learn how to enjoy her kraut at less than hot temperatures.
What I found really surprised me.
Some might argue that dead bacteria are better than live.
Lots of research suggests that the benefits of probiotics are from the dead bodies of the bacteria, not the living colonies they are thought to form. Veterinarians have used “heat-killed Lactobacilus” for farm animal probiotic support for years. Only recently has the FDA approved the use of heat-killed bacteria for human probiotics.
In other words, heating may kill the bacteria, but that might actually be better than eating them live.
The little bit I understood of the science in these three articles suggested I shouldn’t be so fussed about not heating my ferments sometimes, because it’s apparently giving me some immune benefits I hadn’t considered. Neat!
Sounds weird, right? But the phenomenon is well documented.
“The act of reducing the amount of calories that you consume for a sustained period of time (more than 21 consecutive days) causes a number ofdamaging changes to your metabolism, hormones and thyroid systems. The result is what most people have come to know as starvation mode.”
The study linked below found that more than 90% of the “Biggest Loser” contestants who were tracked over time gained back all of the weight they lost during the competition. And this was despite the fact that they had continued to eat fewer calories.
Why? Because their bodies continued to burn, on average, 700 calories LESS per DAY than before the competition!
And the reason is common sense simple.Our metabolisms don’t know we have ready access to grocery stores year round. They adapt to a reduction in calories as if it were due to a bad harvest or an extra long winter. They go into starvation mode in order to help us survive until food is plentiful again.
Some of the symptoms of starvation mode include a body temperature 1-2 degrees below normal; cold hands, cold feet, or cold intolerance; constant fatigue; changes to hair texture or thickness; hair loss; irritability; depression; food cravings; dizziness or lightheadedness; trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.
If your metabolism has been damaged by low calorie dieting, the article linked below offers guidance.
A couple years ago, I read a brief blog by someone who sounded like she knew what she was about. It just said that the goodies in turmeric were much more bio-available if you warmed it in oil with black pepper before cooking. This article is far more informative, but ends up at the same place. 🙂
I immediately stopped stuffing turmeric into gel caps and started cooking with it routinely. I’ve come to rely on this blend as my starting point for many dishes, particularly ones with rice and vegetables. I also like to sauté chopped onions in it to add to crock pot soups and stews; this really adds a BLAST of flavor to dishes that can otherwise turn into “crock pot blah.”
On low heat (3 on my electric stove), melt a glob of refined coconut oil. Add 1/4 tsp each of turmeric and black pepper, plus 1/2 tsp salt. Stir until warm and well blended. (I often add a pinch of ginger and cinnamon as well, maybe Italian seasoning or, if I’m doing fish or poultry, some poultry seasoning.) Proceed with recipe.
While the oil and spices are warming, I chop up onions and toss them in, cuz I like them well done. Then I chop and add fermented garlic and whatever’s in the hydrator that appeals to me at the moment. (I’m a seat of the pants kinda cook! LOL) Stir in some pre-cooked meat or fish, if I’m in the mood, then pile on enough pre-cooked rice to make up two servings. Stir, cover, and let it fester on low heat while I set the table, pour the kombucha, and rustle up my spousal unit.
I think doing it this way retains a lot of the goodness in the veg, since it doesn’t cook very long. And it turns rice such a pretty color. Plus, lookie here, what it says in the article … black pepper helps cure vitiligo! I haven’t noticed particularly that my pinto hubby has lost any of his spots, but I haven’t been paying attention either. I sure will now! 🙂
3 Ways to Boost Turmeric’s Bioavailability for Ultimate Health Benefits
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