Category Archives: Health & Nutrition

Some vaccines have been life-savers, while others have done untold damage, so I can’t get on either the all-vax or the no-vax bandwagon. However, I will gladly wave a sign and blow a horn against any attempts to FORCE people to vaccinate themselves or their kids.

I just can’t be totally anti-vaccine, because I read about the polio epidemic.  I remember the all-community line-up for the first “pink stuff in a paper cup” polio vaccine.  I had a classmate who was a polio survivor with a weak leg; he had to walk around and around his yard every day to exercise it. And I’ve read about survivors; some have lived in iron lungs for so long, they can’t get parts to fix them any more.

However, one of my kids was (I believe) vaccine-injured in the 80s, so I’m not totally pro-vaccine either. Her doctor refused to even consider that her sudden problems were related to her 2-month check-up vaccination, but I talked to other parents whose kids had suffered similar, but much more severe problems after getting a faulty batch of pertussis vaccine.

I switched to a more cautious doctor who said we shouldn’t even consider the new vaccines that were just coming out, because they were too new to have a track record and were for treatable diseases that were neither common nor deadly. Plus, my kids had already demonstrated immune problems, so we needed to be extra cautious even with the well-tested vaccines that were for common and/or deadly diseases. We went with the DT, not the DPT, plus the MMR administered on a careful schedule, because my kids were allergic to eggs.  (The MMR vaccine viruses were grown in eggs.)

Now I’m a grandmother and, given that I thought there were too many vaccines in the 80s, I just about choked when I saw the truly ABSURD number of vaccines they’re slapping into babies and toddlers NOW!

What. The. Hell.

My daughter is a very cautious mom who knew all about our vaccine history. Her son was diagnosed on the autism spectrum last year. Was he born that way? Did one or more of the vaccines she permitted damage him? I don’t think there’s any way to know. But how about we err on the side of caution and make sure the diseases we vaccinate for are BAD enough to warrant the risk AND that the specific vaccines themselves are made with every attention given to safety.

I’m currently reading a fascinating book about the 1918 flu that killed somewhere between 20 million and 100 million people world-wide in a matter of weeks. This flu was so deadly that people could literally be healthy at breakfast and dead by dinner. The author talks about flu and speculates about why history has been largely silent about the 1918 epidemic until very recently.  She discusses efforts that have been made to figure out where the 1918 flu came from, why it was so uniquely lethal and what is being done about the possibility that it could recur.  She also recounts the swine and bird flu scares and explains why effective flu vaccines are so difficult to manufacture.  It’s a very readable book.

Graphic: Flu by Kolata

I also just read a very interesting article about the measles vaccine, which appears to greatly diminish childhood deaths not just from measles, but also from other infectious diseases.

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/05/07/404963436/scientists-crack-a-50-year-old-mystery-about-the-measles-vaccine

The article above linked to another that talks about the approximately 1 in 1,000 cases of measles that cause brain swelling, which can result in behavioral changes, convulsions, and/or death.  Children who survive measles in the brain can be left deaf, blind, and/or retarded. The risk of brain damage exists even after a mild case of measles, because the virus may cause chronic inflammation in the brain that only manifests symptoms years later.

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/02/03/383305152/beyond-rash-and-fever-how-measles-can-kill

I have a sign on my fridge:

HAVE YOU HAD YOUR THREE K’S TODAY?
KEFIR KOMBUCHA KRAUT

“KRAUT” is my generic term for any naturally fermented produce. You can get sauerkraut, kimchee and pickles in most stores; just make sure you get them from the cooler and that they are labeled “unpasteurized” and/or “naturally fermented”, so you know they contain LIVE pro-biotic cultures.

I make my own kefir, kombucha and “krauts” at home. At the moment, my fridge is host to a bottle of pineapple/coconut (milk) kefir (a sweet, delicious shake with a bit of fizz to it), a bowl of kefir cheese, bottles of kombucha that I brewed with dark cherry juice (oh my, is it good!), fruit kimchee (sweet AND hot), fermented prunes (WONDERFUL in yogurt), fermented red cabbage and beets (with the greens), and my current TOP FAVORITE … fermented apples and carrots (with the greens).

We ran out of the fermented salsa I had made that was SO DELICIOUS, it is next on my To Do list. The recipe is @ http://wellnessmama.com/2643/fermented-salsa/. It’s good fresh too, but after some fermenting, it’s FANTASTIC. Plus, fermenting makes it rich in those very important pro-biotics, so yes, please FERMENT it!

The recipe calls for whey, which is the milky/yellowish liquid that drips out of the cheese bag when you make kefir cheese. The point of the whey is to give the salsa a jump start on the fermenting process, but fresh, organic produce has enough wild pro-biotics to get a ferment going without it. However, if you’re like me and make kefir cheese regularly, it’s nice to have a use for the whey, plus the faster the ferment starts making bubbles, the sooner the head space in the jar fills with carbon dioxide, which prevents mold growth.

Fermenting is done at room temperature. Without the carbon dioxide and salt, mold will grow on the surface of the food. BUT, if you have enough salt (minimum 1 tsp per quart of produce) AND you get the bubbles going, you don’t need to worry about mold growth.

I also use an airlock lid, but you don’t have to buy one to give fermenting a try.  Sterilize a glass canning jar, put the produce in to the fill line, then cap it with plastic wrap and a canning jar ring. (The ring is the circle part that screws to the jar; don’t use the round metal part, which is called the lid.)

The plastic wrap will allow you to see the surface of the food so you can ease your mind that it’s not growing any mold AND it will also allow the carbon dioxide that forms in the fermenting process to fill up the head space and bulge the plastic wrap up, so you can be reassured that fermenting really is happening.  (You may also see bubbles in the produce, but not always.)  If the plastic gets bulgy enough you think it might burst, unscrew the ring a bit and let the excess gas out.

Another way to ensure mold doesn’t grow is to add a 1-2 mm layer of olive oil on top of your produce before you seal the jar. The oil will stay on top and help block out the oxygen that the mold needs and after your produce is fermented, you can just mix it into the food and eat it.

Feel free to email me if you want to try this and have questions.

I’ve been using turmeric in my cooking, but this is the first thing I’ve read that makes me think I should be stuffing it into gel caps and taking it for pain. Turmeric does bother some people, so I’ll have to go slowly. But my heart is really not happy. I can’t get up even six steps without having angina. This is definitely worth trying!

Sources:

• http://complete-health-and-happiness.com/use-turmeric-ever-swallowing-another-ibuprofen/
• http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-662-turmeric.aspx?activeingredientid=662&activeingredientname=turmeric

Last November, I added ferments to my diet in a big way because I heard it could help my chronic pain. I did not know at the time that ferments are also associated with elevated mood, but I have noticed in myself that I feel more “up” without having to work at it so hard.  This graphic shows the interactive nature of the gut and brain. Since eating ferments heals the gut, it is easy to see why it would also improve mood and other brain functions.

This article summarizes five decades of study into the gut’s “brain” — known technically as the enteric nervous system (ENS). The gut brain manufactures more than 30 neurotransmitters, including serotonin, that are identical to those in the brain. Healing a dysfunctional gut has been shown to relieve major depression and even autism.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201110/your-backup-brain

This article discusses one woman’s experience with severe anxiety that resulted from a common genetic mutation. This mutation, which affects close to one in five people, causes a shortage in B-vitamins which, in turn, can produce a huge range of problems from mood disorders, multiple miscarriages, strokes, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and many other illnesses. The good news is that the potential treatment — a B-vitamin called folinic acid — is cheap, relatively easy to find and free of side-effects. Fermented foods are particularly rich in B vitamins.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/lifestyle/sa-lifestyle/how-a-vitamin-cured-my-anxiety-elisa-blacks-story-of-lifelong-struggle-and-new-hope-for-the-future/story-fnizi7vf-1227251037624

Fermenting food not only preserves the nutrients in food, but also makes them more easily digestible. For example, many people cannot digest the lactose (milk sugar) in milk, but can digest fermented milk (kefir), because the fermentation process turns the lactose into lactic acid. Fermentation also creates new nutrients, particularly B vitamins, including folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and biotin (but not B-12 which is only found in animal products). Some ferments have been shown to function as antioxidants, scavenging cancer precursors known as “free radicals” from the cells of your body, and to help remove toxins from the body.  Lactobacilli create omega-3 fatty acids, essential for cell membrane and immune system function. Some foods (like cassava) must be fermented before they are safe to consume, because the fermenting process removes toxins (like cyanide).
http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/cultural-rehabilitation-the-health-benefits-of-fermented-foods/

March 2, 2015: Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital reported today that people who read a book on a glowing screen before bedtime took longer to fall asleep and felt less alert the next morning, as compared with when they read a printed book.

Source:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/science/2014/12/22/bedtime-reading-may-keep-you-awake-glowing-screen/xGn72CxGHSomhG3dErkqVK/story.html

Fortunately, Dearest and I both prefer the taste and consistency of the counter drip.

This news report was depressing!

http://abc7news.com/health/lead-cadmium-found-in-chocolate/513884/

Dearest and I have been sticking to dark chocolate for our treats, because it’s supposed to be good for you. On the plus side, we’re not eating cookies, pie and ice cream hardly ever any more, so that’s good. On the minus side, it seems we have been buying brands contaminated with lead and cadmium. ARGH!

This is not an academic issue for me. I spent weeks going through lead detoxification treatment once years ago; it was non-stop horrible until it was over, then it was amazing how much better I felt than before I’d started. So, no, thank you to lead in my food.

But there are a huge number of chocolate brands and only a small number that have been tested for metals. Plus, some of the companies had bars on the bad lists and some on the good lists, so how could I ever trust ANY of their bars? It’s all kinda scary and frustrating.

http://www.naturalnews.com/045545_cacao_powder_cadmium_lab_testing_results.html

I went through the chocolate we had on hand and threw out the Ghiardelli. Then I noticed the one we recently tried for the first time and LOVED – Divine 70% Dark Chocolate – was not on any tested list (good or bad). But the label said it was FAIR TRADE, so I did some digging on that score and found a web page about fair trade chocolate.

Funny thing … it looks to me like the companies with metal contaminants are the same companies on the “not recommended” lists because of little things like buying chocolate where slavery and child labor are practiced.

Chocolate List

I noticed one interesting caveat to this site’s list. A company named Edensoy was on their recommended list, then had a slash put through their name with a link added that went to an article about how the company is trying to opt out of the Obamacare birth control mandate.

Sometimes the Left is so hypocritical about their issues. I’d bet anything these people are mostly on-board with micro-managing carbon levels in the air that probably are not harming the planet in any way, but apparently have no problem turning a blind eye to the environmental damage that birth control pills are actually causing.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/jun/02/water-system-toxic-contraceptive-pill

According to the article linked below, turmeric (TOO mer ick) has a low bioavailability and taking more doesn’t help.  However, combining it with black pepper, fat, and heat does. In short, if you’re interested in the health benefits of turmeric, use it in your cooking.

Source:
http://www.realfarmacy.com/kitchen-table-strategies-effectively-optimize-turmeric-maximum-bioavailability-therapeutic-potency/