Nutrition

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One Foot, Then…

…the other.

The past 8 months have involved health challenges so overwhelming I can only sum it up in this way: It’s the worst I’ve experienced in over a decade, after the best I’ve experienced in over a decade.

So, in 2014, I went from best yet to worst yet. The amazing takeaway from it all is not merely a seriously upsetting reversal but a series of seriously validating revelations. In short, I know more about the systems and sources comprising my overall health picture than I ever would have known without the reversal. A gift posed as a curse, it seems.

For now, suffice to say the work to assimilate and integrate what I’ve learned has created a stall here, total silence. I’m coming out of that silence screaming. What am I screaming?

Keep your gallbladder. (This means don’t have a “cholecystectomy!”)

If it’s acting up, functioning poorly and turning your life upside down, imagine what will happen if you don’t have one at all. In my work poring over gallbladder removal refugee forums, one commenter on a post cholecystectomy forum said it all: If it’s bad with it not working properly, imagine how horrid without it. The body has a gallbladder connected to the liver for a reason.

The combination of CFS/ME relapse and ghostbladder nightmares created a total body shutdown for me this past fall. I could barely move just to do the basics. My gut was not absorbing anything. My legs shook at the slightest provocation and my symptoms escalated to include MS/ALS/GBS hauntings. Tests ruled out all the worst fears but the leftover issues have been plenty to face.

I cannot say this enough: Keep your gallbladder. If it’s not functioning well, heal it. Don’t have it cut out. You won’t be given the full picture by doctors who refuse the nutritional and holistic approach. If I had known all the risk, I would have refused this one. Research alternative nutritional approaches and healing modes and, if your budget can withstand it, find a doctor not constrained by insurance oversight. Without the gallbladder the gut goes into total imbalance and turmoil. 15 years post surgery, I hit a brick wall after year after year of challenges, patching up my resulting problems as best as I could. It wasn’t enough.

So, this week I see a doctor of functional medicine and my work to heal will take on new dimensions.

One foot, then the other… (but hey, keep your gallbladder!)

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GAPS

Gut and Psychology Syndrome = GAPS

Over the summer my CFS/ME struggle became the perfect storm, tossing me into the abyss. But we can learn much in said abyss, thankfully. I learned not to take advantage of a wellness milestone but to wait for a year or two of wellness milestoneS. I learned the hard way. But along the way I’m refusing regret because the lessons learned have offered me jewels of insight I would not have been open to before the inevitable perfect storm. For one, the GAPS diet. Or, as I prefer to see it, the GAPS lifestyle. While I’m still at the beginning stages of this radical approach, I’m realizing some of the components will have to be a lifetime practice for my unique situation. Bone broths have become a must for my healing. And I’m seeing the benefits after 8 weeks in my skin and, of course, in healing my gut. For many CFS/ME sufferers one of the “sacrificial” systems the body begins to shut down or diminish support of is the gut/liver. And the body does so because blood pressure is suffering due to low cardiac output. But first, support of the skin/thyroid is diminished. Bone broths rescue both in a terrific dual bonus I know I’ll never be able to abandon.

GAPS focus, as well as the paleo, particularly anti-inflammatory, nutritional regimen brings everything down to the basics of good gut health and improved energy levels. There’s no wiser approach, in my opinion. So, for anyone curious enough or in dire need, check out the resources of gapsdiet.com as well as Weston A. Price.

Of the Mother…
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Of the Mother…

The intuitive path has recently insisted I pay attention to all things mother. And the first association I make, beyond the obvious maternal meaning, is goddess, earth mother. Taking it a step further, for those of us who suffer the disadvantages of CFS/ME, the mother connection comes in with our mitochondria. It’s the mtDNA or DNAmt. Were you to go all “mystical” or “metaphysical” about the mother, you would point to the mitochondria and be backed by the science since the DNA for the mitochondria runs along the maternal line. So, it goes like this: my grandmother quite literally suffered and died due to complications created by CFS/ME. Her heart gave out. She had seen all the doctors, been pronounced “fine” and sent home with quite a few drugs to alleviate her symptoms for which they knew no cause. For years, she bootstrapped her way along, often complaining of freakish levels of fatigue and afraid of what her heartbeat suggested. She had every reason to be afraid. The great thing about CFS is the fatigue, as ironic as that is. It’s what separates the heart failures/transplants from those who get to keep living and keep their hearts. If you heed the fatigue, let your body regroup and heal, pacing yourself, your heart should sustain you.

Today is my 3rd day of feeling more connected to earth mother as I heal my soon-to-be mighty mitos. I hold this brew in my mouth and swish it around, careful to avoid my teeth(!) and the colours alone fill me with joy. As I’m juicing the organic beets, beet greens, kale, carrots and apple, I feel the whole body equivalent of my mouth watering…if that makes sense. My gut is saying “Hurry up, must have. Get it down the hatch!” But I take my time with the whole process, careful to pace even my least strenuous motions, making a meditation out of the work. The colours seep into my vision, flood my soul and all I can do is grin. Much like the joy I feel when colours pile up on a canvas, dots piling up to reveal the image coming from my depths…these vivid hues sing with life. Of the mother…of earth mother’s depths sustaining…

Here’s to healing practices that bring joy…

2014, j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved

2014, j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved

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Selective Cytotoxicity & Cancer

Bromelain to the rescue?

“There is a well-known effect associated with a wide range of natural compounds called “selective cytotoxicity,” whereby they are able to induce programmed cell death (the graceful self-disassembly known as apoptosis) within the cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells and tissue unharmed. No FDA-approved chemotherapy drug on the market today has this indispensable property (because chemicals don’t have behave like natural compounds), which is why cancer treatment is still in the dark ages, often destroying the quality of life, and accelerating the death of those who undergo it, often unwittingly. When a person dies following conventional cancer treatment it is all too easy to “blame the victim” and simply write that patient’s cancer off as “chemo-resistant,” or “exceptionally aggressive,” when in fact the non-selective nature of the chemotoxic agent is what ultimately lead to their death.”

This is one jam-packed article worth the read…

Related Link Here

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GMO Bans

Great little tidbits of progress can add up…

“Even while an official ban on GM crops is still absent in most of the E.U. member states, regions and municipalities have taken initiative to define themselves as GMO-free zones: in Belgium (entire Wallonia), Finland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK, regional GMO bans are widely in place.”

and…

“Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini at the University of Caen in France has been a victim of attacks for revealing that Monsanto products lead to health problems. In 2011, he won a libel case against the French Association for Plant Biotechnology and its president, Marc Fellous. Then, in September of 2012, Séralini demonstrated in a two-year study of rats fed with NK603 maize, that either with or without the use of the herbicide Roundup, a higher frequency of tumors, kidney and liver pathologies were detected. EFSA gave a green light to this maize based on studies over a 90-day period. Monsanto has since waged a heavy PR campaign in an effort to discredit Séralini’s findings, although the French Minister of Agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll, has stressed that long term studies on GMOs are necessary and that evaluation and control at the European level should be improved.”

Truthout Link Here

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Toxic Food

Genetically engineered food or genetically modified organisms continue to grow their monstrous toxic proportions, spreading into the silencing of specific genes. Check it out:

“Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has developed a type of genetically engineered (GE) wheat that may silence human genes, which could have truly disastrous health consequences.

Last year, University of Canterbury Professor Jack Heinemann released results from genetic research he conducted on the wheat, which unequivocally showed that molecules created in the wheat, intended to silence wheat genes to change its carbohydrate content, can match human genes and potentially silence them. Heinemann’s research revealed over 770 pages of potential matches between two genes in the GE wheat and the human genome. Over a dozen matches were “extensive and identical and sufficient to cause silencing in experimental systems,” he said.

Experts warned that eating this GE wheat could lead to significant changes in the way glucose and carbohydrates are stored in the human body, which could be potentially deadly for children and lead to serious illness in adults. Yet despite the seriousness of these findings, regulators are ignoring and dismissing such warnings. According to the Institute of Science in Society,10 the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has approved at least five such GE food products already.

Rather than using in vitro DNA modification (which is how Roundup Ready and Bt crops are created), this new breed of genetically engineered crops use a wholly different approach. In vitro DNA modification results in the creation of a new protein, but this new breed is designed to change their RNA content, thereby regulating gene expression within the plant. RNA is one of three major macromolecules, like DNA. Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is responsible for regulating more than one-third of human genes. By engineering the plant to produce dsRNA, the plant can be “instructed” to silence specific genes—within itself, and potentially within your body…” Dr. Mercola

Related Link Here

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Mushroom Medicine

Crazy about mushrooms! And not just for flavor but nutrition too. Check out the benefits…

“Mushrooms are excellent sources of antioxidants in general as they contain polyphenols and selenium, which are common in the plant world. But they also contain antioxidants that are unique to mushrooms. One such antioxidant is ergothioneine, which scientists are now beginning to recognize as a ‘master antioxidant.’ Interestingly, it’s an amino acid that contains sulfur, and if you listened to my interview with Dr. Seneff on the highly underestimated importance of sulfur, you may recognize why this particular antioxidant may be of particular importance for human health, as many are severely deficient in sulfur.

A previous study in the journal Nature15 discusses the importance of ergothioneine, which is fairly exclusive to mushrooms, describing it as “an unusual sulfur-containing derivative of the amino acid, histidine,” which appears to have a very specific role in protecting your DNA from oxidative damage. With that in mind, it becomes easy to see how mushrooms may be an important part of an optimal diet. If you don’t like to eat them whole, you can also find them in supplement form, either as an extract or whole food supplement.” Dr. Mercola

Mushrooms are super absorbent… so… organic is the only way to go. Check the info-packed, awesome original article.

Related Link Here

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Sprouts, Baby!

This is one I have to add to my eating habits…

“One of the most nutritious powerhouses to add to your diet are sprouts. They are an authentic “super” food that many overlook or have long stopped using. In addition to their nutritional profile, sprouts are also easy and fun to grow in your own home as they don’t require an outdoor garden.

They can contain up to 39 times the nutrition of organic vegetables grown in your own garden, and allow your body to extract more vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential fats from the foods you eat. During sprouting, minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, bind to protein, making them more bioavailable.” From Dr. Mercola

Related Link Here

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Rethinking Almond Flour

😦

I’ve had this nagging something about almond flour. So. I did a bit of research. Here’s what I find: “Okay, quick chemistry reminder. Saturated fats have single bonds between all the carbon molecules of the fatty acid chain. Monounsaturated fats have one double bond replacing a single bond in the carbon chain. Polyunsaturated have more than one double bond in the carbon chain.

Double bonds are more unstable than single bonds. The more double bonds in a fatty acid, the more unstable it is (polyunsaturated is the least stable, followed by monounsaturated, followed by saturated being the most stable). When the double bonds break, the fatty acid undergoes a process called oxidation.

Processing, heat, light and pressure all cause these double bonds to break. Raw (or soaked and dehydrated) almonds have their polyunsaturated fats intact, and so the only fat issues are those discussed in the previous section. But putting almond flour in a hot environment–like an oven–is going to break some of those double bonds and create oxidized fatty acids.

Why are oxidized fats bad? In a nutshell, oxidized fats = free radicals. Free radicals = cell damage. Of course, we will inevitably have some free radicals in our body. Fortunately, we can consume sources of antioxidants (like fresh fruits and veggies) to combat free radical damage. But if too much oxidized fats, like from large amounts of almond flour, are consumed, our body is depleted of antioxidants and damage to body cells ensues.” From Empowered Sustenance

I’ll have to add this one to my list of resources. She’s right. Time to reacquaint myself with coconut flour.