Making Dried Kiwi

It’s not easy to find dried kiwi with no added sugar. After a friend told me how much she likes it, I decided to make her some. I bought the kiwis, let them ripen for a few days and then peeled and sliced them. In my food dehydrator they take about 16 hours at 125 degrees.

 

           Kiwi ready to enter dehydrator

Autoimmune Disease Facts and Figures

In the last two years, I’ve noticed that autoimmune diseases (AD’s) are affecting people I know and I’ve read their incidence is increasing in the United States. I’m concerned why so many people are getting these diseases, how these various forms are connected and how nutrition and lifestyle can prevent and heal them. Below are facts cited (in italics) from the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc. (AARD).

( https://www.aarda.org/autoimmune-information/autoimmune-statistics/ )

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates up to 23.5* million Americans suffer from autoimmune disease and that the prevalence is rising. We at AARDA say that 50 million Americans suffer from autoimmune disease. Why the difference? The NIH numbers only include 24 diseases for which good epidemiology studies were available.
• Researchers have identified 80-100 different autoimmune diseases and suspect at least 40 more diseases of having an autoimmune basis. These diseases are chronic and often life-threatening.
• Autoimmune disease is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in female children and women in all age groups up to 64 years of age.
 • Commonly used immunosuppressant treatments lead to devastating long-term side effects.

Patients face critical obstacles in diagnosis and treatment.
• Symptoms cross many specialties and can affect all body organs.
• Medical education provides minimal learning about autoimmune disease.
• Specialists are generally unaware of interrelationships among the different autoimmune diseases or advances in treatment outside their own specialty area.
• Initial symptoms are often intermittent and unspecific until the disease becomes acute.
• Research is generally disease-specific and limited in scope. More information-sharing and crossover among research projects on different autoimmune diseases is needed.

• According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Women’s Health, autoimmune disease and disorders ranked #1 in a top ten list of most popular health topics requested by callers to the National Women’s Health Information Center.

Autoimmunity is not yet considered a category of disease by most doctors, perhaps because it affects so many organ systems and so many doctors are specialists. Research is beginning to show that various autoimmune conditions (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, MS, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and many others) are related because they are caused by a similar abnormal reaction of the immune system toward the body. In order to effectively treat these diseases, we need to look at causes, rather than just the symptoms.

 AD’s tend to run in families, but they often show up as different conditions. It appears that there can be genetic susceptibility and then there are environmental factors that turn on the “switch.” The mother in a family may have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, while a daughter has alopecia and a cousin has Crohn’s disease. Genetics may account for about 50 percent of the risk that someone will get an AD. Then there are environmental triggers that are not well known or understood.

Here’s a list of the many autoimmune diseases: http://autoimmunediseaselist.com/a-to-z.php

Women and AD’s

Women account for about 75 percent of all AD’s and this may be because immune responses in females are generally stronger than in males. When young women report symptoms, doctors often don’t take them seriously and think the woman is a complainer, being over reactive or emotional.

In one AARDA survey, they found that it takes most autoimmune patients up to four and a half years and nearly five doctors before receiving a proper autoimmune disease diagnosis. One must wonder if a thorough family health background check and open mind would cut this process in half.

Clearly, the entire population needs to learn more about AD’s since they are so prevalent. If one is not affecting you, it is very likely someone you know is suffering the effects of one now.  My next blog will deal with how patients have used self-care to reduce or eliminate symptoms of autoimmune conditions.

 

Solar Cookers Can Help Nepal and the World

Most people hear mention of a solar cooker and they think it must work like the solar panels seen on roofs. No, not quite the same idea since it does not generate electricity, but heat instead. A solar cooker reflects sun light to create heat inside of a pot to raise the temperature to cook food or pasteurize water. A cooker can be made with cardboard and aluminum foil, or with metal reflectors and glass surrounding the pot. The resulting condition, ironically, is akin to the green house effect.

I learned about solar cookers several years ago and started cooking with them regularly. Typically we use them for soup stock, beans or rice. They save energy and our house does not heat up from turning on the oven or stove. The point is, these cookers work really well and I enjoy using them.

Imagine you are in Nepal now, living outside and have no money for fuel to cook, even if you have some food. Someone drops off a solar cooker with a pot, and you are able to use it to make your water safe and cook your simple meal. This is what a little organization called Solar Cookers International can help make happen.

I have supported SCI for the past few years since I realized all the ways that solar cooking can help our environment, along with people’s health and safety. About two weeks ago, I went to their Shine On fundraiser and met some of the five employees that work together in a tiny office to do their BIG work. I saw how dedicated they are to spreading solar cooking around the world.

For more information about SCI, visit the link below. I think what they do is really important.

http://www.solarcookers.org/about/mission.html

How I Tamed My Seasonal Allergies by Supporting My Adrenal Glands

For the past 15 years or so, I’ve been dealing with spring allergies in March and April. During the first couple of years, I thought I had a cold. But when I realized I went to the doctor over the same week in April with a cough and chest tightness, I realized it must be a reaction to pollen.

As the years went by, I would try various over the counter medicines with varying degrees of success in countering the congestion that would sneak up on me. I would be miserable for about 6 weeks, waking up tired and often cranky and irritable as the day wore on.

More recently I turned to “natural” products to alleviate my symptoms. I tried adding quercetin in my smoothies and flushed out my sinuses with salt water using a neti pot. These measures brought some relief but I was getting very tired of the routine and still feeling cruddy. I recall last April I was really feeling tired, wishing I had just left the area for a month to escape the offending particles.

As I drove to my blogging class with my friend last spring, she noticed how I was suffering and reminded me how important it is to make sure my adrenal glands are in good shape. At the time, I did take some herbs to support my adrenals but had not been very diligent about it.

Then as winter of 2014 arrived, I started thinking about how spring was around the corner and how I was dreading my birthday month (April) because that meant I would be tired and cranky for weeks. So I decided I would do two things: see an allergist about finding out what I was reacting to so I could pursue desensitization shots, and start taking herbs to support my adrenals at least three months before April.

In mid March, I visited an allergist. He tested me for many pollens and I did not react to any of them! I was a little disappointed. He said I was either allergic to something really unusual that he does not test for, or I have something called non-allergenic rhinitis, which was somehow related to my nervous system. I left the office thinking that I was going to have to continue the same old routine, using the neti pot and the herbal pills with quercetin and nettles.

Happily,  something different happened this year. As the season progressed into late March, then mid April and past the dreaded April 20th mark, I noticed that I felt better than I had in 15 years. All that I was doing for allergies was taking my adrenal support herbs every day for several weeks as planned.

The supplement I’ve been taking is Adrenal Support Complete Care, by Innate Response. It contains Vitamin C, Pantothenate, Magnesium, Sensoril Ashwaganda (a special patented form of Ashwaganda), L-Serine, Rhodiola Extract, Holy Basil Leaf, Cordyceps Mushroom, Reishi Mushroom, Astragulus Root, Shisandra Berry.

There’s one other herb, hibiscus, that could play a part in this. I’ve drunk it as a tea twice a day for about six months. I have not heard that it helps allergies, but it is always possible it lowered inflammation in my body which in turn reduced my body’s response to pollen.

I’m relieved I’m feeling better this spring. I hope this information is helpful to you or someone else you know.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), EMDR and Tapping

In the last several years we have heard a lot about PTSD in regard to veterans returning from Iraq and Afganistan. I am not qualified to treat or diagnose it, but I do know someone who had it and found an effective treatment.

This morning I was listening to a podcast and they talked about a treatment that is widely used at VA hospitals. This reporter, who had PTSD, said that they put him together with a good, caring therapist and she had him talk about the events, in detail, that caused his PTSD. He had to tell the stories dozens of times in the hope that eventually they would lose their charge and he would get to the point where telling each story would feel like it happened to someone else. For this reporter, the multiple times of retelling the stories did not provide relief and the process made his body repeatedly go through a stress response. The treatment did did not resolve his PTSD.

I was disappointed to realize that EMDR and Tapping (EFT) were not mentioned as possible remedies. This is because I have a friend went to a therapist who knew how to do EMDR and in just a few sessions, he felt much better. He did not have to spend hours of time talking about the incidents over and over and getting stressed out many times in the process. The treatment worked very efficiently in less than six sessions.

While I don’t know anyone personally who has used Tapping to treat PTSD, I have heard that it is often very effective. It is easy to learn and does not require a lot of training like EMDR. A person can do it with a therapist, alone or with a friend. I have read that it was used to relieve the suffering of families who lost children in the Newtown, CT shootings.

I wrote this article today to help spread the word on possible remedies for a condition that is seriously affecting the lives of millions of people (not just veterans) all over the world. Below are a couple of links that might be of interest.

http://www.emdrhap.org/content/what-is-emdr/

http://stressproject.org/

 

How to Reduce Acid Reflux and Indigestion

One of the most common complaints affecting adults is acid reflux, otherwise known as GERD. When reported to a doctor, he or she is likely to prescribe an acid blocker, like Tagamet, Nexium or Prilosec because of the assumption that the person is producing too much acid. But hold on a second, do we really know that too much acid is the likely culprit ?

Recently, I was with someone who gets indigestion or acid reflux from eating all sorts of foods just about every day. So I suggested she try a Betaine HCL tablet with each meal to help her stomach produce more acid. Guess what? Just one tablet helped reduce her digestive problems.

We are learning that the symptoms of too much stomach acid, and too little stomach acid, can be similar. A lack of stomach acid (which contains HCL) can cause GERD, burping, heartburn, gas and a heaviness in the stomach after eating. In fact, as many as half of adults over the age of fifty produce too little stomach acid which can then reduce the tone of their esophageal sphincter and allow acid into the esophagus. If you think about it, reduced production of HCL makes sense as a condition in older adults since all organs tend to secrete less enzymes and hormones with age.

Stomach acid is essential for the proper breakdown of protein, absorption of minerals and nutrients  and efficient functioning of enzymes that break down all of your food. It also helps control the number of bad bacteria in your intestines and prevents food poisoning. Blocking production of stomach acid content over long periods can seriously hamper your immune system, nutrient absorption and overall health.

Below are factors that affect or improve digestion:

• Eat slowly and chew your food well. Chewing and saliva are the first important steps toward proper digestion.
• Eating while stressed negatively affects your digestion and can shut down your stomach’s digestive juices and blood supply.
• Whole foods, especially fresh vegetables and fruits, are better for your health and digestion than processed foods.
• Salt encourages HCL production while sugar tends to shut it off.
• Bitter greens, such as arugula and chickory, support digestion.  Apple cider vinegar can help as well. Try adding one tablespoon of vinegar to eight teaspoons of water. Increase to two tablespoons and 16 teaspoons of water if needed.
• Swedish Bitters, an extract of genetian and other herbs, has long been used to increase HCL.
• If you want to try Betaine HCL tablets to increase stomach acid, try one 500 mg dose with each meal. If you don’t feel improvement,  try two with each meal the next day. Keep increasing the number (up to 5) until you feel a slight burning sensation in your digestive tract. At that point you know you should back off by one tablet the next time. See a doctor first if you have any significant digestive issues like IBS, ulcers, Crohn’s or gastritis.
• Moderate liquid intake while eating so you don’t dilute your digestive juices.
• Food sensitivities increase digestive disturbances. Common triggers include gluten, eggs, chocolate, fried foods, garlic, and tomato sauces.
• Being overweight and/or a smoker increases the incidence of GERD.
• Melatonin tablets at bedtime can eliminate acid reflux. It may take a few weeks to notice improvement. Take three to six milligrams each evening.

Foods and Supplements That May Reduce Your Blood Pressure

If you have high blood pressure you are not alone! Many people develop it as they reach middle age. Eating lots of vegetables and fruits along with exercise, keeping insulin levels low and reducing stress can help keep it controlled. In addition, certain plant foods supply minerals like potassium and some unique substances that may help your body maintain a healthier blood pressure. Be sure to monitor your blood pressure when taking any supplements and consult with your doctor. Note that some extracts mentioned below act in a similar fashion to common blood pressure medications.

• Celery contains the chemical 3-n-butyl phthalide that seems to help lower the resistance in blood vessels. It one study 150 mg of celery extract appeared to reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure by about 8 points each after three weeks. Natural Factors makes an extract capsule that has 75 mg of 3nb. Start with 1 tablet, twice per day. You can also eat about four ounces celery (equal to a cup chopped) daily.
• Hibiscus tea taken three times per day can lower blood pressure about 7 points within 3 weeks. It acts as an ACE inhibitor. Tazo Passion Tea, served at Starbucks iced, contains hibiscus and so does Celestial Seasonings Black Cherry Berry tea.  Black Cherry Berry tea and added hibiscus flowers also make a very refreshing iced tea in the summer. If you prefer capsules to tea, take 1000 mg capsules (2-3 times per day).

Tazo Passion Tea with Hibiscus

• Reishi Mushrooms contain triterpenes that lower blood pressure. A double-blind trial reported that reishi mushrooms significantly lowered blood pressure by the end of the four week study. A concentrated extract of reishi (25:1) in the amount of 55 mg three times per day was taken over the four weeks.
• Garlic tablets that are standardized, like those made by Kwai, may help lower blood pressure by five to ten percent within 12 weeks. Dose is 10,000 mcg allicin per day.
• Cocoa or Dark Chocolate with high polyphenol content may reduce systolic blood pressure by up to 5 points when ingested regularly. This is comparable to the effects of 30 minutes of daily minutes of exercise. 
• Fruits like watermelon and kiwis contain lutein that help lower blood pressure
• Potassium in such foods as peas, bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, kidney beans, melons and raisins can help your body control blood pressure. Potassium is very important for overall health. Each 1000 mg per day of dietary potassium reduces all cause mortality by about 20 percent.  A daily intake of 4700 mg of potassium from plant foods is suggested. The DASH diet recommends 8 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.
• Pomegranate juice concentrate may lower the systolic (top) number by having a similar effect as ACE inhibitors, a commonly prescribed medication.  Some studies have shown that drinking 50-200 mL (about 1/2 to one cup) of pomegranate juice daily for up to one year can lower systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 5% to 21%.
• Beet root juice or extract lowers blood pressure and increases cerebral, coronary and peripheral blood flow.  Take 4 ounces of juice one to two times per day or at least 500 mg of extract per day.
• Hawthorn reduces BP, is an antioxidant, vasodilator and may reduce blood clotting. Try 1,200 mg of hawthorn extract that contains 2.2 percent flavonoids per day. It may take several weeks before blood pressure lowering effects occur.
• Vitamin C at 500 mg per day over six weeks, for those with low vitamin C levels,  may reduce systolic readings by about 4 mmHg and diastolic by 2.1
• Olive Leaf acts as a calcium channel blocker and improves insulin sensitivity. Take a 500 mg capsule twice per day.
• Magnesium enhances BP medication effectiveness and most Americans don’t get enough. Take 400-600 mg per day of a chelated supplement as long as renal function is good.
• Vitamin D, plus K2 work to incorporate calcium into bone and inhibit artery calcification to reduce cardiovascular deaths. Your skin makes Vitamin D during sun exposure in the summer months. Gut bacteria make Vit K and is in fermented food and grass fed meat. Some vitamin D supplements contain it as well.
• Melatonin lowers cortisol and is a vasodilator. If you suspect your levels are low, you may want to take 3-5 mg each evening at bed time.