Diabetic July 4th Alert – Guy Fawkes, too

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“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

Well, thanks to Providence, we are all here and OK after fire hit our row of arborvitae trees. More about this and why it should concern you, for July 4th, Guy Fawkes and EVERYDAY, follows, as a cautionary tale!

Life’s little adventures are meant to be shared so we all profit from the lessons learned. I appreciate being here today to relate my lessons and warnings, for sure! There was no guarantee that we would have the wonderful outcome that saw us through this adversity. Luckily, when this happened, it was daylight.

The word I want you to get in time for tomorrow, and every fireworks night after this is the following:

1) ___   supervise your children and use good judgment, yourself! This is the third neighborhood fire I have had in in 40 years which involved people sending off illegal rockets. The first nearly totaled a home about 6 away from us about 33 years ago. Next, was about 4 years ago, when it hit our back-yard neighbor (whose home was really close!). We were out of town, and couldn’t have saved anything, if it had jumped to our home. Then within last week, it finally came to our home.

2) ___ Our neighbor, Tom, saw the fire as he left for work, and it was only about 1 foot high, in the arborvitae needles, and a garden hose could no longer put it out, once he had told his wife to call 911 and get a nearby garden hose to return to use!

The whole row of trees shot flames into the air that were more than 20 feet tall, and  flames raced the length of the planting, straight to our closest point, in less than 4 minutes. The first engine took 10 minutes from Carol’s first call to get there and then the firemen were amazing at how fast they got hoses off the truck, connected and started to hose the fire, but by then, the cedar roof of Tom’s garage was well involved.

3) ___ I had called in a second emergency when the roof  ignited, for I knew that it could be a sustained source for fire, and at the widest, our homes are only about 12 feet apart. The first engine had not yet arrived, and I could see our home going next and Tom’s other neighbor (who also has a cedar roof) would follow fast!  In the end, they sent about 7 fire engines and a paramedic crew, but people with fires on July 4th will be lucky if anyone arrives in time, as crews will be spread thin! So, you likely WILL have to defend your own home.

As the fire raced down the line of trees, it came within 7 feet of our home; burned all the siding over 3 stories and it sent toxic gases and soot all around.

The heat of the fire also impacted the area of the main electric panel (see tagged photo above) and main gas line so there will be lots to check out when the walls are opened up more.

Within less than an hour, more crews were out — utilities,  damage-control, investigators, inspectors. There’s been a solid line of visits, for days, even without the insurance adjusters from all the companies etc etc.

4) ___ The fire investigators come over FAST, for their initial inspection and come again later! Tom, another neighbor, said he had heard fireworks many times the previous night, and all we can guess is that an ember from one of their careless and illegal rockets landed in the duff; proceeded over hours to grow, and finally reached true flash-point among a row of trees which are naturally laden with copious amounts of resin.

The fire inspectors noted that the heat of the fire came our way, due to the winds, but that did not stop one or more sparks making it ‘against the wind’ to ignite Tom’s quickly-flammable wood roof.

Arborvitae’s resin is like natural gasoline, and even though the line of trees was being constantly watered, and leaves were green, these plants are dangerous, and should not be sold. If you have arborvitae in your yard, remove them, as we are doing for the row on one other property line!

5) ___ Our roof is fire-resistant composite tile (not as good as the slate-style concrete tile of the home we built and lived in, for 20 years, to protect us from Mt. St. Helen’s eruption ignition); but, this time, the thinner tile bought us enough time that the fire department were there before our roof took off. Even fire-resistant roofs will ignite, if enough time and or temperature. If you have a wood roof, make sure you wet it down well for July 4th and when its time to replace it, consider something more fire-resistant. And, check everything on your property before you go to sleep.

6) ___   When Tom came to tell us there was a fire, which he could not put out, Rob dashed to see what was going on and ran back to tell me to get my Mum and I out of the house, immediately! We had one minute to start to leave and 2 minutes to accomplish it, if that! We only did it OK in that time because I got my Mum started downstairs, at her best-pace, (she’s handicapped), while I took the moment to grab her always-packed bag of meds and my photos which are set-up as an escape album (it’s a careful variety of our memories).

Mum went out to the front porch to sit, where the firemen could pick her up fast, if she needed to be further away from the house. She sat there for about 2  1/2 hours, with her meds and our most-precious memories at her side, until we had an all-clear, after all of Tom’s roof was removed; and the remaining structure was sprayed with fire retardent foam.

The inspectors told us how to watch for any flare-ups (which had happened many hours later in the first neighborhood fire I told you about, above). And, they sent a fireman with a heat-sensing infra-red gun in to search all the interior walls near the fire, from inside our home. That machine is SO sensitive, it even picks up your footprints, even when you are wearing shoes. There’s still enough “heat” coming through your soles! If he’d “said” that, I’d have wondered, but I saw our footprints on his screen!

So, we felt comfortable that our walls had nearly been breeched but were safe. We watched for re-emergence of embers, but they had hosed the area well to try to protect us from that eventuality.

7) So, to coalesce all this —  DO the following:

___ Wet down your roof and all your garden plants and tree foliage well, in time for July 4th., even starting today and keeping it up until the day after the fireworks (after all, “our” ember incubated overnight!).  Preferably stay home; you’ll be the one who defends your home that night!

___  Have a satchel or back-pack with a week’s current doses of your meds always packed and ready to grab. Use them last, and replace with each new batch of prescriptions. Keep your meter etc. there too, or have a second one packed. Include shelf-stable snacks in there, too, as you won’t be able to easily find food or water during the chaos of the emergency.

___   Have a quick-grab satchel of your valuables — in my case, I chose photos and camera photo cards. I left all other valuables, but have them documented in an inventory — written and photo — to leave in your safe-deposit box! If you haven’t done this, DO IT NOW!

___   Make sure your smoke-detectors work and that you have them in each bedroom, halls and kitchen, as well as garage. It’s always recommended to sleep with bedroom doors closed.  Preferably have both kinds of detectors. Most units only detect one kind of fire, but you need both kinds. As I am hearing-impaired, I also have a special strobe-light smoke-detector (which requires an electrician), but it would have saved me. Have both battery operated and in house-electrical units.

Many home-improvement centers only carry one type of sensing unit — I can’t remember if it’s the type that only senses smoke or the one that senses heat. There used to be dual units, and I’m hoping there still are (even though they are more expensive, you NEED both kinds, so why not in just one unit).

After all the TV crews left us, within days, in the state capital, another home went up after someone tossed a still-burning cigarette onto the wood porch — the single Mom inside never heard a smoke detector, and luckily her neighbors came to save her via the back door. She hadn’t realized her home was already fully engulfed. She must have had the wrong kind of smoke detector for the type of fire, I guess. That’s why you need both types of detector!

___   Another thing the firemen told us: get an envelope (preferably red — use Valentines Day left-overs!), and attach it to the window next to your front door or on the window of the door. On the side you see from the outside, write “For Fire Only!” Inside the envelope: put a diagram of your home’s floor plan and mark all rooms where people sleep and highlight and describe where babies and children sleep as well as handicapped people. Mark the room “handicapped person”, “baby”, “2 toddlers” etc.

He said they are trained to look for that envelope and it may make the difference between them finding your baby in the smoke or getting someone out with time enough to be able to survive smoke inhalation!

___   you should also have a family escape plan, which you practice with your children, and they need to be taught to feel their closed door, before ever opening it and know where to meet outside. If you have a multi-story dwelling, each bedroom needs its own fire-escape metal, collapsible ladder to hang out the window.

___   start looking online for lists of fire-resistant plants. FEMA and many local authorities have lists ready for your area. Take down the hazardous plants and replace them with better ones, but all plants require care — water and pruning to help keep you safe! The plants near our siding helped deflect the heat, and protected the walls, at the distances involved for us. I expect the plants will die, but I appreciate that they were well cared for; were safe types which “bought” us Time — the most valuable gift in a fire.

___  since our fire, we have been looking to see road edges, vacant lots, ill-cared for gardens or commercial property etc. in the journey between our home and our kid’s home, and we were amazed at how much the counties involved have not used their (short) staffs to cite these land owners. Call the owners out yourself. The emergency information says grass should be no more than 2 inches high, anywhere!

___   have a hose already on a tap ready-to-go on every side of your home. If Tom’s hose had been ready, he might have been able to douse it in time. Once he couldn’t, he should have used the hose to start wetting his roof, but I think he went inside to get his wife and her “stuff”. Everyone makes choices, but him wetting the roof would have protected us all better.

Anyway, I hope at least some of you will act on this! And, if you only see this after the holiday, then still DO these steps!

Best to all — Em

Please read more in my archive at the Titles Tab on the upper navigation bar.

(c)2009 Em http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com

If you want to use the photos, quote from or use my articles, please contact me for permission via About Me tab, above. Thanks.

Diabetics Need Probiotics – 3, Plus Making Energy

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

Happy Summer! It’s time for diabetics (and everyone else) to be eating plenty of raw, fresh vegetarian food. The enzymes in fresh, uncooked food are very necessary for those with diabetes. As diabetics are running “on empty” in the Energy Department,  you need to ask your physician to especially check your magnesium levels and potassium levels.

Magnesium is needed for hundreds of enzymatic reactions to run your body. But, don’t self-medicate, as those with (hidden, silent and known) kidney disease need help in understanding how much magnesium they can now tolerate. Your doctor may recommend taking enzymes instead, as an alternate route, providing you do not have stomach ulcers, for example. Just bring all of this up with a knowledgeable, holistic doctor.

Magnesium and potassium are abundant in fresh, raw, green leafy vegetables.

Meanwhile, I’ve continued reading about the importance of the friendly bacteria which live in our small intestines. They make MANY important products which we need and cannot make for ourselves. It’s important to have a healthy balance of the approximately 300 – 500 different types of bacterial families there. We are also trying to make sure there are enough beneficial groups to crowd out the dangerous or lack-luster ones.

Live-foods which have been slowly and naturally fermented or cultured have these beneficial bacteria colonies. That’s the real health benefit behind yoghurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kim chee, miso, tempeh and natural pickles.

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The “aliveness” of food-energy very much extends to the energy still retained (or boosted) in otherwise-dead municipal waters (there’s lots of Physics behind why most of our water is energetically “dead”). So, if you only do the following, it will help to start to reactivate the healing energy of fresh “spring water”. Use these waters to drink or use for your recipes.

http://www.raw-living-food-success.com/gall-bladder-cleanse.html

Jubb Charged Water:

1 gallon of purified water, reverse osmosis or distilled (not in plastic)

1/4 teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt *  (originally Himalayan Pink Salt**)

4 or 5 quartz crystals

one 4 x 6 x 1 magnet if possible

Carefully place the 5 finger size crystals at the bottom of a 1 gallon glass jar (one with a spout is nice!). (MAKE SURE NO-ONE DRINKS ANY OF THE QUARTZ CRYSTALS!!! REMOVE THEM BEFORE USING.)

Combine the purified water with the salt, pour into the jar and cover with lid. Place the jar on a 4×6x1 inch magnet if possible, making sure the north pole (negative side) faces up and is in contact with the bottom of your jar. This helps further structure the water. Always store water in glass (or ceramic) because plastic out-gasses pthyline.

Jubb Highly Alkaline Water:

To make your water wetter than wet by raising the pH to 10 or higher, use coral calcium bags or a few drops of AlkaLife or AlkaZone to your water. There are also expensive alkaline water machines for sale. Alkaline water has the ability to penetrate through the dentin of your teeth, so imagine how easily it penetrates your cells for ultra hydration! (Em: I also use Essentia and Evamor waters for this purpose, but they are another “expense”, so you might try this, too.)

Drink 6-8 glasses a day and watch yourself get younger!

http://www.alkalife.com

http://www.alkalife.com

Meanwhile, here’s another recipe to make at home to increase your friendly lactobacillus numbers.

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http://www.celticseasalt.com/Perfect_Pickler_-_Glass_P1416C19.cfm

Limey Onion Pickles

12 cups red onion (about 2 lb.), cut into thin half-rounds

Zest from 1 organic lime (or lemon)

2 teaspoons whole cumin seed, toasted and finely ground

1/4 cup brine from a previous batch (optional)

Juice of 2 organic limes (or substitute lemons -a higher alkaline-energy source)

2 tablespoons Celtic Sea Salt® Brand salt

4 cups filtered spring water (Em: or use the charged water above, too)

Assemble Perfect Pickler (following instructions).

Toss onion, zest, and ground cumin in a large bowl. Pack into the Perfect Pickler. Add brine from previous batch, if using.

In a separate bowl or pitcher, dissolve the salt into the water. Pour into Perfect Pickler, up to 1 inch from the top.

After four days of fermentation, add the lime juice and refrigerate.

Note: This recipe is also very good with sweet onions like Vidalia or Texas Sweet. You can get your Celtic Salt at the web address below, along with a glass Pickler Set.

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* Use only the Celtic Sea Salt. It has all the integrity and minerals of sun-dried ocean water. from the clean waters off the Brittany coast of France. This brand of salt uses the same methods to protect the healthfulness of the salt, which have been used and perfected by the same families, for 2,000 years!

** Dr. Jubb has withdrawn his support of use for Himalayan Sea Salt, in his last book. The pink comes from iron oxide and too much iron has been implicated in heart disease. Also, he may disagree with how it is mined, or just that it is ancient salt and may not have its life-force as intact as freshly harvested Celtic sea salt. Whatever his reason/s, he now ONLY recommends the use of original Celtic sea salt as the one salt to use (as have I, for decades.)

Get it at: Grain and Salt Society – for Original Celtic Sea Salt.

Wherever you are in the world, please learn more and do more to maintain and regain your Health. It is possible to do so, and you must be the one to DO it! Just do it!

Please look in my Archive Tab (at top of page) to read more on Dr. Masuru Emoto’s work on the important living-energy contained and protected in natural-source waters.

For example, you’ll learn more in these articles:
So, Is Salt Really Bad For You?

How Whole Salt Helps You 24/7

Whole Salt Helps You Sleep and Keeps You Strong

Water, Water, Everywhere – But Which Is Fit To Drink? Part 1

Water, Water, Everywhere – But Which Is Fit To Drink? Part. 2

Water, Water, Everywhere – But Which Is Fit To Drink? Part. 3

Unexpected Pills Poison Our Waters

How Can The Right Water Help Diabetics? How Can The Wrong Water Harm?

Best to all — Em

(c)2009 Em at http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com

Please write for permission to use or quote from my articles. Use the About Me page to contact me. Please respect my copyright. Thanks!

Diabetics Need Probiotics – Part 2

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

Diabetics and obese people need this life-giving information, as do those who want to lose the post-pregnancy bulge or remain at normal weight! I am continuing this series, for friendly intestinal flora (probiotics) are crucial for health and life itself.

Be sure to read the first articles at:
Probiotics for Diabetics and Pregnant Moms – Intro
Diabetics Need Probiotics – Part 1

Serious issues for all diabetics are nutrition, immunity and energy.

Diabetics’ cells are actually being starved — of nutrition (even though they may eat well) and consequently,  starved for energy production. Probiotic bacteria in kefir* actually help produce nutrients; help your body absorb nutrients; help reduce stress on the immune system and provide tools for immunity.

South African, Ingrid van Heerden, D.Sc. is aware of her country’s great need for strong immunity, as they fight rampant AIDS, as well as winter influenza strains like Swine Flu.  She recommends supplementing with friendly bacteria as “probiotic containing foods like kefir are important for maintaining a strong natural defense system because they stimulate the production of immunoglobulin in the intestines, which improves the body’s immune response”.

Facts to know:

___ Your intestinal tract is colonized with more than 100 000 billion  micro-organisms.  So, there are approximately 10 times the number of micro-organisms in your body than there are your own body cells!

___ You have about 300 – 500 different strains of intestinal flora; only about 50% of the species are known to mankind.

___ Kefir generally incorporates more known friendly bacterial strains than yoghurt does. It’s milk-based source will be an easier transition in daily diet use than many other healthy probiotic foods. Kefir is  especially good as an option for children and the elderly, as it it more digestible than other milk-based products (even better than yoghurt) due to lower curd surface tension.

___   As fewer babies are being breast-fed, and as fewer people continue to get friendly flora from raw, washed vegetables and fruits as well as kefir and yoghurt, more intestinal problems and body-wide health problems are arising, at all ages.

___ Mothers given kefir from the first tri-mester onward were able to lose more post-delivery weight than Moms who were not given kefir, a Finnish study showed.

___   Kefir helps weight loss.

___  Lack of exposure to these friendly micro-organisms is a likely cause of rising incidence of allergies and asthma.

___   Receiving probiotics via mother’s milk is one of the best ways to get your life-time resident population, says Bengt Björkstén, Professor of Allergy Prevention and Paediatrics, Centre for Allergy Research, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.  Encourage your new Moms to breast feed!

___   Your friendly bacteria need the foods inulin and oligofructose available from the soluble and insoluble fiber in vegetables to feed them and help them stay healthy!  Foods which provide excellent sources are:  chicory endive, artichokes, asparagus, salsify, leeks, onions and garlic.  But, all vegetables help, to varying degrees, as these are important fiber components are available in 36,000 varieties of plants.

___   Additional sources: honey (only careful use by diabetics), rye, banana, maple sugar (again, careful use by diabetics), oats and oat bran.

___   Just the  inulin and olifofructose fibers are fermented by specific, friendly bacteria in your colon, to make a positive change for you and them! They stay healthy and increase their colony size, which is important as they are your immune systems first battle-line troops. And, they make important B vitamins for you, to help you with nerve health and to combat stress, and the friendlies help you absorb calcium better. They also help to keep your intestines at the correct pH levels.

___   When the balance of microbiota is disturbed, the person involved can become susceptible to disease. You have to have the friendly bacteria in sufficient numbers to fight off the harmful, even life-threatening, bacteria.  Several factors, like stress, altitude changes, erratic eating patterns, improper foods, lack of proper foods, parasitic organisms, food additives, chlorinated water, diarrhoea, and use of antibiotics, could contribute to such a disruption.

___   Several studies have shown that we need 1 – 10 billion bacterial cells of a specific strain for a probiotic to be effective.  First colonization begins from the birth canal, but with increasing incidence of caesarian births, this process may not happen well or at all.

Next chance for proper inoculation is through breast milk, but we have to increase the numbers of Moms who are breast-feeding!

After that, discuss using kefir with your pediatrician, when your baby is allowed new foods, and from then on, have you and your baby taking probiotics daily, and have the rest of your family using them too!

The colonization process speeds up noticeably once solid foods are given.

Probiotics are critical if your baby (or adults) are prone to diarrhea.

___   If you are using a cow-milk based formula to feed your baby, research has shown that “ongoing treatment with probiotics can help to break down the milk sugar, improving the baby’s lactose tolerance. The colonies of good bacteria will re-establish and provide the natural digestive assistance needed.”

And, as pasteurized cow-milk is implicated in the destruction of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas in Type 1 diabetes, this is something to discuss with your pediatrician! Newborns have been shown to safely tolerate treatments with probiotics, so talk this over with knowledgeable medical professionals.

___   Research shows that our modern lifestyle and fast-food diets are not conducive to healthy intestinal flora colonies. Period!

So, I encourage you to start incorporating more probiotic foods into your diet.

* Probiotic food choices are:

kefir

active, live culture yoghurt (read the labels!)

slow-made, naturally fermented sauerkraut or pickles — home-made or Bubbe’s brand

tempeh

miso

natto

kim chee

probiotic supplements — acidopholous and bifido bacteria strains, minimum

Be proactive. Only you can turn your health around.

Best to all — Em

(c)2009 Em http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com

Please use the About Me page to contact me re-quoting from or using my article. Please respect my copyright. Thanks.

Diabetics Need Probiotics – 1

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

“Listen-up!” diabetics, pregnant Moms, breast-feeding Moms, overweight people,  pre-diabetics and those with digestive troubles — go out to the health food store or supermarket and get some plain kefir, now! You’re about to learn about a food which can change your life (or your baby’s life!).

You’ll be able to use the kefir you purchase in a recipe or two below, by the end of the weekend, and get yourself going on a better path to Health.

Firstly, a quick overview and a reminder to read last week’s post (if you haven’t already). Kefir is a cultured milk product, more beneficial than yoghurt because of the microflora strains it contains (some products have 7 – 10 strains, whereas yoghurt usually only includes 2 families).

Probiotic bacteria are important because these microflora make critical products for your immune system and nutritional well-being. Different strains make and behave differently.

Normally, you have about 300 different strains of bacteria in your gut, and those double in number one or two times a day. About 10 – 12 pounds of your body weight is this intestinal colony! If you are healthy, most of your colony consists of healthy families but, if you are unwell, then more of your colony is bad-guy types. They may or may not be ones to kill you, but they will age you or make you ill.

As diabetics are starving for nutrition (much of your nutrient reservoir is robbed by extra urination and lack of enzymes), and as all babies’ guts are sterile when born (and must be populated by “seeding” through the mother’s milk), having the right probiotic bacteria, in the right ratios is critical. Probiotic foods can populate your gut with the friendlies you require.

Mom’s have only about a 2 – 3 month window to largely determine their child’s intestinal profile for life. The intestinal bacteria blueprint ratio is almost as individual as finger-prints, and is remarkably stable unless you know you must change it and work to do so.

Reasons you might need to help: if you become seriously or chronically ill or chronically stressed (then self-regulation tends to break down — as it does when you eat poorly, too).

The Ayurvedic medical texts of 5,000 – 6,000 years ago already tell of the benefits of fermented milk saying that ‘fermented milk leads to a long and healthy life’!  Pliny, the Roman historian writes in 76CE that he was treating gastro-intestinal infections with fermented milk.

Now, when I say “fermented” milk, this is a very specific,  purposeful, cleanly-cultured food product, not just some left-over or random happenstance.

These properly fermented, pro-biotic foods — slow fermented sauerkraut (usually not made commercially *), natto, miso, tempeh, slow fermented pickles *, kim chee, yoghurt, kefir, lait ribot (from Brittany, in France, which uses buttermilk, rather than whole milk) — provide beneficial bacteria to keep your body healthy in many, many ways which we’ll learn here, over time and several articles.

All of these are traditional foods e.g. lait ribot has been made in Brittany for thousands of years, well back into the time when it was made there by tribes of Gauls.

It is important to eat these foods in ways which keep the beneficial bacteria alive, as they run the gauntlet of  dashing through your stomach acid, by potent bile and much more, to hopefully arrive, safe and secure (and still in large numbers) to make a home in your small intestine, daily.

Like any other living organisms, the friendly microflora are killed by freezing and boiling and oven temperatures, so even though there are lots of recipes for ice-cream, soups and muffins etc. etc. understand you are compromising getting live inoculations to boost your intestinal colonies, if you use those cooking methods.

However, if you use kefir in these types of recipes, the product will still be superior to using plain milks, as the friendlies have already increased the actual nutrition in the milk, while they were alive, even if you kill them later.

I prefer to try to walk the middle path, and use my kefir cold from the refrigerator. So the recipes I feature in the photos above are cold soups. The middle-ground for ice-cream and parfaits, is keep it soft and not really as ice-cream, if you want to keep some of the friendly bacteria alive. Adding and pureeing some frozen berries goes a long way to accomplishing that, rather than putting the kefir in the freezer.

Kefir is likely a Turkhish word derived from “keif” meaning “good-feeling”. Kefir is pronounced “k’feer” but many mispronounce it as “kee-fur”.

Using a purchased culture of “kefir grains”, it can be made from many types of milk, as well as super-healthy young coconut water (and an Australian has even made a water version that behaves like a healthy “champagne”).

But, kefir must be made by the actual grains, which are removed and re-used, so you cannot use a commercial kefir as a “starter” the way you can with yoghurt, as the dairies removed the grains of kefir before they bottled it.

The first site I remember coming across about kefir was probably Dom’s when he started in about 1999. You can still learn more there than just about anywhere else. The reference is below. Starters are available from Donna Gates, at bodyecology.com

More on kefir and probiotics — how they help; why you need them; how they can retrieve your health will continue next time. Meanwhile, here’s a quick cold soup – two versions.

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Em’s Spring Green Kefir Soup

In a blender or food processor:

2 English cucumbers – washed and chunked

1/3 – 1/2 small yellow onion, peeled and washed

3 medium size garlic cloves, sliced somewhat

2 giant pinches of rough-chopped fresh dill (tops and stems)

Blend all of these ingredients — taste. Add more onion or garlic if needed. It’s impossible to say how much as some onions are very raucous (but the strong flavor comes from sulfur, which is why they are healthy!). The same is true about garlic. You can always add more, but having too much at first is almost impossible to undo.

After you decide if you want to add some sea salt and / or some cayenne pepper, you are now ready to add the kefir.

1 quart plain kefir

Combine gently, without using the blender … remember, we’re trying to keep these helpful little-guys alive!

Serve immediately with a dash of chives.     Makes about 2 quarts.

VARIATION:Swirling Gazpacho Kefir Soup

for every portion of Spring Green Kefir Soup, add half again as much organic tomato juice, just into the center of the green soup. Gently swirl.

For example: 8 oz. green soup + 4 oz. tomato juice.

You can also add a dash of Worcestershire sauce and an 1/16t of Bragg’s apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, if you find the need. It will be more like a Bloody Mary, then!

Why I used these ingredients and how they’ll help you:

The cucumbers help alkalize your tissues.

The onions provide sulfur to make potent detoxifiers.

The garlic is a natural anti-viral and anti-bacterial, if it is raw.

The dill is for flavor and the B vitamins all green leafies have.

The sea salt will alkalize. (Do NOT use regular table salt!!!)

The cayenne is important for your heart and circulation.

The kefir will provide all the probiotic, live, friendly bacteria families.

The tomato juice will provide other anti-oxidants, especially helpful ones for eyes.

If used, the Bragg’s apple cider vinegar (or Spectrum — only those brands) will alkalize (yes, you read that right. I leaves alkaline ash, after metabolism.)

The lemon juice will alkalize (yes, it’s citric acid, but as note above, for metabolic ash).

Worcestershire sauce is just for flavor, put if you use an Asian Fish sauce, instead, you will get some beneficial enzymes, if it has not been overly processed.

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Experiment with smoothies, but, again, whirl everything before you add the kefir, as much as possible. Some great smoothie recipes – Dom’s

NOTES:

Read last week’s Introduction to Kefir and to bowel health and to the opinions of Dr. Mercola and Dr. Ron Rosedale

* In America and Canada, Bubbe’s Brand is properly slow-fermented and available in many health stores and some supermarkets.

And, CultureBiota is an artisanal food maker in Portland, Oregon with the same kinds of slow probiotic products, truly traditional foods. Health stores will generally have healthier and organic forms of the Asian foods, but check out Asian groceries, too, for miso, tempeh and natto, as well as kim chee.

Preferably, consider Nancy’s brand of kefir, as it is made with milk from grass-fed cows and uses low-glycemic agave for sweetener.

Note, kefir has a very mild laxative property, which many people need.

You should definitely include kefir as part of the regimen when taking anti-biotics and for up to a couple of months after them.

Naturopathic physicians recommend kefir over yoghurt for those with digestive problems because kefir has very low curd tension, which makes ir very digestible.

Kefir has the potential to be a potent help in cancer prevention due to its high concentration of lactic acid.

LINKS:
Use for starter culture source for kefir grains

The most comprehensive kefir site I know – Dom’s

Traditionally fermented foods – CultureBiota

(c)2009 Em http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com

Please write for my permission to quote from or use my article. Thanks for respecting my original work and copyright.

Diabetic Weight Loss – after pregnancy, especially

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

Ever watchful for gestational diabetes, which did not materialize, if you read my post last week, you know that my daughter just had her first baby – a healthy boy. What little time I had for “research” on diabetes this week has been guided by the birth, desire for the baby’s continued health and my daughter’s best route to recovery.

Pregnant women and post-partnum moms need to take action using the information below. Anyone who’s overweight needs this information, too.

One factor which will help both mom and baby was disclosed in a recent email that I received from Dr. Mercola, DC and the research of Dr. Ron Rosedale, MD.

We’ll talk about some of their medical lessons now, and other aspects over time.

The most important (and easiest ) part to implement now is to include active, massive amounts of friendly “probiotic” families of bacteria back into your gut!

This can be done with kefir (a better product) or with active, live-culture yoghurt (confirm live cultures on the label content) or with refrigerated probiotic capsules. Why do this?

The proper balance of friendly micro-organisms is critical for diabetics!

Dr. Mercola reports that clinical studies show that diabetics (and anyone who is overweight or obese) have improper percentages of the various families of gut bacteria.  So, we need to know more.

As 1 in 4 Americans are either pre-diabetic (blood sugar over 100) or full-blown diabetics (blood sugar over 125), we have to do everything to regain the health of more than 70 million Americans and tens of millions more globally  — here goes.

The rate of diabetes in the last 5 decades has increased 700% in America, and during this time, mainstream medicine has incorrectly treated diabetes, in Dr. Mercola’s and Dr. Rosedale’s opinions.

Other doctors have been treating a “symptom” (high blood sugar) NOT the root cause.

Ayurvedic medicine, the ancient, highly-accurate first medical system of humanity, emphasizes throughout its 5,000 years of practice that the health of the bowel is critical. Modern science is showing that’s true!

The same cells that make the brain also become part of the gut, in the fetus and then adult,  so we do have another “brain” there — a very powerful one, in fact — which is able to understand the nuances that make up health in the gut.

Our red blood cells are also made in these intestinal tissues, too. So, gut health is a prime target to regain.

We always hear about ‘eating more fiber’, and that’s still important — both soluble and insoluble fiber. But gut-health is far more than that.

The actual populations of bacterial micro-organisms and their percentage in your gut community are truly critical. Diabetics and obese people have severe imbalances in these populations.

According to one study, diabetics and overweight people usually harbor more of the family of bacteria known as firmicutes … (20 percent more), whereas another bacteria called bacteroidetes was almost 90 percent lower.”

How do we shift the balance and why do we need to?

“Probiotic supplements during the first trimester of pregnancy can help women lose weight after their child’s birth”, according to new findings from a Finnish study.

Researchers report that supplements containing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium were associated with less central obesity (the type of killer fat associated with the “apple” shaped body).

Women were given the supplements during their first trimester of pregnancy and continued them until they stopped exclusive breastfeeding (up to six months on the study).

If you weren’t on the probiotics during pregnancy, start the probiotic regimen now, with the rest of us. It’s imperative for you to do so — for your health and for your baby’s health, if you are nursing.

“Firmicutes appear to be more efficient at taking calories out of complex sugars and depositing those calories as fat. When these microbes were transplanted into normal-weight mice, they suddenly gained twice as much fat. And in a human study, obese people who lost weight increased their bacteroidetes, while the numbers of firmicutes decreased.”

“Gut bacteria also influence your weight through the activation or non-activation a single molecule in your intestinal wall.” It is activated by the waste products from certain gut bacteria.  The activated  molecule slows the movement of food through your intestine, causing you to absorb more nutrients and thus gain weight.

Beneficial bifidobacteria and lactobacillus bacteria must predominate over potentially harmful bacteria for you to be healthy and normal weight.

Babies get the helpful bacteria to populate their gut from their mom’s milk. So, the mom’s must have goodly amounts of the best microflora or else the babies won’t get enough of the “good-guys” (and may even get too many not so good ones??? I’m not sure about that part.).

Getting these good-guys through breastmilk will have lasting benefit, into adulthood, for your baby.

We also need the same good Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus bacteria, as diabetics, pre-diabetics, overweight or obese people.

Here’s an important reason behind the usual directive: “to stop consuming sugary foods”. Eating a healthy diet low in sugars, grains and processed foods will generally cause the good bacteria in your gut to flourish, and naturally build up a major defense against excessive amounts of bad bacteria (that can damage your health).

Even using an extremely low-sugar diet is not the full-story. You need to know that there are other factors that negatively influence your friendly-bacteria’s survival, including:

• Antibiotics
• Chlorinated water
• Antibacterial soap
• Agricultural chemicals
• Pollution

All of these factors can kill off your good gut bacteria.

Eating fresh, raw, washed vegetables and fruit (preferably organic produce) will help to repopulate with good bacteria for humans beyond babyhood, as will daily consumption of kefir and yoghurt and / or probiotic capsules.

It’s probably the yoghurt-eating habit of the people in the Caucasus which make them the largest group of oldest humans, because their guts are SO healthy.

Cheese and regular milk do NOT have these good bacteria alive in them. And, in fact, cow milk in babies and young children is implicated in destroying the insulin producing parts of the pancreas —- leading to Type 1 diabetes in children!

I am making very specific suggestions here! In addition to kefir (best) and live-culture yoghurt, other foods which have some of the good-guys are traditionally-made versions of slowly fermented vegetables (like Bubbe’s dill pickles and sauerkraut), kim chee, miso and natto (this is the only one on the list that I won’t use … I find it nasty!).

Get the balance right so your bacteroidetes will prevent your firmicutes from making you fat, and the good guys will help you use the fat you have stored for energy, as the bacteroidetes won’t “mine” as many calories from your food, so you will use up your fat and then likely remain lean, as long as the good-guy intestinal gut flora remain dominant.

I’m off to get more kefir in my fridge more regularly now!

I love its taste and slight effervescence. There are several excellent brands and at least one is in most Safeways, in the health section’s refrigerator or in regular section near yoghurts. Get an organic kefir from there or from your favorite health store. Well known brands are Helios and Lifeway, as well as Nancy’s.

You can read the original article and get a jump-start on Dr. Rosedale’s views on obesity etc., at the following links (you may have to “register” to get the info, but do that. You’ll learn a lot there.). You will also need to scroll quite far down the page before the articles begin.

Dr. Mercola’s Probiotic Information

Diabetes not being treated correctly. Dr. Ron Rosedale, MD.

(c)2009 Em http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com
Please respect my copyright, and if you want to quote from my article or use my piece, please include the full copyright citation and website location in your footnotes or reference section. Thanks!

New Soul – New Thoughts, Hopes and Wishes

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

Welcome to our new grandson! My daughter and her baby are doing well, but it was a long journey, during this past week.

As I think about all I pray for and hope for on their behalf, it brings out some topics worth discussing which will be reflected in my lessons and discussions here, which will appear in time.

It’s a chance to grow, for all of us.

Best to all — Em

(c)2009 Em http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com