Detoxifying After Hospital

Here’s my story…

I’ll start with the anesthesiologist – not my favorite person in the world right now. I mentioned to him – THREE TIMES – that whatever was used at my last surgery eight months ago worked well for me. I had no problem at all!! I asked if he’d be able to look it up to see what was used. Later when talking with my husband, he felt the same way I did. That guy had no intention of checking what was used; he had in his own mind what he wanted to do. So why wasn’t that fellow with me holding the barf bag as I heaved up nothingness through the night?

But perhaps I should have started with the fun stuff. I’ve been telling whoever will listen that I want to keep my ovaries. It became funny when the very nice pre-op nurse gave me a marker to write it on my skin. Dr. McGowan laughed about it the next day when she stopped in, saying how the staff enjoyed that note on my leg. And, by the way, the ovaries looked fine so she was happy to leave them where they were.

Connie was the name of the pre-op nurse. We both thought the other looked familiar, but never figured out why. She was pleasant and we talked about a number of things. Her parents are Mennonite, but she didn’t grow up Mennonite. When she gave me the marker, I mentioned that putting it on the skin was probably toxic (but I did it anyway). She shared how, when she was pregnant, she tried to stay away from chemicals and became overwhelmed because they’re in everything we use. I told her you have to start small. My latest change has been my toothpaste.

I was wheeled into surgery, warned by the one pushing my bed about bumps along the way, and as we got closer to the room, she warned that it would be colder, and when we got to the room that it would be “down-right cold.” But that’s OK. They now cloth you in gowns with warming bubbles and hand you a remote for warming yourself up. They didn’t have that eight months ago.

I knew the anesthesia was different as soon as it was administered, and I wondered what that would mean for me.

I found out. Dry heaves, unless I drank water, then clear liquid heaves. Over and over.

Anesthesia, antibiotics, anti-nausea medicine, pain medicine, the list kept growing. Sometime in the evening, they offered me yet another medicine for nausea: finegrin (or something that sounded like that). I asked my night nurse, Melissa, if she would find out the side effects. She retrieved the info and read a very short side effects list, but it included constipation. I decided to try it anyway. Nothing changed. Melissa felt bad for me and seemed to accept my proclamation that drugs aren’t good for me. About 1:00 or 2:00 a.m., I said I just wanted to let all the drugs run their course and be done with it. I did discover that if I sat up and leaned right against my pillow, or leaned left, the nausea stabilized. But if I went back to sitting or laying in the center, I’d feel it start again. I hoped to get through the night, always leaning left or right, as I waited out the effects of the drugs. I told the nurse that my husband would bring me ginger tea in the morning which could help the nausea. She said, “They have tea in the kitchen.” But not ginger tea. It must have been shared with others, because someone on the day shift mentioned it when talking about the trouble I’d had. She said, “Maybe the ginger tea helped.” Her tone sounded a bit sarcastic. I hope I was imagining that.

I should probably mention something about the day nurse, right before she finished her shift. I wondered about getting a banana. It often is settling for me. She was like, “No, no, no, no, no…”

I learned that if they would have given rewards out, I would have received an award that night for having the best looking urine. The night nurse assistant said, when emptying mine, “You should see some of the bags I’ve emptied.” Silently, I disagreed. :)  Not in my condition.

Fortunately, Dr. McGowen let me go home the next day. She asked me what I wanted for pain. I told her that Motrin (ibuprofen) would be fine. The thing is, the incisions that I knew were inside me, were just a dull ache. I didn’t think I needed anything. I used Motrin twice at the hospital, mainly because of a headache and that MAYBE the surgical pain MIGHT get bad.

But Dr. McGowen decided to write me a prescription for something stronger. Like all other prescriptions written for me in the past ten years, it went in the trash when I got home. Are patients not allowed to think for themselves?

When I came home, I still felt very nauseous. I kept going to bed, getting up, going to bed. While sitting in my chair, I remembered something about charcoal. I didn’t feel strong enough to check, so I texted my daughter to look it up. She confirmed that charcoal is good for that sort of thing. Charcoal is an adsorber. It’s harmless, it only grabs hold of toxins or poisons, whatever’s bad for you. Within the hour of taking six capsules, the extreme nausea left, the extreme dry mouth, and chills – all left.

Now I have to work on the non-movement. I hope I don’t have to go the route of enemas. I’ve been using magnesium. That usually works right away for me. The problem is, on one of my last days of vacation (a week before surgery), I must have eaten food that contained gluten. My intestinal system gets messed up when I do. I don’t think I had time to get things back in order.

This too shall pass.

(Update, one day later: All nausea left when things started moving.)

Link #1:  http://tankitchen-dessert.blogspot.com/2010/08/nam-khing-hot-ginger-tea.html
Link #2:  http://www.emedicinehealth.com/activated_charcoal/article_em.htm

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What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?   —Lamentations 2:13

Venting…PLUS NEW OLD NEWS!

Since a certain conversation – oh about ten months ago – continues to come to mind, I decided to share it. It’s actually quite telling of today’s culture.

I was at a large table with a good sized group of people and those nearest me were talking about food. Food is often the topic of conversation with me, since most people know that I eat gluten free and they’re curious about it.

At one point, I started to mention coconut oil and how helpful that has been for my digestive system. I couldn’t get the words out. An older woman was all over me with just the mention of coconut oil. “That’s a saturated fat!! It’s VERY bad for you!”

I couldn’t even go on to tell her how and why it’s helpful. It’s not like I was just quoting studies and statistics I found on the Internet to prove a point. I was trying to tell about my own personal experience. This is a woman who I believe worked in the medical field, who has multiple health problems, and who has many prescriptions. But there didn’t seem to be a way to lovingly and graciously point out the comparisons between us. I have no major health problems, no medications.

There are times I’ve wanted to point that out when someone disagrees with what I believe and know about food and healing, but it sounds so very arrogant. And I’ve noticed that if I do mention medications, the person I’m talking with downplays any that they’re taking as if their particular meds are minimal and don’t count.

And recently I got the feeling that what I say about healing with food…well it almost seems like the person I’m talking with has something like a religious conviction against it – well, probably not. J

To be more realistic, perhaps they’re like I used to be: How can it be possible that the entire medical world (generally speaking, of course) has it so wrong? So I read and read, and read some more, and began to change my kitchen and my habits, and read some more, and continue to read. Most of the healing for me took place rather quickly, but even today, ten years later, I still see improvements. It’s not like I eat healthy all the time, but there are food rules I now follow consistently: no high fructose corn syrup (now being relabeled corn sugar?), no msg, no processed food (with one exception, we all have our weaknessesJ), no hydrogenated oils.

People are too kind to tell me to “put a lid on it.” But I wouldn’t be able to. There are so many people I care so much about and I’m watching them damage their bodies with their food and drink choices. I wish I was blessed with the gift of debate or the gift of gab or the gift of convincing-ability (is that what a good sales person has?). I just look for moments when I can drop a clue about healing with food, letting people know that there are alternatives to drugs, and pray that God will lead them on their own healing path.

There’s a passage in the Bible that shows how Jesus adapted the bazaar medical practices of his day to his miracle healings. The practice in those days was for the physician to use their own spittle for healing, and that’s what Jesus used when he miraculously brought sight to a man’s eyes. My prayer for you is that you find God’s healing path, whatever direction that may be, miraculously – wouldn’t that be exciting! – or by finding the courage to make necessary changes.

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I wrote the above several weeks ago but hadn’t felt right about posting it and wasn’t sure why. Maybe now I know. I just received new information (actually old news, it’s just becoming more known) on coconut oil that explains it all so well. This is the information I needed at that dinner table ten months ago. Below, I’m posting highlights. There are probably too many, but I sure do hope, for the sake of your health, that you’ll look through it.

All the …s in the text below mean there was text there, so don’t expect it to read as smoothly as the original article.

The rest of information can be read at http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/22/coconut-oil-and-saturated-fats-can-make-you-healthy.aspx.

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This Cooking Oil is a Powerful Virus-Destroyer and Antibiotic…

Posted By Dr. Mercola | October 22 2010

You've no doubt noticed that for about the last 60 years the majority of health care officials and the media have been telling you saturated fats are bad for your health and lead to a host of negative consequences, like elevated cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Meanwhile during this same 60 years the American levels of heart disease, obesity, elevated serum cholesterol and Alzheimer's have skyrocketed compared to our ancestors, and even compared to modern-day primitive societies using saturated fat as a dietary staple.

…The fact is, all saturated fats are not created equal.

… some saturated fats occur naturally, while other fats are artificially manipulated into a saturated state through the man-made process called hydrogenation.

The medical and scientific communities are now fairly united in the opinion that hydrogenated vegetable and seed oils should be avoided.

… Some cities and states have now outlawed their use. There is no controversy anymore regarding the health dangers of these artificially saturated fats.

… this rightful vilification of hydrogenated saturated fats has created a lot of confusion regarding naturally occurring saturated fats, including coconut oil.

…

The truth about coconut oil is obvious to anyone who has studied the health of those who live in traditional tropical cultures, where coconut has been a nutritious diet staple for thousands of years.

…

Similarly, in 1981, researchers studied populations of two Polynesian atolls. Coconut was the chief source of caloric energy in both groups. The results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, demonstrated that both populations exhibited positive vascular health.

…

It may be surprising for you to realize that the naturally occurring saturated fat in coconut oil actually has some amazing health benefits, such as:

·       Promoting your heart health

·       Promoting weight loss, when needed

·       Supporting your immune system health

·       Supporting a healthy metabolism

·       Providing you with an immediate energy source

·       Keeping your skin healthy and youthful looking

·       Supporting the proper functioning of your thyroid gland

Does coconut oil have some secret ingredients not found in other saturated fats?

The answer is a resounding "yes".

50 percent of the fat content in coconut oil is a fat rarely found in nature called lauric acid …

Your body converts lauric acid into monolaurin, which has anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-protozoa properties.

Monolaurin is a monoglyceride which can actually destroy lipid coated viruses such as:

·       HIV, herpes

·       Measles

·       Influenza virus

·       Various pathogenic bacteria

·       Protozoa such as giardia lamblia.

Lauric acid is a powerful virus and gram-negative bacteria destroyer, and coconut oil contains the most lauric acid of any substance on earth!

Capric acid, another coconut fatty acid present in smaller amounts, has also been added to the list of coconut's antimicrobial components.

…Coconut oil is about 2/3 medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), also called medium-chain triglycerides or MCTs. These types of fatty acids produce a whole host of health benefits.

Coconut oil is nature's richest source of these healthy MCFAs.

By contrast, most common vegetable or seed oils are comprised of long chain fatty acids (LCFAs), also known as long-chain triglycerides or LCTs.

Let me tell you why these long-chain fatty acids are not as healthy for you as the MCFAs found in coconut oil:

·       LCFAs are difficult for your body to break down -- they require special enzymes for digestion.

·       LCFAs put more strain on your pancreas, liver and your entire digestive system.

·       LCFAs are predominantly stored in your body as fat.

·       LCFAs can be deposited within your arteries in lipid forms such as cholesterol.

·       In contrast to LFCAs, the MCFAs found in coconut oil have many health benefits, including the following beneficial qualities:

·       MCFAs are smaller. They permeate cell membranes easily, and do not require special enzymes to be utilized effectively by your body.

·       MCFAs are easily digested, thus putting less strain on your digestive system.

·       MCFAs are sent directly to your liver, where they are immediately converted into energy rather than being stored as fat.

·       MCFAs actually help stimulate your body's metabolism, leading to weight loss.

…

Coconut oil does not produce an insulin spike in your bloodstream. Coconut oil acts on your body like a carbohydrate, without any of the debilitating insulin-related effects associated with long-term high carbohydrate consumption!

… coconut oil added to the diets of diabetics and pre-diabetics has actually been shown to help stabilize weight gain, which can dramatically decrease your likelihood of getting adult onset type-2 Diabetes.

…

Back in the 1940s, farmers found out about this effect by accident when they tried using inexpensive coconut oil to fatten their livestock.

It didn't work!

Instead, coconut oil made the animals lean, active and hungry.

… the ability of MCFAs to be easily digested, to help stimulate the metabolism and be turned into energy has entered the sports arena. Several studies have now shown that MCFAs can enhance physical or athletic performance.

…research has demonstrated that, due to its metabolic effect, coconut oil increases the activity of the thyroid.

…Cell regeneration increases to replace old cells, and your immune system functions better overall.

…the truth is this: it is UNSATURATED fats that are primarily involved in heart disease, not the naturally occurring saturated fats, as you have been led to believe.

Plus, the polyunsaturated fats in vegetable and seed oils encourage the formation of blood clots by increasing platelet stickiness. Coconut oil helps to promote normal platelet function.

And polyunsaturated fats, which include common vegetable oils such as corn, soy, safflower, sunflower and canola, are absolutely the worst oils to use in cooking. These omega-6 oils are highly susceptible to heat damage because of their double bonds.

…The medium-chain fats in coconut oil are considered so nutritious that they are used in baby formulas, in hospitals to feed the critically ill, those on tube feeding, and those with digestive problems. Coconut oil has even been used successfully by doctors in treating aluminum poisoning.

Coconut oil is exceptionally helpful for pregnant women, nursing moms, the elderly, those concerned about digestive health, athletes (even weekend warriors), and those of you who just want to enhance your overall health.

Peeling a Layer

Did you ever have one of those enlightened moments when you know God just revealed something about yourself to your own heart? And that it was extremely clear?

I was pondering what I call my “fear of intimacy.” I've wished I could change it, but it hangs on like a mole or skin tag.

I was thinking specifically about how it’s almost impossible for me to look into someone’s eyes while I’m speaking to them. I can look at a person while they’re talking to me, just not when I open my mouth to speak.

So I started talking to God about that problem (again…you see, He and I have talked about this before), trying to come to grips with it. Why is that a problem for me? Yes I know my history of spending the first 40 years in a mental fog, not being able to converse well because of that…well, maybe that IS the particular part of my history that has been the conditioning causing this problem.

But still…I now can carry on fairly normal conversations (as long no one expects me to sound too intelligent).

I’m not afraid of people, mostly.

As I was pondering, I was ready to accept this about me. My thinking was, I’m over 50, so the idea of changing a set behavior seems highly unlikely.

That’s when this clear revelation struck me – hard. It was as though Jesus himself was saying something like, if you give up, then you won’t be able to look in My eyes when we’re conversing, and see My love for you.

I was in my office and I didn’t change positions, but I felt my spirit fall to the floor, face down. I was humbled on a level I’ve not experienced before.

I felt tears form as I told my Lord, but I want to be able to look into Your eyes.

I put away the idea of no longer trying to make eye contact when talking.

Since that day, there have been a couple of moments while I was speaking that I felt God trying to help me put my eyes on the face of the person before me. I felt His presence. I felt encouraged.

I haven’t been real successful yet, but I’m thankful He hasn’t given up on me, hasn't stopped peeling the layers, like an onion, one by one.

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Matthew 9:21
“She said to herself, "If I only touch His cloak, I will be healed."

If I could only convince and inspire the young woman

I wish there was a Trader Joe’s store in my area!!                                                                   (photo not by me)

As I anticipate a second surgery this year, I now understand I have only myself to blame. Had I only known then what I know now, would things be different?

I didn’t become disciplined regarding food until I learned that what I was eating was damaging my intestines.

That became my motivator.

(Side note: It took a few years, but I finally stopped craving grilled cheese sandwiches. And I still occasionally eat a thin-crust Pizza Hut pizza, right after I swallow a handful of encapsulated enzymes. I barely notice a problem.)

So why is it my fault I’m having another surgery?

My first surgery was to repair – tack up – my bladder. It had prolapsed because of weakened vaginal walls.

So, of course, I researched…

There’s a reason, as a rule, that a woman finds herself with weakened walls. Just like there’s a reason for cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, allergies, eczema…

It didn’t just happen because I’m unlucky. There are three very real reasons.

Posturing, Diet and The Pill

You can learn a lot about avoiding surgeries or even living with this problem by visiting Christine Kent’s websites:

www.wholewoman.com

http://www.firstaidforprolapse.com/

I now have a prolapsed uterus, and my second surgery is for a hysterectomy in November. But I’m hoping that by following what I’m learning, I will avoid future female repair surgeries. I will 1) keep track of my hormone levels, 2) continue to eat nutritious foods, and 3) be intentional about proper posturing.

As a child and most of my adult life, a good posture meant very little to me. This was basically how I postured my  back and hips while sitting:

And when I grew up and wanted to try and look cool, I did what we were taught: suck in your gut, tuck in your hips, puff out your chest. Both are wrong for proper care of a woman’s body. Christine Kent does a very good job of explaining why that’s anatomically bad. [“…for women, it has the effect of profoundly destabilizing our pelvic organ support system.”   –C. Kent]

Then there’s the diet. I was a very picky eater. Every day in school I had a peanut butter sandwich and barbecue chips. I ate cocoa and toast for many a breakfast. For dinners I often ate meat, potatoes and either cooked green beans or corn. LOTS of sweets and sodas.

When I grew up and got married, we could afford very little and ate a lot of casseroles, and boxed cereals for breakfast.

Then there’s The Pill. I didn’t use it for a very long time in my life, but I did use it. Now I’ve learned that The Pill robs you of the hormones needed to build up and strengthen the vaginal walls.

I state all this in the hopes that any young woman will be interested enough to do herself a favor and dig deeper into choosing a healthier lifestyle. But keep this in mind…healthy eating goes way beyond what you learn in the mainstream media. There are way too many tales that start out, “I eat healthy and I still got cancer (or had a heart attack, etc.)…”

They got cancer because they’re following our culture’s understanding of eating healthy.

I recently noticed that a credible (in my opinion) website that I trust is offering a 12-week online class for just $10 that teaches what real food is and how to eat for health.  [http://www.cheeseslave.com/2010/08/31/take-the-quiz-are-you-a-real-food-rookie/]

Take time to learn. We honor God with our bodies when we eat nutritious foods. And I believe honoring God is worship.

Matthew 10:8

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Pretty Simple Garden Bowl

Sometimes a simpler way of doing things dawns on me...

As part of the (long) process of weaning myself off processed foods, I recently began making my own dressings. But then I was becoming weary of getting a jar to make the dressing, making an oily mess, when all I really wanted to do was grab a convenient dressing bottle from the fridge.

So I gave up the step of getting the jar, and went straight to the salad bowl to start the salad preparations. I call it “Garden Bowl.”

For this Garden Bowl, I start by mincing about a one-inch section of a jalapeño pepper into the bowl, by using a garlic press.

I then add the base of the dressing:

     ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

     1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

     2 Tbsp honey

     ¾ tsp. sea salt

I step outside to cut some chives and thyme, and snip about a half dozen strands of chives into the bowl, and put in the leaves of the thyme, about the amount you see in the photo.

1 chopped tomato

1 small chopped green pepper

½ avocado

½ -3/4 c. alfalfa sprouts

and salad greens

If I had more time, I would prefer to purchase the salad greens whole and chop them myself, but life is busy and I opt for the convenient boxes of greens. I have a problem with the smell and taste of the bagged greens. I don’t know why they’re different, but they are, they taste packaged.

The base of the dressing is just a starting point. There are so many variations you can do with it. Sometimes I add orange juice to the liquids, I like the citrus flavors in the salad.

Luke 8:48
Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."




All photos taken by me.

This is Me!

Photo from www.maplevalleyfarms.net

Well, not the cows. Neither one of those are me.  J

I read this paragraph (italics text below) on someone else's blog, and it was "my story" exactly.

I just thought I'd share this one thing tonight. This is me exactly. I couldn't have said it any better.

"While recovering from undiagnosed celiac disease and living with a compromised immune system, I think it is crucial to eat the highest quality, least adulterated food possible. Buying meat raised by small farms with lots of oversight for the health of the animals translates into better food for my healing body that is easier to digest and use to rebuild my strength."   -- http://celiacsinthehouse.blogspot.com

Several years ago I found a local Amish farmer who runs a farm the way I would if I was a farmer. I purchase raw milk and grass-fed beef from him. I asked him once what he does when a cow is ill. He said they rarely get anything serious. If one does, he uses natural products for healing. Once in a great while an animal might get seriously ill, he'll then resort to antibiotics, but it's rare that it comes to that.

Just like humans - if you eat right, as a rule, you stay healthy. Once in a great while an infection may get serious enough for antibiotics, but it's rare. It should be rare.

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Malachi 4:2 (New International Version)

But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.

New International Version (NIV)

Explaining Cayenne

Photo by "Grumpy Chris"


I suppose I should explain why I have 'Cayenne Pepper' in the title of my blog.

There are a number of foods that I use for healing, and healthy digestive purposes, and I like saying 'Cayenne Pepper' better than some of the other foods I use.

I could have put 'Food, Healing and Coconut Oil,' or 'Food, Healing and Turmeric'...both very powerful healing foods...

It was not long ago that I added cayenne to my almost-daily routine. I take it (eat it, swallow it, consume it) the same time as coconut oil. Coconut oil is powerful, I'm up to 1 1/2 Tbsp. a day. I had to start with one teaspoon, even that caused turmoil in my intestines. I must have had a lot of yeast and inflammation.

But back to cayenne. I put 1/4-1/2 tsp. on a large spoon, drizzle coconut oil over it until the spoon is full. I have a few swallows of orange juice handy. I take the spoonful like medicine, swallow it without breathing, then drink the juice. I don't even notice the coconut oil smell or taste. I barely notice the spicy cayenne. The first few times the spiciness seemed stronger. Evidently you get used to it.

People who like the taste of coconut have no trouble taking the oil straight. I abhor coconut foods, always have. But for healing purposes, it's become my friend. Back to cayenne again!

Why is cayenne so good for you? According to worldwidehealthcenter.net, "There are over 3000 scientific studies listed in the National Library of Medicine to support the use of cayenne in preventing and reversing many common health ailments."

The quality of the cayenne may be important. I've been purchasing mine at a local co-op in bulk form. I also purchased cayenne extract or oil when I had poison ivy and it did a great job of taking the itch out, while I waited for the poison ivy extract (rhus tox) to boost the healing.

Cayenne is good for internal and external issues.

Also from worldwidehealthcenter.net: The following are just some of the conditions which cayenne may be used to treat: stops bleeding (internally or externally), allergies, arthritis, asthma, blood circulation problems, congestive heart failure, cancer prevention, heart disease, high bood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, obesity, osteoarthritis, colds and flus, constipation, hemorrhoids, and diabetes."

I haven't had a cold since I've been using this.

One doctor I read about on the Internet says he will administer cayenne to heart attack victims, and it revives them almost immediately. I think I saved some of the document I read, let me look...


Here:


"Dr. Christopher said, 'In 35 years of practice, and working with people and teaching, I have never, on house calls, lost one heart attack patient. The reason is, whenever I go in, if they are still breathing, I pour down them a cup of cayenne tea (a teaspoon of cayenne in a cup of hot water.) Usually, within minutes, they are up and around.'

"He says, 'I received an emergency call in the middle of the night. A woman in Salt Lake City had just suffered a severe heart attack and passed out. I rushed over and fed the woman hot cayenne tea. Within minutes, she was sitting up feeling fine. The hot cayenne tea is faster-acting than tablets, capsules or cold tea. The warm tea opens up the cell structure and makes it expand and accept the cayenne that much faster. It goes directly to the heart through the arterial system and feeds it a powerful food.'

“To show the value of cayenne – what a wonderful heart food it is, this story has been repeated in a number of publications. Doctors in the East put some live heart tissue into a sterile beaker filled with distilled water and fed it nothing but cayenne pepper. During the time they were feeding the heart tissue, they would have to trim it continually, every few days because it would grow so rapidly. Having no control glands (the pituitary and pineal glands), the heart tissue just continued to grow rapidly. They kept the tissue alive for 15 years. They eventually destroyed it so they could do more research on it. This shows the high food value cayenne gives to the heart.

“In most cases a weak heart is a malnourished heart. The heart hasn’t had a decent meal for so long that it is practically starved. We give the heart a good meal. We don’t whip it with nitroglycerin or digitalis or some other type of drug to force it to beat rapidly. We try to bring more food value to the heart so that it could find a little help to keep it going.”

"Cayenne brings the blood to the surface and starts the healing. The redness comes to the skin from blood that has rushed to the surface to assist carrying off wastes."

Cayenne is my friend. Actually, if you want to know something a bit personal, but funny, the first couple days after starting this, I could feel a slight burning sensation during my "morning constitution."

Healing with food...I wish more people were interested!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you."  -Matthew 9:22

Getting Started

Photo by me

I thought I'd try my hand at blogging. I've been afraid to because I kept trying to figure out how to explain everything leading up until now. That was overwhelming to consider. So now, I'll just pick a thought, lay it out and wait till another day, another posting.

My name is Cindy. I'm 53. I live not-just-gluten-free. I started gluten free over ten years ago after a couple of really big clues came my way about what might be wrong with me. The first was going on the Atkins Diet for four weeks. Those first four weeks are completely gluten free - completely grain free. It was the first time in my life that my bowels worked the way they're supposed to. The second clue was a friend telling me about someone she knew who was diagnosed with celiac disease, and the symptoms involved with that. That conversation sent me to the Internet and I could not ignore what I learned.

I was never officially diagnosed, so I may or may not have celiac, but I definitely have a problem with gluten. I went gluten free, and a long list of symptoms cleared up. The most surprising was six months later when my mental fog just lifted away. I could go on and on how incredible that moment in time was.

I've been learning ever since. And I am now more than gluten free.

I became intrigued with using food to heal the first time I saw Gary Null on an infomercial many years ago. I've never read anything he wrote - I don't usually go for big hyped-up items. But the desire to heal with food was born that day. It just took me a while to get rolling with that desire.

I, like most people, whether they know it or not, deal with inflammation. Once I learned that, I began researching what to eat that deals with inflammation. It's a process, and things change and evolve.

Just recently I read, or scanned, the book "The Diet Cure" by Julia Ross. Yet another key to healing and living healthy. Because of that book, I began a little regimen of supplements that includes amino acids - keys to healing according to her. It was interesting that within the first day, my fatigue I've been experiencing lately went away.

Here are the supplements I noted while reading.

     pantothenic acid
     GABA
     multi-vitamin
     calcium
     B-complex
     Vitamin C with bioflavonoids
     Vitamin E
     Fish/flax oil
     Chromium
     Complete essential amino acids
     Biotin
     L-glutamine

Some of these things I already take in the products I have. The least fun product to take that I purchased from vitacost.com is called EfaGold Hemp Protein & Fiber by Nature's Way. It's organic and has a long list of very impressive supplemental power - all from one ingredient, hemp seed. But it's a non-fun powder you stir into a drink. It works to put it in a smoothie, but I just put it in a little bit of orange juice, gulp it down (get it out of the way), and then have breakfast with tea.

I love tea.

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O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.  -Psalm 30:2