A New Bracelet to Help with Pain

I made this bracelet with chunks of raw amber, hematite beads and clear quartz crystal.  There are also some small glass beads.

I chose this combination not only because the colors are pretty but because all 3 stones help with pain.  I've used hematite before with an injury but have also found that amber does indeed help alleviate pain for me.  Clear quartz is supposed to enhance the effects.

I have bracelets and necklaces with these stones already so this one will be going up for sale.

My Lifetime Struggle with Weight Loss & What Finally Works

Something is finally working for me for weight loss and I want to share my story in the hopes that it may help someone else.  This post will be a bit long with no pictures, but if you have struggled as I have then please stick with me.

I am 59, in menopause, 5'1" and termed morbidly obese.  I have been chubby, fat and obese all my life, even as a baby I had rolls.

I ate what every family ate growing up in the 60's & 70's in a family where both parents worked.  Whatever was quick and convenient to prepare, or eating out at little diners - or greasy spoons as we called them.  Everything pretty much came in a package or was processed and you used pasta or potatoes to fill out meals to make them go farther.  We ate fake food like processed cheese, margarine, etc. and and having southern parents we ate a lot of fried foods with gravy, and never knew it was bad for us.  Only on weekends did we eat fresh foods.  Seems like everyone we knew ate this way -- the standard American diet with that pyramid we now know was upside down.

At 11 Mom finally attempted to change things, she took me to Weight Watchers, I was the youngest person to ever join at that time.  Think about being in 5th grade and having to eat your french style green beans for lunch while everyone else is eating a sandwich & chips.  I don't know which was worse, being teased for being fat or for eating weird stuff.  I hate french style green beans to this day.  And I lost some weight ... then plateaued and nothing else would come off. 

As a very young teen the Doctor gave me diet pills, essentially low dose amphetamines to curb my appetite.  Yeah, that didn't work either and I hated taking pills.

As a 20 something Mom and I both went to a weight loss center where you replaced 2 meals with lemonade like drinks or their packaged soups.  It was expensive, the food tasted terrible and again I lost about 20ish pounds and plateaued for weeks.

As a 30 something adult I tried Atkins and it worked for the first 20ish pounds, then the plateau came I could not break through.  I also had a job change and could no longer afford the foods Atkins required.

As a 50 yr old I tried the South Beach Diet with my boss.  It was similar to Atkins but not as restrictive, but still a bit pricey.  I lost the same 20ish pounds and nothing else would happen.

So here I am at 59.  Mid January 2018, this year, I was tired of looking and feeling bad.  A YouTuber I like had been on something called Keto and had lost 50 pounds in a matter of months.  She got to eat good foods, food I liked and homemade sweets and still lost weight.  I started looking into it more and decided I needed to try it, if it didn't work then nothing would.

My highest weight had been 312, and I had stayed between 280 and 295 for quite a few years.  I was 297 when I started.  It seemed weird to me that unlike all the rest of the diets, I was not going to be snacking all day on diet foods and I was to eat (good) fats.  It was hard at first - not to give up all the carbs because the fats kept me satisfied and not hungry - but because I still was unable to eat eggs and things like iceberg lettuce without stomach cramps.  I always thought I had IBS, I drank pepto bismol like water some days.  What I discovered is that the processed wheat products were bad for me.  I am not allergic to gluten but the processed and gmo filled stuff was killing me. 

After a few weeks I made deviled eggs from eggs that are only fed organic, non gmo feed and free range.  They didn't give me stomach cramps.  I was finally able to eat eggs!  The one food that is really said to be the best on Keto.  Eggs are a perfect food source, protein and good fat and lots of nutrients.

I was amazed at how quickly the weight started coming off, though I knew the first couple weeks it was mostly water weight.  I was encouraged though when the loss continued and I started to physically feel good.  I didn't get hungry between meals, I never missed or longed for breads, pasta or potatoes, chips or candy.  The chocolate fat bombs not only helped the weight loss, they gave me a chocolate fix when needed.

With the help of 3 other YouTube channels: Dr. Eric Berg DC , Keto Christina and Dot2Trot's Low Carb Living  I have found not only recipes but encouraging help and understandable explanations of the Ketogenic plan and why and how it works. 

I did have a couple weeks where I gained a couple pounds back and had to lose it again.  That is normal and was probably due to the menopausal periods I still experience.  But I did not truly plateau.
In fact, as of this week I have lost 30 pounds, well past the 20ish when I would normally plateau.

At this point I usually only eat 2 meals a day, sometimes with a snack of pork rinds or fat bombs.  And I don't get starving hungry, my hypoglycemia has pretty much disappeared, the supposed IBS is a thing of the past.  I feel good and I've already had to take in some clothes so they fit.

I am not a morning person, I don't drink coffee, mostly water with some iced tea.  So brunch around 11am for me is 2 sausage patties or 4-6 pieces of bacon, 2-3 eggs scrambled with heavy cream and MCT oil, fried in butter and topped with salsa and an avocado cubed with a bit of salt.

Supper is around 5pm and that usually consists of half a plate of salad, possibly some cooked vegetables and a small piece of meat.  Sometimes fresh berries as a dessert.

Sometimes I get a bit hungry in the evening and I will have pork rinds or 1-2 fat bombs.

Then nothing until the next day's brunch.  That's the intermittent fasting part.  Going 12-18 hours with no food.  Dr Berg's videos do a great job of explaining why this works.

My biggest issue is that after eating the wrong foods and the wrong amounts for 59 years, I am insulin resistant.  That means I have to keep at it, it may take me longer than others to lose what I need to lose.  But I am not going back to the way I ate before.  Does it mean I will never eat a favorite food again?  No, I probably will at some point as a special treat, but then will go right back to my keto plan.  It is a lifestyle change I know I can do because I am satisfied with my meals, I don't have cravings or stay continually hungry anymore.

I hope this helps someone out there that has given up after trying so many times.  If I can do this, you can do this.  It works because it is how we are supposed to be eating.  Its how our ancient ancestors ate. Talk to your Dr if you need to first, but please watch some of Dr Berg's videos beforehand so you go to your Dr armed with some knowledge.

Dealing with Sciatica

It Wasn't Really IBS

For many years I thought I had IBS, irritable bowel syndrome.  I had looked at reputable sites on the internet and read about symptoms, I read a lot at a support group for IBS and learned about trigger foods.  And I sounded like a text book case.

I could not eat eggs, lettuce, corn, okra, tomato skin or milk and milk products.  If I did I ended up with bloating, really bad stomach cramps and diarrhea.  All typical symptoms of most people with IBS.

So I avoided all those foods even though I had eaten them when I was younger with no problems.  Years have gone by where I could not eat some of my favorite things.  That's a real bummer.

Then this past Easter I made deviled eggs (a favorite) with eggs from my friend's chickens.  I ate 3 halves knowing I would pay for it later.  But I never had even a twinge in my gut.  What just happened?  And how and why?

Well the chickens are free range birds and are fed a totally organic, non GMO diet.  You would not believe how dark yellow those egg yolks are.  I experimented again later on by eating 4 halves of deviled eggs....absolutely no problems.

Next I tried corn, we bought some organic corn on the cob which was a little pricey, but I ate a whole ear with no aches or cramps or being up all night.  So I tried canned organic corn, no problems again, even when I ate a whole cup of it.  Same result with frozen organic corn.

I grew lots of tomatoes this year, from organic seed, and have had no issues no matter how many I eat raw.  

It used to be just iceberg lettuce that irritated my gut, but then I started having issues with romaine and other types too.  Until we bought organic lettuces.  Now I can eat salads again.

My conclusion is that it was not IBS but a reaction to the GMO food sources and the pesticides and herbicides used on the food.  I believed that GMO food was not good for us, how can chemicals never meant to be in food be good for us?  And maybe for some people they will never cause an issue, but if so then why are there so many more people with gut issue diseases now?  Every other commercial touts a new drug for IBS, Crohn's or any of a number of gut diseases.  And the side effects of those drugs are horrible, mostly they destroy your kidneys & liver.

I learned a lot about gut health from a doctor in my hometown in MI.  He has some wonderful YouTube videos that explain what causes some diseases and how to cure them with your diet.  The truth is that we are slowly being poisoned by big ag's and big pharma's attempts to make more money.  

Check out some of the DBCnaturalhealth videos and see what you think.

How I'm Eating Healthy, Losing Weight & Keeping Track Of It

I don't usually talk much about myself but I am going to break away from that and share my healthy eating and weight loss goals.

Let me explain how this all got started.  I got a urinary tract infection, but just could not kick it, it went to a kidney infection and I had to treat it with antibiotics which really made me feel bad as it kills off the good bacteria in your gut.  That was 2 weeks of feeling bad with even the thought of food making me nauseous.

Just as I started to feel almost normal except for not wanting to eat, I got terrible pains where my kidney on the right side is.  Even Aleve didn't kill the pain so I started googling everything by symptom.  It had to have been a kidney stone.  I drank copious amounts of lemon water, a little fruit juice like I had been drinking.   That was another week of feeling bad and doing nothing and eating next to nothing.  Finally I started feeling better with no more pain.  I kept up the lemon water and taking Dr Christopher's Kidney Formula supplements.  I still take at least one a day.

In that 3 week period I lost 18 pounds and it was not all water because I kept drinking water continuously.   But after a couple weeks of eating again, albeit lots less than I had previously, I did gain back 12 pounds.  

Now Mom was wanting to lose weight again after talking with her Dr. and I wanted to continue losing as well.  But I also wanted all of us to eat more healthy with out the processed foods and junk we had been eating.  And Mom even bought a huge box of organic spring greens last week!

So for 3 weeks we have been eating simple food with a salad at least every other day.  And we have been keeping track of our food at My Fitness Pal

This is a free online program that will track your food, water and exercise for you.  In the food diary you can even find food from restaurants as well as name brand food from the grocery store.  It will not only give you the calories but grams of carbs, fat, protein, sodium & sugar.  That's the part I find most interesting.  

As you complete your food diary for the day it will tell you what weight you should be at in 5 weeks if you ate like that every day.  Some days I go over the calories, some days I'm under, but most days I stay between 1000 & 1200 calories.

With joint issues and arthritis I don't exercise so I'm not doing that part, but even so I am very happy to report that today I have lost that 12 pounds I gained back plus another 1/2 pound.

I have more to tell you but I will wait until another time for that.  I will tell you that my goal is to lose 100 pounds and at almost 58 years old that's a tall order.

Magnesium Oil For Pain Management ~ Could It Help You?

Do you have aches & pains and take any of a number of OTC pain relievers for them?  I have, to the point I should probably buy stock in some of them.  I'm a lot closer to 60 than 50 now and the pains just don't go away anymore.

Sciatica in the lower back and arthritis and tendon issues in the knees are the worst.  But I have tried something that actually helps with the pain and doesn't load my system with kidney and liver damaging NSAIDs.

It's called Magnesium Oil and a friend told me about it.  It helps her and she has rheumatoid arthritis so I figured I should at least try it.  

I bought this one on Amazon, there are several brands out there, and it was $12 with no shipping charge (without Amazon Prime).

In case you can't see through the glare, the brand is Swanson Ultra and it has ONE (1) ingredient!  100% pure Magnesium Chloride Brine mined from deep within the earth at the ancient Zechstein seabed in the Netherlands.  It's not really an oil but it has a little oily feel that absorbs into your skin.  

I am not a medical practitioner so if you have any questions talk to your doctor, do your own research, etc. before using.

  

I will share with you what it did for me.  The sciatica is relieved, the knees feel better than they have in years and just tonight my hand was aching from holding the computer mouse and my rotary cutter more than usual for 2 days.  I sprayed the palm of my hand and literally within 30 seconds the aching stopped.

I've taken magnesium tablets before and they help some but mostly I was relying on ibuprofen, aleve and salonpas patches, all of which are NSAIDs.  This spray works so much better and faster without the problems of NSAIDs.

I have no idea how they found that seabed and discovered it was good for pain management, but I am so very grateful!

And in case you are interested, I have not been compensated in any way for this post, I just wanted to help any fellow pain sufferers out there that are interested.  And remember, do your own research!

Comparing the Protein in Your Foods - a Good Chart

This chart may be a bit hard to read but if you click on it you can see it better.  

There are a lot of charts out there that will show you how much protein various foods have in them, what I like about this chart is that it compares the same amount of the different foods.

This chart may help you if you are hypoglycemic, diabetic or have chosen the Atkins or South Beach diet.

Hypoglycemia or Low Blood Sugar ~ What Is It?

Let me say first off that I am not a doctor and if you are having medical issues please seek medical assistance.

I have had low blood sugar for many years but it has gotten worse lately and I am struggling to get it under control.  It has gone from just weakness, tiredness and headaches that eating a large amount of protein will cure quickly, to a variety of other symptoms.  I am going to post a part of a good article on hypoglycemia here that I found on Natural News

(NaturalNews) Hypoglycemia is probably one of the most widespread disorders in America and the civilized nations today.

It is not a disease as such, but rather a symptom that arises from a wide range of hormonal abnormalities and imbalances reflecting the irregular function of many glands and organs.

Unfortunately, it often goes undiagnosed and its multitude of symptoms are frequently labeled as emotional or psychological in origin. The symptoms are usually episodic, being related to the time and content of the previous meal and are usually improved by eating.

Symptoms include nervousness, irritability, emotional problems, fatigue, depression, craving sweets, inability to concentrate, cold sweats, shakes, palpitations, tingling of the skin and scalp, dizziness, trembling, fainting, blurred vision, cold extremities, nausea, midmorning and mid-to-late afternoon tiredness, anxiety, indecisiveness, crying spells, allergies, convulsions, and hyperactivity, for openers.

Often undiagnosed is an understatement, misdiagnosed is closer to the mark.  Look it up at WebMD and after about 2 sentences you get all kinds of information on diabetes.  It is NOT diabetes.  Please follow the link to Natural News and read the whole article and especially the comments at the end.  It's not long but will give you a much better idea of what you are dealing with.

Everything except the last 2 symptoms I have experienced.  And lately it hits me in the night when I am asleep and I awake with shivering chills so bad I can't do anything but lay there waiting for it to end.  Then it is a day or 2 before I can bring myself to eat as I get nauseous.  After about 4 days I almost feel normal and can eat again.

Low blood sugar levels can affect different people different ways, just like any other medical issue.  I agree with the commenter on the original article that said this:

It saddens me to read a valuable article like this and find suggestions to eat the very foods that harm me as a Hypoglycemic.

By time I learned that the following foods have a grave impact on my health:

Whole wheat bread (free of sugar or not)

Quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, legumes (they all turn quickly to glucose and raise my BGL dramatically in a short time)

Dried fruit, fruit, fruit juices, and fresh vegetable juices are all rapidly absorbable but should be consumed in moderation. When eating fruit it's best to be taken with some protein in the form of nuts or organic cottage cheese. (I totally agree with this)

Oatmeal, rice milk, baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes (raises BGL rapidly which causes energy drain and "crash" after that)

Grapefruit and bananas (and absolute NO for my body. Same case as above)

This is my experience with the foods above so far, and I've been in the healing journey for 5 years now.

For me, I need large amounts of protein, high protein foods, like beef.  It helps the fastest and the best when I am having issues.  Once my protein reserves are back up to normal then I can eat the complex carbohydrates with no problem but I need to keep the protein up as well.

I'll be posting again on this issue with some things that may help others.  Please do add your comments and let us know what works for you and what doesn't as well as your experiences.

Get Rid of a Headache Without Pills

Have a headache that won't go away?  Don't like eating OTC pills?  You might want to try this.

Yup, a cup of coffee.  I'm told it even works on some migraines.  The caffeine dilates the blood vessel and eases the headache.

I have had several days running of sinus pressure headaches due to the weather.  I also don't like taking too many OTC pain relievers as they are not good for your kidneys.  Today, even that did not help.  So I brewed up an extra strong pot of coffee and made my elixir.

You see I don't like coffee so I take a large cup, dump in a package of instant hot chocolate, add coffee and sip it down.  Today required a second cup.  It works.  For sinus pressure I also will soak a washcloth with extremely hot water, squeeze it out and lay over my eyes and nose.  Ahhhh, that feels so much better now.

If you can't drink caffeinated coffee or have chocolate for whatever reasons you probably need to pass this by and if you have any questions, please check with your physician first.

What Kind of Sugar are You Using?

Sugar is not just sugar.

Of course there are different types, white, light brown, dark brown, raw, etc.

But check out these 2 kinds I ran into at Walmart.

 This one in the white bag was $1.98 for 5 lbs.

This one in the blue bag was $2.18 for 4 lbs.

The blue bag sugar is clearly marked as CANE sugar, usually the only kind we get here in TX as this is where the sugar cane grows.  The white bag sugar was interesting.  If  you look at the ingredient list it says "Sugar", that's all, just sugar.  But sugar has to be made from something, either sugar cane or sugar beets.

A little search online told me the difference, the white bag sugar is a mix of cane and beet sugars, my guess is more beet than cane.  So why don't they label it as such?  And why is it so much cheaper?

Could it be they don't want us to know that it contains beet sugar?  And that commercial sugar beets are all GMO products now?  I don't know about you but I really don't want to eat pesticides if I don't have to.  

So I'll stick with the cane sugar, so far they have not needed to play with that genetically as weeds are not a problem with that crop.

And did you know you can make your own brown sugar by just adding molasses to white sugar?

Amber and Hematite for Arthritis?

I was reading some of the blogs I follow and a link led me to this blog.  She had an article on the healing properties of amber.  This was all news to me, I had no idea it was good for pain.

I do have arthritis and for the last month my left elbow has been really giving me a time of it.  Nothing I'd tried seemed to work, not even Aleve.  So I dug out my amber necklace seen in the photo above and put it on.  Then I remembered I used to wear a hematite anklet, until it broke, for my sciatica.  Hmmmm, on went the old thinking cap and into the boxes of beads I went.  

Last night I created this bracelet with unpolished amber chunks, magnetic hematite, quartz crystal and glass beads.  I put it on right away.  Then I even slept in both the necklace and bracelet.  

My elbow is usually not too bad in the morning as it has had time to rest.  I wore the necklace & bracelet all day.  The pain comes and goes in my elbow and at its worst (when I am trying to lift something) it's probably a 6 on a pain scale.  Mostly it did not hurt at all today and when it did, it was probably a 1½.  And I took no pain meds.  

The baltic amber has about 8% succinic acid which is absorbed by your skin and that's supposedly what does the trick.  The magnetic hematite is the kind you want, magnetics have been used for years to combat arthritis and to help heal broken bones.

I'm going to continue wearing the jewelry even though it doesn't really match my wardrobe.  If you try this be sure to wear the pieces next to your skin.  I'd be interested in knowing if any of you have used amber or hematite before or if you will now and what effects if any you got in the past or get in the future.

Bean Leaves to Get Rid of Bedbugs?

So Europeans for generations used bean leaves to trap bedbugs with great success.

Now scientists are trying to figure out how to replicate the bean leaves synthetically so they can get rid of bed bugs.

Read the article here.

My question is why don't they just take the money they are spending on this research and development, which is apparently not going perfectly, and pay the bean farmers for their leaves?

Guess it's too simple a solution for a scientist.

Cranberry for UTI

Yesterday I ended up with lower back pain which until later this morning I thought was the sciatica.  Wrong!  Turned out to be a Urinary Tract Infection and it was my kidney that hurt so bad.   They hurt in pretty much the same place so unless I have other symptoms it's hard to tell which it is.

Most folks go to the doctor with this but since I don't have insurance and can't afford a doctor, much less trust them I use cranberries for a UTI.  I get the pure 100% cranberry juice and drink it continually supplemented by cranberry tablets.

I am not a doctor, nor do I have any medical training.  If you need a doctor, please go see one.  I'm just sharing what has worked for me in a non-life-threatening situation.  Please know that the day it doesn't work I will go to the doctor, kidney failure is not something I want to go through.

(this picture is the only one I found and is not of pure cranberry juice, it is a mix of juices)

The cranberry juice is from Ocean Spray and I've found that Dollar General is the cheapest as far as price.

I had some Rexall cranberry pills that were 4200mg but they were not doing anything for me so I bought what I usually buy which is AZO, mine are 900mg.  I cannot recommend them highly enough.  Dollar General had them where as the CVS next door did not.

Within 4 hours I consumed 3 large glasses of juice and 4 tablets and the pain was gone.  I'm still drinking juice and taking tablets tonight because the urine output is not what it should be yet.

I am going to start drinking at least one glass of juice a day to try and keep another UTI from happening, they seem to be more of a problem the older I get.

AZO has a great tablet for yeast infections too.

Making Elderberry Tincture with Brandy

In the spring or early summer elderberry bushes produce flat heads of tiny white flowers.  Then they start forming fruit.

In late summer you get droopy clusters of berries.  

You only want to use the flowers or the berries, do not use any other part of the plant.  I have read that other parts are useful but also read that they are toxic, better to be safe than sorry.

Only use the black fruit, never the unripe berries and definitely not the red type.

Always be sure of what plant you are looking at using.  There are lots of guides available.  I like this particular website for Texas.  There are some great YouTube videos as well...I recommend these, the man is extremely knowledgeable.

I had an elderberry bush in the garden but some 'help' I had either cut it down or the drought last year did it in.  However I did find some growing wild just up the street where they cut a road for a fill dirt lot.  I gathered the berries on 2 successive weekends, popping the first batch in the freezer.  There were a few more but I will leave them for the birds to eat and hopefully grow more.

In all I had enough to cover the bottom of the pint jar about 3/4" deep.  I used a wooden spoon to smash the berries and poured in the brandy to make the tincture.  You could use any type strong alcohol you like but one of the recipes I found said Brandy made for a better tasting syrup.  

I laid the jar sideways so you could better see the berries and seeds in it.  It has been in the cupboard for a week and the brandy is definitely getting darker.  The berries seem to be losing their color.  

I keep the jar in the cupboard and give it a little shake every day.  In 4-6 weeks it should be done.  I'll probably strain it then though you can leave the berries in it.  I intend to use it with warmed honey in tea for colds and flu.  

If I need a cough syrup I will just mix some with warm honey and maybe a bit of powdered ginger.  I may also make some ginger spiced honey with grated ginger for this purpose.  Especially since I have ginger growing in the garden.  Sometimes living in zone 9 is a good thing even if we do get hurricanes.

I've added this update to the posts on Yarrow Oil:

9/4/2012
I had the yarrow oil steeping for some time.  I opened the jar today to see if it was ready and it had a yucky moldy scum on the top so to be safe I threw it all out.  My conclusion is that fresh plant material is good for tinctures but for oils you need to use dried plant material. 

Please note!  I am not a medical practitioner or expert, please do your own research and be certain of what you are using if you choose to make your own herbal remedies.  Some people may have allergies to some plants, always consult an expert if you are not absolutely certain of something.  If you have medical conditions or are on medications always consult your physician first.

Linking up to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways

Condense/Combine To Save Storage Space

A little picture tutorial on how to save some storage space.  I am showing just one product but think about other items you have that the same principal could apply to.

It's hot and humid here near the Gulf coast for most of the year.  I use powder every day to keep dry and cool and have found that the medicated works best for me.  The big name brand can be pricey so I use the Dollar General brand.

It's sold by weight and settles after the bottle is filled, usually to 1/3 of the bottle.   I buy 2 bottles at a time so I can condense the 2 into 1 to save space in my bathroom cupboard.

Pry the tops off with your fingers, it's easy, then surround one opening tightly with your fingers.  Then you can start dumping the second bottle into the first.  You want to keep the 2 openings nearly together so as not to make a huge mess.  There will be some mess so I suggest either do this outside or lay down a towel first.  You'll probably have to turn the 2nd bottle right side up a time or two in order to get all the powder out.

Now it's almost full but still leaves you some shaking room.  To be frugal you could just add some cornstarch or even some baking soda.  I like cornstarch as it's softer.  You can do this with any powder you like to make it go farther.

And not too much of a mess, but one I'll shake out outside before washing the towel.

Now what else could you condense to save some storage space?  I have often combined different shampoos together, or conditioners.  I once got a great deal on the travel size bottles at a resale shop and just mixed them all together.  Just a spoonful of peanut butter left?  Add it to the new jar you have so the old jar can be recycled or re-used to store something else.  How about jelly or jam?  Add it to the next jar even if they are different flavors, you might find a new combo you love.  Spices, nuts, most any dry foods, laundry soap and so on.

And don't forget to recycle the plastic bottles!

Linking to the Barn Hop at Homestead Revival.

What's In YOUR Bread?

If you don't bake your own bread, take a really good look at the ingredient list on the next loaf you think about buying.  I had recently been buying Orowheat bread at Big Lots for less than $2 a loaf.  I like the kind with nuts & seeds in it, whole wheat, oatmeal, etc., but did some looking the other day as they didn't have the 12 grain I had been buying.  

They had several varieties, most of which had sugar, one had high fructose corn syrup and all had cellulose.   What?  The last one I bought at the regular grocery store did not have that!   It seems Orowheat makes different versions and since it is generally lower income people who shop at Big Lots, they get the lower quality bread.

I had read somewhere months ago about cellulose being used in processed foods.  It bulks things up and is a cheap additive.  Supposedly good for us as fiber.  Yeah, right, indigestible wood pulp.  That's right, WOOD, as in from trees.  Trees are plants and parts of them are edible and nutritious, but we're talking sawdust here.

It's in more and more things, especially mixes and processed foods.  It may not kill you but do you really want to eat something that was never meant to be eaten?

Here are some articles I found interesting and that helped to show me how insidious this practice is.

Main St has a 15 page list of common foods including fast foods that have cellulose.

Our Civilisation has an overview of commercial bread-making, yikes!

Wikipedia articles here and here.  

Food Renegade even tells us it is in shredded cheese!

*

So this girl is planning to learn how to bake bread.  I have tried in the past and it has always come out as bricks you could build a house with.  The only luck I ever had was with a beer bread recipe and if that's the only one I ever master then so be it.  I love Ezekiel bread but it can only be found at one store and is nearly $5 a loaf!

I did get an $8 bread machine at the thrift store that had only been used once, came with book and slicer thing included.  I am reading and learning.  Wish me luck on this journey.

Update on Making Yarrow Oil

Three weeks ago I posted about making yarrow oil here.  I had a slight problem, possibly due to the plant material being fresh rather than dried, although I am told fresh is better and will produce a stronger oil.  I got a bit of white moldy stuff growing on top.  After doing some online checking, that is not uncommon and won't hurt a thing.  Just needed to scoop out the fuzzy stuff and the plant material it was attached to.  

The problem was oxygen!  As you can see in the above photo I had a bit of head room.  Some of the yarrow poked above that and that caused it.  So I cleaned out the fuzzies and according to the remedy I found, added more oil to reduce the air in the jar.  So far so good.  I will let it go another week or two before I make the salve.

Here's the pure beeswax I got from a beekeeper that I will be using to make the salve with.

In case you are not familiar with yarrow, it has been used for ages for wound healing among other things.  Achilliea Millifolium is its Latin name.  Named for Achilles and the wound he received in the heel.  It was often used on the battle field because of its ability to staunch bleeding.  It is an astringent and antiseptic and has a very strong medicinal odor.  

It's very easy to grow and loves the sun.  It will spread but is fairly easy to contain by pulling up the fronds where you don't want it.  Wikipedia has a good article on yarrow's uses and there are many other websites that do also.  

I'm not medically trained and do caution you to do your research and always check with your doctor before using an herbal remedy, especially if you are on medication.

9/4/2012
I had the yarrow oil steeping for some time.  I opened the jar today to see if it was ready and it had a yucky moldy scum on the top so to be safe I threw it all out.  My conclusion is that fresh plant material is good for tinctures but for oils you need to use dried plant material. 

Making Yarrow Oil

It's Yarrow time again.  It is blooming and I needed to gather it before the thunderstorms come this afternoon.  This is almost a quart size jar and inside are all the flowers and some leaves from the yarrow in my garden.  They are submerged in extra virgin olive oil.  

There's about equal amounts of herb and oil.  Most recipes use dried herbs but I thought the fresh would be better as the ingredient you want to infuse the oil would not have degraded from being dried.  Perhaps it is the water in the plant that they want dried out.  I'm not sure and this is an experiment.  If it goes wrong there is always next year or I can try again with just leaves.

Some recipes say to heat the olive oil, others say not as it cooks out the good stuff.  I'm going with not heating, I will just let it sit for some weeks.  I ordered some natural beeswax so I can make salve from some of it too.

Yarrow is excellent for wounds, but make certain they are totally clean first because it speeds up the closing and healing of wounds.  It's antiseptic and anti-bacterial.  Along with the yarrow wound wash I made here, the oil and salve will be good to have on hand.

And I have a bag full of dried cleavers to experiment with as well.


9/4/2012
I had the yarrow oil steeping for some time.  I opened the jar today to see if it was ready and it had a yucky moldy scum on the top so to be safe I threw it all out.  My conclusion is that fresh plant material is good for tinctures but for oils you need to use dried plant material.

Yarrow Wound Wash

Its a very balmy and humid day here with temps in the mid to high 70's.  And yes, it really is January.  Last week we had nights down to 32...welcome to Texas.

Today I should be doing dishes and sweeping and mopping floors, but am I?  Not when something more fun enters my mind.

I made decorated labels for my yarrow wound wash.  Printed out on scrapbook paper and accented with pretty silver borders I bought months ago.  I think it turned out quite nicely and will look ever so much prettier in my bathroom, not to mention that it now says what it is instead of what it used to be--which was Bombay Sapphire Gin.  It was a bit pricey but I really liked the blue bottle which will be used for years to come.

This is a photo of what's inside, lots of yarrow flower heads in the gin.  I made this 2 years ago from the yarrow that grows in the garden and you can see I've used a bit of it.  I use it just like alcohol or peroxide, though I have both of those in the cupboard too--in their boring plastic bottles.

Yarrow is a wonderful antiseptic and helps woulds heal faster, I tend to think all the herbal stuff in this gin will help as well.  According to the sides of the bottle it has almonds, lemon peel, liquorice, juniper berries, iris roots, angelica, coriander, cassia bark, cubeb berries and grains of paradise.  The fact that its 94% proof probably helps too.

Anyway I went to use some on what may be a spider bite, I don't know as I never felt it until it swelled a bit last night, doesn't look bad but I'll keep an eye on it as we do have brown recluse spiders here.  After use I decided it was time for nicer labels, one on front and back, both the same.

So what are you doing for fun today?

Ongoing Battle

Wonder what I have been up to lately?

Ever hear of a pinched nerve or sciatica and wonder what it is?

I can tell you as I have an ongoing battle with one, have had for about 15 or so years.  It doesn't totally stop me from doing things but it sure slows me down and there are some things I just don't dare do for fear of making it worse.  If you have never had a pinched nerve be very grateful.

They can occur in several areas, mine is in my lower back on the right side.  This is how you know you have one: a small nagging pain in your lower back just to the side of your spine that moves down your leg and can follow to your toes as mine does.  

Mine is the L4 version in the above picture even though this picture does not show it going to the toes.  The dark areas are where you will feel burning pain or numbness.  The first time it occurred I had no idea what it was, the pain was only relieved by visits to the chiropractor, ice packs to the lower back and anti inflammatory pain tablets.  It took months for the numbness in my toes to go away.

Since then it re-occurs usually when I overdo or perhaps turn the wrong way or lift something too heavy.  This last week I have once again been battling it, and it has not been fun.  Being awakened in the night with burning pain down your thigh is something I would wish on no one.  If the ice packs and pills do their job it is numb come morning and thankfully I have a mostly desk job and can still work.

I no longer own a bed, I sleep in a recliner and when it gets this bad I stuff a pillow under my right knee as well.

Time to go get my ice pack and ibuprofens again.....house cleaning and yard work may have to wait again this weekend too.

addendum 3/20/11:
In case anyone wants to comment about me posting on Blogger Silence Day,  I have just found out there was one.  Supposedly it was to honor those who have suffered in the various earthquakes and tsunamis.  Personally I feel that a day of constant prayer or service to those in need is a better thing to do than not post on your blog on a certain day.