Nearly The Bionic Woman » Extras

I Am Not My Illness Even If You Can't See It

Christina — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:51:31 +0000

I just read a beautiful post by a woman getting ready to celebrate one year since she started sharing with everyone her struggles and triumphs in the world of illness. As part of that club, I am so fortunate to have people like Dannette (FibroHaven) in my life even if only on my computer screen.

I didn’t even realize that it’s National Invisible Chronic Illness Awarness Week. You may be wondering what exactly that means and how someone could be ill and you don’t know. I have lived this way for many years and have learned to live with it and hide the symptoms. There are people all around you that are suffering with “accepted” diseases like cancer and you may not know it. Imagine living every day in so much pain that each movement is a struggle. Fatigue so strong that you can barely stand at all.

“But you don’t look sick.”

Can someone please tell our bodies that? I would like to personally thank the makeup companies although even that doesn’t always work. I used to keep it to myself because I didn’t want to burden anyone else. I still do not let on to a lot of it because I don’t need the pity. If anyone asks though, I am more than willing to indulge their questions so that they can understand and be more understanding. Sometimes, this still leads to being treated differently but most of the time it leads to helping someone else even if not right away.

Just remember this:

I am not just my illness.

5 Steps To Reversing Type 2 Diabetes And Insulin Resistance

Christina — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:23:48 +0000

by Mark Hyman, MD

A twitter friend just directed me to this article regarding Type 2 Diabetes and the insulin that is commonly used to treat it.

Personally, I prefer using “God given food” as I call it to heal things other than pharmaceutical medicines. This is a great article that is a must read for all those with type 2 Diabetes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/5-steps-to-reversing-type_b_263424.html

How Many Ways Is Gluten Affecting Our Bodies?

Christina — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:35:03 +0000

I know that a lot of my posts have involved gluten lately. So, what’s wrong with gluten? I have personally enjoyed everything about it my entire life. Bread, pasta, cookies and cakes, oh my. Why is it so bad for us all of a sudden? And, is it really all of a sudden?

Physicians are definitely not taught enough about nutrition and food in their classes and are pushed too much into drug sales for the companies profiting from their inventions. When exactly did God get brushed aside with all of His amazing inventions? You remember them, right? Fruits, vegetables, lean meats.

Perhaps there really is something to the old adage, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Just Because I Could

Christina — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:39:21 +0000

IBS ~Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Christina — Sat, 30 May 2009 02:53:24 +0000

I need some help here.

I thought that I had food poisoning two weeks ago and have had diarrhea ever since. I try not to think too much into things but this is really becoming a problem. Of course, I am already almost ready for bikini season but I can see this going too far very quickly. Also, I would really love to be able to eat!

Do you have IBS and how do you handle it? What do you eat? Help!

Taste Of Cincinnati

Christina — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:26:06 +0000

Hello World.

My son and I went down to Taste of Cincinnati this afternoon. It really looked like it could be a lot of fun, if only I felt better and it wasn’t a million degrees.

Lots of yummy food from different vendors around Cincinnati, games, rides and tons of bands. For those of you that live in the tri-state area, it’s going on until tonight at Midnight and tomorrow from 12n -12m and then Monday from 12n – 9pm.

It is cooling down right now and would be a much better time to go. If I can get some strength, I really like to go back. Perhaps I will drive part way since I live quite a few blocks away and the festival spans at least 4 blocks.

Remember to bring some anti-bacterial gel for your hands and may I suggest using the bathroom before you leave the house!? I was forced to use one of the orange boxes just after noon and it was already very undesirable. Granted I am opposed to public bathrooms at all. Macy’s was much better and there are sinks. Plus, you are handling money and eating.

You can find out what bands are playing and when and map out your eating adventure by going on-line or picking up a list at some of the vendors. Have fun.

The Transition Phase

Christina — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:08:59 +0000

Hello World!

To all of my friends even if we have not yet met. I used to have this blog with blogger.com and was told to change it to WordPress. Since I wanted to make it easier for everyone to find, I purchased the domain name and hosting and attempted the self hosting version. It worked for a short time but apparently I get a little trigger happy and changed things that I shouldn’t have. Now, I can not figure out how to fix it.

No worries though. I chose to concentrate more on the writing and leave the technical stuff to the pro’s. So please accept my apologies for the chaos. Thank you for your patience and I look forward to continually learning from each of you.

Learning More About Autism

Christina — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:00:59 +0000

As promised, I am working on a better understanding of Autism and treatments.

The basis of what I am doing right now is studying what Autism is and how it may be addressed with chelation. It seems now that there are different ways of chelating, which can be most important in bringing about a positive change.

Not only is chelation, which is the process in which chemicals bind with minerals, important in helping relieve symptoms of Autism but also changes in the child’s diet.

An important first step as far as I can tell is to test each child for certain causes that can be attributed to the Autism itself. Please be prepared that your child’s physician may not agree with medical or dietary treatments for Autism so do not back down the fight for your child. There are other symptoms and conditions that can go hand in hand with the diagnosis, which can be first addressed.

Does your child also suffer from comorbid conditions? This means a situation where there are one or more disorders in addition to the primary disorder occurring simultaneously. ~ Allergies, constipation, diarrhea, recurrent bacterial infections (like ear or sinus infections), not sleeping properly~ These are just a few and do not mean that your child has or will have Autism. I am talking about in conjunction with.

A lot of parents seem to have a child diagnosed with Autism shortly after vaccinations containing Mercury and/or Thimerasol. The MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) immunization and the flu shot are the one’s that are specifically named.

According to Dr. Kartzinel, “It appears that a toxic overload impacts the body’s defense systems with the total end result being a child who cannot appropriately manage everyday stimuli.”

Since the ingredient in these vaccinations that is causing the greatest concern in Mercury, it only makes sense to try and avoid them or rid the body of this substance. This is where chelation comes in to play since it is a well-known method of ridding the body of heavy metals and toxins.

Three types of chelation therapies that I had originally read about are dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), dimercaptopropane sulfonate (DMPS), or ethylene diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). These are done intravenously. Further research has brought up an oral method called clatheration using PCA-rx, which is one example. The idea is that the latter option neutralizes the toxin that it bonds to preventing the removal of other cells with the damaged cells.

The most natural and easiest to try is cilantro, which is also called Chinese parsley and coriander. It was discovered in a study completely separate from Autism and found to be a natural chelator. In fact, it has been called “poor mans chelation therapy”. Dr. Omura found in one of his studies that a patient has higher levels of Mercury in his urine after consuming a healthy portion of Vietnamese soup, which had a lot of cilantro in it.

So, the first thing that I would do is have my child’s pediatrician check for heavy metal levels in his/her urine.

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies Review

Christina — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:20:00 +0000

On the Bob’s Red Mill site, there are no reviews of these cookies. I feel that there certainly should be and I have made them twice, two different ways so here it is.

These chocolate chip cookies are made from a gluten free cookie mix. The directions call for
1/2 C Margarine (cold) and 1 egg or replacement (made from cornstarch and water).

The first time that I made them, I used real butter and an egg. The first batch of cookies were baked for only 10 minutes because I usually over bake chocolate chip cookies for my husbands taste. The second tray was actually baked for about 12 minutes because I forgot about them. I liked the batch that was cooked longer because they were not as “raw” in the middle.

When a standard cookie is baked longer, it simply becomes harder as it cools and is good for dunking. When these cookies are baked longer, they are simply less…raw. I can’t use the word chewy or gooey because that doesn’t say it for me.

The taste and consistency is much different than a regular chocolate chip cookie. My husband doesn’t care for them but I really like them. They almost have a crispy sugar texture and seem a bit sweeter to me. The cookies are gritty, which may be due to the lower moisture. I say this in regards to the batter. When you mix the butter/egg mixture with the powdered mix, it is not nearly as creamy as with the standard batter. The gluten free cookie mix is very dry but does stick together when pinched. In order to form the cookies you simply squeeze some of the batter together.

The second time that I tried the recipe, I used Fleishmann’s margarine. The consistency is the same and the baking time still makes a big difference. The cookies made with the real butter are definitely richer and I prefer them more than with the margarine. If I made them without the butter the first time, I may not have tried the second time. I do not have any interest in making them myself using the egg-less option, yet I am very curious to how it would come out so please let me know if you have tried it this way.

Thanks and happy eating!

Gluten Free Food Eaten So Far ~ Bob's Red Mill Pizza

Christina — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:41:00 +0000

So far I have not been doing that well on the Gluten Free Diet. It takes a lot more preparation when you travel for a living than it would if I were just staying home. Also, I am not that thrilled with what I have tried so far. I feel like I am simply on the Adkins diet, which with a kidney transplant, I am not prepared to try without more research.

The three days while on my trip, I did OK but when I got home, I immediately had a sandwich! Funny thing is that it wasn’t even all I thought it would be. Then Monday night, I had a slice of regular pizza and, nothing. Made me sick actually. Hmm. Something to think about. Is there such a thing as an almost gluten free diet though?

I have tried a few things from Bob’s Red Mill. The chocolate chip cookies are not too bad (more on that later) but the pizza left a lot to be desired.

The packaging says that the mix makes a light, crispy delicious pizza crust. Some of the ingredients are whole grain brown rice flour, whole grain sorghum flour, whole grain millet, tapioca flour and potato flour.

I had a hard time finding out what potato flour is exactly and finally found this under flour on wikipedia: potato starch flour is obtained by grinding the tubers to a pulp and removing the fibre by water-washing.

I was really interested in finding out exactly what potato flour was because when I bit into the cooked pizza it tasted like I was biting into mashed potatoes! I am going to assume that I did it wrong and will try it again. Someone, please tell me that I did it wrong.

When I mixed together the ingredients, even after resting and rising, the dough was very wet and sticky. The package says to spread it out onto a greased cookie sheet with wet hands. There was really no other way that it was going to happen. Trust me, I tried. It just stuck to my fingers. I got it as thin as I could and once baked, the final product was really very thick even though I had spread it pretty thin. I think that I can work with it somemore to get the texture more edible however, there’s the taste. More like cardboard than flavorful pizza crust. Perhaps, some fresh herbs.

Have you made a GFCF or at least gluten free pizza lately? Please share your findings.