BRUMI1968

Another option, albiet an imperfect one, is to mix some salt in some olive oil and freeze it. it works like butter - like VERY hard butter. It tastes olive oily. Also, coconut oil is very good for you, and you can mix some salt into it to make 'butter' as well.

Good luck.

We cooked and ate by lantern. It was fun. The whole meal was more fun. The hommade corn tortillas turned out nicely too, even though it was hard to see in the pan if they were cooking right.

Even though gas mileage and cars get most of the press attention, the overwhelming majority of power/pollution generated by individuals in the US is in heating and cooling homes. All that electricity comes from coal or hyroelectric or whatever - it's 40% of our consumption. And another thing, how is it even ethical for an entire nation to flush their toilets with drinking water?

I'm going to eat in the dark every night! (I'll probably continue to flush my toilet whenever necessary -- but it's food for thought when so many folks, even in our country, have little access to clean water.)

google raw restaurants for there. I went to a great one in Santa Cruz a bunch of times when I was recently in San Jose. I forget what it's called though. Man was it good. There are two in San Francisco, one downtown and one in the Mission District, and one in Oakland.

Raw Restaurants are great for gluten-free folks, though you need to ask about soy sauce and miso. I had the pizza at the raw place in SantaCruz, and the tacos. Yum. Their chocolate mousse pie is the best: made from avocados, agave, and raw chocolate.

Best of luck.

I have read the book, and done the diet. I think I did the diet 100% as stated in the book for a month. 30 days w/o any sugar of any kind or fruit or anything. Here's what I found:

1) within a week I had ZERO bloating

2) within two weeks I had virtually ZERO energy.

I don't know if #2 was from die off or if it was from lack of carbs, but I finally had to add back some higher carbed foods. I drank an almond shake from Amazake and within minutes I felt brought back to life.

I think it is a great diet for healing. I do think that one has to have the time/space in their lives to go through the die off/healing crisis that one might encounter. AND, it's possible that folks need to adjust things out so they get enough calories/carbs to get on with their day.

But all in all, other than her suggestion to d%$#@#$, I thought the book made some pretty good sense. I'm happy to say more if you have specific questions, too. Oh yeah, and i love raw sauerkraut!

In finally put together a year or two ago that I am allergic to alder pollen. It is so high right now - five times higher than last year in my area - and my ONLY symptom, is headache. Well, a headache that gives me a bit of a stomach ache.

If it goes away in a while, then you get it again next early spring, you might consider it. It took me years to figure it out - and the fact that whenever I would go walk my dog by the river it would come on.

Good luck.

If this is city water, I believe they have to reimburse you for money spent on bottled water. If it is a private well, then you're on your own. Check into it if it is public water.

cod liver oil

Folks around here (Pacific Northwest) swear by Elderberry as a remedy for colds/flu. Lots of folks take it whenever they get exposed to colds, just to be sure. I have a throat spray, but have also taken syrups. Honey upsets my stomach, so I can't do the honey ones, but boy do they taste good. Look for one from Europe. Sorry I forget the name.

Ghee is not really "dairy" free since it comes from cows. It is cows butter that has been heated and had the stuff that floats to the top skimmed off. This supposedly is the casein and the lactose. However, one should not refer to it as DAIRY free. I cannot do dairy or get instantly constipated - and that includes ghee, unfortunately.

Two things to try for "butter": 1) freeze some olive oil. 2) coconut oil (virgin) with salt. I use the second one all the time as "butter", and it works very well. Additionally, it is good for you in other ways too.

Good luck.

It's possible it's the fat in salmon. It is pretty fatty, especially King. I don't know if other fatty things bother you. Just a thought.

Less than a week maybe, once I got off all sugar (I think I had a bit of a yeast problem).

The grains take longer to bloat me, and it takes longer to debloat as well. a week or two.

I'd give it at least three weeks to see if it's grains.

Good luck - hope that's what it is so you can get started with your bloat free life.

no. but you do have to shake it. the other day I poured a new box of it and it looked clear - and I realized I hadn't shaken it. Should look white or off white (winter white).

Interesting. I eat eat their seeds, oil, protein powder, and milk. Of course, I've been a bit C lately...thought it was adding back eggs. I'm going to test it as well by eliminating it and then adding it back. Thanks.

I'd consider sugar -- and rice. I don't do rice anymore, or sugar, and my bloating has finally dissipated.

A great website is out there:

Open Original Shared Link

It's a place where you can check your personal care products for toxic chemicals and the like. A note: they don't seem to mark aluminum as toxic - and I'm pretty sure there are at least some studies linking aluminum with alzheimers.

Other than that, it's very interesting! Like I said in the tag, it has nothing to do with gluten -- that is a whole other focus that is important to us, obviously. This is more endocrine disrupters, cancer causing agents, illegal agents, ect.

You can look up ingredients, specifically, and see what's what about them, which is really handy since we can't possibly know what some of these things are.

I'm going upstairs to throw away my Bumble & Bumble Curl Conscious shampoo (trial size anyway) because it scored VERY poorly.

Anyway, enjoy!

I used the spectrum spread years ago. Texture is most definitely weird, no doubt about that. It does not melt under any circumstances, so the microwave would not help. Can't remember the taste - thought it tasted like "fake butter" on popcorn.

My suggestion is to take coconut oil (solid at room temp) and add some salt to it to make "butter". Or you can freeze olive oil (and salt) for the same effect. Both of these would be healthier than "margarine", unless you have some issues with olive oil or coconut oil. The best coconut oil is "virgin" and tastes a bit like coconut, though there are brands/styles that are virtually taste free (these are less healthy than 'virgin', just like with olive oil). Coconut oil has some very healthful qualities, including fighting germs in the stomach and small intestine, and olive oil has lots of omega 6 and 9(?), both of which are good for you.

Take care

do you mean uncomfortably soft stool? i ask because as a life-long sufferer of C, i had to get used to 'normal' poop - I found it a bit soft. but really, it's been so much better for me since it has gone that way.

if you do mean overly soft or alarmingly so or uncomfortably so, you might try leaving out the probiotics for a few days and see if that clears it up...not sure.

almond milk, hemp milk, and rice milk are all alternatives to milk. (so is soy, but that a host of other potential issues). make sure they are gluten free. Pacific is a good brand that tastes good (especially the chocolate almond milk), and for the hemp, the living harvest brand is really good.

as to cheese, there are some alternatives on sandwiches/soft cheese stuff: humus is one (either garbonzo bean humus, or sunflower seed humus or something - cheap to make also). another, if you have a high speed blender is some of the "raw" cheeses. Well, I don't know why I put raw in quotes - I just made some cashew sun dried tomato cheese (cashew, sun dried tomatoes [soaked], lemon, garlic, miso [made from chickpeas and not soy, and HOPEFULLY without the smallest trace of gluten - miso is a bit complicated], water to desired thickness. It's like humus in consistency, mostly. Anyway, that only works with a good blender that can really puree nuts.

as to hard cheese - I don't know really. They do make some "fake" cheeses; I've never liked any of them, or their ingredients, mostly based on soy or really highly processed.

some things that are good to replace creaminess: sweet potato or yam with maple syrup or plain or with coconut butter/oil ... okay, that's the only thing I can think of right now.

Best of luck.

Hi Jenny,

I have never had a problem with Enjoy Life (of course, that doesn't mean that you didn't)--recently I tried their No-Nuts trail mix that did include sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. I didn't notice any symptoms from it--maybe you are sensitive to the sunflower seeds themselves? Just a thought.

It's interesting that they would use a company that also processes soy-- because they claim to be soy free. If I get a chance, I'll give them a call tomorrow and see what I can find out. I eat their stuff often, and am concerned about this, as I avoid soy, too.

I think she said the company that supplies enjoy life with sunflower butter uses soy in their facility.

Actually, I think my dog has this. She is a very small (45 lb) german shepherd. She is 12, and was put on kidney food and a medicine because she was wetting her bed (even if my hubby let her out every time she stirred during the night, poor dear). She's also on a supplement for arthritis, which got that pained look off her face.

But when I went back to my vet and said her legs just seemed weaker .. . like, she was such a dominant female, she would lift a leg to pee, and she's started to fall over when she does that, so she squats now. One of the things he did was flip her paws upside down, and he said that the fact that it takes her a second or two to flip them back, indicates its probably that. He didnt suggest testing, because he said testing is expensive and there's really no treatment - plus, 12 is pretty old for a dog.

What I've read said that it can either go fast or go slow - for her, it seems slow. She was dx'd with it at least 3-4 months ago, and she's still walking fine, even going up and down the stairs with no problem - she just trips sometimes tho. We never took really long walks, just around the block a few times a day - but when she was young, she could jump a 4 foot fence from a standstill, and now she falls if she tries to jump up a 2 foot embankment.

I met a woman who said she does chiropractic for dogs to help with that, but I havent been inspired yet . . . i have a hard enough time keeping up with the health problems of me and my three kids and my husband, sigh.

Sorry I dont have any good advice

Well thanks for your story anyway. It does sound like the same thing, and German Shepherds get this disease quite frequently; sometimes it is even called German Shepherd Degenerative Myelopathy (GSDM). For us the diagnosis is harder because you can't really be SURE that is what a dog has -- and since our breed isn't prone to it, there's always a slight question about whether or not it's that or cancer or a bulging disc or what...which is frustrating. Anyway, thanks for your story. Good luck.

Our Emmett has stabalized slightly, and we are about to try him out on some drugs they've got for the disease.

Absolutely everyone is different. Some things like Vit. C and Magnesum are known to cause diarrhea in large amounts, which is why it no doubt works again constipation.

There are three or four factors at work in your elimination:

1. water

2. bulk (fiber)

3. grease

4. nerve action (peristalsis, etc.)

For me, dairy caused terrible constipation, even in tiny amounts. I eat a high fat diet now and find very little problems with constipation, but I also eat a lot of fiber and eating raw means I get a lot of liquid as well (cooking food turns it's moisture into steam and thus takes it out of the food).

I will say that it hardly ever cleared up in a day. I would have it for days at a time no matter if I changed my diet or my behavior or whatever.

Some things that help while on the pot:

1. elevating your feet on a stool or something to emulate a squatting position.

2. massaging your abdomen and lower back

Others:

1. walking

Good luck!

I've moved away from Paleo into raw food veganism. I know, I know. Anyway, I did Paleo for a while. Bacon is not a good choice for anyone to eat, most likely. Even the best bacon, gluten free, no nitrites (in other words, uncured bacoon), is still mostly fat -- the key, though, is that it is mostly BAD fat. Good fats are avocados, coconut, hemp, flax, olive, etc. ... all raw except coconut, which stays healthy at high temps.

So no, you're not crazy. MMMMMM...bacon. When I went vegetarian years and years ago (20 years?) it was the first thing I missed. When I switched from veggie to eating meat again, it's one of the first things I added back. But now I'm back to veggie again. It was a fun bacony vacation.

As to low carbs, the danger is in getting too acid. In my case, my diet is extremely alkaline - only nuts really as acid food since I eat zero grains. (acid = meat, protein, grains, baked stuff/alkaline = most fruits and veggies) If you're balancing out acid/alkaline, you should be fine. But otherwise, it can be dangerous to focus your attention solely on "low carb". No bad carbs might be a better way to put it.

Good luck!

They really are such great dogs. We've had two, and will probably stick with the breed (or an English Bull Terrier, which is what my partner wants - he's practically obsessed with them). PB's/Staffys are not prone to the disease, but all dogs CAN get it. They still don't know what causes it. I think boxers have a slight propensity for it.

Emmett is doing alright. We are getting back the last set of blood work, and if it comes back alright, then we are probably looking at DM. Weird - a disease the "diagnose" by everything looking just fine. In fact, they don't officially diagnose the disease until the dog is dead and they do a necropsy.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your sister's dog. It's so tough. We had to put our American Staffordshire Terrier down before we got Emmett. She had massive breast cancer and a mastectomy didn't keep it out of her lymph system.

I wonder how many dogs are orphaned by war - obviously in the place of war, but also back home where folks have to leave. I think of all the dogs orphaned in Katrina. I saw so many dogs for adoption from Katrina -- you can still see it on Petfinder or whatever. That, and cities going with breed specific dog laws. Denver, for example -- a lot of dogs need to be adopted from Denver, and from Yakima, WA.

Take care.

Yes indeed. AND January is also good on the Skagit Flats (farm country) for the Tundra and Trumpeter swans, which most folks in America don't get to see in person. It is actually the farm land that allows them to come down in here en masse each winter, and as we lose the farmland, we lose the swans.

If you ever do get here in Jan to see the birds, make sure to hit the "tulip fields" to see the swans. Not as colorful as the tulips...

Take care!

I live in Bellingham, Washington and we have some great birding opportunities around here:

Bald Eagles

Great Blue Heron

Crows (okay, possibly only MY favorite)

Ravens

Hawks (Swainsons, RedTail, etc.)

Swans (Trumpeter and Tundra - and ocassionally a visitor from Asia, whose name I forget) (in winter)

all manner of waterfowl

I don't know. I don't know if we have any rare birds here in Washington - I just know I'm lucky so lucky to live on a tiny peninsula type thing between Bellingham Bay and Chuckanut Bay. Chuckanut Bay was ruined in the late 1800's from logging and by ruined I mean made into "Mud Bay" - flat and hard as a parking lot at low tide. A parking lot full of clams. Great Blue Herons, which nest in a colony less than a mile away (on the Bellingham Bay side) fly over to eat, as do bald eagles and Northwest Crows, gulls (of course), ravens.

One of my favorite things to watch is the crows harassing eagles and hawks and ravens. We've also had some osprey overhead, and fishing in the bay...amazing.

But, the Skagit River has a reknowned collection of Bald Eagles - having counts and festivals and whatnot. Look up Skagit River bald eagle and see what you come up with. I don't know where you live, but I like the birds around here lots, and think they're worth seeing.