BRUMI1968

IF she has strep, that's a big deal. But most infections of the respiratory system are VIRAL, and antibiotics are wasted on them. MANY doctors assign antibiotics even when they know it's viral, because their patient's want to think they are getting medicine. Not only is this bad for patients, it's bad for all of us, since viruses and bacteria continue to get 'used' to our medicines and to be able to survive them.

Isn't strep the one that makes you get white spots on the back of your throat?

Getting tested for STREP is important - just don't take antibiotics unless your doc can confirm it's bacterial!

I have gotten rid of most of the grass in my yard and have lots of garden plots. Most have brick borders/edging. At first I thought I would have stone paths between the plots. Then reality set in. That's expensive doings there. Anyway, I think I've come up with another solution: moss. I'm thinking if I can pull up what little grass I have in the pathways I could plant moss. What I don't know is what kind of moss would be best. Do any of you have any ideas? Or do you know of some reason why moss couldn't be used for pathways?

Different mosses have different levels of toughness -- so you'd want to do your research first. I think it sounds nice. Other options are landscape cloth and straw (which I did one year -- you get some weeds, but not many and they are easy to pull - isn't too good looking, though), coffee bean shells or chestnut shells (unless it is windy), bark (I don't like this option since I get slivers easily).

I think so long as you look up whatever varieites grow well in your area and find the toughest one, you should be fine.

You can also make a piecrust from walnuts and dates. You put two cups of each into a food processor and process until chunky, not smooth. Then you press it into a pie or tart pan. Refrigerate. Then you just add whatever -- in my case, very thinly sliced apples, raisins, apple juice, etc....in order to make apple pie. You can cook all the stuff down, or put it in raw and have a raw apple pie.

I admit I have yet to do this (don't want the apples to brown for Thursday)...but I'm making the crust today and the filling tomorrow morning.

Good luck.

The best thing about my new poop is that it no longer seems to have so much bile in it. The color is different entirely - more reddish, but I think not in a bad way. If it were fresh blood, it would look bloody, if it were stale blood, it would look black, right? Plus, it's not blood red anyway, just less yellowish/brown more reddish/brown.

I've gotten my poops so stable now (for past two to three weeks) that it's crazy. Practically no matter what I do, it comes out the same.

I am itchy again, so I don't know what that's all about...but that has nothing to do with poop, so that'll be another post.

When they're talking about lining the gloves - that's the inside. What's our risk here really, I wonder? Are the vinyl gloves coated on the outside, or the inside? I'm confused.

check out this article...it's an excerpt actually, but talks about how vinyl gloves are coated with oat powder....gotcha!

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I went on a yeast-killing sugarless diet, and had herxheimer quite badly. I could barely get out of bed. So I added back some starchy veggies, and that helped. Nonetheless, I usually feel like I'm on a seesaw with stuff like healing, and with exercising -- like I go to far too fast, though I never know where that cutoff is going to be --- and then have to swing back. I think finding the balance is key, and that takes time no matter what you're talking about.

good luck.

You said tons of salt. Do you crave salt?

I did some looking around, and found that salt cravings can be:

zinc deficiency

mineral deficiency

habit

I don't know what kind of salt you're eating, but you want to stick with sea salt or Himalayan Crystal salt. They have all the minerals in tact, whereas table salt strips the minerals. If you have a mineral deficiency, you're making it worse eat table salt.

Lastly, you should have your adrenals checked. You could have Addison's disease, or some other adrenal problem...this would influence your desire for salt as well. AND..it's the perfect reason to be tired all the time.

Good luck.

Coffee has good and bad, like all things. There is virtually nothing on this earth that can said to be "good for you" and apply to everyone, save maybe for clean water and clean air.

An example: you're constantly hearing about how great red wine is for you. Supposedly it is why French folks are so darned healthy, and Americans are so darned unhealthy ... as if something like that could be whittled down to any one thing (and as if we just drank wine with our McDonalds, we'd be healthy). So wine has these great antioxidants/it helps keep fat from sticking to your bones so to speak/ it fights cholesterol. What wine also does, if you're a woman, is raise yor risk of reproductive cancer starting at the very first glass. It has sulfites, which are bothersome to lots of folks. It is not good for everyone. And there are better sources of "antioxidants". You often don't hear that grapes and grapejuice have as much antioxidant power as wine, or green tea, or fresh fruits and vegetables.

Coffee, like most things, has gotten good and bad press. For example, a recent National Institutes of Health study said, "The effects of coffee drinking are long-lasting and exaggerate the stress response both in terms of the body

Hi. I went on the Paleo diet for a while - all meat, nuts, seeds, fruit, vegetables...yeah. No grains, no starchy veggies really, no beans.

At first it went well...but I lost about 8 pounds. I didn't mind that, though that definitely put me at the way low end of acceptable, what I hated was the lost energy.

Now I've added SMALL amounts of grains, in the form mostly of tea lattes. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I have two or three lattes each day made of rice milk, hazlenut milk, black tea, and spices. Ever since then, I started to gain back the weight. Now I weigh about 130 again (5'9) which is way more normal for me. AND, I have legs on my hikes, and some wind when I walk. It's actually really exciting to imagine being able to exercise again. I'm still going easy - focusing on dog walks and dog hikes and the like...but I was feeling too too weak.

If you are feeling strong and energetic, then losing weight is probably great.

When you did the calculator - did you put in your height/weight, or did you put in your height/desired weight? Just curious. I'm off to do the calculator myself.

Sweet potatoes, by the way, are not a nightshade, so give them a shot. (They're in the marigold family)

I gave up coffee about ten years ago. I loved it, believe you me, especially in the form of a wet cappuccino (I was living in Seattle at the time), but also in the form of a mug at Denny's with cream and sugar.

The first thing you should know, is that withdrawals from quitting coffee are relatively severe...in the form of headache. Some folks wean themselves, or switch to tea -- it depends why you're quitting. I was quitting because it bugged my digestion. Frankly, I don't need any stimulants anyway. I ended up drinking green tea on a regular basis. According to my Ayurvedic doc (from India), I'm not supposed to have fermented things, and black tea is fermented, so I got started on the green. You can really become quite a conoisseur (sp?) of it. It has lots of health benefits, and WAY less caffeine, but it does have caffeine in it. Another concern with green tea is fluoride, believe it or not. (I've actually quite recently quit drinking green tea for a spell, just to see.)

If you are quitting for the caffeine part - you certainly might consider weaning: switching to black tea, then to green tea, then to herbal tea. This will save you some miserable headaches. You'll want to be well hydrated - even though each cup of coffee you drink probably only comes out to 1/4 of its liquid (since it's a diuretic), you'll still want to sip something.

Oh yeah, coffee still smells good to me, but I had a sip of my DH's last week and didn't like the taste at all. Now I'm onto tea lattes made with english breakfast and rice milk, with nutmeg, cloves, and cinnimin (sp?). YUM!

Good luck.

I don't have problems with Mission, but I'm also not super sensitive. I think i recall someone else on here getting sick from CC with mission.

I use LaTortilla Factory ones. I get them at the coop.

Howdy. See my avatar and you see Emmett, my Staffordshire Bull Terrier (an ingredient in pit bulls). He is so sweet it is silly. And he's so silly that it's sweet.

All dogs that have been bred by humans were formed to be the best shape/size/etc. to do a job. The job pitbulls were bred to do was fight other dogs. This is also true of Chows, Akitas, and other dogs. A Blue Heeler was designed to herd sheep and cattle (which is why they bark and nip at ankles) and labs were designed to go fetch dead birds out of water and the like (watch them swim!)

I think responsible owners have an understanding of the design of their dog. Emmett's design is about killing dogs (huge strong jaws - which don't, by the way, "lock") and being able to maintain docility toward humans even in the throws of a fight. What this means to me is that I went out of my way to socialize Emmett to other dogs. (I also made sure he was exposed to everything I could think of: walkers, skateboards, wheelchairs, balloons, clowns, etc. This applies to all dogs.)

In the end, Emmett is great with other dogs...but not in a Laborador kind of way. He does not love all dogs. He loves some dogs, but he tolerates all dogs. I know his stress factors around other dogs, and I keep us out of those situatons to the best of my ability. When some other dog is lording over him or pressing his alpha onto Emmett, I tell the other owners that Emmett is likely going to woof at their dog (which he usually does), and that's that.

So you understand the design - the physical capabilities and tendencies of the dog - and you use those to build the best life for that dog that you can. If you get a border collie, you get them plenty of exercise and maybe even some sheep to herd; if you get a Lab, by george let them swim. And you also should use the design of a dog and match what works well for you. (it makes me nuts at the dog park watching people yell at their herding dogs for herding).

As for other people being afraid of your dog, I deal with that a lot. It is annoying, and sometimes I get pissy about it, though usually not to someone's face. I just deal with it, knowing that those folks are denying themselves knowing some of the greatest dogs around.

Update your avatar! I'm excited to see the little bugger.

The doc decided to put him on a course of steroids - he said sometimes if you have quite alot of damage due to celiac disease (and my hubby was 40 yrs when dx) it can take steroids to 'kick start' the immune system into healing.

After the steroids my hubby improved alot - the tingling disappeared and he finally got an appetite & started to put on weight.

His doc thinks he was a 'slow' healer.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my hubby's experience - hope you feel better soon

Hi all. I was on steroids (prednisone) for about six months probably, due to an autoimmune disease. The reason why prednisone works against autoimmune diseases is because IT BASICALLY SHUTS DOWN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM. It also causes your adrenal glands to stop working! When you go off prednisone, you have to be weaned slowly so that your adrenals will start producing again. For only a few, they never do.

I would advise that unless your doctor can give you a better reason than weight loss, that you stay away from steroids. Honestly, they stop your body from working in the two ways I mentioned above - and those two ways are paramount in getting better from Celiac. Most of us have adrenal problems, and we all have to work to get our immune systems up and running - from malnutrition.

Just my two cents. Obviously if you have something else going on - like you have some swelling that is preventing you from gaining weight or getting better, than steroids are an option. But so is turmeric and ginger and some other natural things.

Oh yeah, I gained 20 pounds on the steroids - mostly in my face. It took me years to lose that weight.

I've thought about the wheat field thing since I'm contemplating moving to Montana -- but I think has to get into the digestive tract. Who knows! there are probably a thousand other reasons not to be hanging out in a wheat field.

As to the grain-fed beef -- I think you're clear based on celiac. However, you might want to consider grass-fed beef if you have access to it affordably. It has a much healthier ratio of omega 3 and 6. It's starting to look possible that the reason red meat has been linked to heart disease has more to do with the diet of the cow, then with human beings eating the beef. It's more expensive, and it tastes different (better, to me), but it sounds like it is vastly healthier.

I'm going to the store today and am getting more of the kind I get, so I can post later with the name of them; but they're from the food co-op/health food store...not as cheap as mission.

There have been studies that show that exercise is as effective as Prozac. So I think it's VERY important to get out there and do something. I had a friend who always told me that if I don't like the way I'm feeling, change my position physically - do something different physically. It's worth a shot. I know it's hard to get exercising when you're down and out, but it really could help.

I used to have bad anxiety attacks and now that I'm gluten free, I don't seem to anymore. I would make sure you've got enough B vitamins and iron.

I only get gluten-free bacon and ham. Anything with smoke flavor might have gluten. I also buy uncured bacon and uncured ham. These are better for you.

I also only eat grass-fed beef, as far as beef goes. It has a much better omega fatty acid profile (it's all about ratio - how much three to how much six - and grass fed beef is WAY better than corn-fed). Plus, I think it's too ironic for Celics to eat animals that were forced to eat stuff they don't digest naturally. Cows were made to eat one thing and one thing only: grass.

I was veggie (plus fish) for 18 years maybe; then off and on vegan; off and on raw-foodist. But now I'm eating meat more often. I especially like grass-fed hamburger patties with salt and pepper. I do find I do better if I eat them alone...almost like a snack.

Anyway, don't let anyone harass you about eating meat. We are not separate from nature; we are part of it. And our sustinence, be it veggie or not, is all part of the life/death thing. Granted, yucky factory farms shouldn't be part of it at all - but it sounds like you've got that covered.

Good luck.

I've started eating tea lattes. this is rice/almond/hazelenut (best) milk, a pinch of nutmet and cinimon (sp?), a bag of black tea broken up into the pan (or loose tea, if you have it), and heated up, stirring a lot so the tea steeps. Then you strain it through a tea strainer, and enjoy.

It tastes yummy, is something creamy which i appreciate since I don't do dairy, and it has probably 250 calories per drink.

Ever since I started doing two of those a day, my weight stopped dropping.

I also eat a lot of nuts an nut butter. But it's tough if you're eating mostly veggies. If you're eating starchy stuff and still losing weight like that, you should find out why. I think the only reason my weight kept going down was I was eating almost entirely vegetables, and yummy and good for you as they are, they don't have a lot of calories.

good luck.

In Chinese medicine, different types of insomnia have diffferent causes: waking up in the night can be your liver. Just another viewpoint.

I'm actually right now trying to drum up options for a guy I assist in finding a spot where he can take some clients out to dinner. One is vegetarian, one has Celiac, and the other can't eat peanuts or be exposed to peanut in any way.

this brings up a question about Impromptu - I checked out the menu and none of the entrees were vegetarian. Is this something the kitchen can work around?

another question: are peanuts big in Vietnamese cooking as they are in other Asian food-styles? I think I have to avoid that altogether for this dinner.

thanks for all the suggestions.

It sounds nuts, but if you can wait until the last day of the month, you will always get a better deal on a car. they are desperate to meet the numbers, so they'll go lower than they normally would. I'm not sure this applies to a lease, but I don't see why it wouldn't.

My partner is currently the manager of a car dealership; when he gets home, I can ask him for some more advice. We did lease a car for his daughter, instead of buying. (It was a mistake, probably, based on her psychology -- she doesn't take as good care of it as she might if she felt she OWNED it.)

Celiac cannot cause autoimmune hepatitis. It may be related genetically, I don't know.

It is my understanding that Idiopathic Autoimmune Chronic Active Hepatitis is - at least in part - genetic.

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I don't think we can confidently say what Celiac can and cannot do. The word Idiopathic means: we don't know why the heck this is happening. There are many theories: too many vaccinations, a gene we haven't found yet, stress, etc.

Western medicine is very good at dianosis; they are miserable at systemic medicine - how could Celiac not contribute, at least, to your other health problems since it has meant that you're undernourished. It has meant that you have chronic inflammation (whether or not you have symptoms) and that releases chemicals in our bodies. It means that energy, that most precious of things, is being internally spent on trying to right a wrong. All of these things will make you more likely to be defeated by other nastinesses lurking on the pollution, in the gene pool, in your job, whatever.

Chocolate has always given me problems. I don't get depressed, but I can get emotionally unstable, such as laughing so hard that I have to cry to stop, or crying for no good reason; that sort of thing. I can get really giddy or really weepy -- then it goes away. I figured it out in high school, so haven't had much of it since.

However, lately I've been having one tiny mouthful of chocolate every night after dinner. I mean that bar lasts 2 weeks, that's how small the bites are. I get the joy of the chocolate w/o the side effects.

My Ayurvedic doctor (from India) told me not to each chocolate...and I'm sure it's like all things -- not good for EVERYONE - how could anything be.

Have you tried tea lattes? Hazlenut milk with some black tea and nutmeg and cinamon (which I've never been able to spell)? It hits the spot, and is choco free.

Hey guys. Anyone had good luck with any type of resturant in Seattle - I mean a restaurant specifically, but it does not have to be a "gluten free" restaurant -- you know, some places can handle it and some can't.

Any advice for an upcoming dinner date would be great. (Besides Impromptu Wine Bar - I've got that on my list - thanks!!!)