Pain, Pain, Go Away!

After adding some new blogs and YouTube feeds yesterday, I added Dr. Davis's podcast feed  so that readers can simply click and listen to his latest episode. Just to be clear for email subscribers, all of these are on my site ( https://relievemypain.blogspot.com/ ) and the three bars at the top right (where you can click to see feeds and other features) are for people with smaller screens. If you have a bigger screen, you should be able to see all the feeds on the right side of the page.  If you'd like to put some YouTube or podcast feeds on your site, leave a comment and I'll reply with instructions since there's no widget in Blogger for putting them in and the RSS feed widget doesn't work. Nor does the podcast player from Elfsight. At least, I couldn't get them to work.   * * * * * Quest bars used to be a great snack--they were one of the first healthy, low-carb protein bars out there. Ten years ago, the ingredients were   Protein blend (whey protein isolate,

Four years ago, I was headed for disability. I mowed my lawn in sections over a period of days. I was so exhausted at the end of workdays that I held assignments until I could review them the next day. I often found mistakes.  Three years ago, I was up to rehabbing my garage, but after a few hours' work I felt like I'd been run over. Progress was slow.  Yesterday, though, I mowed the lawn, finished painting the fence, put up a trellis, planted a honeysuckle under it, put down two bags of mulch and two bags of top soil, fixed the gate, touched up the paint on that fence, and painted the Great Stuff on the house. This may be the most I've ever gotten done in one day. For the first time in my life, a long to-do list became a to-done list in one day.  The weather helped: it was 55-78 degrees and not very humid. I took a lot of breaks. But still--I got it all done. I am now beyond back to normal. Regular readers know I follow Dr. William Davis's program over at DrDavisInf

Move over, juicers: there's a new elixir in town. Boil some bones for a day, along with vinegar to extract the nutrients, and voila--you have the latest health drink. Well, you have it if you're willing to spend a whole day cooking it or pay $8 for a little carton of it. After all, it's water that bones were boiled in . Photo from  https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-skull-table-decor-417049/ Hold on, says Dr. Davis. He reports that bone broth is high in lead, and the ideal amount of ingested lead is zero. There's also not that much nutrition in bone broth. Who'd have guessed? Nutrients in bone broth. Note the vegetable ingredients, the source vitamins A and C. Click to enlarge. Source:  https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/551729/nutrients When he said this at the last meetup, some members in the chat said, "What about organic bone broth?" Does it matter? Let's discuss. Even if organic bone broth isn't infused with (much) lead, it

Regular readers might remember my bouts with respiratory illnesses: bronchitis that hung on for months, colds that wouldn't go away, sinus infections so frequent that I had sinoplasty many years ago (it didn't stop my sinus infections), and even a week in the hospital with a sinus infection when I was a kid. The sickest I ever felt was when I had the flu at age 17. As someone (maybe Dr. Eades) recently described, I remember where I was and what I was doing when it came on.  Last week when I felt a cold coming on, I figured I'd be sick for several days. I was tired and starting to get congestion and a sore throat. But it went away 12 hours later and didn't come back.  Photo from Unsplash . Maybe it was short COVID. Kidding aside, the only difference is that I've been taking Ideal Immunity , a probiotic made by Biotiquest. (I'm not an affiliate.) Some of the members at Dr. Davis's Inner Circle have been getting incredible results with Sugar Shift lowering thei

Over at Dr. Davis's Inner Circle, members make a lot of yogurt...and report a lot of problems in the effort. Mine turns out perfectly almost every time, so I've created a video. We make special yogurt out of L. reuteri bacteria and ferment it for a long time because the bacteria helps with SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), smoother skin, reduced bone loss, increased strength, and other benefits. I had to stop taking thyroid medicine after I started eating the yogurt, but that seems to be uncommon.  You don't need a fancy yogurt maker--in fact, reported problems are in proportion to the cost of the contraptions. Nobody has yet reported a problem making a batch of yogurt in a camper cooler, as far as I'm aware. 

My tutorial on uploading your lab results to the Inner Circle website: 

If you've found Dr. Davis's Inner Circle website hard to navigate, you're not alone. There's a lot on the site and it's not intuitively organized. So I've made a video highlighting the most useful features: how to bookmark pages, print the cheat sheets, take the online courses, find advanced protocols and the best probiotics for you, search the site, and where to get the latest information.

This recipe is adapted from the New York Style Cheesecake recipe on Dr. Davis's site. Despite some kind members there recommending gum-free brands of cream cheese and even cultures to make your own, there's no acceptable cream cheese sold near me, and using ricotta cheese is less trouble than adding another fermentation project.  Using ricotta gives the cheesecake a fluffy texture and adding lemon extract gives it more flavor. I used Simple Truth ricotta (Kroger's organic store brand), which didn't need to be drained since it wasn't runny.  The net carb count of Dr. Davis's recipe is 4.7g per slice (assuming 8 servings); that figure should hold true for this recipe, also. Crust 1½ cups almond flour  1½ teaspoon cinnamon  ½ cup Splenda 2 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons pastured lard  1 egg  1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
 Filling 16 ounces ricotta cheese (with no emulsifiers or gums) 1 cup sour cream ½ cup Splenda 1 dash salt  3 eggs 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1½ te

It can be hard finding prepared foods like dairy, sausage and sauces without emulsifiers (food thickeners). These additives can damage the mucus lining of your stomach, if only temporarily, and allow bad bacteria into your system. That's how Dr. Davis explained what he thought was happening when I talked about it at the last Inner Circle meetup.  Thickeners like carrageenan, guar gum, gellan gum, locust bean gum, even palm oil (used as an emulsifier in almond butter) and others are in foods you wouldn't suspect. I've had to toss out cream, protein powder, cream cheese, coconut milk, deli chicken--I even had to return a package of raw chicken once. Raw chicken! Why does raw chicken need anything added to it but butter, lemon and heat? Are they trying to make people sick? It must have been making me sick because I've felt so much better without emulsifiers and thickeners. I can do physical work without wearing myself out, my palpitations are gone, my puffy face is gone,

 After suffering with heart-pounding palpitations for eight years, I finally have an answer: endotoxemia brought on by emulsifiers, which thin the mucus in your digestive tract and allow toxins in your gut to get into the rest of your system. I finally realized the cause (emulsifiers in food) and Dr. Davis suggested the effect (endotoxemia). He said in the Zoom meeting last night that was probably the cause, and that endotoxemia was a big factor in heart disease.  Since cutting out emulsifiers like guar gum, gellan gum, lecithin, locust/carob bean gum and even palm oil (used in almond butter to homogenize it), the palpitations have gone and so have my puffy face, neck pain and TMJ pain. I'm sleeping better, feeling better and thinking more clearly. Did I mention it's been eight years since I felt this well?  Victory! Photo from Unsplash . You know how you feel after you've had a very long day--or several in a row? That's how I felt for five days. It was such a relief t

I may have found a reason I have a lot of ups and downs in how I feel: energetic sometimes, then sluggish; feeling great, then slowed down by stomach aches, neck pains and headaches. It reminds me of when I felt so awful I ended up in an ambulance after drinking almond milk that had carrageenan . Carrageenan is a emulsifier. I looked at the cream cheese I'd been using to make cheesecake. (I love low-carb--dessert for breakfast and dip for dinner.) It all had locust bean gum: an emulsifier.  I didn't feel anything until I'd been eating the stuff for a few weeks, and then every time I had some cream cheese, it felt like it was sitting on my stomach and I didn't feel like doing anything. So maybe it's cumulative. After a few days without it, I'm starting to feel back to normal.  These are your guts on emulsifiers. Photo from Pexels . Dr. William Davis says, "Emulsifiers are added to processed foods to keep the ingredients mixed and to prevent separation....The

Two dozen members of Dr. Davis's Inner Circle site have reported unauthorized credit card charges or settings in the past few days. Many of the charges were to WalMart, churches or youth sports groups for a few cents--a telltale sign of a credit card scam.  Photo from Pixabay The site administrator is looking into it but cannot confirm whether the site was hacked or the data breach occurred elsewhere, adding that they use numerous security measures to protect credit card information. He says their processor (PayPal) sent him this message about "an industry-wide 'carding attack' which began on or about the first week of May":  The payment industry is being attacked by carding BOTs and this is causing an unfortunate disruption in service as we work to mitigate the issue. The BOTs are using compromised credit cards and performing $0 authorizations on many merchant websites causing a financial burden to everyone involved. We apologize in advance as we know our cardin

I stopped taking all thyroid medicine, and now just use a little bit of hydrocortisone now and then. I think I've always run low on it, and a little bit helps with aches and pains I'm now incurring since I feel 45 again--back when I had the energy I should have had in my 20s.  I've been working on my garage, which needed so much work I asked a handyman what it would cost to replace it. (Too much--like what they wanted to re-side it). I decided to fix it myself. Work was slow-going at first since I didn't have any energy in the morning and afternoons were too hot to work. But last week I turned a corner. A boarded-up window was rotted and I thought that as long as I had to do repairs, I might as well put in a window. Browsing online, I fell in love with a small, inexpensive vinyl double-hung and had to have it.  You never know what will inspire you. Most window installation videos show nice, neat jobs that don't require retrofitting, or unusual situations. I have a v

We tend to want to do something. If we're tired, in pain, not feeling well, we often take something. And take more if a little bit feels good.  That was my problem with my thyroid medication--and adrenal medication. Last year when I started taking the stuff, I went from sputtering along to firing on eight cylinders. Then problems started: odd aches and pains, rapid heart rate--and I stopped taking the medication. When my hypothyroid problems re-emerged, I started over and ended up overmedicated again. Contrary to what you might expect, more thyroid medication, which amps up your metabolism, doesn't give you more energy, it just makes you sit and idle faster. The problem is that overmedication isn't addressed very much, unless you follow low-carb authors talking about statins. And then, the amount they say you should take is zero.  Dr. Davis actually addressed thyroid overmedication in one of his videos (just for Inner Circle members). He also said your morning temperature s

I've been sick for almost a month. Not seriously sick--I've had a lingering cough and fatigue from a cold. I've tried Umcka Cold Care, antibiotics, and sunlight (enough to give me a sunburn). They've all helped (maybe), but I'm still sick. Then a week ago, I saw a video by Dr. Davis describing strategies for boosting your immune system. One strategy was making "yogurt" with L. casei shirota bacteria, found in a probiotic drink called Yakult. (I'm not affiliated with Dr. Davis or any products.) The bacteria has been shown in studies to prevent upper respiratory infections and reduce the length of those illnesses. (Disclosure: the studies are funded by the manufacturer.) He cautioned against drinking it  since it's full of sugar, but gave instructions for making yogurt with it. At the time, the grocery store where I shop was out of Yakult, but was back in stock Friday and I whipped up a batch of yogurt during lunch. Last night, it was finally fin

It's been quite an adventure riding this sparking and sputtering thyroid. It started back in the highly stressful year of 2014 when I had mountains of work on my desk, an hour-long commute, and aging parents who themselves were sputtering along and constantly needed me to come over to help them. Then my coworker quit and I had all the work to do. I asked if I could go live with her in Mexico, only half joking. My father died. My mother nearly died of kidney failure. Then stayed with me for two weeks during and leading up to the estate sale. We surrendered her dog when she couldn't take care of him. In thanks for my hard work, I was accused of elder abuse. (The county found no grounds for the accusations.) I had a root canal and three courses of antibiotics. Then I moved across the country: I bought one house before selling the other (albeit in Denver's hot real estate market) and had no permanent job lined up in Indiana. Then finding my best friend had changed quite a

Commentator Paul Joseph Watson posted a video on his observation that a lot of left-wing activists share a distinct look, like this man (Paul Crowther), who allegedly threw a milkshake on politician Nigel Farage: Photo from Facebook. I'll stick with coconut milk. Almost everyone he pointed out was overweight and had a puffy face. In another video, he remarked how depressed his soyboy critics were. I'm no expert, but it looks and sounds like hypothyroid. Maybe someone should think about offering everyone seaweed snacks instead of statins. In fairness to them, the standard of care for thyroid treatment, especially in the UK, is so bad that patients have taken to ordering medications from Mexico and Thailand. What got me thinking about hypothyroid was being diagnosed with it. Having been startled by a high BG rating about a month ago, I really whacked back the carbs...and became so tired I barely wanted to move. My heart was going like a jack rabbit. Remembering what I sa

Over at the Wheat Belly blog, Dr. Davis posted a "before and after" set of pictures of "Jacek" from Poland , who claimed to have lost 20kg (44 pounds). A few readers commented that things didn't look right: the lighting, clothing and facial expression were all very different in what looked like a photo studio setting, where these could have easily been kept about the same. And Jacek really didn't look that much lighter. I added my opinion as a former professional photographer: the camera angle, lighting and setting looked professionally done, that the lighting in the "before" photo was coming from both sides, emphasizing texture (like wrinkles), lighting both sides of the face, making it look wider. Side lighting typically isn't used in portraits for these reasons. Jacek was wearing frumpy clothes and had stubble and gray hair in the before photo, things known to make people look ten years older. In the "after" photo, he was cl

Dr. Davis, author of Wheat Belly, gave a lecture in Denver tonight. His message was familiar to regular readers of his blog and books: it's not just gluten and it's not just celiac disease--there are many components of wheat that damage human health from every angle, from mental health to dental health and heart disease to autoimmune illness. He took some questions from the audience, but first, let's look at the charge that some have made that Dr. Davis is overweight: Dr. William Davis at the University of Denver, August 19, 2013. He looks trim to me. Some questions from the audience, and Dr. Davis's answers, paraphrased: Q: How does wheat elimination help heart disease? A: What drives plaque is small LDL, and what drives small LDL is grain and sugar. Q: What about being vegetarian? A: Maximize what's left. (Dr. Davis recounted his own vegetarian experience after hearing Dr. Dean Ornish, and recalled that he ended up diabetic.) Q: Why are so many do

Did I just wake up in another city? Three years ago, people here in Denver looked at me like I had two heads when I told them I limited carbohydrates. When I was a kid, my parents' fussy neighbors complained about the roosters crowing, even though they moved into a house adjacent to an agricultural lot. But maybe in a city that loves meat and attracts health and fitness buffs, it had to happen: more people want real food and real solutions to their health problems. I just spent the morning at a chicken exchange, where people also had goats, ducks, rabbits and turkeys for sale. The exchange was in an urban neighborhood of Denver between Broadway and the tracks, five minutes from downtown.  Chicken Swap . Image from http://www.denverchickencooptour.com/ From there, I went to Vitamin Cottage, a health food grocery store, where some of the vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free books and magazines have been replaced by paleo, anti-sugar and pro-cholesterol books. T