It's not that Complicated!

Two Steps to Improved Health

Lately I see people overcomplicating their health: they ask (other people) about enemas, their HPA axis, vagus nerve, stool tests, arcane lab tests, data on calcium score reduction, what time to have their supplements, where to get exotic microbes they read about on Google Scholar, and so on. The problem with this is that 1) it's off the map and probably nobody knows the answer and 2) in most cases, they're neglecting some basic steps known to work.

Most low-carb diets have two steps: 1) stop eating poison; 2) supplement what's missing. Dr. Davis's program has the additional step of getting rid of SIBO, but for that, he mostly recommends SIBO yogurt (homemade yogurt with 2-3 strains of bacteria missing in most people).

With step 1 in mind, I whacked back the nuts, cheese and occasional junk food cheats freely available at work. And with step 2 in mind, I've continued taking more iodine and I've been eating more protein to build muscle from my workouts. I'm down two pounds from where I thought I was stuck before Thanksgiving. With more protein, less dairy, fewer carbs and nuts, adequate iodine, and strength training, my waist is shrinking. Who'd have guessed? Granted, that's more than cut carbs and take supplements, but all of this has either been known for generations or was something my intuition or experience told me. I didn't need to do anything complicated.

Exercise

Likewise, I'm lifting weights (or doing body weight exercises) for fitness. Nothing complicated. Strength training improves bone density and brain function; increased muscle mass improves insulin sensitivity. And this is anecdotal, but do you see many physically fit people who are neurotic or depressed?

Yogurt

It's the same with yogurt: simple methods are better. I've never seen anyone say, "I put my yogurt in the camper cooler with a heating pad and now it's all screwed up!" Here's my video on my method for making yogurt (which my sister-in-law called foolproof).

Grease Stains

Shout is no longer getting out the grease stains I get on my shirts (my new shirts!) from cooking bacon, burgers and sausage. Shout used to be great. I worked in an Italian restaurant long ago and Shout got out spaghetti sauce stains so well that you couldn't tell my white t-shirts ever had them. Now it won't get out tiny grease splatters. A Tide pen works better, and I'm trying Dawn dishwashing soap.

Comments

Lowcarb team member said…

... sorry about the grease stains you get on your shirts.
I always wear an apron. I find it helps.

All the best Jan

December 12, 2022

Lori Miller said…

I usually do, too, but sometimes I forget.

BTW, Dawn worked!

December 12, 2022

Lowcarb team member said…

Pleased that Dawn worked :)

All the best Jan

December 13, 2022

Thanksgiving recipes for Pumpkin Pie & Cranberries--printable!

If you'd rather read a printed recipe than watch a video, here are my recent recipes for Better than Grandma's Pumpkin Pie and Probiotic Cranberry-Apple Relish. Hat tip to Dana Carpender, whose pumpkin pie recipe inspired this one. The cranberry-apple ferment is entirely my own creation. Pumpkin Pie--no grains, sugar or emulsifiers Crust 2 cups shelled raw pecans 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon monk fruit powder* (or 3 tablespoons sugar substitute) 4 tablespoons butter, melted 2 tablespoons water Pumpkin Pie Filling 1 pie pumpkin 1-1/2 cups half and half (with no thickeners) 3 eggs 3-4 teaspoons monk fruit powder* (or 3/4 cup sugar substitute) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice Preheat the oven to 350F. Stab the top of the pumpkin all the way through the flesh in a few places at the top. Place the pumpkin on a cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour. Let cool. While the pumpkin is baking, put the pecans in a food processor with the S blade and run until they are finely...

Cigna is Making Progress

Yesterday as I put my lunch in the refrigerator at work, I noticed a bunch of unfamiliar people in the break room. One of them, Pepe, started in: they were there for the health fair, they would check your cholesterol, the sugar in your blood, your height, your weight, and it would just take six minutes. A coworker asked him if he'd ever considered a career in sales. Just for blog fodder, I participated. They really were fast, and one even found me at my desk (in an office nearly half the size of a city block) after the tests were finished. My HDL cholesterol was 65--up from 42 from a year and a half ago, and up from 57, where it was last year when I'd been three months a low-carb diet . A level over 60 is considered good. I haven't taken any medication to make this happen. I went on a low-carb diet and eliminated wheat. I also take vitamin and mineral supplements in addition to a high-nutrient diet. What impressed me more, though, was that the nurse (and Cigna) said that bl...

Fly with Reuteri

If you're planning to travel by plane and you want to keep enjoying the benefits of l. reuteri yogurt, you might have gotten sticker shock from the price of l. reuteri probiotics. MyReuteri * costs $46 to $83 for 30 capsules, depending on the CFUs (colony-forming units, or the number of viable microorganisms). If you're thinking about economizing by putting some yogurt in a sturdy container and taking it with you, you can do that. I'll break down the pros and cons and look at some alternatives. Photo from Unsplash . Cost Yogurt might be less expensive than probiotics, but it isn't free. A half-cup serving costs about 70¢ to make if you start with a previous batch. It contains about 90 billion CFUs if fermented for 36 hours. This is a lot less than $5.56 for two capsules of 50 billion CFU MyReuteri, but for a one-week vacation, you'd only save $34 by eating yogurt instead. (You can freeze any unused capsules for later.) Furthermore, the yogurt would have to go in ...

30-second Fix for a Cracked Stick Blender

Use Mighty Fixit (if you still have some from 2012) or Rescue Tape (which looks like a similar product) to fix a cracked stick blender. After I fixed the attachment, I washed it in the sink and the tape held up. I also wrapped a knife handle several years ago, and it's been through thousands of washings.

No Dairy BiotiQuest Ferment in Apples + Cranberries + Celery

Can you have too much l. reuteri or SIBO yogurt? Yes--more than 1/2 cup of yogurt a day can raise your insulin or, in some people, cause sinus congestion or an upset stomach. Luckily, there are other foods you can ferment. One of my favorites is apples, cranberries and celery fermented with BiotiQuest Ideal Immunity probiotics. This recipe is slightly different from the one I posted before--I've left out the brown sugar and maple syrup since the apples provide plenty of sugar. Here's my four-minute video showing how to make it: You can buy the seedling mat here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IDQD32Y/ref=dp_iou_view_item?ie=UTF8&th=1

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