Tight Pants, Colds, and Dairy-Free Fermentation

Pants Don't Fit? It Might be the Pants

If the clothes-o-meter says you're gaining weight, it might be the clothes that are off. Half the ladies' blouses I recently bought are medium sized (I normally take a small) and the jeans I just bought are smaller than the ones from before, even though they're they same brand, cut and size.

They're smaller in the thighs, too.

I thought I'd had too much prebiotic fiber.

This doesn't seem to be a one-off. One reviewer who bought the same jeans said she bought them a size up to wear over tights, but couldn't get them on even without tights. Over at Talbots--which normally carries high quality clothes--several reviewers complained about undersized jeans.

Click to enlarge (the screenshot--alas, it doesn't work on jeans)

Of course, if your jeans used to fit--well, jeans don't shrink from sitting in a drawer.

Another Cold Averted?

Regular readers know I'm prone to respiratory illnesses. But my last cold only lasted 12 hours (short COVID, maybe?) and I just spent a week feeling tired and kind of cold. I wasn't coughing or sneezing and didn't have a fever. But I was so tired and congested that I asked my hairstylist if he wanted me to reschedule, take a COVID test or just come in. (He asked me to get a COVID test and wear a mask.) Whatever it is, it feels like it's going away. I credit the probiotics I'm taking (fermented Biotiquest Immunity).

Dairy-free Shirota

I'm also fermenting L. casei Shirota, a bacteria that helps with respiratory infections. But since I have enough yogurt, I thought I'd ferment something different. A few research papers said the bacteria ferments fructose, so I used green bananas and coconut milk. The critters loved the bananas--in 36 hours, they turned them into mush. But it's delicious mush!

Shirota Bananas

2 green bananas
1 can coconut milk (no gums or thickeners--Native Forest Simple is a good brand)
1 cabbage leaf (the internet says it keeps the bananas from turning brown)
1 bottle Yakult

Pour the Yakult and coconut milk in a quart Mason jar and stir. Cut the bananas into thin slices, add them to the jar and stir them in. Add the cabbage leaf. Loosely put the lid on the jar. Put it in an insulated grocery bag or camper cooler with a heating pad set to medium. Ferment for 36 hours. Refrigerate when finished.

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