Pain, Pain, Go Away!

No dinky weights! Photo from Unsplash . After years of being frustrated by a lack of energy and carrying around more fat than I wanted to, last year I finally regained enough of my health to start...lifting weights. That might not be conventional wisdom, but it makes more sense than eating less or simply moving more to lose weight and be more energetic. I started in March of last year with a few sessions with a personal trainer who showed me how to work out without hurting my neck. Since then, I've been lifting weights twice a week at home, missing workouts only when I'm sick or doing a lot of landscaping. I use 10- to 25-pound weights and a stability ball. After eight months, I lost enough fat that I had to buy new pants , but more importantly, I've improved my metabolic health and reduced my risk of various diseases of aging. The lab tests I took five months in showed a big drop in fasting insulin--from 4.4 in 2021 to 3.7. Other metabolic markers stayed about the same.  I...

 Tonight I set out to create the perfect summertime dessert: Low-carb: check. Full of prebiotic fibers: check. Full of beneficial bacteria: check. Cold but light and delicious on a hot day: check, check and check. If you serve this to someone who isn't used to lots of prebiotic fiber or high doses of bacteria, it could upset their stomach. For those guests, make some  XXX chocolate  or  lemon ice cream . * * * * * 1 green banana 1 can coconut milk (full fat, unsweetened) 2/3 cup yogurt (either Greek style or Dr. Davis style) (amount is 1 glass container that comes with some yogurt makers) 3 large strawberries, chopped Slice and puree the banana. Put the coconut milk in a large mixing bowl; puree if separated. Add the banana and yogurt, stir well. Stir in the strawberries. Process in an ice cream maker for 10 minutes. To serve leftovers, bring them out of the freezer 30 minutes ahead of time. 

Tuesday morning found me at an urgent care center for a dog bite. The PA (physician's assistant) was impressed with the lack of swelling, noting that dog bites almost always get infected.  Two days earlier, I took in a stray dog walking by my house. When I've done this in the past, I've posted pictures of the dog online and heard from the owner within a few hours. Not so with this dog--he must have been dumped.  The next day, he and my dog got into a scrap over a food bowl and when I tried to push him away, he bit me. Have I mentioned the dog is an American bully, weighing about 50 pounds? It broke the skin and made my hand sore--I'm lucky it wasn't worse. Sometimes I have more courage than sense. The PA didn't recommend a rabies shot even though I don't know whether the dog is vaccinated. She did recommend a tetanus shot, since  my last one was just over 10 years ago , and wrote a prescription for Augmentin (an antibiotic). I got the tetanus shot but haven...

 If you've had a bad reaction to L. reuteri or SIBO yogurt, it's not just you. Here's my video on what to do.

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 onl...

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. 

I'm continuing to make progress on my emulsifier free journey, hitting a milestone over the weekend: my lawnmower ran out of energy before I did. I wasn't even using the self-propel feature. Image from Unsplash .  Six years ago, I had to mow the lawn in one little section per day. Granted, I have a better lawnmower now, but I'm in far better health now by any measure.  I think I am making progress on whatever nasty bug has been giving me heart palpitations for years (assuming that's the cause), along with another Inner Circle member. Both of us are taking Biotiquest probiotics. Different formulations, but they have a lot of the same strains. This member's atrial fibrillation is going away; my palpitations are improving, too. I started taking the Ideal Immunity formula again a few weeks ago, along with a fresh batch of apples and carrots fermented with Lactobacillus gasseri BNR17. A die-off reaction from all of those bacteriocins (bacteria killers made by bacteria) m...

 If you have a Suteck or similar yogurt maker, here's how to program it for time and temperature. I've selected 106 degrees because I ferment L. reuteri and B. coagulans together; if you're doing just L. reuteri, set it for 97 degrees.  Thirty-six hours' fermentation is necessary to get high bacterial counts--not just creamy texture.  Enjoy!

If you're an American who orders medications from Canadian pharmacies--or a Canadian who orders medications from Canadian pharmacies--this would be a good time to refill your prescription. Thousands of truckers are protesting vaccine mandates across Canada, their Prime Minister is in hiding, and the convoy organizers say they aren't leaving Ottawa until the mandates are lifted. They have $8 million for sustenance in a GoFundMe account, which GoFundMe has begun to release . While I support their cause, this can only make supply chain problems worse. Some police departments on Twitter reported counting only about a hundred trucks in the convoy, but this looks like a much larger protest. Keep in mind it was nine degrees Fahrenheit in Ottawa--that's minus 13 Celsius--and Canadians are even less given to protesting than Americans. Meantime, the FDA has pulled authorization for monoclonal antibody treatments saying they don't work against, Omicron . However, delta is still i...

Awesome Keto Recipe Magazine is Back All the recipes I've made from Delish Keto Comfort Foods--beef stroganoff, broccoli cheese soup, the mac & cheese shown on the cover, even bagels--have been fantastic. Every recipe is illustrated and includes nutrition information. You can buy the magazine at Walmart, Hudson News, Kroger, Walgreens, CVS, Publix, Target, Albertsons, Barnes & Noble, Dollar General, Walmart Canada, Paradies, Ahold Delhaize, Loblaw, Costco, Sam's Club, Meijer, Rite Aid, Sobeys, Wakefern, H E Butt Grocery, Wegmans, HY Vee Food Stores, Costco Canada, and Giant Eagle, but I found it yesterday at Fresh Thyme Market. Supplement Sale at Fresh Thyme Fresh Thyme , a regional grocery store, is selling vitamins and body care products at 30% off through January 11. They carry Doctor's Best magnesium, the best substitute I've found for magnesium water. Store locations shown below: Yogurt for Viral Respiratory Illnesses I'm reposting Dr. Davis's recip...

It's been a tough year and a half for most of us, but I've been taking advantage of the things available to us in 2021. DIY health, LED lights and modern home improvement tools have improved my life this year.  The main thing has been DIY health. As many readers know, trying to get necessary labs from doctors can make you feel like Oliver Twist: "Please, sir, may I have some proper health care?" Being more irreverent and more of a do-it-yourselfer, I've ordered my own labs (allowed here in freewheelin' Indiana), researched my own care, and experimented with hormones ordered online. I've also been a member of Dr. Davis's Inner Circle group and found it invaluable. The L. reuteri/B. coagulans yogurt in particular has been helpful. It has been a bumpy ride, but my last thyroid panel came back normal. Normal--on no medications! My free T3 and free T4 are in the middle of the reference range. TSH is above program ideal at 2.4, but I'm not tired, I'...

I just had the fastest recovery from a muscle injury EVER. Two days ago, I twisted the wrong way while playing with my dog and hurt my back. It felt like an oblique muscle was pulled. It hurt every time I moved, even in bed. The next day after I took a shower, it was gone. Not better, but gone.  Yogurt: stronger than it looks! Photo from Pixabay . A few months ago, working for a few hours on my garage left me feeling like I'd been run over .  The only thing I'm doing differently is eating yogurt made with Bacillus Coagulans Unique IS-2. I ate my normal amount of it, maybe even less, over the past few days. I started making and eating it around mid-November. I've had a number of muscle injuries over the years (including turf toe, which was nearly as painful as an infected tooth, and a couple of bad sprains that took a year to completely heal). I'm blown away at how fast I mended this time. Dr. Davis says his daughter, who plays competitive tennis, uses B. coagulans GBI...

While much of the country is probably suffering through too much cortisol, I think I am finally making enough. I quit taking it a few days ago when my face started getting puffy, I gained a couple of pounds that wouldn't budge, and I noticed my heart beating a few times: those are clear signs of overdoing hydrocortisone. I'm feeling back to normal now and my face doesn't look like the Pillsbury dough boy.  What finally brought this about? It could be that about a month ago, I really started cleaning up my diet. I haven't been perfect, but I stopped going out for lunch at work and getting anything from the deli except meat, cheese and roast chickens. I stopped buying chocolate chips under the pretense of making low-carb cookies. I also bumped up my kelp tablets to four per day and added L. casei shirota bacteria to my yogurt. After some five years, when I went through an incredible amount of stress with parents, relatives who were worse than useless in helping with thei...

Home Improvement Projects I'm finally finished painting. There are still a few places where water is getting in during rain storms; I'll be darned if I know where how it's getting in. On the next warm, dry day (we get a few in Indiana during the fall and winter), I'll go around with a fresh can of foam when the wood is dry and hope for the best.  My garage and vegetable garden. The window sill and the front door on my house are fixed, too. The sill, facing west, got badly weather beaten; the door is just old. I fixed the rot at the bottom of the door, put on a new sweep and numbers, painted the door and spray-painted the hinges with Rust-oleum. The deadbolt broke and I had to do quite a bit of retrofitting to install a new one. I bought and used a wood chisel to make room for a new strike plate. I think I learned how to use one in junior high shop class--one of those "useless" classes going by the wayside--but oddly, I don't remember what project I used it...

This weekend, I was well enough to wear myself out doing landscape projects. I added to my shade garden, then spaded up an 8x30 foot plot on the corner. The next day, I put down some old bed sheets donated by a neighbor, weighted them down with bricks, and started setting out a hundred home-grown perennials in Xs cut in the sheets. It was hot, sunny and humid. Halfway through, a storm was coming. I worried the sheets would billow up in the wind and break some of the plants, so I threw down two bags of mulch, grabbed the clothes off the line, went inside and watched the rain come down in sheets. When it stopped I finished planting, looking like someone from Dirty Jobs when it was over. Being too tired to cook, I got a low-carb burger and small fries at the drive-through and came back home. In spite of two days' hard work, from the street, the house looked like hippies lived there: tall grass, a missing picket, and of course the bed sheets and plants that were all either little o...

Biofilms These aren't documentaries on the Biography channel, but formations of bacteria, viruses and other toxins that protect themselves from antibiotics and your immune system with a gooey outer layer. They can keep you sick for months, and they're hard to dislodge. Biofilm disruptors attack that outer layer, leaving the toxins wide open. When certain toxins die, they release other toxins your system has to deal with. This is called a die-off reaction, and it can also last for weeks or even months by some accounts. I didn't even realize I was embarking on a biofilm bust until I caught cold the day after I started taking lactoferrin for my low TIBC (total iron blood count). Lactoferrin coats iron and taxis it to your cells, starving the bad bacteria of it. There are other ways it helps your immune functions, too. It's a natural substance found mostly in milk; it's anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial . I don't think I caught cold from being around...

Another person in quarantine has gotten coronavirus-- this one is a city councilwoman here in Indianapolis . She says she and her husband disinfect all their perishable food, watch church services online and stay at home. She's not alone. Among COVID patients going to the hospital in New York, 66% have been sheltering at home and avoiding the subway. Meantime, Jacksonville, Florida opened their beaches April 17 to limited activities with social distancing. Doomers predicted--well, doom. Unacast ( who gave Wyoming an F for social distancing ) gave the county a D+ for social distancing . But the county saw emergency room visits for COVID-like illness, flu-like illness, cough-related illness and fever drop . Of illnesses reported, only shortness of breath stayed about the same. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants an apology from the doomers. What's going on? Maybe in some places, people in quarantine are about the only people left to infect. Maybe it's that they...

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...

Move over, Instant Pot--you're overly hot! My Suteck yogurt maker makes special yogurt for L. reuteri bacteria that need a long, warm fermentation. And it was only $32.99. Here's my Amazon review, with a few tips: I bought this product to make L. reuteri yogurt, which requires special preparation. I didn't have any trouble--the yogurt maker was easy to program, and both batches I've made so far turned out well. I did have to shake the final product in the jars because it separated, but the yogurt stayed homogenized after refrigeration. If you wish to add water in the yogurt maker, you don't need to keep adding it during the processing. A tip: use a canning funnel if you have one to fill the jars. Another tip: don't snap on the lids before processing--they pop off during fermentation. Just place the lids on the jars.