Dealing with SIBO and food chemical sensitivities, my diet has needed to change frequently over the past few years, but one part of my food prep routine has remained the same – I always soak rice before cooking it. In this blog post I’ll show you how I prepare brown rice prior to cooking, but…
Tag: Health
My Experience with GABA as a Sleep Aid
Me and my sleep have been through some rough times in the past few years. My troubled sleep has ranged in severity, from months of insomnia so bad that I would go for days without sleeping at all – to waking after just three or four hours and being unable to fall back asleep. For…
How I Discovered My Salicylate Sensitivity
It was summer and the wildfire smoke was at it again. I was feeling miserable, trying to hide indoors with air purifiers on full blast, and meanwhile I was having new food related symptoms. Confusing Symptoms I had already adopted a low histamine diet, reduced my oxalate intake, and was also avoiding FODMAPs for SIBO….
My Experience with Visbiome and SIBO
I was diagnosed with SIBO in late 2020, but believe I’ve been living with this condition for at least a decade and a half. Over the past year I’ve done everything I can to learn about the condition. I’ve also used antimicrobials, adopted a restrictive diet, kept a food journal, tried dynamic neural retraining, and…
Chayotes and Contemplating the Nature of the Self
I could say the past year has been an interesting one for me on an existential level, if I were to put things in a positive light. I keep having major life changes that seem to tell me, “Oh, you think that’s part of your personality, do you? Well what if we take it away?…
Are Plants Trying to Kill Us? A Look at Oxalates
It can be easy to forget that a plant has a point of view. We tend to not see them doing much, so we think that they aren’t very much like us. We are constantly busy – moving, and making noise. Plants on the other hand, just sit there. At least, it can seem so…
The Totally Unexpected Way I Reduced My Inflammation: A Low Oxalate Diet
A year ago today, my body was so inflamed, it seemed like everything hurt: my back and my joints in particular. I felt like my body was attacking itself and wondered if I had developed an autoimmune disease, which is why I tried the AIP diet. (AIP was not what I needed, it turns out.)…
Gut Health and SIBO – How I Finally Got Diagnosed
I’ve struggled with gut issues for over a decade and a half. With hindsight, I believe that I may have had SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth) this entire time without realizing it. I’m going to describe the history of my gut issues and the testing process in case this helps you finally get a diagnosis…
A Low Oxalate Garden
Since I began gardening seriously in 2013, I have always been focused on expansion. How can I grow the most diversity of foods? How can I incorporate perennials, fruit trees, shrubs, and unusual edibles into my landscape? It seemed silly to me that there were so many edible plants out there that were being overlooked…
Peeling the Onion – My Journey Towards Better Health
Have you ever stumbled across one of those blogs, one that has plenty of content and then stops pretty suddenly? This always makes me wonder what’s going on, what has happened in the writer’s life to stop them from writing. Well, it’s been about four months since my last post, and I’m going to tell…
Histamine Intolerance – The Weird Food Intolerance You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
If someone had told me three months ago that the weird constellation of symptoms I was experiencing was all connected and that to reign in my symptoms I would need to avoid eating leftovers, all fermented foods, and things like olives and pickles, I probably would have looked at that person and said, “Is this…
Food Issues: No Clue about Paleo? Here’s the Answer.
Fellow food-intolerant friends, As mentioned here recently, I have spent some weeks (months?) of frustration on the food intolerance front, despite some fairly valiant efforts to avoid suspect items. During this period I started feeling like my food-gut issues were a puzzle, and that there were too many missing pieces for me to (ever) have…
Food Issues: A Quest for a Healthy Diet
I thought I had my healthy diet all figured out. Vegetarianism was my eating style of choice. For me, this choice lasted for twenty five years. After a long struggle with debilitating IBS, I discovered that I had a sensitivity to corn, and was gluten intolerant. And then my body let me know that my…
Yoga: My Home Practice
I live in a very rural location with no access to regular yoga classes. But yoga is one of my great joys in life, so I’ve had to figure out how to keep my yoga practice up, despite my location. When I lived in Charlotte, with access to several yoga studios, my teachers regularly reminded…
Homekeeping: Non-Toxic Plants for Indoor Air Quality
You may have heard that you can improve your indoor air quality by adding houseplants to your home. While they won’t get rid of mold according to research from Nasa they can help remove some chemicals from your air. If you have dogs or cats, you’ll want to make sure that the houseplants you choose are…
A Miserable Hike that Makes You Feel A Lot Better
Fellow hikers, does this sound familiar? I have certainly been there. Usually I love hiking. Being outdoors, observing the plants and animals, pondering the geology and topography – these things just make me happy. But occasionally I find myself on a hike that I’m not really enjoying in the moment. Maybe the weather is miserable…
Quotes: Set Points from the Natural World
“Our nervous systems are built to resonate with set points derived from the natural world.” – Florence Williams, The Nature Fix
Fermentation and Your Fantastic Gut: Why Fermented Foods Help
If you haven’t heard about the importance of gut bacteria to your health, well, where have you been? It’s been everywhere! Research on gut bacteria and health has taken a giant leap thanks to DNA research. This research has made us aware that our body is not just human cells – we have tiny microbial…
Homekeeping: The Affordable Organic Sofa
If you’re interested in creating a healthy, healing natural environment in your home, don’t overlook the sofa. Conventional sofas are made with petroleum-based foam and have added flame retardants. It may be somewhat easier to find a conventional sofa without adding flame retardants now (Ikea carries some), but a sofa made with only natural ingredients…
Tips: How to Sleep Better at Night
If you’ve spent any time at all watching TV in the past several years you know one thing, Americans don’t sleep well and big pharma has plenty of little pills for that! Rather than turn to medication to fight insomnia or sleep disturbances, why not try preventing the causes of the problem in the first…
Cure for gluten sensitivity: Let them eat sourdough?
Gluten-free eating may seem to be just the latest diet trend… Yet, I seriously doubt that the many people buying gluten-free products are doing it for insincere reasons. I don’t usually buy or look for gluten-free labels when doing my grocery shopping even though I am conducting my own private gluten-free eating experiment. After noticing…
Hearthwilde 