Monday, February 22, 2010

TEST

this is a test. My blog was not supposed to be public.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Start of candida diet

Over the last couple of days, I've been planning out and buying extra necessities for my candida diet. My plan is to be on the diet AT LEAST 4 weeks. Official start date will be February 21st, 2010 and the minimum end date will be March 21st, 2010. Right off the bat, I can tell you right now that I will be drinking next weekend because I have two dear friend's birthdays (one is a 21!) and I cannot miss out on the opportunity. Reasons why I don't feel so horrible about "breaking my diet":
98% of my diet has already excluded refined sugars and dairy
It's early in the diet!

Since Thursday, I've been experimenting and eating most of my diet by the rules. Things I ate since Thursday that were definitely not okay: two slices of bread, half a bagel, one small cookie and two cups of coffee with honey.

What's this candida diet thing about? What am I trying to achieve?

Long story short: candidiasis is a condition in which the yeast in your intestinal tract grows in excess. Severe forms of candidiasis are often seen in immuno-compromised individuals and individuals with AIDS. No, I do not have HIV.
My theory on how I came to this condition may seem far fetched, but it makes perfect sense to me. For well over a year (possibly 2 years?), I was taking intense sulfa- drugs and other arthritis and pain medications on a daily basis. A year after I ended those, I was on antibiotics for a year for my acne. Both of these types of drugs, especially antibiotics, not only kill off all of the unhealthy bacteria and pests inside your body but also destroy the healthy flora of your intestinal tract. (This is where my rant begins). As with any western medicinal practice, my intestinal tract was not causing symptoms at the time so therefore did not matter. Even more so, there was no follow up or "rejuvenation" of my intestinal tract after I was done with the course. It's like stripping you of everything you need to protect yourself against the world with a simple "good luck!" and a shit of the door.
So here I am, years later with pretty severe allergy to sugar and dairy, constant breakouts, horrible stomach pains and other issues I rather not discuss publicly on this blog.

Ultimately, I'd love to achieve a state in which I don't feel bloated a majority of the day and where I can eat a slice of apple pie with a scoop of ice cream and I know it won't kill me. I realize my ideals are a little high for the reality though. Realistically, I'll be happy if the stomach pains and the bloatness goes away. And if my skin cleared up! This I believe, is possible. And that is what I will achieve in the coming months.

I'm using this space to write about my progress, the food I'm cooking and eating and probably to vent my frustrations. No (very very little) alcohol, bread, sugar, honey, COFFEE, black tea, mushrooms and lots and lots of other yummy foods for weeks to come.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Mushroom tunnel

Don't have time to say much but LOOK AT THESE:


[Image: Pink oyster mushrooms cropping on racks inside the tunnel. Dr. Arrold came up with the simple but clever idea of growing mushrooms in black bin bags with holes cut in them. Previously, mushrooms were typically grown inside clear plastic bags. The equal exposure to light meant that the mushrooms fruited all over, which made it harder to harvest without missing some].


[Image: The paper cone around the top of the enoki jar helps the mushrooms grow tall and thin.


[Image: Shiitake logs on racks in the Mittagong mushroom tunnel].



{All photos and captions courtesy of: "Mushroom Tunnel of Mittagong". BLDG BLOG. http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/mushroom-tunnel-of-mittagong.html}

Where all of the corn grown in the US goes...

Email sent to UWfarm by Keith Possee:
"The EPA's Ag Center says corn in the U.S. is harvested from 72.7 million acres(m/a) and that 80% goes to feed cattle, poultry and fish. The National Corn Growers Association says that over 50% of U.S. corn goes to feed cattle alone. That would be more than 36.35 m/a of U.S. farmland. The USDA says that as of 2007 there were slightly more than 922 m/a of farmland in the U.S., of which, roughly 406.5 m/a are cropland(as opposed to pasture/woodland etc.) That's about 1/11 of U.S. cropland devoted to feeding corn to cows(another 408 of the 922 m/a farmland total is pasture).
ps- the piece from mother earth news is about growing your own chicken food... and I've posted the piece from Cornell's David Pimentel again.

http://www.ncga.com/livestock
http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ag101/cropmajor.html
http://www.ers.usda.gov/StateFacts/US.htm
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/aug97/livestock.hrs.html
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/Grow-Poultry-Feed-What-Chickens-Eat.aspx
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/02/0079915"


What I don't understand is that I thought we grew a lot of corn for fuel? Maybe that's the other 15% and then 5% to food?

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Are you serious?

http://linestanding.com/


Yes, you can now pay someone to stand in line for you.