Just Found This

I just Googled, "sucrose corn" and the first thing that came up was this. Kind of chilling what the modern food industry is doing to us.

Why I was researching was that I made a pumpkin cheesecake today (recipe soon) and wanted a nice whipped cream to put on top. I popped into our small town's "mom and pop" store thinking this would be a lead pipe cinch. Boy was I mistaken! The first carton of heavy whipping cream had "modified food starch," which of course is corn starch. The only other kind they had there had sucrose in it. Riggggght-corn derived. What the heck is all that crap doing in an innocent carton of whipping cream? Anyway read this article, it's an eye opener.

(I did get my whipping cream. We had to go to Belgrade for a function at the grandkids' school tonight so we stopped by the supermarket there and I found one that just said "cream, milk" on its label. Not organic, but beggars can't be choosers at 8:00 P.M. on a Thursday night.)

Update on My "Dirt"

I haven't posted any progress for a couple of weeks because I wanted to give the Diatomaceous Earth a good chance to do what it needs to do.

Soooo-well, I've been on the stuff for three weeks now, a tablespoon in the morning and the same at night. Here's a few things I've noticed:

Hot flashes are somewhat better-not gone, mind you, but better.

I'm still sleeping wonderfully. I can get by on 6 or 7 hours a night and feel like it's 8 or 9. Most nights I sleep through until 6:00 or 7:00. This is new to me. Because of the fibromyalgia I woke up several times during the night and took anywhere from half an hour to 1 1/2 hours to just GET to sleep. Now I'm asleep usually within a half hour and rarely wake up.

This probably is partly due to the good sleep but my head is so clear. No more foggy brain-I can actually form coherent thoughts. I have a continuous feeling of well-being, something I've heard is common with the DE, but I'm a bit surprised by that. Happy, though, nobody likes a grump!

My sinuses are clear all the time. As a general rule, they would be clear sometimes and sometimes very congested. Now they're never congested.

People are still noticing that I'm not coughing as much. I had a gab fest on the phone this morning with a friend and she commented on the fact that I hadn't coughed once during our 1 1/2 hour conversation. Still coughing, just not as much. I did notice something this morning-the ink that our local newspaper uses usually sets me off in a huge coughing spell, but either they changed back to soy ink or I didn't react to their regular ink.

I'm still "cleansing," but it's becoming more consistent and not so (ahem) offensive. My urine is pretty dark, which is odd because I drink a boatload of water. Aha, I heard that it cleans the bladder. Which is the main reason I'm doing this-to get myself off the antibiotics.

One "detox" thing I'm experiencing is more muscle spasms. I had a spasm in the lower left side of my back which I've never had before, but it dissipated fairly quickly. I also have bumps on my skin, kind of like pimples only firmer. Just a few, but something I've never noticed before. Yep, I think my body is chucking the Candida!

Progress, I think, but I've heard from several alternative physicians that for every year you've had a condition it takes a month to heal. I've been coughing for 20 years, had fibromyalgia for about 25 years, and chronic UTIs for 41 years. I guess I'm in it for the long run. Thing is, if I didn't do this, where would I be in 20 months-so what do I have to lose? It's cheap and harmless so I can hang in there as long as I need to.

Winter Chicken Soup

A perfect supper when the weather is totally unseasonable for October. (Cold!) I made gluten-free biscuits to go with it and it was very satisfying. I almost didn't miss the noodles.

Winter Chicken Soup

2 large chicken breasts, cubed in 1/2" pieces (about 1 1/2 pounds)
Salt
Pepper
1 tsp Herbs De Provence (I made the Emeril recipe from Food Network but you could use any recipe)
1 tsp celery seed
1 T dried parsley
1 can organic chicken broth (label reading is important with this ingredient)
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pound sliced carrots
3 large stalks chopped celery
Potato starch
Olive oil
Butter

Season chicken with salt, pepper, herbs, celery seed and parsley. Brown in 1 T olive oil and 1 T butter. Add celery and brown for a few minutes. Add broth, carrots, and additional water to cover; bring to a boil and simmer at least 2 hours until flavors are blended.

Stir 2 T potato starch into a cup of cold water and stir into soup. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until mixture is thickened. Makes about 8 generous servings.

Utah Peaches

Hands down the best tasting peaches are those from Utah. I think the alkaline soil makes them sweeter. Some years we drive down and buy peaches, but it didn't work out this year. No grocer in this area seems to want to carry Utah peaches anymore-it's either Washington or California. Neither are as sweet. My SIL told me she found Utah peaches on the corner near her home and did we want her to pick a box up for us? Of course! They weren't cheap, but what a treat.

More of those make-do containers. I try to reuse every container I get-there's even a potato salad container among the yogurt containers.

So far, there's been lots of eating, and the other day Hubs put up seven quarts in the canner. Today I made two batches of freezer jam. Oh, winter will be much nicer with this little stash! Add that to the strawberry and raspberry jams in the freezer and we will be happy campers! Oh, and I made my cobbler, too!

The heavenly jam-it set up really fast. This container won't make it to the freezer-I have some waffles that are waiting for it.

My SIL brought me a recipe for fake corn syrup. I used in the jam since the recipe in the pectin box called for corn syrup to prevent sugar crystal from forming in the freezer. I'm going to try the rest of the syrup batch in my special caramels and if it works I will post both recipes in a day or so.

Another Thing I Can't Have!

I thought, after reading the label, that the Starbucks Mocha coffee was safe for me to drink. Not so-it contains ascorbic acid and I just Googled it and it also is derived from corn! This is just not fair-all I want is a little treat now and then. Manufacturers don't care about people, just profits, and since corn is cheaper to use, they use it a lot.

Sigh!

First Week

Okay, here's the disclaimer:

I do not publish this information to treat or diagnose any disease. I only share what works for me and hope that someone else gleans information out of my posts. Hope that's enough for the FDA.

Monday, Sept. 28-Received shipment. Started out with 1 tsp of Diatomacious Earth in water. It wasn't bad-good, that will make it easier to stay consistent.

Tuesday, Sept. 29-Tried it in my coffee 1/2 tsp at a time. Not bad-gotta keep it stirred, but this isn't going to be terrible. I'm now taking 1 tsp in the morning and 1 tsp in the evening, before bed. I stirred into grape juice. Is it too soon to notice that I have less phlegm? I do but is it due to the DE?

Wednesday, Sept. 30-My coffee didn't back up in my throat today. Not so much phlegm today, either. Had coffee with my friend Diane and gave her a container of DE. She noticed that I didn't cough much. Folks, I coughed ALL the time-strangers would come up to me in restaurants thinking I was choking or had pneumonia. I had to cross my legs, I coughed so hard.

I increased my dosage and today is the first full day of a full dose-1 tablespoon in the morning and 1 in the evening.

People are noticing that I'm not coughing as much. I've been plagued by hot flashes for ten years. Bad ones-if I bent over the sweat would run like a stream. I used to be on the cold side. It would take a while for me to warm up when I went to bed, then in the last ten years I would have to throw the covers off to sleep. Last night I shivered for an hour until I warmed up enough to sleep. No, I don't have a virus. Hm-now that I think about it, I haven't had a hot flash all day and I didn't have to take my coat off at the restaurant. Maybe.....

I have this feeling of well-being. Not sure if it's due to the DE. Can't be the weather-cloudy, 36 and windy.

This next thing is kind of gross. I mentioned the cleansing effect of this stuff. Yeah, I'm cleansing-and every time it has a different odor. Wonder what that means?

Anyway, I'm encouraged. I'll stay on the stuff for a while and see if my good results continue. My ultimate goal is to completely get off the antibiotics and dampen some of my allergic reactions. We'll see.

Harvest Time

About 50 pounds or so-not our record but enough for us.

Even though I'm allergic to tomatoes, we raise them primarily for Stan. We give a bunch away, too, especially to our busy kids. Today we picked all the tomatoes, squash, and broccoli. We'll freeze the broccoli and can a few tomatoes. I covered up but came away with a pretty good rash on my arms where the glove and sleeve didn't meet. I suspect the squash plants. I've never been tested for squash and don't seem to have trouble eating them, but the plants have always given me fits. Stan keeps telling me to back off, he'll get those, but darn it the work needs to get done!

This kid is crazy about carrots. Can't wait to dig those up, there seems to be a huge crop!

In other news, I'm keeping a daily diary of the Diatomacious Earth and will probably post weekly about my progress or lack thereof.