Heavily Glutened: FEVER

In a week of weakness, I consumed:

Pizza twice. Moderate and local pizzeria, but allergenic nonetheless.

My favorite bakery's cream cheese filled spongy cookie, twice.

A sesame and soy sauce garnished biscuit, twice.

Then my favorite chocolate filled mini-baguettes which my student gifts me every other week or so. And that was the last straw. 10 minutes later I had ringing in my ears.

The next day I felt normal, just a little tired, but after one of my classes suddenly had terrible aches and pains like the flu. Also noticed this pain above one of my molars which I get if I have dairy, or dairy-gluten combos which feels like tooth pain but I think it's my sinus. By the end of all my classes I was throughly exhausted and feverish, fever starting around 99 degrees and getting as high as 101! Also, a characteristic feeling where my sinus meets my throat like someone scraped it and post-nasal drip... 

Must be GLUTENING. >.< And after cutting it out for so long, it's only all the more clear when glutening happens. 

It's back to a hypoallergenic diet for me. Sweet potatoes, homemade chicken vegetable soup, and now I have the joy of homemade vegetable juices in my life. Carrot juice is creamy delicious! 

Still feeling like crap... tired and sore.

Video Review: Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

It's been a while. I guess nothing's happened that struck me with the inspiration to write these days, but recently it has. I'm always in the mood to watch any muckraking, inspirational, or health-educational film and just found one. Excited by the title, I searched for it and found it and want to share it with the masses on the internet.

It's a documentary called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" As you can see. The image and trailer can be accessed at the page: http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/ and also leads to the online community known collectively as "the Reboot." It goes back to the time-tested practice of fasting to in effect "reset" the body.

For anyone who's followed my posting they know I have sporradic health complaints. I think I'm someone who needs a lot of variety in my diet. My last diet experiment had to do with avoiding gluten, and after avoiding it temporarily for a month or so I can tolerate even gluten containing foods in moderation (success!). For those who are severely overweight and experiencing mild to severe health effects from a processed or low plant food containing diet, I think this movie is a must see. Joe Cross (the director and main subject of the film) is your average younger-end middle aged man who finds himself 40 or so, overweight, and saddled with an autoimmune medical condition which for a time he chose to control with modern medicine: predisone. Another subject in the film has the same condition (chronic urticaria) the other man with the condition is a similar age but more overweight. Both stories are inspiring. My father also suffers from a chronic hive condition and he wears the same badge of metabolic crisis: what I would call "basketball gut." Or my mother says it looks like my dad's carrying triplets.

How is it that for all our advancements, technology, and wealth-- we are failing to fuel ourselves with the nutrients we need? Why does our food: that which we put in our bodies, fail to warrant the financial investment we're willing to make for clothes, tech devices, cosmetics, and everything else in our lives?

All in all I find the film to be a great inspiration. It goes where films which came before such as Super Size Me and other food-related documentaries don't go. It shows that there is a way to break the cycle and restore balance in the body. And also, that there's a way to do it without breaking the bank. Both the director/main subject, Joe, and the secondary character, Phil, loose their basketball gut and their western medications--while at the same time inspiring their families and communities to consider themselves undertaking fasts (Joe and Phil complete 60 day juice fasts), although for those who are facing more mild conditions and mild overweight, shorter fasts and maintaining balance in the diet is probably enough to consider fostering health.

A must see. I remember watching Super Size Me in my high school health education class. I think this film could easily take the place of that film as being educational and inspirational for people to suggest to their friends or family members.

Gluten Free in Japan: Week 2 begins/Confession

I must confess I am back to "Go" as far as gluten free goes.

I'm getting a little better day by day, but I have broken code last night (and faced some consequences- tummy ache, nauseous) but not sure if it is gluten or just other preservatives and flavors. I ate a chocolate brownie and half a processed pudding cup and had an immediate stomach ache. The pudding was worse and the artificial flavor left a really bad taste in my mouth.

But I slept and feel ok, luckily, and now know that I must be more strict with the diet than before.

I just wanted something sweet and exciting! But it was fake-flavor-y and painful.

Day 5: Gluten Free in Japan

Day 5 and I will spare you the gruesome details, but my digestion is working at 95% normal :D

The cracks in my tongue are less, which means my gut is also doing better at getting essential nutrients!

Totally calm and in charge at today's classes! Even though it's Saturday and I was at the school from 12 to 8.

Also able to down a bunch of dark chocolate today- which is rich in iron and certain polyphenols and antioxidants. Of course, it's free of most allergens EXCEPT had soy... which I may or may not be slightly allergic to. Apparently that doesn't compare to wheat or gluten.

And I feel like I have so much more free time, energy, and drive now that the stomach pain is lifted off my shoulders AND I didn't have to go to the clinic to get a stomach camera-ing done. And all I had to do was go without wheat in my food. So that's easier said than done... everything has to be cooked at home from scratch and without wheat and without certain exciting things like soy sauce. But had some pretty good no soy-sauce Korean bulgogi recently. Maybe I'll be able to have smidges of soy sauce and kim ch'i again soon...

Now that I feel good I can start putting together pictures and stories about my November-December travels with Mumsie!

Day 4: Gluten Free in Japan

Woke up with marked less sinus pain/congestion. Still some pains in the gut but no cramps. Shortness of breath is less now too, and overall achy/tired/no drive/anxiety feeling is a little better too.

I eat a bowl of sweet potatoes instead of noodles or rice, and brothy soups made of meat, vegetables, water, and the kombu seaweed. Did you know MSG was originally distilled from the kombu sea vegetable? Now they use soybeans and whatever slop they can boil down to produce glutamate and attach it to a sodium ion, hence the name MSG. The part that has the "umami" is the glutamate. But anyway, the kombu and a few other spices makes a tasty, almost buttery broth without butter, msg, or even soy sauce. Which I'm still waiting on getting some wheat-free tamari. Even at the health-food store the organic tamari had wheat in it. Which I thought tamari-soy-sauce was supposed to be wheat free, but whatever. I also have sides of lightly spiced meat curries made with light curry spices and coconut milk. I don't use those nasty bouillon/processsed curry cubes they sell everywhere in Japan, these are just spices and not cubes processed with a bunch of altered oils, starches, artifical flavors etc.... Which I found were hard to find in Korea and Japan, but they are available if you keep your eyes out for them or go to a health food store (which is disappointing to me in comparison to health food stores in America/Canada/the West/any other country. I guess it's still hard for most people to believe these food allergies might exist.

Maybe it sounds crazy but at least I'm feeling a little better everyday. I get so sad when someone gifts me something that looks delicious and I can't eat it ; - ; . But when my condition is under control I'll be able to handle everything again in small doses.

Day... 2 Gluten Free

Day 2 of Gluten Free Folks

:(

The epicness that occurred last month was my mother and mother-in-law's visit, a trip to Nagano, trip to Nara, and really all around business and craziness. When I think about the amount of gluten I consumed during that short period, compared to my relative abstinence from it for about 3 years or so, I ate roughly 3 years worth of gluten in 3 months. At my best in the U.S. I could eat a gluten item about once a week and have only slight ramifications: a little tired, or swollen feeling in my sinuses.

And still on Day 2 I'm feeling achy, exhausted, "tired but wired..." meaning exhaustion coupled with trouble falling asleep, sinus sludge, body aches, shortness of breath, slight stomach pain. Just need to remind myself that it is only Day 2, and there could be at least 2 weeks to a month for my body to heal from whatever reaction was set into motion by my dietary exuberance since I arrived in Japan- where I cast my doubts about gluten being bad for me to the wind and just ate it happily because that's what everyone else is doing. I hope that the same consciousness about food allergies will come to Japan (maybe almost inevitably) as it has in the U.S.

There's also the added awareness that there may be a few other sensitivities... including soy, potato/tomato, and citrus which my consumption of also increased dramatically since coming here.

Looking forward to getting farther along into elimination... I'm being so strict now Max made a soup with soy sauce in the broth and I had to refuse it. But with his rice allergy he also must avoid any soup made with say, mirin or miso, as they also contain rice.

Repressed the urge to go to the doctor. I'm kind of under the impression that there's nothing they can do for me. I just have to try this rest from known/long suspected allergens before I go looking for anything else wrong...

Under the Weather... beginning of trying Gluten Free in Japan

In the West they really spell it right out for ya...

I've only seen one section which was a single rack in a supermarket (not even a portion of an aisle) remotely announcing itself as friendly-food for food allergy sufferers

So I'm not getting much done... been kind of under the weather off and on. Stomach and sinus issues, and symptoms which in my experience and research all point to food allergy: that is stomach issues, sinus issues, fatigue, and flu-like symptoms. All were somewhat under control when I was much stricter with my diet... maybe 1 or 2 servings of gluten containing foods a week in America (say, a whole wheat hamburger bun) to... I don't even want to know how much gluten has entered my diet since I came to Japan.

Apparently there's just not much discussion of food allergies in Japan, except for the few for which it's a matter of life or death. And it's getting there for me... stomach cramps nightly (which resolve... I was experiencing a weekend without pain until today... ate some instant noodles and some cookies and BAM, a few hours later now and I'm just dealing with a swollen feeling in my sinuses)

I don't know if its just because so much food seems to revolve around cash crops and commodity foods: soy, rice, and wheat. Noodles abound, and so many staple foods (and peoples favorites) just as they do in the west.... are FULL OF GLUTEN.

The most popular and prevalent foods in my neighborhood: PASTA PASTA PASTA (a nightmare... I recall having an aversion to spaghetti when my father made it for me as a child, and the bloating that would follow eating out at an Italian restaurant) My neighborhood is rather famous for its bakeries and pasta. Or if you don't want pasta you could have a big bowl of wheat-noodles "udon", or occasionally I've been making takoyaki, or octopus dumplings, at home) which is grilled flower with octopus in it. Or Okonomiyaki, which is also grilled flour. All is delicious but the food allergy symptoms begin almost instantly after eating these items... a swollen feeling in my ears and achiness and post-nasal drip the next day.

And for about 2 months (about a month into giving up on my strict avoidance of gluten) some intense stomach distress began. My most painful nights I recall are (1) day I ate udon (2) day I ate a cream puff and a piece of cake (3) made a mistake and ate another cream-puff. While Japanese sweets, pleasingly, are not as extremely sweet as their western (American) counterparts, they do also increasingly contain lovely altered sugar substitutes like sorbitol which are also irritating to the stomach.

As bummed out as I am, I'm also hopeful that today will be a turning point. I'm going to try to go gluten free in Japan. Which, I can tell you, is not as easy as America. Most people will probably look at you in confusion, suspecting the reality that there is such a thing as sensitivity to wheat. I've only seen one food section in a store advertised as one that's food-allergy friendly. I haven't seen any food with a giant "I'm Gluten Free!" label like they have entire aisles dedicated to back home... And one health food store, which I was disappointed looked exactly like the other health food market. But I'm going to be persistent and write about this new "project" of mine in Japan. These will be under the title "Gluten Free in Japan" in hopes I can help people living in Japan with gluten allergies, as well as those pondering travel to Japan who have gluten allergies.

I'm not ready to go home to America just because I have food allergies...

Special thanks to Blogger Sofia, living in Kyushuu, who provides useful information on living Gluten Free on her blog

http://from-japan-with-love.blogspot.com/2008/09/going-gluten-free-in-japan.html

紅茶キノコ：アメリカで「コンブチャ」という

これ、紅茶キノコのキノコだよ！

Kombucha, I miss you. :(

日本に来てからあまり「ホームシック」という気持ちにならないけど、なんか、アメリカで簡単に手に入れたものは時々、日本で、日本で手に入れることが大変難しいだ。それは有機栽培野菜とお肉、と色々なヘルスフードと「健康食べ物」と言うのお菓子だ。今はアメリカでヘルスフォードのお店がなんかブームがありますが、私はそのブームはないの感じがしています。日本で有機栽培か「自然」とパッケージに書いてあっても、材料の書いてあるところを詳しく読んだら、私の視点からあまりそんなに自然に見えないのだ。まだたくさんの科学調味料が入りすぎ感じがする。でもそれは他の話だ。

名古屋の近くに住むから、どうか輸入のお店で何かいいものを見つけれるかな。。と思って、見つけてもがっかりした。チーズは安そう、低い価値のものやアメリカのジャンクフードだけが入っている感じがした。もちろん日本の伝統的な和食はとても健康にいいんですけど、街に出かけたらそのレストランは珍しいと感じる。とてもとてもヘルシーな食事ですが、街では揚げたもの（とんかつ、からあげ）と麺だけ見つけれる。レストランで深い緑の野菜はあまりない。家で料理しないと、ヘルシーな生活はあまりできないと感じる。

多分この点は私の一つだけのホームシックになる点です。とてむ気づく。アメリカで何度も、日本のたべものや日本人の食べ方はとてもヘルシーだと聞いて、今は主人と二人アパートに住んで、オレンジーページの雑誌もインスピレーションのために読んで、まだ日本での材料を使ってどうやっておいしいものを作れるか分からない。でも、頑張っている。

今本当に買いたいのは、紅茶キノコという紅茶です。日本でこのキノコを調べたら、ブログでしか見つけれない。アメリカで好きなブランドは「GTのSYNERGY」と言う。色々な自然なフルーツピューレーを使って作った紅茶キノコだ。とてもとても飲みたくなっています。健康のために飲めばいいと言っていますか、誰でも味に慣れたら、もっと飲みたくなると思う。でもどうしよう。日本ではこの紅茶は前にブームがあったか分からないと思うけど、今は紅茶キノコか紅茶を作るためのキノコを本当に本当にかいたいです。今年韓国に住んだとき変えなかったが、作るための「キノコ」は買えた。それで、韓国でも楽しめた。どうして日本でこの紅茶楽しめないの？これから一生懸命探して行く。

いつか、カリフォルニアで作ったおいしいGT　SYNERGYのコンブチャが日本に輸入になったらうれしいな。。。誰かキノコだけでも買い方教えていただけませんか？

Truth in Advertising: McDonalds

Tee Hee

Sugar, The Bitter Truth: By Dr. Lustig

When low fat is really high fat.

Very interesting.

Dr. Mercola introduced the video on his website. Moral of the story: all sugar is horrible for health but especially fructose and carbohydrates that can only be metabolized by the liver. They are in essence chronic toxins.

No wonder I got PCOS being raised on the government sanctioned school meal plan. Luckily I drive my food choices these days. And if I were not so sensitive, I may not need to try such a low carb Japanese diet. But I stand revised on my previous post about the Japanese diet, as most of the carbohydrates are glucose which the Dr. above asserts gives energy to every cell in the body (besides the fact that it can be metabolized outside of the liver.)

Makes me wish that I had gotten far enough to study biochem. But C- ed my way out of o-chem.

Support Responsible Agriculture: Demand Federal Subsidies Reward Responsibility

This is real. Humans actions are changing and damaging the Earth and I don't care who argues that it's false. Our Earth and life is resilent, however, humans' resilency may be nothing compared to other life forms. The planet should be respected.

Support responsible agriculture. I wish that responsible family farms, too, could receive the subsidies they deserve unlike the farms depicted in that video.

Organic vegetables are not falsely expensive so much as the polluted, GMO staples of GMO corn and soy are artificially cheap. When will enough people demand that common sense be used when bringing food to the table?

I don't know what to do about these problems, seems the only thing is to get the word out. The way I vote is with my wallet. I can't afford Coach purses or a lot of fancy clothes, but at least the food on my table is honest, real, and not posing so much of a risk to the planet.

Hypochloridia

Thank-you Truth About Gardasil group! This is the most interesting article I have come across in a long time and it explains a lot!

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_2001_Oct/ai_78900837/?tag=content;col1


Hypochloridia, or low stomach acid. This is a contender for explaining all the problems! Luckily right now I'm pretty healthy, I'm digesting my food well, I'm going to ballet class multiple times a week, and coping pretty well with everything in general and have time to hang out with friends, but during the dark times it definitely was not so much this way. Anyway, the article is fascinating and can explain hypochloridia much better than I can in my own words.

Anyway, it's kind of impressive because the acupuncturist told me that I had a stomach yin deficiency and my stomach most markedly was abnormal according to eastern diagnosis.

Maybe it's always been a problem for me... I always experienced heartburn and nausea episodes as a kid. Maybe it led to some of the phenomenon described in the article (high levels of detrimental ions, aluminum, zinc, cadmium etc...) and then the sensitivity to the Gardasil shot. So maybe it's an underlying problem. This is the only condition I have ever seen that explains the waxing and waning severity of geographic tongue. I always wondered about that.

I don't think that hypochloridia is uncommon at all, seeing as how overmedicated for "excess acid" people are these days.

That was interesting. A part of me will always be interested in science.

___________________

If you think you may have low stomach acid (I'm sure it's fairly common) I've been thinking of what you can do to fix it.

1) Eat small, frequent, meals. You will better digest your food, it is better for your sugar metabolism which may be compromised because of the condition, and have time to regenerate and digest everything more effectively.

2) Don't drink too much water with meals. It will dilute what acid is in your stomach. Wait until a little while after your meal to drink.

3) Eat unprocessed foods. Try to avoid refined flours, sugars, etc. This is a good step for all health conditions.

4) Betaine HCl (to supplement the HCl which is the acid for your stomach): BUT be cautious with it. Sx of hyperacidity and hypoacidity are really similar. Start out with a small dose, monitor its effects carefully. This is a good site about Betaine HCl
http://www.modernherbalist.com/betaine.html

I'll add more as I think of them.

Center for Science in the Public Interest

With freedom and innovation comes responsibility to know what it is, what's safe, and what's not. Organizations like the Center for Science in the Public Interest are just helping laypeople such as myself and the rest of us to understand the ingredients of modern life. It's a good website for families and concerned everywhere.

http://cspinet.org/index.html

________________

Also for anyone who uses shampoo, toothpaste, and personal hygeine products of any kind, the Skin Deep Personal Product safety database is useful, although sometimes I don't agree with their ratings.

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

On Probiotics

So, the medical world: "conventional" and "alternative" alike is all abuzz about Probiotics... and the idea of replenishing intenstinal flora to combat the assaults on our systems of the mix of yeast, sugar, and refined flours resulting in what is an overgrowth of candida (everyone's favorite YEAST infections) and a lack of friendly bacteria for most people.

Scary, I know. ;) Oh the horror.

Both my primary care MD, naturopaths, and my acupuncturists recommend probiotics but the fact of the matter is that they can be painful for us whose systems are out of whack (and also, the way they are cultured among them are different and people, depending on sensitivities and allergies, will have different reactions to different strains.) There are herxheimer reactions (worsening of symptoms occurring when positive changes are happening), as well as just having general side affects. Looks like probiotics produce side effects for me.

Having a healthy balance of flora in the gut can help with these conditions: (and yet, for most, is not the silver bullet answer)

-allergies (of all kinds)

-fatigue

-IBS

-leaky gut and nutrient absorbtion

So I don't know if the discomfort I'm in is because of some good vs. evil bacteria/fungi in the gut or if probiotics are a no-no for me.

It's gonna be a while until I try taking one again.

My Year of Meats

My Year of Meats, Ruth L. Ozeki

I'm a big fan of real food and anywhere the sick system is called out for it's dirty deeds. Thus, I quite enjoy muckraking exposes like Fast Food Nation. For me it doesn't really stop at food, but the general lack of concern for safety in consumer goods and new technologies.

Regardless, I wrote a paper about this in Japanese this year and how cool is this that a Japanese-american (in NY? Okay.... ) is writing books like this. I saw it at the Marche cafe today and when this intense term is over and I have time to myself, i would love to read through it and her other stuff.

Until then, at least I get to enjoy reading Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood for the first time.

Acupuncture was a success today. You don't know how wound up you are until suddenly you're un-wound. Although I guess I'm more sensitive than most... but I'm working hard on that.

Peace out and see you soon.

Soy Milk Recipe: Link

I'd like to write a blog about the debate on soybeans: are they beneficial or harmful to health? (It's quite a debate, and quite confusing to me)

Anyway, there is a link to a recipe for soymilk. With all the ingredients added to commercial soymilk, it's nice to have the option to make it at home.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2019300/make_homemade_soy_milk.html?cat=5