Saliva Test Part Deux

I subjected my husband to the candida saliva test. Just as he stumbled out of bed, I thrust a glass of water before him and said, "Spit into this glass."

"What?"

"Just spit."

"Gross. Into our drinking glass?"

"Yes."

His saliva formed some of the tendrils that mine had but they quickly disappeared, unlike mine which grew and grew and....then I tossed them down the sink.

Seems that something is indeed up with my saliva.

Today I'm nursing a green smoothie that's packed with dandelion greens. The dandelion combination is bitter and definitely more suited for the hardcore green smoothie lover. It's back to kale, parsley and spinach for me.

Saliva Alive

I'm always reading if not two then three wellness/candida/sinus/vegan-related books at once. Right now it's In Defense of Food and The Yeast Connection and Women's Health. The latter of which has an accompanying website, where I found a candida saliva test. Wa-hoo!

The test requires that first thing in the morning, before you eat or drink anything, simply spit some saliva into a glass of water. This morning I poured a short glass of purified water from my Brita pitcher and then proudly spit into it.

The test says to wait any where from 1 to 30 minutes. Then look in the glass and:

(from the website)
If there are strings coming down from your saliva, or if the water turned cloudy, or if your saliva sank to the bottom, YOU MAY HAVE A CANDIDA CONCERN!


While I waited, I went about my business cleaning up the kitchen. I was terrified to look in the glass and find a tiny colony of creatures holding a sign that reads, "PLEASE HELP US" Or find that my spit had turned the water a radioactive green. 


Instead when I checked, I found the aforementioned strings. Kind of like the tails of jellyfish suspended from my spit that sat on the surface. Is this the yeast? Looks like the test may have confirmed exactly what I already know. Just to be sure, I'm gonna have my healthy, yeast-free husband take the test too. Results coming soon!

Delicious Allergens

My health continues its back and forth dance. This is a true test of perseverance. Definitely visiting my parents and being around old eating habits was one of my biggest tests. I grew up in a home that had a huge clear glass cookie jar. Instead of the jar being filled with cookies, there were miniature sized candy bars. But back then the minis were more mega-sized. Three Musketeers, M&Ms, Krackel bars, Almond Joy and Milky Way.

During my past visit home, my mom actually had cookies and cake. All of which contain numerous delicious allergens. Overall I did pretty well abstaining. One evening I lost control. I sampled cakes that mom had picked up from a local bakery and revisited my favorite cookies. That evening I didn't sleep well. The next day I awoke with a dull headache, congestion and overall foggy feeling. Between the sugar, gluten and dairy, I guess it was too much. Could I have used up all my sugar cards from over consumption as a kid? Do we all just get so many that our body can handle and after that it's do or die? I managed to balance out my day with a green smoothie and a fresh green juice from Earthfare.

The other hiccup from my mini-vacation were the flights. It used to be when I flew my ears would experience a little congestion, but once I landed it all cleared up. Now, I get intense ear congestion and pain that lasts up to 36 hours after the flight. If anyone has any suggestions or remedies, I'm all ears.

Mom promised that for the next visit she'll attempt to make a low-sugar, gluten and dairy-free cookie. I think I can't wait. Hmm...although Peacefood Cafe has a darn delish gluten free, vegan chocolate chip cookie. So, maybe there is hope in a cookie jar. (One that looks like Mr. T would be truly sweet.)

It's Alive!

I finished The Body Ecology Diet by Donna Gates. The book details reestablishing your internal chemistry through a diet of probiotic Kefir made from cow, goat and coconut milk or cultured vegetables. Since I can't have dairy and coconut is an allergen, I decided I'd try the cultured veggies. I ordered a kit to culture my own veggies. Basically, you place shredded cabbage and other veggies into a container, mix in good bacteria and then let sit on the kitchen counter anywhere from three to 10 days. At this point you move the swamp like thing you've been growing to the fridge. Supposedly, the fridge doesn't stop the bacteria growth. Just slows it a bit. For a full-time working mom who also takes on her share of freelance projects and already has to make all her own food, this seemed daunting and scary. So, when my mom mentioned having been wanting to try the raw sauerkraut that Doctor Oz mentioned on his show, I was game.

I canceled my Amazon order and hightailed it to Rosewood Market in Columbia, South Carolina where mom and I purchased raw sauerkraut by Rejuvenative Foods. When we got home, I opened the jar and my husband said, "If you're going to be eating that, you better brush your teeth afterwards." Smells don't scare me. One of the benefits of years of acute sinusitis.

I took a bite of the kraut and liked the tangy sourness. I then toasted a slice of brown rice bread and spread more kraut on it. The stuff is delish. Plus, I think it's helping me other throw the evil bacteria in my gut, and it's lessening my food allergies and nasal inflammation. I've been able to eat small amounts of some allergen foods (walnuts, cake) without extreme reactions. More like subtle congestion. I've also been maintaining my greens intake through smoothies and juices.

When I return to NYC on Wednesday, I hope to find a jar of my latest fav food at Fairway. It's my new breakfast of sinus champions!

WTF?!

I have no idea what invaded my body at 8:32 pm last night and decided to make a slow exit that had me hugging the porcelain god for four hours. Was it the flu shot from Tuesday morning? Or, was it the sauteed onion and shallot combo I woofed down with my dinner last night? As if I don't have enough problems already. The good news is, the less I eat the more open my sinuses are. Today I've bypassed my usual green smoothies and veggie bowls in favor of dry gluten free rice crispies and gluten free English muffins. I'm happy the entire ordeal is over in time for my flight to South Carolina tonight. Yay, for mini vaca!

Outside My Body Experience

I visited Dr. Firshein today for a flu shot and my third course of acupuncture. He asked how I was feeling. I explained that some days I feel really positive about all the changes I've made to my diet and health, while others I feel incredibly discouraged. I explained how I'm still getting an acute sinus reaction even when I eat something like a baked potato. He asked if I had rethought trying a course or oral antibiotics. I really want to try to go longer without this intervention. He completely respected my decision. He also commended all the dietary changes, pointing out my addition of green juices and smoothies. He said that this was truly helping my body.

He explained that the sinuses are kind of like storage units outside the body. (I immediately thought of Hannibal Lecter's storage unit. Hopefully my sinuses aren't harboring a severed head.) This is why they're so difficult to treat when they're infected. If you get an infection in your eye, you put drops in it. If you get one in your bladder, you take oral meds that reach your bladder via blood. But the sinuses are built outside the body. This faraway address makes it difficult for antibiotics to reach. But easy for antibiotic over use to cause harm in other parts of the body.

For my next outside my body experience, the doctor placed tiny needles on my forehead, cheeks, elbows and shins. He then taped electrical wires to my elbows and shins that feed a tiny current to my body.
This was to help put energy in my body. My previous acupuncture treatment made me feel truly energized. When I left the office, I felt like I was bouncing as I walked down the sidewalk. Today I feel pretty tired. I'm curious to see how I feel over the next day or two. I'm hoping for a power surge.

Half Miracle

It's not a miracle but a half miracle. Coming out of last week's cold, my sinuses are feeling better. I have a bit of an asthmatic/bronchitis cough, which a cup of green tea usually alleviates. Much better than having to use my inhaler. My sinuses are less inflamed. I think the colonics really helped clear out some of the yeast overgrowth from my colon, which has caused the extreme sinusitis. A lot of foods can also damage the colon like sugar, flour products and dairy. I have been a sugar fiend up until about three months ago. I got years of JuJu babies, Rolos and Jacque Torres chocolate covered peeps taking up way too much space in my lower extremities. It was like an Eater basket up in there. (How funny that the image above is a of a chocolate named Collon?) A combo of colon cleansing and dietary changes should help alleviate future sinusitis.

Changing gears, I usually buy bags of organic spinach from Trader Joe's for juicing. They were out of my base ingredient so I bought a bag of organic arugula. It's green and alkalizing, I figured all good. I mixed with it cucumber, lemon and apple plus a tiny bit of garlic. The juice tasted tangy and good yesterday. But this morning it was hard core bitter arugula. Spinach definitely has a smoother taste. (I have a masticating juicer which doesn't expose the plant cells to as much oxygen, so you can save juice in the fridge for a day or two.)

Since I was still feeling a bit under the weather, I didn't hit the gym this past weekend. Instead, me and my family went on an adventure to Tarrytown, New York. I was really craving getting out of the city. We had thought about apple picking, but didn't feel like lugging back bags of apples on multiple trains. Although fresh apple juice would be delish. The Metro North train ride to Tarrytown follows along the Hudson River. So pretty and relaxing.