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| Mary Jane...my sourdough mother. |
That's more than the passing of time on a clock....more like a time bomb. TICKS. Oh, my. Those nasty little creatures who sneak under your clothing, dig in, and proceed to feast on YOU.
You may or most likely, may not have heard of Galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or most commonly called Alpha Gal... one of the more obscure tick-borne diseases. I've had it since 2012. Since afflicting me with anaphylactic shock and almost killing me, Alpha Gal has caused a cascade of allergies. So, in addition to giving up mammalian meat (cow, pig, lamb--any mammal) I gave up dairy (goodbye little goat herd) and gluten. When you list all the food items that contain dairy, gluten, AND meat...that's a lot of food!!!
It's been an emotional and physical roller coaster ride for sure. It isn't just avoiding all the OBVIOUS choices--a nice juicy steak, a cold glass of milk and cookies, mashed potatoes (milk, butter), and gravy. It's those hidden ingredients in everything at the grocery store and restaurants. Such as toothpaste that has animal gelatin. French fries sprayed with beef. Milk casein in salad dressing. The list is shockingly long and dangerous.
I am so fortunate to have a husband who loves to cook and is fully vested in food. He turned from chef to private eye and spent literally days on the telephone tracking down hidden ingredients that had caused multiple reactions in my eight-year odyssey. He saved me many a heartache and allergic reactions over the years.
This tick season--2020--has been predicted to be the worst and the not-so-bad so who ya gonna believe!!?? I know one thing for sure. CHICKENS. The single, safest best thing you can do to get rid of ticks. We have experienced the chicken-tick phenom here at Rocky Creek. They LOVE ticks and are expert in their fields (haha-pun intended) at eradicating them. It's absolutely amazing and unbelievable how quickly chickens will rid your yard of ticks. And, don't just take my word for it..check into these studies.
Now, let's get to the good stuff. The answer to all those cascading allergies/sensitivities that Alpha Gal prompted. About a year and a half ago I read this:
"Within three months her food allergies started evaporating, and a year later she could eat anything she desired. She was no longer allergic to the mass of foods she had been allergic to."
Well, THAT got my attention. And, the most amazing thing...this site wasn't selling a pill, a drug or a meditation technique. It was selling a food preparation method that anyone can do.
Oh my word...so like...old-fashioned sauerkraut? I wrinkled my nose. YES! exactly like that!
I was remembering grocery-store sauerkraut.. Except the world of cultured food is so far beyond grcery-store kraut...like a "galaxy far far away" beyond that. If you can just get past your thought of kraut a minute...think instead about yummy fruited yogurt. Now, there's a cultured food most people enjoy. Except, again, grocery-store yogurt is far more inferior than home cultured yogurt.
I set aside my "eeewwww" reaction to kraut and focused on that part about curing allergies...CURING ALLERGIES!!! Could this be possible? Was this true? Surely not. Surely it couldn't be that easy. I read on...almost holding my breath.
By the time I finished the article, I was determined to give it a try. What in the heck did I have to lose? ALLERGIES, THAT'S WHAT!
So, where to begin. This site--CULTURED FOOD LIFE had everything I needed: motivation, explanation and recipes. When you get to the site click the START HERE button. You will see:
Donna Schwenk and her website changed my life. I had tried a few cultured foods before without any results. It was very disappointing. Then I read all Donn's stuff and she recommended eating 1/4 cup of cultured food AT EVERY MEAL. Ahhh-ha! I had never done that.
After 30 days, I felt so much better so I gathered up my courage and ate some contraband. A very small piece of bread. Not gluten free stuff. Real bread. The effect was...interesting. Not completely without symptoms...but so much better than reactions I'd had before.
I waited another 30 days before I cautiously tried bread. This time I ate a whole piece!! (I know, right?!) What happened still fills my eyes with tears. NOTHING. NADA. NOTHING. I waited a day or two and tried again. Almost nothing. I had a little tummy rumble so I waited another 30 days. This made 90 days since I began the cultured experiment.
After 3 months of cultured food at every meal...I tried some bread. No effect. Could this be right? The next day I ate a sandwich--to the horror of my husband. When I felt no symptoms, I was ecstatic to say the least. During the course of the next several weeks I added in small amounts of no-no food into my diet little by little... execpt mammal meat. I wasn't THAT brave.
I felt so good and healthy, I just knew the meat allergy was gone as well, but given roast beef had nearly killed me I decided to take the blood test before indulging in a burger. I couldn't wait to hear results. When the doctor's office called, my heart was pounding and my emotions ran high. When she started with an "I'm sorry...." disappointment surged through me and tears actually formed in my eyes. No meat for me.
A lot of people have the effects of Alpha-Gal wear off--the meat allergy disappears on its own. I thought after eight years, my faithful cultured food diet and the fact the other food allergies were gone, the meat allergy would surely be gone as well. I had great expectations; the fall was also great. I still had Alpha-Gal. I blamed it on re-infection--other tick bites. After all, I live in the country and my chickens can't be expected to eat them all!
You may or most likely, may not have heard of Galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or most commonly called Alpha Gal... one of the more obscure tick-borne diseases. I've had it since 2012. Since afflicting me with anaphylactic shock and almost killing me, Alpha Gal has caused a cascade of allergies. So, in addition to giving up mammalian meat (cow, pig, lamb--any mammal) I gave up dairy (goodbye little goat herd) and gluten. When you list all the food items that contain dairy, gluten, AND meat...that's a lot of food!!!
It's been an emotional and physical roller coaster ride for sure. It isn't just avoiding all the OBVIOUS choices--a nice juicy steak, a cold glass of milk and cookies, mashed potatoes (milk, butter), and gravy. It's those hidden ingredients in everything at the grocery store and restaurants. Such as toothpaste that has animal gelatin. French fries sprayed with beef. Milk casein in salad dressing. The list is shockingly long and dangerous.
I am so fortunate to have a husband who loves to cook and is fully vested in food. He turned from chef to private eye and spent literally days on the telephone tracking down hidden ingredients that had caused multiple reactions in my eight-year odyssey. He saved me many a heartache and allergic reactions over the years.
This tick season--2020--has been predicted to be the worst and the not-so-bad so who ya gonna believe!!?? I know one thing for sure. CHICKENS. The single, safest best thing you can do to get rid of ticks. We have experienced the chicken-tick phenom here at Rocky Creek. They LOVE ticks and are expert in their fields (haha-pun intended) at eradicating them. It's absolutely amazing and unbelievable how quickly chickens will rid your yard of ticks. And, don't just take my word for it..check into these studies.
Now, let's get to the good stuff. The answer to all those cascading allergies/sensitivities that Alpha Gal prompted. About a year and a half ago I read this:
"Within three months her food allergies started evaporating, and a year later she could eat anything she desired. She was no longer allergic to the mass of foods she had been allergic to."
Well, THAT got my attention. And, the most amazing thing...this site wasn't selling a pill, a drug or a meditation technique. It was selling a food preparation method that anyone can do.
CULTURED FOOD
I was remembering grocery-store sauerkraut.. Except the world of cultured food is so far beyond grcery-store kraut...like a "galaxy far far away" beyond that. If you can just get past your thought of kraut a minute...think instead about yummy fruited yogurt. Now, there's a cultured food most people enjoy. Except, again, grocery-store yogurt is far more inferior than home cultured yogurt.
I set aside my "eeewwww" reaction to kraut and focused on that part about curing allergies...CURING ALLERGIES!!! Could this be possible? Was this true? Surely not. Surely it couldn't be that easy. I read on...almost holding my breath.
By the time I finished the article, I was determined to give it a try. What in the heck did I have to lose? ALLERGIES, THAT'S WHAT!
So, where to begin. This site--CULTURED FOOD LIFE had everything I needed: motivation, explanation and recipes. When you get to the site click the START HERE button. You will see:
KEFIR * WATER KEFIR * KOMBUCHA * CULTURED VEGETABLES * SPROUTED & SOURDOUGH* YOGURT
I had played around with kefir at various times in my life, so I started there. Since I was allergic to dairy I used nut "milk" and rice "milk". I began seriously using my sourdough (I had captured wild Rocky Creek yeast)!! Then I started cultured vegetables.
Donna Schwenk and her website changed my life. I had tried a few cultured foods before without any results. It was very disappointing. Then I read all Donn's stuff and she recommended eating 1/4 cup of cultured food AT EVERY MEAL. Ahhh-ha! I had never done that.
After 30 days, I felt so much better so I gathered up my courage and ate some contraband. A very small piece of bread. Not gluten free stuff. Real bread. The effect was...interesting. Not completely without symptoms...but so much better than reactions I'd had before.
I waited another 30 days before I cautiously tried bread. This time I ate a whole piece!! (I know, right?!) What happened still fills my eyes with tears. NOTHING. NADA. NOTHING. I waited a day or two and tried again. Almost nothing. I had a little tummy rumble so I waited another 30 days. This made 90 days since I began the cultured experiment.
 |
| Cultured veggies |
After 3 months of cultured food at every meal...I tried some bread. No effect. Could this be right? The next day I ate a sandwich--to the horror of my husband. When I felt no symptoms, I was ecstatic to say the least. During the course of the next several weeks I added in small amounts of no-no food into my diet little by little... execpt mammal meat. I wasn't THAT brave.
 |
| Kefir |
I felt so good and healthy, I just knew the meat allergy was gone as well, but given roast beef had nearly killed me I decided to take the blood test before indulging in a burger. I couldn't wait to hear results. When the doctor's office called, my heart was pounding and my emotions ran high. When she started with an "I'm sorry...." disappointment surged through me and tears actually formed in my eyes. No meat for me.
A lot of people have the effects of Alpha-Gal wear off--the meat allergy disappears on its own. I thought after eight years, my faithful cultured food diet and the fact the other food allergies were gone, the meat allergy would surely be gone as well. I had great expectations; the fall was also great. I still had Alpha-Gal. I blamed it on re-infection--other tick bites. After all, I live in the country and my chickens can't be expected to eat them all!
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| My fermented friends keep me healthy. Mary Jane isn't pictured here as she is a star by herself | . |
My Alpha Gal self-pity was short-lived. All of my other food allergies were gone. I was very healthy in every other aspect. I take zero medications which is no small feat for my age (77). So, I started counting my blessings--of which cultured food was a star. Cultured food truly is a blessing.
Below is an assortment of resources:
Go here for my ALPHA GAL BEGINS STORY
AlphaGal.org
The Doctor who discovered Alpha Gal
This is the very first Alpha Gal source I read...TICKED OFF CARNIVORES!!
Alpha Gal reaction to MEDICATIONS
FAQS
Go here for my ALPHA GAL BEGINS STORY
AlphaGal.org
The Doctor who discovered Alpha Gal
This is the very first Alpha Gal source I read...TICKED OFF CARNIVORES!!
Alpha Gal reaction to MEDICATIONS
FAQS
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