[hellotampon]

Thanks turbo, I'll have to get some chlorophyll capsules!

I haven't (and won't) see a doctor about it because I have no insurance. Otherwise I would have, a long time ago. I'm thinking maybe it's a soy intolerance because I've been having my poopy problem pretty much since I turned vegan and started eating more soy. Which is horrible because I lovelovelove tofu!

[mouse]

i'm hungry, my head is pounding, and the scent of maple syrup makes me want to puke. things can only get better, right..?

[raskel]

Does anyone know about taking care of asthma naturally? I know I've heard of it being done, I just don't remember who told me or what they said.

[pepper]

good for you for taking things into your own hands. if i were you i would find another doctor while you're at it, pill pushers make me nervous. it's like they don't know enough about how things work to suggest anything other than drugs. wierd! they're supposed to be doctors, shouldn't they have something more up their sleeves than that?! sheesh.

[cloverbee]

so I went and saw my doctor today and I told him that I was going to break open my capsules and pour a little bit out everyday. he advised against it b/c I couldn't measure it. I asked him what the alternative was and he said just to stay on it!!! what????? come on!! so I went home and broke my capsules open and poured out 25 granules for the first week, 50 for the second, approx. 75 for the third (I didn't really count each one here) and around half of the capsule for the fourth week. We'll see how it goes. I've wanted to do this for a long time and now that I'm not working or going to school I feel that I can do it. I've been on Effexor for over three years. I don't know what it's like w/out it and I don't really know exactly what it is doing to me side effect wise. it's been a good drug for my anxiety but it has caused me a lot of nervousness (what a trade, huh??). I may stay on it if it gets to where I can't handle the anxiety but I'm going to be positive about it and say that the anxiety will not return. My brain is different now and I've learned to not catastrophize as much like I used to. okay, this probably belongs in the anxiety thread but I just wanted to update anyone who cares. Thanks for listening!

[pepper]

dang i hate wheatgrass. which really sucked when i worked at a wheatgrass FARM! all the free shots i could stomach. i was up to two-four ounces after a few months. some people really love the taste but, blech, i found it so overwhelmingly sweet and grassy. it was ok mixed with apple juice but adding ginger would have pushed me right over the nauseous edge, ugh.
the health benefits are unmistakable. really.

[turbojenn]

Yup, I love the wheatgrass...I grow my own, and then I juice it with a little ginger - hoo-boy - that is better at revving you up than anything!

[amilita]

I was surprised to like wheatgrass juice. It is kinda sweet...and to me it sort of has an icky taste right at first but then that goes away and you get a yummy flavor and aftertaste. It is just sorta fresh and grassy...that's the only words I can find.

The Mr. and I like it enough to sip it, and then the guy at the juice bar yells at us to hurry up and drink it cuz all the vitamins are going away as it sits there.

I'm gonna do a juice fast sometime soon...I like that more than the master cleanse, but I still drink a lot of water with lemon. It's sort of a good, spring-y time for a cleanse!

[neverending]

Has anybody tried Wheatgrass juice?If so please tell me how it tastes because I've heard it has many health benefits.

[mouse]

okay....day 1 of the master cleanse....it's 3pm here and i've had four cups of the stuff. it's tasty, but i can see myself getting sick of it real quick. the saltwater made me super nauseous this morning (do you know how much a quart is??? A LOT is the answer. A LOT) but it, uh, did what it was supposed to do.

i have a pretty heavy caffeine addiction so i have a vicious headache right now...they're supposed to disappear in a couple of days. i can stick it out.

i'm not hungry at all. i want food for the taste, but i'm not physically hungry.

[midgemcgrath]

just a little fyi if anyone is going to try st. john's wort or any 'natural' anti-anxiety meds that have it in them, it does interfere with the effectiveness of hormonal birth control, so if you're on the pill/patch/ring/depo, stay away!

raskel--i see, and that is a weird one, the sesame oil!

tatiana--i'm on a waitlist for that "feeling good" book from the library, i'm glad to hear it's actually good!

hellotampon--just a little concern over the smelly/oily poop...i'd be concerned that you are having some malabsorption problems ...haha, omg, i just googled "smelly oily poop" to make sure "malabsorption" was the right term for the problem, and the fifth result is the "everyone poops..." thread where we talked about the poo nurse a while back! lol! well, i guess you are already concerned about this. but if this has been going on so long, why not go check it out with the doc? it can be caused by less worrysome things like soy or dairy allergy or parasites (though, parasites do need to be treated), but can also be signs of much more severe problems like celiacs disease, problems with your pancreas, and even cystic fibrosis! even if it is just from an allergy, it is a strong sign that your body is not absorbing all the nutrients from the food you eat, which is not healthy! i really hope you look into this further since it has been an ongoing issue!

[turbojenn]

Oh - also ht - if you can, you might want to get a colonic - a good colon therapist can diagnose your issues really well, tell you which part of your intestines are slowing things down for you, and recommend natural digestive aids to help you digest more efficiently.

[turbojenn]

ht - yup, your poop is a good indicator of a lot of things. I'd recommend taking 3 chlorophyll capsules everymorning - makes your poop vibrantly green!...but also helps clean out your intestines. It sounds like you eat a great diet, but things are still literally fermenting in there...which is the smell. How well do you chew your food? With lots of raw foods and whole grains, unless you chew your food really well, your poops can get a little gross.

The oiliness is odd though, and the only thing I can think of is that you can't quite fully digest the soy. I'm that way, so I pretty much cut out the soy except for the occasional soy cheese pizza. Also I know that I really have to be careful about my olive oil (any oil) consumption...I can't have much of it before my body talks to me about it.

I think the important thing about starting cleanses is really being aware and listening to your body...and having professional support your first time out. If you start to feel odd, overly tired, twitchy, just stop. I know that for me, I need to use a medical food product like BioCleanse that is designed for cleansing gently and maintaining energy....and its wheat/dairy/egg/gluten free, which is important to me.

[hellotampon]

I have heard good things and bad things about cleanses and fasting. Wouldn't doing something like that screw up your metabolism?

Anyway, I've been wondering for a long time about my poop. It seems like looking in the toilet bowl can be a good indicator of your health, and mine is always very smelly and sludgy and gross and seems oily. I don't know why! I get a moderate amount of excersize, drink plenty of water, and my diet is mainly raw fruits and veggies, trail mix, hummus, granola, soy, oats, etc. No meat or dairy. I very RARELY eat eggs and when I do they are fresh from my boyfriend's pet chickens. I can't think of anything refined or overly processed. Am I missing something?

[turbojenn]

AH, my favorite topic has finally come up, as I knew it would! Cleanses and colonics! Over in the okayland thread, they sweetly call me the butt flush queen...what can I say, they are very beneficial, and I share my joy with others!

I do a cleanse about 3x a year, but I go a little crazy with the lemon cleanse, so I use a product called BioCleanse to make smoothies with a little frozen fruit and water in the mornings and evenings, and then eat raw veggies for lunch...it gives my body the rest it needs, and the BioCleanse keeps my energy stable, and blood sugar stable. I'll usually get a couple of colonics while I cleanse, and that really helps keep my cravings down and keep me on track with my diet when I go back to a more normal eating schedule. I'm about due for another cleanse.

I'll also take lots of epsom salt baths during my cleanse week to assist in detoxing, and if I'm lucky I go down to the massage school and get a massage too. To me, cleansing is as much about pampering myself as it is cleaning my body. ;)

Clover - most grocery stores should carry the Grade B maple syrup...

[cloverbee]

mouse, thank you for that info. my mom does the stomach cleanse w/ cayenne and vinegar. I'll have to try yours, though. where do I find the maple syrup? that cleanse will heal an ulcer or an irritated stomach too. I've been eating the acitivia lately and that seems to be working well for me. I need to get off the sugar. I'm particularly bad about eating oreos and ice cream. I also need to do more exercizing.
oh, btw, how often do you drink the concotion?

[mouse]

there's a book called "the master cleanse" by stanley burroughs. but the ratio is
2 Tbsp lemon
2 Tbps pure grade B (NOT grade A) maple syrup
1-10 tsp cayenne (to taste)
12 oz purified water

drink it 6-12 times a day. you drink a laxative tea (senna leaf) at night, and do a saltwater flush of 2 tsp sea salt in a quart of water in the mornings. chug the whole thing. i'm taking the tea tonite and starting the lemonade tomorrow, but apparently it's pretty.....cleansing. like stay by the toilet for an hour after you drink the saltwater. not exactly looking forward to that, but what i've heard about the results make it worth it.

if you google "master cleanse" you'll find a lot of info, as well as other peoples' experience with it. i'll keep y'all posted as i do it, too.

[thaid]

Wow, that sounds fantastic. I think I need a cleanse (never done one so probably) Can you describe it again, maybe with proportions? How much should I make for a whole day? Should I avoid any activities while on this? Does it taste like crap? I am definately feeling rather sluggish as of late and could really use a health boost. Would love the "recipie".

[tatiana]

maddy, I thought I'd pop in with what worked for me:

I was given Luvox and then Prozac and none of them did me a bit of good. I got all of the side-effects that are rare. It wasn't until I was reading up on depression that I realised why.

There are two types of enzyme pathways that can be involved in depression (that we know of so far). One is treated by SSRI (prozac, luvox, etc) and the other is treated by the older drugs (the ones you can't eat cheese with). If you are given a drug that blocks the enzyme pathway that is working then it stands to reason you would get some nifty side-effects. I think that is what happened to me.

Unfortunately no drugs can treat both pathways at the same time, so that leaves a subset of patients kind of fubarred. Anyway, I did some reading on depression and started taking St-John's Wort (specifically the brand used in a clinical trial) and it worked. I could tell it was working (which I never could with drugs) and I could tell when I went off of it too soon. I also took tryptophan (I didn't even realise that it was illegal where I live until I went to buy my second bottle!)

Anyway, there were a couple books that I found really helpful that you might want to check out:

The Way Up From Down - by Priscilla Slague, MD
(easy to follow, drug-free program of B vitamins and amino acids)

Depression and Natural Medicine - by Rita Elkins
(a nutritional approach to depression and mood swings)

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy - by David D. Burns, M.D.
(clinically proven drug-free treatment for depression)

It's been a while since I've read them (they worked so I haven't needed them in several years). They are all available from Amazon. Good luck!.

[pepper]

well, at first i felt fairly awful. hungry, light-headed, spacey, dizzy, irritable. after the third day it was a different story though. very light and airy, clear, amazing, and not hungry at all. after a few days i had lost a bit of weight (expected, but not good for me 'cause i am a rail already) so i stopped early, but i felt really, really good.

when i was first diagnosed with ibs i went 100% raw vegan right away, after two months i did the master cleanse for 8 or so days followed by a colonic and didn't see a symptom of ibs again for years. i like the lemonaide fast a lot, but i never did the salt water flush or the enemas and the senna tea was actually too strong for me. the colonic was A-MaZINg though. WoW.