GI testing results are in...

So this is a diagram of what the human anatomy of our digestive track looks like.  Just in case anyone is curious about that!
My test results were as follows:
NO fungus or yeast
NO parasites (Yippie!!!)
3 strains of bacteria that all people have normally in the gut:
1. e.coli
2. strep
3. lactococcus
All of these were in serious overgrowth in my gut!  Not a good thing, especially since all the other markers were negative and I did NOT have a bacterial infection in the gut.  Luckily Anti-microbials can cure this!
(SIgA) which is a marker that tests for intestinal immunity was LOW!  Normal is 400-880, and mine was 44.
This is the immunity of the mucosal tissue, not what determines if you catch a cold or not!
This could be low due to food sensitivities which I have not tested for yet, but will be doing next!
I had no inflammation in the gut!  Thats good!
Chymotrypsin (pancreas enzymes) were low.  Normal is around 15, mine was 4.  What does this mean?  My food is not being properly broken down because my pancreatic enzymes are low.
I did have a little blood in the stool, once I begin gut healing treatment, I will retest for this to see if it is still there, worse or the same.
The recommendation was to start gut healing treatment to see if symptoms of bloating and discomfort after eating go away, or test for Food Sensitivities.  When I say bloating, let me be clear here that this is extreme bloating!  I have a flat stomach, eat anything at all and then I look 5 months pregnant.  No matter how much I work out my ABS, I cannot hold in my ABS to where I don't look preggers.  FRUSTRATION, and PAIN!  So,  I chose to go ahead and test for the food issues first because I felt it would be a lost cause to heal the gut if the food is the problem!  This test is being mailed to me now and once I have my blood drawn, I will have results in 2 days!  Much faster on this test!
So, when people ask me why I am doing this testing through a Nutritional Therapist and not my doctor, the answer is this...
Sadly enough in our Western Medical community, testing is not super thorough.  As long as they can find one thing out of the norm that there is a pill for, then they stop there and prescribe the pill.  The problem I have with this is that more times than not, this doesn't really get to the bottom of what is really going on.  Then the pill masks the symptoms so the real problem still exists.  I am taking my health into my own hands and seeking out help from a more holistic approach.  I want all the tests run and then collaboratively with my N.T. we will come up with as natural of a plan as we can to get my body back in balance the way GOD designed it to be.  We live in such a toxic world that no matter how hard we try to eliminate the toxins from our environment, we are still exposed to some degree.
I hope this hasn't totally overwhelmed or confused you all!  It's a lot to take in and understand!  Thanks for reading and following along!  I welcome any comments and questions if you are struggling to get some answers about your own health!  I will try my best to guide you in the right direction!       

Yoga for stress!

 Flamingo in "Tree Pose" at the Nashville Zoo, April 30, 2013

Yellow Lab in "Downward Facing Dog" at my house, April 19, 2013

I read a blog post on one of the many blogs I follow yesterday describing how even in our young children, they can get stressed and depressed.  Many times these conditions either go undiagnosed or the children end up medicated for them.  The blog was talking about how "YOGA" can help with stress and depression simply from the fact that it starts with our breath.  Deep breathing and relaxation.  This is what we are told to do to help with child birth, so it does make since when we thing about the science behind "Yoga".  The pictures I posted above are of animals in their own environment doing "yoga" poses all the time, everyday!  The point of the post I read was that before we let our children become stressed or depressed we should start at a very early age teaching them techniques of relaxation and deep breathing.  The blogger had given some suggestions on reading a story and having the children act out the story through flowing from one yoga pose to another.  I thought it was a very clever and cute idea.  Also keeps the body flexible and thus preventing injury in our day to day activities.  
I also was at the chiropractor yesterday and they has a documentary playing on how much our young children are prescribed anti-depressants.  That these types of medications along with ADD and ADHD meds have such horrific side affects that children as young as 7 are hanging themselves.  I know this subject may hit a chord with some people and I do not mean that I judge you if you have your child on any of these meds.  Each person is entitled to their own choice of how to handle situations in their childs life.  My main point here is to educated anyone who is looking for an alternative to the medications.  If your doctor has suggested your child be medicated and you want to try something else first, then I encourage you to look into some yoga for kids.  There are many DVDs, Youtube videos, books, etc out there.  Also removing red-40 dye from their foods and supplementing with extra magnesium (either in powder form mixed with water or topical form that is absorbed through the skin, ie epsom salt baths).  Personally being someone who suffers the stress syndrome "Adrenal Fatigue" and how it wreaks havoc on the body, I would love to see my children learn techniques as a child that could help them through out life learn not to get stressed!
Just my thoughts to share with you today, and remember, each person's opinion is their own, and it's "not wrong, just different"!  Thanks for reading!  Leave me a comment on your opinion!

Homemade non-toxic cleaning

Homemade Dry Laundry Detergent Recipe:
1 4lb box Borax
1 4lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
3 bars of Felps-naptha soap
2 small containers of oxy clean (this is probably not considered non toxic, but for those who really have trouble with stains or yellowing, you may have to add this)

*You should be able to find all of these items at your grocery store in the laundry isle.

This detergent is fairly mild smelling, so if you love a strong scent, you may want to add a few drops of an essential oil like lavender to each load on the rinse cycle.

Start out by grating the bars of soap just like you would cheese. Don't worry it will dissolve, even if you wash with COLD water!
Toss all the ingredients into a large trash bag and carefully incorporate them all by gently flipping the bag.  Or you could line a 5 gal bucket with the trash bag and then stir all the ingredients.
Once it is all mixed, store however you like.  This is a picture, above, of mine.  I bought this tall glass container at TJ Maxx.  I keep a 2 Tbsp scoop in the container, and that is all it takes per load. 
Homemade Floor Cleaner:  (great for hardwoods!)
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1 cup isopropyl alcohol
2-3 drops natural dish soap (I use Dr. Bronners)
10-15 drops essential oil (optional)
24 oz fine mist spray bottle

Add all ingredients to spray bottle and shake to combine.  Sweep/vacuum the floors, spray cleaner, wipe with a microfiber cloth with the grain of the wood.
Furniture Polish:
 1 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
mix into a spray bottle, spray wood and wipe clean with a cloth.  For wooden surfaces only!

Bathroom cleaner:
1 cup Borax
1/2 cup white vinegar
mix ingredients, scrub on bathroom surfaces, rinse away.

Kitchen cleaner:
1-2 drops Grapefruit Seed Extract
per ounce of water
Mix in a spray bottle, spray on surface, and wipe clean.

Dishwasher soap:
1 cup borax
1 cup baking soda
rinse dishes well, add distilled white vinegar to rinse agent spot, use heat cycle to disinfect.

For all other cleaning needs on surfaces, microfiber cloths and water do a wonderful job!  I found microfiber cloths in a 3 pack at the dollar tree for $1.

Anyone can grow a garden!

I live in a neighborhood outside city limits and on a street that dead ends.  So I kind of feel like I am out in the country a little, yet am close enough to town for all those trips I make in a day!  My neighbor usually grows a pretty big garden, so the 5 years I have lived here, I have just taken what he gives me.  This year I decided that we eat such a variety of vegetables that he does not grow, so maybe I should try and grow those.  Thank goodness for pinterest and all of the great ideas that are out there!
This pin was what I started with: planting my seed in egg shell halves and sprouting them inside first.   http://www.17apart.com/2012/01/how-to-plant-seeds-using-eggshells.html

Then today, I decided to move those seedling that have sprouted on out into my "palette" garden.  This idea came from here:http://www.hometalk.com/146502/our-palette-garden
even though they suggest standing it upright, I am going to keep mine flat on the ground! 

So what have I planted this spring?  Butternut squash, sugar snap peas, broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, kale, lettuce, and spinach.  Those are all in the palette garden.  Then in pots going up my front porch steps are my herbs for cooking.  Basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary,& parsley.  I also have mint that grows around my flag pole and dill that is in the flower bed.  In another flower bed I planted chamomile and in the bed with my blueberry bushes, I planted asparagus.  My strawberries are doing well!  They have so many white buds on them already. 

So how does your garden grow?  I think even if you live in an apartment you could do the palette garden and plants in containers!    Leave me a comment with what all you're growing this year!  For more ideas, follow me on pinterest!  http://pinterest.com/liciajoy/

Last day of GI testing

Although not the most glamorous thing to do, today is the last day of my GI testing.  As I am writing this post I am spitting in my last vial and then off to UPS to send it off for analysis.  Last time it took over a week to get my results, so I am not expecting this time to be any faster.  Have I mentioned I DO NOT like to wait! 
On Sunday we had some friends over for a cookout and one of my good friends Birthday celebrations.  There was of course an ice cream cake and then another friend brought chess squares. I was really good and avoided the cake, however chess squares...oh how I love the!  It has been SOOOO long since I have had a chess square!  So I thought to myself, I can surely have one tiny bite and it will be fine.  WRONG!!! I did have two tiny bites, but the next day I was BLOATED and crampy, and felt tired and just gross.  All in all, it was so good at the time I was chewing the dessert, but so NOT worth it the WHOLE next day!  Lesson learned!
I sure hope this GI panel will give me some answers!  Feeling like this for a whole day over  2 little bites of wheat/gluten is just crazy!  If the answers are not found in this test, I will have to do another test for food sensitivities.  That one will require blood work, which I am NOT a fan of! Anyone else feel like this after you eat wheat/gluten?  If so, leave me a comment of how you deal with the bloat the next day!  Peppermint tea used to help, but not anymore!

Healthy birthday cake

My oldest daughter turned 8 last week. She is the one who seems to be super sensitive to gluten and processed sugar. So for her "cake" this year she chose a fruit cake. Basically we just used a seedless watermelon as the cake part and then using tooth picks we attached other fruits like other melons, strawberries, grapes and pineapple. I used wooden skewer sticks and made fruit kabobs sticking out the top. It turned out cute and was delicious. Just goes to show that even kids will grow to desire to be good to their bodies if you help them understand and teach them.

Time for more labs!

Today I received another test kit in the mail.  This one is for GI testing.  (Gastrointestinal)  This will be to screen the GI tract and its function.  Since I have frequent bloating, gas and cramping, along with the occasional constipation, travel outside the US once a year, prepare food at home, and have pets...this puts me at possible risk of contracting a parasite.  The risk of being infected or infested by a pathogenic organism through food and water is on the rise.  The reason being because of immigration and importation of fruits and vegetables.  Anyone, regardless of economic status can become infected.  The WHO (World Health Organization) currently states that about half a billion individuals are infected annually by different forms of parasites.  This really freaks me out and seems disgusting!  However, if this is whats wrong with my GUT, I definitely  want to know!  The CDC (center for disease control) also states that you don't have to travel to another country to get a parasite.  They are all around us, both in big cities and small towns.
The test kit will also test for bacteria, fungi, and yeast as well.  Digestion-related screens for enzyme levels and immunochemical markers for intolerance to offending foods.  And also, intestinal function markers to evaluate irritation and inflammation.  The overall status of gut immunity and integrity. 
So...let the fun begin.  3-4 days before I begin the test, I have to avoid vitamins and all kinds of other things.  Then I test one day, skip and day, test again on day 3 and ship the samples off.  In case you are wondering, the tests will be of both stool and saliva. 
My previous blood work from back in the fall indicated that I may be suffering from malabsorption of some kind since my calcium, magnesium, amylase and a few other levels were low.  This seemed odd because I eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies and shouldn't be low in these labs.  I am really hoping to get some answers from this test!  And at the same time praying it's NOT a parasite.  YUCK!  I mean if that was the case, shouldn't I be SUPER SKINNY?  haha, you know how we have all heard that.  If these tests do not reveal anything in the way of answers, then we will do the food sensitivities blood test!  I'll keep you posted.