Nov 2016
What one food vegetarians should avoid when battling Lyme
// Filed in: Lyme Disease Diet
You may be a vegan or vegetarian who eats soy products to increase your protein.
Nurse Jean Reist has treated Lyme patients in her Pennsylvania clinic. She explains the importance of protein in the diet.
Think of it as your weekly tasks of stocking your fridge with healthy foods and taking out the garbage. That’s similar to what occurs inside the lymph nodes on a regularly basis.
Critical trace minerals are transported by protein through the lymph system. If the patient’s diet lacks protein, the lymph system cannot properly do its job of delivering nutrients to the cells and taking out the toxins.
So she suggests vegetarians help out by adding a small amount of animal protein to their diet while battling the Lyme bacteria.
Eggs, whey, fish okay — but not soy.
Reist cautions against soy products because soy is high in copper. Lyme patients must also try to rid our bodies of an overload of metals, among them lead, aluminum, mercury, and copper.
Learn about Lyme Disease and protein.
Nurse Jean Reist has treated Lyme patients in her Pennsylvania clinic. She explains the importance of protein in the diet.
Think of it as your weekly tasks of stocking your fridge with healthy foods and taking out the garbage. That’s similar to what occurs inside the lymph nodes on a regularly basis.
Critical trace minerals are transported by protein through the lymph system. If the patient’s diet lacks protein, the lymph system cannot properly do its job of delivering nutrients to the cells and taking out the toxins.
So she suggests vegetarians help out by adding a small amount of animal protein to their diet while battling the Lyme bacteria.
Eggs, whey, fish okay — but not soy.
Reist cautions against soy products because soy is high in copper. Lyme patients must also try to rid our bodies of an overload of metals, among them lead, aluminum, mercury, and copper.
Learn about Lyme Disease and protein.
Diet and inflammation
// Filed in: Lyme Disease Diet
The body’s response to injury is often inflammation. This is beneficial in case of a cut or scratch.
But when the body’s immune system is chronically switched-on due to a Lyme bacterial infection, the resulting inflammation can wreck havoc.
What you can do to fight inflammation
Stress and medication contribute to inflammation, but so does a diet of refined carbohydrates and sugary foods, as well as dairy, red meat, and cereals.
Be proactive in your own healing
Eat a mediterranean-style diet free of foods that are known inflammation triggers. Inflammation may not sound serious -- but according to medical experts it is no joke, which is why it is called the silent killer.
Healing from chronic Lyme is not easy for many of us. Why gamble with your health by consuming foods that may cause your body even more harm?
Increase your healing odds by eating anti-inflammatory foods such as oily fishes (salmon, sardines, and mackerel), walnuts, green leafy vegetables, and many spices and herbs.
Bright yellow turmeric with black pepper reduces inflammation hiding in the body, and contains anti-aging properties. It is included in the treatment of many debilitating diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimers and arthritis, as well as Lyme.
Look around in the produce section. Let your senses guide you. Choose organic, healthy, brightly colored fruits and vegetables which are high in anti-oxidants. Our diets should include about two and half cups of vegetables and fruits every day.
Exercise — not just on the days you feel like it.
The mind is not always our friend. Sometimes it is a bully, interfering with the needs of the body by arguing that it’s too tired or too sick to move around even just a little.
I speak from experience!
Don’t let your mind work against your body’s best interests. Make an effort to override it. Form new habits. This takes courage, so don’t be surprised if you think this is a difficult task. It is. But aren’t things that are worthwhile usually kinda hard?
Here’s a motivating factoid to encourage you to exercise even just a little:
Exercise oxygenates the blood and kills spirochetes, which cannot survive in a high-oxygen environment. Be a spirochete slayer. Your mind will even be impressed.
No one in this world is more invested in your healing than yourself. Not your mom, your doctor, your spouse or even your dog. Only YOU can change your habits if needed.
A tasty, organic mainly-veggie diet and regular exercise are part of my healthy healing journey. I exercise every day now, but it took years to formulate working-out as a habit. I realize this means my mind is particularly stubborn. At least now its habit is a healthy one that it won’t let me give up!
Manuka honey and shea butter
Honey is healing, and for centuries societies around the globe have applied it to cure infection caused by wounds and other skin injuries.
Skin problems associated with Lyme disease can include severe rashes and intense itching. Honey can be used topically to help reduce inflammation and soothe itchiness.
Manuka honey is a special, potent healing balm. Bees collect it from the Tea Tree bush, widely praised for its cleansing and germ-killing abilities.
Manuka honey’s healing properties are so dependable and effective that it is used by medical personnel in Emergency Rooms for patients with critical burns and gunshot wounds.
It is sticky, like all honeys. So it should be covered once applied, but mixed with shea butter Manuka can soothe and heal irritated skin.
For help with a case of seasonally recurring eczema, I discovered that spreading on a blend of Manuka honey and shea butter before bedtime helps reduce inflammation and soften rough skin.
If you try it yourself, remember to cover with a non-stick bandage so it stays on your skin instead of ending up on the sheets!
A remedy for inflammation — and a yummy late-night drink
In my house, Manuka is also our favorite go-to for soothing scratchy throats due to colds or allergies. On a chilly night I love curling up with our two little doggies, and a good book, and sipping on a hot steamy mug of Lemon-Manuka.
Into a cup of hot water, stir in one teaspoon honey and a squeeze of lemon. Add a dash of cayenne pepper for a cup of cozy warmth.
Avoid eating sugar if you have active Lyme symptoms. You do not need to add to your body’s troubles by consuming this non-food food.
The point is to reduce inflammation, and sugar can cause insulin levels to rise, which results in plummeting blood glucose and encourages silent or low-grade inflammation. Stevia is a good sugar substitute and doesn’t react in the body like sugar.
Okay, so your turn! What is your favorite anti-inflammatory remedy?
Can we break chronic pain patterns?
Chronic pain is exhausting. Especially when there seems to be no way out. But as the saying goes: when you’re going through hell, keep going.
Because going through may be the only way to get over it.
A few years back, I was at the peak of suffering from chronic Lyme symptoms. One symptom was non-stop itching and the feeling that zillions of creepy-crawlies were devouring the skin all over my body.
I was at the edge of my tolerance, stressed and about to die, I thought, from sheer misery.
And then something happened. The pain subsided, disappeared unexpectedly.
And it was heaven.
But it was temporary.
The relief lasted only about a half hour, but it was enough to show me that it was possible. That was my introduction to the miracle of the mind-body connection and the power of distraction.
Have you ever experienced “pain fountains”? If you suffer with chronic Lyme symptoms, you may know exactly what I mean.
Let’s just say it. The body-mind connection is a singular, miraculous evolutionary development. A god-given gift. Practice being in tune with it increases our awareness and sensitivity.
Pain in our bodies is also experienced in our minds, and vice verse. The mind can assist the body in healing, yet it can also lock us in a loop of pain that feels impossible to escape.
Dealing with serious illness is one way — one hard way — to learn more about this mysterious connection. A doctor friend described these pain fountains as the patterns formed in our neuronal pathways in response to chronic pain. A sort of dance between body and mind.
In my experience, the pain fountain felt like a recording on repeat, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
But what I didn’t realize — until I experienced it out of the blue — was that pain fountains can be, if not stopped, interrupted. And that interruption can reward an exhausted immune system with a temporary reprieve from the agony of chronic pain.
The result can bring about a deep sense of wellbeing, although usually temporary, and often brief and unexpected.
Like a gasp of air in one who thought they were drowning. Like a good night’s sleep to an insomniac. A break in the pain fountain can ignite hope in the heart. And that is what healing feels like.
Is it possible to set the stage for such a break in a chronic pain fountain? I learned the answer when I picked up a paintbrush and proceeded to thoroughly distract myself from my suffering.
But it doesn’t have to be a paintbrush. It could be knitting needles, or a fishing pole, or a model railroad, or a practice of Tai Chi.
I stumbled accidentally into the powerful effect of creating art. What do you love to do? I suggest you do it, no matter how awful you feel. It can’t hurt, and it might just break the pattern and help you find healing.
Art & Acupuncture: 2 ways to get chronic pain relief
Because going through may be the only way to get over it.
A few years back, I was at the peak of suffering from chronic Lyme symptoms. One symptom was non-stop itching and the feeling that zillions of creepy-crawlies were devouring the skin all over my body.
I was at the edge of my tolerance, stressed and about to die, I thought, from sheer misery.
And then something happened. The pain subsided, disappeared unexpectedly.
And it was heaven.
But it was temporary.
The relief lasted only about a half hour, but it was enough to show me that it was possible. That was my introduction to the miracle of the mind-body connection and the power of distraction.
Have you ever experienced “pain fountains”? If you suffer with chronic Lyme symptoms, you may know exactly what I mean.
Let’s just say it. The body-mind connection is a singular, miraculous evolutionary development. A god-given gift. Practice being in tune with it increases our awareness and sensitivity.
Pain in our bodies is also experienced in our minds, and vice verse. The mind can assist the body in healing, yet it can also lock us in a loop of pain that feels impossible to escape.
Dealing with serious illness is one way — one hard way — to learn more about this mysterious connection. A doctor friend described these pain fountains as the patterns formed in our neuronal pathways in response to chronic pain. A sort of dance between body and mind.
In my experience, the pain fountain felt like a recording on repeat, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
But what I didn’t realize — until I experienced it out of the blue — was that pain fountains can be, if not stopped, interrupted. And that interruption can reward an exhausted immune system with a temporary reprieve from the agony of chronic pain.
The result can bring about a deep sense of wellbeing, although usually temporary, and often brief and unexpected.
Like a gasp of air in one who thought they were drowning. Like a good night’s sleep to an insomniac. A break in the pain fountain can ignite hope in the heart. And that is what healing feels like.
Is it possible to set the stage for such a break in a chronic pain fountain? I learned the answer when I picked up a paintbrush and proceeded to thoroughly distract myself from my suffering.
But it doesn’t have to be a paintbrush. It could be knitting needles, or a fishing pole, or a model railroad, or a practice of Tai Chi.
I stumbled accidentally into the powerful effect of creating art. What do you love to do? I suggest you do it, no matter how awful you feel. It can’t hurt, and it might just break the pattern and help you find healing.
Art & Acupuncture: 2 ways to get chronic pain relief