Cassava Flour Porridge Recipe

 Cassava has helped me immensely with managing my symptoms of Sickle Cell. Here is a version of the recipe that I use to make Cassava Porridge every week. This recipe makes about 6 servings.

2 Cups Cassava Flour

9 Cups of Water

Salt and Sugar to Taste (I estimate that I usually use 2 Tablespoons of Salt and 1/2 to 1/3 cup of Sugar to make this)

Mix the water and the cassava flour, salt and sugar until everything is without lumps. Place on stove and stir constantly over high heat until mixture thickens. Lower heat and continue to stir occasionally for 15 more minutes until fully cooked. Remove from heat and serve.

 

 

Sickle Cell and the Menstrual Cycle

2018 and 2019 were very difficult years for me! Between June 2018 and April 2019 I had four hospitalizations, two of which were back to back, and visited the Emergency Room about 7 times in total. The last experience in April 2019 was the worst! But I thank God that I made it out of the hospital each time. 

I keep close track of everything - dietary, menstrual cycles, vitamins and medications I'm taking, how I'm feeling, etc. Through diligence and prayer (thank God!) I finally realized that I was getting quite sick around my menstrual cycle. Even when I wasn't hospitalized there were several times that I had to take time off of work and stay home sick and dealing with sickle cell pain when I was having my menstrual cycle. For some time I didn't have any cassava/yucca in my diet. I thought that I had gone into crisis one time because I had stopped eating cassava/yucca, and I was so annoyed, thinking to myself that if cassava is so strong that if I don't have it then I will go into crisis, then I should stop having it all together and just substitute it in my diet with other Thiocyanate rich foods - chickpeas, plantains, cabbage, broccoli, etc. What I did not realize was that I had gotten sick because of stopping the cassava and also because of having my menstrual cycle. Months later, I finally began to realize that I was feeling sick about the same time each month. I was tired of missing days of work and tired of feeling so poorly. So I decided once more to add cassava to my diet and to have it everyday or almost everyday. I have been doing much better since then! My health has become more stable since I started eating it daily. I also keep my diet rich in other foods filled with Thiocyanate, but I realize that cassava is highest in Thiocyanate and makes the best positive impact in my life. I also have to keep salt in my diet because all of the Thiocyanate rich foods are also foods that lower my blood pressure, which is already low. So I make sure to have enough salty foods - I prefer tuna fish made with mustard and corn chips as my favorite salty snack. The salt helps to keep my blood pressure at a level that I can manage. When it's too low I feel funny and I really crave salt.

Ladies, as you are caring for yourself with Sickle Cell, I caution you to pay special attention to how you feel around your menstrual cycle. It is good to pay close attention to all the little things to help you figure out how to manage your health - this goes for everyone, ladies as well as gentlemen. Also, we must always maintain a strictly healthy diet. That means little to no processed foods, eating whole fruits and whole vegetables more than anything else, and maintaining a diet that is high in nutrition. The more we nourish our bodies, the better we will feel and the better quality of life we will have.

New Blog Pages

Hi everyone! Yesterday, I added two new pages to the blog, to further help people with managing their Sickle Cell. I added a page of Thiocyanate Rich Foods that you can go to in order to check out the list in case you are at the grocery store and want to know what foods are rich in Thiocyanate, or just want quick access to a list of foods that are rich in Thiocyanate. I also added a page of Research & News that has different articles that I have looked into pertaining to research in Sickle Cell and natural methods that people have looked into to help with managing the disease. Please read, share widely, and always feel free to comment! 😄

Latest Update

Lately I have been feeling well, thank God! Most recently, I would say starting in April of 2017, I started adding nuts back into my diet. For a long time I could not comfortably eat any nuts because of the state of my stomach. I had peptic ulcers, which I wrote about on the blog, for a while, and then after that those cleared up, thank God, and then I had gastritis, which I remedied with DGL and eating more often. I also added 1-3 tablespoons of extra virgin coconut oil to my diet each day, and that also seemed to have helped with my stomach. So in April of 2017, I decided to purchase pistachios, and to my very pleasant surprise, my stomach handled them well. There was another unexpected, added benefit. Eating pistachios helped me to feel stronger within my body! When I add something to my diet and then I stop having it, I can tell the difference in the way I feel immediately. I could feel that with eating pistachios, my body felt stronger than without them. I soon after that added cashews to my diet as well, which are high in Thiocyanate. I was not expecting how poorly I would feel once I ran out of both! I know for a fact when my blood is sickling in excess because I can feel my strength begin to wane. To make up for the pistachios and cashews I ran out of, I brought almonds to add to my diet, not even recalling that they are high in Thiocyanate as well. Once I added almonds back into my diet as well as re-adding the pistachios and cashews, my body began to feel much better and more normal. Cashews and almonds are both Thiocyanate rich foods, which help to prevent the sickling of the red blood cells. They are also high in healthy fats, proteins, and many vitamins and minerals. You can read about the benefits of them here:

Articles:

7 Health Benefits of Cashews | Eat This!

https://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/7-health-benefits-of-cashews.html

9 Wonderful Benefits of Pistachios | Organic Facts

 https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/seed-and-nut/health-benefits-of-pistachio.html

9 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Almonds

https://authoritynutrition.com/9-proven-benefits-of-almonds/

9 Health Benefits Of Almonds | Care2 Healthy Living

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/8-health-benefits-of-almonds-king-of-nuts.html

After binging on pistachios and finishing a 3 lb bag of pistachios in one week, I began to try following the serving size on the bag, which is 1/2 a cup, so I now have 1/2 a cup of pistachios, one ounce of cashews, and 30 almonds (I count them out!) per day. Adding these 3 different nuts to my diet have been very helpful to me and I hope that someone else can learn from this and maybe try adding them to their diet as well to see how it works for them. Hope this helps someone! 😄

Metabolically Active Folic Acid - L-Methylfolate

A few months ago I discovered L-Methylfolate. My sister told me that some exams her doctor had done revealed that she could not metabolize folic acid as well as the average person. Her body could not use it the way it was supposed to be used, and therefore she was not benefiting from it. So she was advised to take L-Methylfolate. I naturally became curious about it and began doing some research of my own. I also needed to order more Folic Acid as the prescription one that I was taking was much stronger than the over the counter Folic Acid I would buy, and I would finish the prescription too quickly by doubling my dosage (taking 2 MG instead of 1 MG). Taking more Folic Acid has been one of the simplest and most effective things I have ever done to manage this disease. I started doubling my dose in July 2015, when I was experiencing a lot of pain in my legs and had NO IDEA what to do. I spoke to the Sickle Cell Coordinator (an LPN! :D) at my hospital  about taking more Folic Acid and he said it was safe to do so. My sister had actually ordered some Dioscovite, which I had been considering taking to manage the pain in my legs, and on the bottle it says to take it with 2-5 MG of Folic Acid. Thus, the idea to increase my intake of Folic Acid was born.

Upon hearing about L-Methylfolate I began to do some research. I read reviews online about it as well as reading informative web pages. The people who wrote reviews reported feeling better overall when switching to the L-Methylfolate, as it is a more active form of Folic Acid that the body can use more easily. What I had been doing to stop my prescription from running out so quickly was taking one prescription Folic Acid (1 MG) with 3 non-prescription, over the counter, Vitamin Shoppe Folic Acid (400 mcg each x 3 = 1,200 MCG). This proved to be effective and I had more energy throughout the day. The pain in my legs had also decreased. However, I noticed a great improvement when I switched from taking Folic Acid to its much more potent relative, L-Methylfolate. I had still been getting the pain in my legs with take the prescription and the over the counter Folic Acid, but having switched over full time to the L-Methylfolate, I barely notice the pain now. 

So of course, here I am with an update and information to help others the way that the L-Methylfolate has helped me. Hopefully this will help someone, and please share! :D

This is a list of the resources I used to learn about L-Methylfolate --

This website talks about Folic Acid vs. L-Methylfolate:
http://thehealthyelephant.com/misunderstoodz/mthfr/mthfr-folic-acid-vs-l-methylfolate-vs-folate/

This website talks about L-Methylfolate overdoses:
http://mental-health.emedtv.com/l-methylfolate/l-methylfolate-overdose.html

Here are the reviews that I read on Amazon about the L-Methylfolate:
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Extension-Optimized-L-Methylfolate-vegetarian/dp/B003S5RVM4/ref=sr_1_2_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1459736758&sr=1-2&keywords=l-methylfolate#customerReviews

Here is where I usually purchase my L-Methylfolate, which on Swanson is called 5-Methyltetrahydrofolic Acid:
http://www.swansonvitamins.com/q?kw=5-Methyltetrahydrofolic+acid

This website talks about L-Methylfolate & 5-Methyltetrahydrofolic Acid, which are virtually the same thing, different names:
https://www.consumerlab.com/answers/What+is+Metafolin+%285-methylfolate%29+I+see+it+in+some+supplements+instead+of+folic+acid.+Is+it+better+than+folic+acid/metafolin_5-methylfolate/



 

Peptic Ulcers are HEALED!

On April 12, I had an endoscopy. I am pleased to report that the gastroenterologist said that my stomach is free of ulcers!!! Somewhere along the line, with all the natural remedies I tried, I must have done something that WORKED!!! I really believe it was the Cayenne Pepper as that is what I stuck with the longest out of everything that I took. Because of the Cayenne Pepper I was able to eat like normal, which made a HUGE difference. The gastroenterologist did say that I have some inflammation in my stomach lining due to gastritis and that my stomach is producing a lot of stomach acid, for which he gave me medication (which I will only take upon pain of death, haha :) ). I haven't been taking the medication (of course, I would only take it if it was ABSOLUTELY necessary). I think my problem stems from not eating enough, and that stems from my wheat intolerance that I only discovered within the past few months. Not being able to eat wheat is REALLY LAME. Wheat is EVERYWHERE! It is sooo hard to avoid, but I have to, for my overall health. Aside from making me break out, I get ridiculous stomach cramps (like 8 on a pain scale of 1-10) from it and it's never predictable when they will happen. But it's good to know that my peptic ulcers are healed and that if I feel pain it's NOT because there are holes in the lining of the stomach. Gastritis is annoying but it could always be worse and I'm thankful it's not! :D

A Few Simple Steps to Making a Cayenne Pepper & Castor Oil Mix

Materials
Castor Oil
Cayenne Pepper
An Empty Container that can withstand heat
Optional: Lavender Oil

Step 1: Gather all your materials together in one place. Open your empty container.

Step 2: Place your desired amount of Cayenne Pepper into the container. I always am very liberal with how much I add because Cayenne Pepper is a strong anti-inflammatory, and I know that the more I add, the more potent my mix will be.

I didn't bother to measure how much Cayenne Pepper I put, I just put a lot!

 Step 3: Pour in your Castor Oil.

Getting ready to pour in the Castor Oil.

After pouring in the Castor Oil. I didn't measure the amount of Castor Oil either,
just made sure to add enough to more than cover the Cayenne Pepper.

The stuff that changed my life! <3_<3

 Step 4: Seal your container and store in a cool dry place.

This is what your finished product will look like.

After the Castor Oil is poured in to your container, don't mix around the oil! As the Cayenne Pepper absorbs the Castor Oil it will turn a darker color, showing that it is saturated with oil. You don't want any of the Cayenne Pepper to settle on top of the castor oil, because then it won't saturate. However, if that does happen, simply place your tightly sealed container into another container of hot water, and shake it up until the castor oil and cayenne pepper are completely mixed together, with no cayenne pepper sitting on top of the oil.

When you are ready to use your oil, either use it as is, rubbing the oil between your hands to heat it up, or place the tightly sealed container into another container full of hot water to heat your oil. When I heat my oil, I usually place the container into boiled water to get maximum potency, and then I use the oil once it's heated.

Boiled the water on the stove top and placed the oil mix into the hot water.

Be careful not to let any water get into your container! That will make the oil mixture start to go bad.

Optional: Add a few drops of lavender oil to your mix to make it smell nice! As I've mentioned before, Lavender Oil also has anti-inflammatory properties. :)