Monday, June 30, 2014

Dealing with Liver Fluke ~ Mariella

It all makes sense now, after years of wondering why my child found nuts too rich to eat, why eggs and garlic made her nauseous, why she started to develop fine acne, why she always complained of fatigue. She had Liver Fluke.

Liver Fluke is a highly underestimated Parasite which lives in the bile ducts of the liver and the gall bladder, slowly blocking them up and causing all sorts of problems from tummy ache to Liver cancer. Long standing infections can also result in fatigue, abdominal discomfort, anorexia, weight loss, diarrhoea, and jaundice, as they feed off blood. They live for 20-30 years and can lay 2000-4000 eggs a day!

Approximately 35 million people are infected with liver fluke throughout the world, 85% of which live in China. Because of its mostly asymptomatic nature, Liver fluke can go undiagnosed for years, slowly debilitating the liver’s functions. 

The only way to get Liver Fluke is to ingest the eggs via eating:

-raw fish
-watercress and any water plants grown in contaminated water
-contaminated water (elementary really!)
-vegetables irrigated with contaminated water

If any livestock have access to the water you use to irrigate your vegetables, you should have them tested for Liver fluke.

How did we find out? My child broke out in hives, an allergic reaction, first to over-ripe banana, then apples, then chick peas, aubergine, anything really! Every day there was one more thing she couldn’t eat. I took her to a Doctor who said, Oh allergies, gave her an antihistamine jab, prescribed a bunch of antihistamines and gave us a natural one to take too. We dealt with it for a week, her reactions getting worse every day. 
Then I met a friend at a Saturday Market who introduced me to Hanna Grotepass, (hgrotepass@mweb.co.za) a homeopath from Knysna who said, so calmly, Oh that sounds like Liver. When she said it, it felt like the right fit.  
As per her recommendations, we treated it with a Rife Machine. Now I refer to myself often as a gullible skeptic, having good faith in everything until proven otherwise and I've always been skeptical about this little contraption! 

A Rife machine directs electrical impulses through the body and can be set to the exact frequency of the parasite or other ailment you are suffering from. You can understand why I was uncertain! But when the skin allergies vanished and her face started to clear up, I was so relieved. The other symptoms will clear up with time as her body deals with the aftermath and now we start with ways to support the liver without too much emphasis on detox and other extreme cleanses for the time being. We are dealing with this gently.

P.O.A. (Plan of Action)

Diet full of high-sulfur foods and also raw fruit and vegetables, as much organic as possible:

 






Avocados, olive oil, walnuts, garlic, lemon, leafy greens, beetroot, green tea, apples, grapefruit, turmeric, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, cabbage, cauliflower

Supplements and herbal helpers:

-Milk thistle

-Grape seed extract

-Chicory
-Dandelion
-Peppermint

As the Liver is the fastest recovering organ in the body, we are optimistic, but she’s probably had it for at least 2 years so we hope that supporting her Liver with diet, supplements and lots of water will do the trick sooner rather than later. The Symptoms are so subtle and can be over looked but when clumped together they can show Liver Fluke clearly. 



Thursday, June 26, 2014

Raw stuffed sweet peppers ~ Mariella

Winter, the month of grand temptations! When, for me, warm and rich and sweet wins with bells and whistles against raw and revitalizing! 

In order to refrain from broadening my midsection along with my culinary horizons, I have set myself a challenge, to replicate all of my favourite dishes in the raw! My first dish was met with skepticism by my teenage daughter who sighed, Mom, why you gotta mess with a good thing?’ 
She recanted after the first bite!



It was a rather fool proof start to my venture and the secret was in the sauce.

Raw Stuffed Sweet Peppers


-2 Ripe avocados - cubed  
-1 Tomato - cubed
-Handful of mung bean sprouts
-Thinly sliced green beans

-Dressing: Small handful of Sun-dried tomatoes and about 6 dried olives, a little lemon rind, quarter onion and one clove garlic chopped fine and marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar dressing.
-A little salt, pepper, cumin powder and paprika to taste

Stir it all up, stuff the peppers and lay down on beds of lettuce leaves, dressed in olive oil and lemon juice with a pinch of salt

Serves three



This is a basic recipe but so yummy and serves to illustrate a point, it took the same amount of time to make as a salad would, but it’s different and keeps the raw food option enjoyable. So many ingredients could be added to this like Tahini, tamarind paste, sesame oil, lightly roasted seeds, dried mushrooms, seaweed etc. So take a look at what's in the fridge and mess around with good things!