A dude with Crohns trying to make a difference

I seen this dudes video today and was very happy so see what he is doing trying to help local farms and I'm 180% Behind these kinds of efforts. It always makes me happy when I see people really going out and trying to change the world where they can-Jay

I am sending this email out to on behalf of Green Angel Gardens.  I wish to raise funding to save this farm from foreclosure.  

My blog: peaceandfood.blogspot.com

I have ulcerative colitis and to manage this disease I have changed career goals from mental health counselor to farmer.  Since loosing my health I have been bound and determined to find my health.  My focus on wellness has been nonstop, for better or worse.  With my focus on wellness I researched all avenues.  This had me juice fasting, water fasting, eliminating grains, green smoothies, meditation, yoga, interval and weight training, chiropractic, energy work, and finally lifestyle change.

Notice the above has a lot of references to food.  For the past 2 years of ill health I was convinced that cleaning up my diet would clean up my health.  Diet alone has not been enough.  I thought diet and western medicine would do the trick, nope. My diet has changed dramatically and my search for balance and peace has finally surpassed my previous search for powder and surf.  My mantra has changed to peace and food.  My blog has been aptly named: Peaceandfood.blogspot.com.

Peace, food, peace, food……  Must find peace and food.  With my priorities simplified I began to see and feel where I wished to direct my life.  I am now a farmer.  The minute I said the “F” word I knew I should pursue this path.  Farmer bounced around in my mind as comfortable as words like skier and surfer. 

I am now staying at Green Angel Gardens in Longbeach Washington with my new friend Larkin Stentz.  Larkin came into my life weeks ago and directed me to Willets California to learn the “Grow Biointensive" method of growing vegetables.  I contacted the school and due to funding, my goals, and that weird “gut feeling” we all can relate with I decided to not pursue that path.  Larkin had directed me from his farm to Willets because, unfortunately, his farm may be lost to Bank of America.

This knowledge of a farmer loosing his livelihood stayed with me for about two weeks.  Finally I could not ignore this problem, it wasn’t mine, but yet it was.  I started to see the loss of this farm as my problem, because I want food that is local, grown organically and sustainably.  The majority of the time I am stuck with California produce or worse yet Mexico produce.  I am not a locavore, I like bananas, avocados…… and so on too much.  Yet kale, chard, and many other veggies can be grown year round in green houses in Washington; why depend on other states or countries? 

I feel that places exist on this Earth that radiate peace.  I have felt this peace in the moment a wave builds behind me and slowly and gently nature moves me.  This place did just that, yet it grows food and educates interns every season. 

The minute I arrived and opened my car door I felt this wave of peace and food wash over me.  I ran around this property taking in the two green houses which grow food 12 months out of the year, the Geodesic Dome, composting toilets, solar water heater, meditation and yoga studio, and food stand; supplying the community with fresh produce. 

I realize we are struggling to make ends meet.  Many of us are so busy we may have not even made it to the end of this note.  I am with you, I understand.  That is why I am writing this and sharing this story with you.  I do not want my future children to worry about food prices and quality.  If we stop, breathe, and then look for food, it becomes apparent that our food system is fragile.  I started to ask myself questions like: “If gas prices double, will the prices of Kale do the same?”  “How much more nutrient dense is local food?”  “At the very least how do I solve my food dilemma?”

 Hey Everyone just passing this on as its 2 of my friends who are doing an interview tomorrow and they both have overcome various diseases. This should be very informative.  I will be working with these very smart ladies in an upcoming project in the next few months and want to help them get as much exposure as possible. They are awesome chicks who have decided they want to make helping people with health issues their career. Hopefully you guys can check this out. 

Jay

 Call-in Number: (714) 694-4147

Upcoming Show: 3/27/2011 3:00 PM    

Host Name:	LizSchau
Show Name:	Interview with Emily J. Butler: Gut Health 101
Date / Length:	3/27/2011 3:00 PM - 1 hr 30 min
Length:	1 hr 30 min
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Description: h:182659 s:1664461	Ever wonder what it means when people say "heal your gut"? What releveance does the gut and healing it have on overall health, mood, spirituality, creativity, hormones, and immunity? Listen as Emily J. Butler, Certified Health Counselor and owner of Core Wisdom Wellness, and I examine the role the gut plays in physical and emotional health, as well as specific tactics to combat gut dysfunction. Learn the most common mistakes people make when trying to heal their gut and which dietary changes are most effective. get more info here http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lizschau/2011/03/27/interview-with-emily-j-butler-gut-health-101

SCD DIET study as per info from Lucy from SCD kitchen

Are you following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet to manage your inflammatory bowel disease? 

 

Rush University Medical Center’s Department of Gastroenterology is conducting a study to determine if the Specific Carbohydrate Diet changes the population of microbes in the gastrointestinal tract. This is a popular dietary program amongst patients, but there are no published studies on how the diet works. Your participation in this study will contribute to scientific knowledge regarding how diet can be used to manage the symptoms of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Participation will entail completing a series of surveys and mailing two stool samples and a urine sample.

We are currently looking for volunteers eight years of age or older with a formal diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis or indeterminate colitis. We need volunteers who are both on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and also volunteers who are not on the diet.

The principal investigator for this study is
Dr. Ece Mutlu, M.D.
Rush University Medical Center Department of Gastroenterology
1725 W. Harrison St. Ste. 207
Chicago, IL 60612

If you are interested in participating or have questions, please contact
312-942-3466
clinical_trials@rush.edu

The clinical trials page regarding the SCD may be seen online on the Rush Medical Center website.

Gut microbes influence behavior

Gut microbes acquired early in life can impact brain development in mice and subsequent behavior, such as decreasing physical activity and increasing anxiety, according to a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Read more: here

MED FREE E-BOOK PROJECT

NEW MED FREE-EBOOK

Tell Others You’re Story

In the last few months I have been consulting with a few IBD advocates and med free people and with their persuasion I have decided to create a free e-book focusing on med free people. This book is going to showcase the stories of 20-35 med free people who are now living awesome healthy med free lives. This book will go into details such as: what struggles they endured, what protocols they used, how they appreciate their life after they overcame their disease, how they are paying it forward to help others, and many others.  

 This book will NOT just be a blind testament that we commonly see on so many health websites selling false promises. I’m sure we all have seen these before “I’ve tried PRODUCT X and wow I’m cured……..Betty in NYC”  This book will tell med free peoples stories, list their first name but last name will not be required for privacy reasons unless you want your last name present. It would also provide some form of contact for the reader if they were to have questions. The best bet would be to provide an email address where someone could email you. If anyone is thinking I do not want to put my email address on this document I would be more than willing to setup and email address for you and have it forwarded to your email address which can be kept private if you are worried about this. 

 Try and remember when we were suffering from our IBD’s how LOST we felt with everyone trying to sell us something: Cure report, special 1 pill cure, miracle cures, high price consultations, and many other bogus product offers. Do you remember how confusing this was that all of these testimonials never provided a direct contact to verify their claim? I remember being diagnosed and looking on the internet and everything I came across was pessimistic saying there is no cure. It also told me I would most definitely live a poor quality life in which I would take meds forever and get multiple operations to remove disease portions of my intestines. The truth is the future looks bleak when you’re first diagnosed and we become potential victims for the people looking to benefit financially by promising us false hopes without backing up their claims.

Now imagine being newly diagnosed: Searching the net for IBD Cure, Crohn’s cure, IBS cure, Ulcerative Colitis cure etc and coming upon a free e-book which will show the inspiring stories of people who have overcome their disease and have been living amazing lives. It always seems like everyone wants proof and this book will show them that we are indeed overcoming these diseases. I’m sure each one of us has had someone tell us that we can’t overcome our disease, and that we are just merely in a short remission period.  .....

Well tell this to the people who have been med free for 1-5+,10+,20+ years that have been med free and enjoying their lives, and pardon us if we fail to share this same opinion.  right?

 I understand that many of us may have used different protocols to overcome our IBD’s and we may have different opinions on what works and what doesn’t (different strokes for different folks). But, at the end of the day our objective to help people is our ultimate objective. This book is not going to be used as a sales pitch or to promote any treatment etc.  Yes, if you have a website or a blog we will put the address in the e-book with your story for reference to your story but that’s it.  Each person will get a full copy of this e-book to put up on their site, or to email to anyone they can think of etc. The ultimate goal of this e-book is for it to be spread VIRAL over the internet where the potential for it to help so many people is exponential. We must spread the word about our stories to give people hope and to give them the opportunity to get the second chance we have experienced. 

 So now I ask you from the bottom of my heart to please respond to this email saying you are going to join this group collaboration project to promote the truth: that we are indeed overcoming our IBD’s and living great lives. Also if anyone has any insight or advice on how we can make this project a success to please send any thoughts to me via email.  I can’t stress enough that I am not doing this for any angle or any pitch but just to spread hope and the truth. This e-book will always be free and all of ours to spread viral to promote hope and opportunity for the people suffering unnecessarily with these diseases. 

What’s Required of You???

If you are okay with telling your story please send me an email to medfree@crohnsboy.com expressing your interest. At this point I will send you an open ended questionnaire which will take 15-20 min to complete and will give you a chance to tell your story. There will be a general structure but all questions will be open ended to let you tell your story. After all the questionnaires are completed we will collect them and have them formatted into an e-book.

I have noticed when speaking with people who have overcome ANY disease or illness is that: they are very happy people; they achieve great things, will tell you the disease has made them stronger, they appreciate things in their lives more than ever, and most importantly they have NEW passion for life and the people present in their lives.  

Crohnsboy taking bro&sis to Edmonton

Hey Everyone Just thought I would share this video with ya since I'm always blabbing about IBD STUFF and thought it would be good to change it up. This way you can find out a little more about the dude behind the site. 

 I told my little bro & sis if they save up the cash I would take them to North America’s BIGGEST mall. Kids don’t forget promises so 14 hrs. Of driving and we made it there…are we there yet……yes I heard it a million times. I give all you parents out there MAD PROPS…you guys are the real heroes! 

Hope Everyone has a KICK A$$ weeekend...TGIF baby :) 

Enema of Your Enemy is Your Friend

An Article brought to my attention to Kim earlier today :) Thanks for the info keep it coming.

The Enema of Your Enemy is Your Friend

Fecal transplants could be a cheap and effective treatment for gastrointestinal disorders.

By Emily P. Walker Posted Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011, at 4:26 PM ET

Then she met Lawrence Brandt, a gastroenterologist at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx who believed he had developed a procedure to cure people of recurrent c. diff infections: fecal transplant. Brandt has been inserting feces into his patients for a decade now and claims to be solving their problems nearly 100 percent of the time. If his method really works—and he's not the only doctor who believes that it does—then we may have found a viable, if weird, solution to a serious problem. C. diff infects 250,000 Americans each year and killed more than 20,000 from 1999 to 2004. (Researchers estimate that 13 out of every 1,000 patients admitted to a hospital will pick up the bug.) Antibiotics will always be the first response to such infections, but when those fail, a fecal transplant could be the next step. For Ruth, at least, the procedure was a godsend. "I'm cured," she said. "Period. End of story. Cured."
Here's the basic idea. People suffering from the hardy C. diff bacteria are generally prescribed a powerful antibiotic. Problem is, the drugs don't just kill the invaders; they also wipe out much of the beneficial bacteria in the gut. With these "good" microorganisms out of the way, any C. diff stragglers have a much easier time regrouping for a second bout of illness. If there were some way to respawn the beneficial bacteria in the intestines, such re-infections could be warded off. Some people, like Ruth, turn to expensive probiotic supplements. (At one point she was spending $350 on them every week.) But in certain cases, a patient who has lost nearly all of her good bacteria will find it nearly impossible to get them back. A fecal transplant seems to work as a sort of mega-probiotic, allowing doctors to repopulate a patient's intestines with the appropriate microorganisms by placing a robust sample directly into her gut.
Doctors recommend that the fecal donor be someone close to the patient—a family member, perhaps, or a spouse. Scientists reason that when people live in close quarters, they are exposed to similar bacteria—good and bad—and are likely to have had a similar set of bacteria living in their guts before anyone got sick.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE