The Sneezing - It Comes From Out of Nowhere

I woke up sneezing this morning. It's not like someone was dusting at 5:30am, it's much too cold for leaving windows open for dust to come in. My nose has been running and I've been sneezing throughout the day. Intermittently I have some relief and it stops as suddenly as it started.

I was first made aware of my problem with allergies when I was in the eighth grade. I was taking wood shop class and my teacher asked me if I had allergies. I told him I thought I had a cold, but I wasn't sure. He told me when his allergies acted up, they affected him like they were affecting me.

Now when my nose acts up it's almost always allergies. Every so often I'll catch a cold, but not very often. The way I can tell best if it's a cold is if my nose begins "running like a faucet". You know, drip, drip, drip when I don't know it's going to drip.

Apparently allergic reactions exacerbate asthma. I didn't have asthma until I had pneumonia in 2002. Neither did ds1. But the doctors are fond of claiming one condition has nothing at all to do with the other. Funny how I never had trouble breathing without medication until AFTER the month long bout with pneumonia.

Fortunately I have mild asthma. Mine is controlled pretty good with the lowest dosage of Flovent used once every 24 hours. I sometimes have to use Albuterol in conjunction with the Flovent if I'm wheezing.

I notice my asthma bothers me less when I am faithful to drink my kefir regularly.

I wonder when I'll remember how important it is to stay on my kefir? I got out of the habit of drinking my kefir for several weeks and had several symptoms return. I keep forgetting that I have to keep drinking my kefir. In another post I included this information I'd gotten from a list I'm on, "Your immune system is based in your gut in large part, and dependent upon a healthy gut flora, so it makes sense that a constant flow of the friendly microbes from kefir would help your asthma."

Until next time.

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Kefir Pancakes and Crockpot Stuffed Bell Peppers

This morning's pancakes turned out very delicious. Apparently flour, especially whole wheat flour, needs to be soaked to neutralize the phytic acids. ["Phytic acid combines with key minerals, especially calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc and prevents their absorption in the intestinal tract. Soaking, fermenting, or sprouting the grain before cooking or baking will neutralize the phytic acid, releasing nutrients for absorption."] Anyway, it's a great way to use up extra kefir. And so simple!

Kefir Pancakes

• 2 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour
• 2 cups kefir (or you can use buttermilk or yogurt)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 Tablespoons melted butter

Mix flour with kefir, mix well and soak overnight (12-24 hours). Stir in other ingredients and thin to desired consistency with water. Cook on a hot, oiled griddle or in a cast-iron skillet. Serve with maple syrup and lots of butter, mmmmmmmm!!

And for dinner, I'm making one of my favorites:

Crockpot Stuffed Bell Peppers

• 3 medium bell peppers, cored
• 2 cup white rice
• 2 - 16 oz can diced tomatoes
• 4 t. chili powder
• 2 t. onion powder
• 1 t. garlic powder
• 2 t. salt
• 2 pound regular ground beef
• 1/2 lb. butter (optional, if using lean ground beef)
• 1/2 cup water (optional, if using lean ground beef)
  
• Mix the ground beef, canned tomatoes, rice and seasonings together. Pour the mixture into the crockpot. Stuff the raw bell peppers with the raw mixture, place the pepper tops on each and press down into the mixture already in the crockpot. Cook for 12 hours on low.

Until next time.

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