What the Crap is Kefir?

Since I have yet to upload the 500 pictures on my phone to the computer, I can't post about anything exciting like our CA trip, or visits from family, or Easter, etc... So I'll opt for a quicky health post. As I've mentioned before, one of the things Scott has done which has drastically helped with his Ulcerative Colitis is regularly drink kefir. For all of you out there who are wondering, what the crap is kefir... well here ya go: 

Disclaimer: I'm definitely not an expert, this is just what I've learned along the way. 

Kefir is a fermented milk drink, with the consistency of watery yogurt, that contains TONS of beneficial yeast and probiotic bacteria. It also has easily digestible proteins, essential minerals, and valuable B vitamins. There are HUGE health benefits to drinking it regularly.

Kefir can help with cancer, herpes, IBS, immune dysfunction, allergies, colitis, leaky gut and many others. It restores the intestinal flora of people who are recovering from a serious illness or being treated with antibiotics. Because kefir can be digested so easily, is a wonderful remedy for digestive troubles. Even though it is made with milk, due to the fermentation process, it's predigested and tolerable to those persons who are lactose intolerant. 

So, enough about why you should drink kefir, now for the how.  

How to Make Kefir:

1. You make kefir at home using kefir grains. The grains look like small white sticky jello balls. The grains ferment the milk, adding all the "good stuff" we talked about earlier. We started with a tablespoon of grains in each jar. With each fermentation, the grains grow a little. You want to ferment the milk with 1 - 3 tablespoons of grains. When there are too many grains the drink becomes really strong. (Really good for your body, but also really had to swallow without throwing up.) After adding grains to the jar, add the raw milk. We use raw milk because the kefir can grow better in it, and provide more health benefits. In super pasteurized milk, the grains cannot grow. You can also make kefir in other liquids, such as water, coconut water, dairy-free milks, etc... 
2. Let the grains ferment 1 - 3 days, with the lids slightly cracked for air to escape. Everywhere you read online will say 18 - 48 hours. However, we've always done 72 hours for Scott. The more it ferments, the more benefits. But, like when you have too many grains, it also makes it more difficult to gulp down because of the taste. Kind of a bitter, sour taste when it ferments for 3 days. I've done one day kefir and mixed it up in smoothies and couldn't taste it at all.
3. After they have fermented, give the bottles a nice shake. Drain into a plastic colander. (The grains aren't supposed to touch metal.) Reserve the juice, jar it, and stick it in the fridge. This is the kefir you will drink. Scott drinks a cup first thing in the morning, and another one right before bed.
4. Rinse the grains in the colander with distilled water. Then begin the process over by dividing them up between the jars. (We always make two, which leaves enough for one person to drink until the next batch is ready.) Add in the raw milk, and voila, you're next batch is ready to ferment!

In addition to the kefir, Scott also takes some natural supplements. He started with all four below, and a strict no gluten, no dairy diet. Did that for two months to cleanse and restore. Now at this point he is only regularly taking the clay and DDS Plus probiotic. He has been able to completely go off prescription meds, go back to a diet that includes dairy and gluten, and is in remission for his colitis. AMAZING.

A Deeper Look into Our Lives

With the start of a New Year it seems like everyone is on a nice healthy kick. We're joining the ranks. As some of you may already know, Scott has very severe Ulcerative Colitis. UC is an autoimmune disease which causes ulcers in the lining of the colon. As you can imagine, this makes going to the bathroom a horribly painful process. There is no cure but there are different options for meds that can keep it under control and help people to go into periods of remission. Half of those with it have very mild symptoms. Others, have it so bad that the only option is to remove the colon.

Since being diagnosed five years ago, Scott has never really been in remission. He has tried one new medicine after another and finally, just after I got pregnant with Landon, he found a couple meds that helped. He was doing fairly well, BUT (and isn't there always a but?) one of the meds causes infertility and the other causes serious birth defects so the doctor advised us to not try to have kids while he was taking them. Well, that's all fine and dandy but Landon's not going to be an only child forever. So, this past summer Scott went off all his meds. As you can guess, his symptoms all came back with a vengeance. Alternate meds didn't do a darn thing to help. The doc was seriously talking to him about colon removal.

And at that point when things looked horrendous, the Lord stepped in. The people in our lives are not placed there by happenstance. I firmly believe this. Over the past few months Scott has become close friends with a guy he worked with. Then at this critical time, Scott finds out he has similar digestive issues, and two sisters with UC. He traveled the country, researching, talking to doctors, and finding new methods of treatment for it. By a combination of diet, probiotics, supplements, and kefir, he has been able to combat and reverse his digestive problems.

He had Scott come right over to his house (and in the meantime, went to the heath food store to buy Scott all the supplements, probiotics and things he would need.) He taught him how to make kefir, instructed him on diet restrictions (gluten free, dairy free, low sugar, steamed veggies) and sent him home with a car full of "goodies" including a nice freezer stash of organic, grass-fed, no hormones, all-natural beef.

This was a couple weeks ago and so far things are looking hopeful. We will be giving it a good three months to see...

"But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things with God hath prepared for them that love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9

The 5,972 Things We've Been Doing...

Seriously, I'm not kidding. March madness in our neck of the woods. Here's an update into our latest happenings:

Dr. Fubalous

Scott is shooting this hilarious web series about a doctor/rapper. We'll let you know when it is finished and online. When he was shooting this music video portion this homeless guy came by and stopped to watch. Then he started dancing, so one of guys working on the project told him to go dance with the dancers. He actually did. Soooo random.

EMERGENCY!
Scott went to the ER three times in seven days. The first two visits- he couldn't breathe because of pain in his chest and abdomen. (I thought breathing was important so we finally decided to go after dealing with it for hours.) Third visit - has a vein explode while getting pumped full of contrast solution during a CT scan. At the elbow, his arm swelled to the size of a large grapefruit in a matter of seconds. Apparently this is something that obviously doesn't usually happen, but if it does, is only seen in people over 70. He is doing much better now.

Happy Birthday to Me!

On March 31 I turned 23! Scott decorated the house and got up early to fix me french toast with strawberries and whipped cream. At school, my kids called me into their music room during their music time. They were all sitting in a circle singing an African song and had a chair set up for me at the end of the circle. Each one took turns coming up to me, whispered a complement in my ear and dropped a nerd candy in a goblet that was set in front of the chair. It was sooooo CUTE! My two favs were 1) "You're the best teacher ever and when I grow up I want to be a teacher just like you." and 2) "You're beautiful." (From one of the boys in my class.) Their music teacher explained that this is an African birthday tradition. Very neat!! After school Scott and I went ate at Outback Steakhouse (Mmmmmm!) and came home to open presents and eat ice cream cupcakes from Coldstone. I love birthdays!

And Getting Bigger...

Here's the photo from 29 weeks. I feel great, besides a little tiredness and being uncomfortably large. Last week I had the gestational diabetes test and rhogam shot done. I thought half the world was negative and half was positive when it comes to blood type. Apparently being negative is not that common. It's only like 17% of people, or something like that. Lucky me.

Catapults!

I've been teaching about forces and motion/simple machines in science this month. As a culminating project, my students made catapults at home and on a sunny Friday we tested them out with marshmallows. I even let them shoot at me, which they were very excited about.

Conference and Easter

Scott's sisters came down from Rexburg over conference weekend so we had tons of fun handing out with them. We all had tickets to the Sunday afternoon session so that was very neat to go to. It will probably be the last time Scott and I actually go to the conference center for a very long time, since kids under 8 aren't permitted. We really enjoyed all the talks, especially the many on teaching children in the home.

Lost and Found!

In November I lost Scott's car keys. I literally searched EVERYWHERE over and over again. I assumed I had thrown them away by accident. I finally replaced them in January. I thought it might be like 10 - 20 bucks to replace. Oh no. $150. Yikes. Those are some high-tech car keys. Sheesh. Well, the other day I was cleaning up our porch and to my utter surprise found the keys laying on one of thees benches out there. I couldn't help but laugh. They're super rusty and gross looking, but I'm very curious to see if they still work...

Moving

We just found out yesterday that we have to move in the next month. We knew when we moved here that the family upstairs were trying to sell their house. They actually took it off the market when we moved in, and had been trying to sell it for a few years now. Well, a friend of a friend was interested, came by, made a great offer, and don't want basement renters. :( Sooooooo here goes the house search again. The fam is so nice, they feel so bad and are trying to help us find a place, while also finding a place for themselves. This has by far been our fav apartment so we are sad sad sad to leave. I laughed when Scott told me. It's funny how these things always seem to happen at the most inopportune times. Oh well. That's life.

Scott's Second Trip to LA

On Sunday Scott leaves for LA for the next three weeks. He will be working on the set of ABC's Brothers and Sisters. They will be filming the season finale.

Goodness. If you made it through that, congratulations.

The Infamous Pig Disease

Well, Scott's been out of school all week with that stinky swine flu. (And here I was so worried I would get it from one of my students...) Thankfully I got the vaccine a week prior to him catching it. HOWEVER, your body still takes 10 - 14 days to build up the antibodies to it, so I was still at risk. The doc perscribed me Tamiflu as well to help prevent getting sick. Now, I was perfectly fine, then as soon as I took that stuff I was throwing up all night. Tried it for three days; same result each time. I'm supposed to take it for 10 days?! I'll take my chances with my 13-day-old vaccine, thank you very much.

So, if you haven't already experienced it, the first few days of this flu are HORRIBLE and then all the symptoms linger on forever and a half. Seriously, you don't want it. So, if you haven't got the vaccine or nasal spray at least take these precautious:

1. Gargle morning and night with Listerine or salt and water.
2. Blow your nose hard twice a day. Use a saline nose spray or swab your nose with a q-tip dipped in salt water once a day.
3. Drink something hot before you go to bed. It washes the germs into your stomach where they will die because of all the awful stuff in your stomach.
4. Wash your hands and don't touch your beautiful faces even though you want to. The swine flu bug will live in your nose and throat for a couple of days before it attacks. If you do these things, you will kill it before it can get to you.

Facing My Fear

Today was horrific. Yes, I had to face my one great fear in life: Giving blood. I cannot, nor ever have been, able to handle needles. Oh, it makes me weak just writing about it. I think the last time I went in to get a shot, the doctor never ended up giving it to me.

Sooooooo, Scott and I are thinking of getting life insurance and part of that process is having someone come check vital signs, get a urine sample, and yes, TAKE TWO VIALS OF BLOOD. Believe me, as soon as I found out, I tried to get out of it. But alas, there was no other option but to suck it up and be brave. So, in a matter of seconds I faced my fear. I cried like a baby mind you, but I did it.

Maybe it won't be so bad next time, since I've done it once now. I'll just keep telling myself that... (but do I really believe that? Heck no.) Well, in honor of facing my fear, here are some good quotes in regards to the subject:

You can conquer almost any fear if you only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind. -Dale Carnegie

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself. "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." -Elenor Roosevelt