Monday 18 August 2014

Natto - where to find it



Firstly, Why Natto?
Well if you look back through my old posts here and on kickas.org you will see that Natto brought my Ankylosing Spondylitis into remission. A truly amazing feat for such a humble food. Natto is a Japanese dish made by fermenting soy beans with B. Subtilis, and it is this microbe that has my interest.

A Japanese Person
The first person to ask would be any Japanese friends or colleagues that you may know. They should be clued in on where to get Natto in your area.

Asian Grocery Stores
I asked a Japanese friend if they knew where to buy Natto in Sydney and here is their response:
Image Source: blog.japancentre.com
Everywhere! You will find it in the frozen section on asian grocery stores, sold in bundles of stacked little white styrofoam packages. I defrost them, smother it in heaps of soy sauce and eat over hot rice, wrapped in lots of seaweed. Sadly, I'm the only one who appreciates natto in our house so I don't get to eat it as much. 
If you are going through the city, there is a Japanese grocery store called Maruyu directly behind the cinemas along Kent St, closer to the Liverpool St end. You would also find them in Chinatown, and if you move to Kogarah [..]- there is a shop opposite St George Hospital Emergency. [..] 


Online
I was able to buy Natto starter culture (natto-moto / B. Subtilis) for roughly ten or fifteen dollars via eBay. Or if you know anyone who is Japanese ask them. In my case it was my Korean neighbours who gave it to me. They are such a wonderful couple. 

Friday 15 August 2014

Prescript Assist for itchy bum (Proctitis)

I tried taking 4 x Prescript Assist probiotics the other night and Proctitis (itchy bum) was definitely greatly relieved. I would say an improvement of 90% or more, so it is quite a marked difference. I had tried just taking one or two before but that doesn't do anything noticeable for me. Looks like I need 3 or 4 of the pills at a time in order to get a therapeutic effect. 

There is a small chance it could also have possibly been all the chilli and fried onions I ate. This will gradually become clear with time. 

Prescript Assist is a unique brand of high quality probiotic. I was recommended this brand by Baruch who had also found that it helped with this problem. So credit goes to him :-D What's interesting about this brand is the wide selection of probiotic flora, beneficial flora that you rarely see in other probiotics, and also the high level of research and quality control from the manufacturer. If your in a medical or health professional then I definitely recommend looking into the company. 

Oh, and I note that this probiotic also contains B. Subtilis which is also found in Natto. And Natto is what I attribute my recent immune disorder remission to - I would prefer that you stick with Natto if you were looking for Ankylosing Spondylitis remission (AS). I'm just not sure if you will get enough of the B. Subtilis from this probiotic in order to help with AS. 


Sunday 3 August 2014

Molecular Mimicry



Alan Ebringer - a trail blazer who researched the relationship between
diet, Klebsiella, and Ankylosing Spondylitis.

Video - Recovery from Ankylosing Spondylitis



Recovery from Ankylosing Spondylitis
A pretty good video about diet and AS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvgjJTLrM3M