Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Happy Holidays!



Happy Holidays!!

(Please click the image to see the animation.)

Love,
Yuuki

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Whole Truth

I found "Self-Publishing Seminar" on Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts website.
They always have good seminars and information for musicians.
I knew it was for book publishing,
but I signed up because it might have some information for CD publishing also.

It was first time I came to their seminar.
There was a nice small theater and a very energetic, cheerful lady was on the stage.


She started talking about her & her mother's stories about health and how she reclaimed her health.
She explained about why she doesn't take western medicines and conventional foods with pesticides and other dangerous stuff. 
Most of all, she looked really healthy, energetic, fit and radiant!!

I really felt like I woke up!
I knew some of what she was talking about.
My parents raised me in that way when I was in Japan.
I thought there may be some keys to cure my allergy problem in her book!

I thanked her and bought 2 books from her
and read them in that night.

I searched internet about pesticides, genetically modified food, hormons, anti-biotics and so on...
and found some articles which tells those things may cause allergies.

Example 1:
Japanese who have wheat allergy usually don't have allergic reaction to wheat grown in  Japan.
They found out that wheat imported to Japan has more stronger pesticides than one grown in Japan. So that is not really wheat allergy but pesticide allergy.

Example 2:
Genetically modified crops, specially pesticidal crops might have some different effect in our intestines from non-GM crops. They may cause allergies.

I'm not sure and I cannot tell these are truth or not.
There's no long-term research.

But think about all,
Why can I say they are safe to my body?
Pesticides kill insects, harbicides kill weeds, hormons change animals...
Why don't they kill me or change my body???
Specially my allergy has no clue for cure.

I decided to eat only (now mostly) organic food from that day!



Thursday, August 7, 2008

Worst Allergy Days of My Life

The other reason I didn't go to hospital for allergy is I knew what I'd hear from doctor.
One of my friend told me he went allergy test and find out he's allergic to everything on the earth.
He thought about hyposensitization but it takes very long. Then He decided to take loratadine everyday.

I took Benadryl everyday because loratadine didn't work for me much. It made me really sleepy.
It was OK while I was getting rashes only night time. Usually But soon after, I starting having rashes after dinner then after every meal. I had to carry Benadryls wherever I went. I started feel really tired because of medicine and fear of sudden rash outbreaks. I knew shell fish was one of my allergen but even I avoid shell fish I got rashes. Sometime mild, sometime really bad! When it's really bad, I couldn't breath well and had asthma. I couldn't work well, couldn't eat out with friends much, couldn't practice well. Where was my life? I was suffering like that for almost 6 months.

Then I met Ms. Andrea Beaman...

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Unstoppable Rash & Emergency Room

It was 2 years ago, my allergy rash came back...

After I ate lobster at my favorite restaurant, my upper lip suddenly got swollen. Actually I had this problem several times when I ate shell fish but usually I was OK after I slept.
But a few days later, my lip got swollen again, and then a few days later I started having rashes night time...
It got more frequent when I got rashes. I recollect my rash problem 7 years ago, too...

One day, I went to emergency room because it was the day before a concert, I cannot play the flute with this swollen upper lip.

I waited about 1 hour and a doctor saw me for less than 3 minutes. Then he said,

"It's allergy. I've seen worse. Take Benadryl, you'll get sleepy, don not drive......"

He handed me 2 tablets of Benadryl and a cup of water. That was it.

Later they sent me an outrageous bill. They charged me about $640 ($440 for hospital, $200 for doctor) for that 3 minutes, 2 tablets of Benadryl and a cup of water.

My friends gave me a lot of advice about health system in US later. But how do I know at that moment? It was an emergency for me!

Anyway, I paid the bill and I decided not to go to hospital for allergy anymore. (If I get any acute allergy reaction and need a shot, I may go...) But all they can do is give me some antihistamines.

Antihistamines don't cure allergy, they just stop the symptom.

Don't kill the messenger! Just killing messengers makes your health worse.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Harvesting Corn!



Before I write about another rash episode. I'd like to show my organic corn!!

Corn is very easy to grow. (at least in my area.)
I soaked seeds in water and sowed them then forgot about them.

It tastes very sweet and each kernel is very firm and sticky.

If you want organic harvest in your garden, try corn! Green Thumb Not Required!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

First Rash

It was 8 years ago...
After 2 or 3 months I came here United States...

By the time I felt I got used to American food, big portion of meal, coffee & bagels,
I started having rash night time...every night.

First I thought it might be bed bug.
But even I slept other places, I got the same symptom.
I was taking antihistamine to stop it.

I also started gaining weight around the same time.

And then I got around 20 pounds in 3 or 4 months,
it stopped suddenly...

I still don't know why.

But this was not the end of my struggle with allergy...

Friday, July 18, 2008

Hello!

I'm a Japanese musician & web designer living in New York (Staten Island).
A couple years ago, I started suffering from unstoppable allergy rash everyday.
Then I became more aware of what I eat and take.

Now I don't have allergy rash everyday.
I get only when I eat what I'm not supposed to eat.

I'd like to share my findings with everybody who has the same problem or who doesn't have this problem yet.

My findings are based on my experiences as Japanese.
I'm not a doctor, never studied medicine,
I'll just write I think it logical & WORKS FOR ME!!
I can also introduce some good Asian food for allergy.

医食同源 - "Medicine and Food Coming from the Same Source"(Asian Proverb)

Before I conclude my first post, I'd like to thank people inspired me;

Andrea Beaman, HHC, AADP - The first person made me realize what I was eating here.

Helen at Tuttoriso Cafe on Staten Island - She gave me a lot of advice!

My parents - They raised me with safe & good food.

Thanks!!

Love,
Yuuki