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This is a personal account of how I cured myself of H. Pylori with natural remedies and treated gastritis with some meds prescribed by my doctor. I share this with you as my symptoms and experiences were rather different than most of the stories I found online when I was intensively looking for a way to relieve the suffering induced by this nasty bacteria.  I eventually got rid of H. Pylori and gastritis but some of my discoveries along the way may surprise you.  Hopefully you will benefit from this information, months of research and trial and error, and over a thousand of dollars spent on various supplements and drugs.

My Symptoms and Search for Answers

Come to think of it, it all started months before the onset of serious symptoms of H Pylori. Half hour to an hour after meals I was experiencing a dull stabbing pain in the upper and sometimes in the lower left abdomen.  This pain would sometimes disappear for weeks and reappear what seemed out of nowhere.  Eventually I started feeling very lethargic and could hardly drag my feet around the office.  My appetite was considerably reduced and even though I would put a full plate of food in front of me I was only able to eat about a third of my meal until I felt full.  At that time I blamed it all on sleepless nights and the stress that my wife and I had to endure over a complicated pregnancy and birth of our first baby.

It all came down on me in one day.  After feeling very weak I decided to have some coffee at the office and I was immediately experiencing funny bubbling noises in my stomach and seconds later I ended up on a toilet seat which felt like a violent Pompeii eruption.  My body could not handle any more acid.  I knew something was wrong and it couldn’t just be stress and sleepless nights anymore.  Next day I went to see my my doctor at PAMF in Palo Alto, CA.

Numerous people online describe how their doctors never suspect and do not test for H. Pylori. Most will diagnose ulcers and prescribe antacids, which tend to exacerbate the problem. I suppose I was lucky as among other tests my doctor recommended a stool test for this bacteria.  Two days later the lab results confirmed infection of H. Pylori.  My doctor called me to explain that the bacteria was (more…)

So you want fertilize your lawn. But you also want to avoid using unnecessary chemicals because of their potentially hazardous effects. So what can you do? There are several organic solutions for feeding your lawn without sacrificing environmental health. Most organic fertilizers are made from animal by-products, most often from animal dung, say cow or bat manure, for example. But there are a variety of other options as well.

Types of Organic Fertilizers

The two basic types of organic lawn fertilizers are organic and synthetic organic. Organic fertilizers contain animal, plant, or fish by-products. They come in either a granulated form, which can easily be distributed over your lawn using a fertilizer spreader, or they can be found in liquid form. Liquids are just as effective, but they can be harder to spread evenly over a lawn.

Synthetic organic is formed using “urea”. Urea is a chemical compound found in urine that can be synthesized. It contains nitrogen, which is an important nutrient in lawn care products. The reason synthetic urea is considered organic is (more…)

Considering building a new patio or deck to enjoy a lovely weather but want to be mindful of the environmental impact?  Millions of homeowners across the country continue to use”standard” patio materials like asphalt, concrete and cement to support their patios because they’ve proven their worth time and again but is it time for new awareness?

Problems With the Status Quo

Unfortunately, your asphalt, concrete or cement patio is liable to be among the least sustainable elements of your property. In fact, standard patio-building materials present several key problems for environmentally conscious homeowners.

For starters, these surfaces all contain synthetic or petroleum-based components that require huge amounts of energy to fabricate. The amount of energy that goes into a given product’s production is known as “embodied energy,” and it’s one of the main factors that contribute to its overall environmental footprint.

Asphalt, concrete and cement also contain toxins that can leak into your lawn, groundwater and pool during bouts of rain. What’s more, these nonporous “hardscape” surfaces can direct rainwater in concentrated streams and cause surprising amounts of damage to your yard. In the long run, this runoff could even eat away at your home’s foundation.

You don’t want to find out what that looks like.

A Gentler Way

Fortunately, there are several sustainable alternatives that feature lower levels of embodied energy as well as a more sustainable product life cycle. Some of these alternatives are “natural” materials that incorporate locally sourced or low-impact raw materials like soil cement. Others are reused materials like (more…)

Home builders are taking an active role in trying to make homes more sustainable and lowering the carbon footprint of the structure by using local materials and technological advancements. What many people don’t realize however, is that the physical footprint of the building – the foundation – often has the largest carbon footprint associated with it.

A common myth is that concrete is environmentally friendly already. It’s easy to see why from a homeowner’s perspective. It’s long lasting, durable, and often unseen in the finished product which falls into the category “out of sight, out of mind.” In a nutshell, concrete is made from sand, gravel, cement, and water which sounds harmless enough, but cement is a huge greenhouse gas producer and all of the products in concrete have to be mined, refined, and transported.

Problems with Cement

Cement is the binding agent in concrete with the most common type being Portland cement. If you think this makes it “green” because it’s associated with the trendy capital city of Oregon then you made the same mistake I did. Portland cement was actually made in Britain in the 1820s and, as far as I know, isn’t directly associated with skinny jeans or mustaches.

Cement takes a tremendous amount of energy to produce, and the world demand for cement and concrete keeps rising exponentially as developing countries continue to expand their economies. Cement production is accredited with producing (more…)

One would have a hard time denying that swimming pools are some of the most wonderful and luxurious comforts in life. Merely at a touch of warm and soft water our bodies relax and minds blend with the basic elements of nature. However, maintaining a pool in the backyard is not a cheap proposition, neither financially, nor environmentally.

When my husband Ed and I decided to install a family swimming pool, we looked for things we could do to make our pool less taxing on the resources. Here are 10 ways we have found to make our pool more eco friendly:

1) Efficient heating. We love to swim during the months when it gets a bit chilly, so we installed a solar heater. We cut down on the amount of fuel we use to warm the pool. It also saves on our energy costs, and I love that part.

2) An insulated pool cover. When we’re not using the pool, the cover keeps it warm and prevents loss of heat. After a long discussion about cost, Ed won and got a pool cover with a push button mechanism. Sometimes I think he (more…)

Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Trends in housing are turning more and more to sustainable living. Many home buyers are looking for ways to incorporate little changes into their homes that not only saves them money, but also helps them to do their part in reducing their own carbon footprint. Here are several things that are trending in home designs that are really starting to catch on.

No Yards

While this may not be a new trend, it is one that seems to be catching on more and more these days. Certain parts of the country have already made it trendy to not have a lawn because the water supply is so limited. This is very common in desert states such as Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and part of Utah and California. This doesn’t mean that these home owners do nothing with their yards, it is actually the opposite. By using rocks and desert-friendly plants, there are a lot of ways to make yards look appealing and well cared for without being high maintenance and water-laden.

Harvesting Rain

Depending on some city ordinances, this option is not available in all areas. When building a house, adding a large cistern under the house is a great way to recycle water. The process is fairly (more…)

It is estimated that up to 95% of all flowering plants, 1/3 of food crops, and 1/2 of the world’s oils consumed by humans today rely on animals for pollination to assure reproduction.  Over 180,000 plant species and more than 1200 crops require the services of these hard working, often unseen bio-contributors and out of every three bites of food we consume, one is there due to the efforts of pollinators.

Considering California produces over 400 crops, grows almost half of the United States’ vegetables, fruits, and nuts, and is the nation’s top agricultural state the importance of pollinators, both for large operations and small, cannot be overstated!

Why is Pollen Important?    

Pollen is essential to the reproductive system of most the world’s flowering plants and is distributed and transferred via a variety of animals (this essential genetic material is carried on their bodies) as they move from plant to plant.  These industrious travelers not only provide a vital service with regards to the food we eat and flowers we enjoy but also play a role in sustaining bio-diversity and promoting vibrant and vigorous ecosystems worldwide, not to mention (more…)

Flickr – Elizabeth Abernathy

When it comes to home décor that has been recycled or upcycled, there are only two real questions most homeowners ask: why choose such products and what is available? Okay, in truth you might be wondering, for starters, just what the difference is between recycling and upcycling, so let’s have a little lesson to start you off right. When something is recycled it is either passed along as is to a new home or broken down so that the components can be used to create something else (often of lesser value). You might get a recycled chest of drawers at the Goodwill, or plastic bottles could be broken down to create plastic bags. Upcycling, on the other hand, takes something with little value and breaks it down to make items that are considered more valuable. You could tear old t-shirts into strips and weave them into raggy kitchen rugs, for example. Or the rubber from old shoes could be made into playground surfaces. So now that we’ve got that straightened out, why would you choose these products? And what kinds of items are out there?

There are a couple of good reasons to go for recycled and upcycled products when it comes to your home décor, not the least of which is supporting the health of the planet that in turn supports all human life. These cyclical production models not only (more…)

Pollution is getting worse as time pass and we are already suffering from its negative effects. The harsh weather conditions, climate “weirdness” and the large hole of the ozone layer that makes us exposed from the harmful UV rays of sunlight, all of these happen because of air pollution.  People are already aware of this and are turning to cleaner and renewable energy sources.  What most are not aware of yet is that energy sources such as biofilm is already available for homeowners to heat their homes.

Why Renewable Energy

Renewable energy refers to energy derived from our natural resources. Some forms of renewable energy are wind, sunlight, geothermal heat, tides, rain, biofuel and many more. The term “renewable” indicates that these forms of energy replenish naturally.   The reason why renewable energy is getting popular is because unlike petroleum that produces carbon emissions and can alter the atmosphere, this type of energy is clean.

The Benefit of Biofuel to Homeowners

The usage of biofuel is not limited to cars and other complex type of machineries that is petroleum-based.  In fact, you can use it in your simple home equipment as well.  One example of the most common home equipment where biofuel is usable – is fireplaces.

Although fireplaces, does not rely on petroleum for fuel, using wood to heat up your fireplaces, will require (more…)

Ever wonder how long we’ve been trying to define “Green Building?” I first heard the term in 2005 and thought, as a residential contractor, I should probably explore the concept, just in case a homeowner had some interest. What I thought could be a passing fad has redefined my business model.

Yet it’s been a struggle over the years to get the various parties involved in the construction process to agree on what it takes to create a “Green” building. Homeowners, architects, designers, building officials, suppliers and product manufacturers all seem to have their own ideas. Some of these ideas are based on a real desire to improve our built environment and the quality of life for the people in those buildings. Others are snake oil from people trying to make a quick buck.

Of course, that’s true in all walks of life.

To make green building concepts more accessible, various organizations across the nation have developed checklists to ease the way. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, begun in 2000 by the US Green Building Council, was out front early with strategies for non-residential buildings. Build It Green, established in 2005 here in the bay area, compiled an action plan for residential buildings that has been adopted by many municipalities throughout California. Individual jurisdictions have even developed and adopted their own green building requirements.

These various approaches, though well intended, have proven to be a little confusing, as well as intimidating, to many consumers. Each has their proponents, as well as detractors, but their frameworks are similar (more…)