Healthy home cooking, healthy microbiome, and more

There are many people who cannot detect mold in their home but have mold illness symptoms . Or they left the moldy environment, but they still have symptoms and/or have mycotoxins in their urine. How is this possible? Here are some possibilities: 1. You simply cannot find mold (at home or at work), as it is well-hidden but it's there. See this article for more info. 2. You have removed the mold, but the mycotoxins are still in your environment, adsorbed to surfaces and slowly being released. See this article for more info. 3. You have removed the mold, or left moldy environment, but lots of mycotoxins are still inside your body. Mycotoxins love fat (lipophilic), so they could be stored in fat and nervous (brain etc.) tissues. They can be slowly released from these tissues and affect your health. If they are trapped inside the nervous tissue, they may cause long-term nervous system problems. Relatively speaking, this situation is better than having living mold in your environment...

Summary Whether you are staying in your current home or moving to another one, to create a mold-free indoor environment, you must : First make the environment inhospitable to mold Remove the existing mold Remove the existing mycotoxins My credentials: BS in Microbiology PhD in Biochemistry Taught Microbiology at the University level A scientist with active microbiology and clinical labs for 15+ years at multiple institutions Why mold often grows back? Mold is a living microorganism. If conditions remain favorable for its growth, it will likely grow back, even after thorough cleaning or remediation. The reason is that mold spores are likely everywhere, and just a single microscopic spore can come back to the cleaned/remediated area and grow. For example, let's say you have condensation next to a window and you notice mold growth. You remove 99.9% of the mold. However, if you don't remove the source of the condensation, the mold will grow back in a few weeks. Even if you remove...

There is a myth on the internet that ammonia is better than bleach at removing mold. I bust this myth with information provided below from credible sources. The same myth for using vinegar to treat mold is also busted, at the very bottom. Millions of people are sick with mold illness and need a way to kill mold in their homes. There is a myth propagated by non-scientists that bleach should not be used. While other products may also kill mold and mold spores, bleach is extremely effective and I think the best overall solution. See the bottom of this page for a comparison with ammonia, which is promoted by a lot of people as the best mold cleaner. For those people who say that bleach is toxic: it has been safely used in households and laboratories on a daily basis for decades.   My credentials: BS in Microbiology PhD in Biochemistry Taught Microbiology at the University level A scientist with active microbiology and clinical labs for 15+ years at multiple institutions We use bleach ...

A note: I have written this article based on reading the peer-reviewed literature (some is referenced at the bottom), reading many (many!) self-reported social media posts, and personal experience. There is no strong scientific evidence for much of the information in this article, because the science related to medically-relevant fungi and mycotoxins is in its infancy. This is just a start. However, this information may help some people identify the root cause of their illness and find ways to improve their health. As more evidence appears in the peer-reviewed literature, I will update this post. Another note: Medicine does not know the root causes of any of the diseases or symptoms listed below. It only knows how to treat some of them, but that's mostly covering up the symptoms. Introduction Many people have mold illness. Most are misdiagnosed, mistreated, bounced around the medical system without help, and some are even sent to psychiatric wards. The reasons: Medicine does not ...

Intro to human microbiome Humans (and all other animals) have evolved to depend on their microbiome, which helps develop and maintain our immune, mental, cognitive, and physical health. The microbiome consists mostly of bacteria, but also includes viruses, bacteriophages, fungi (yeasts, molds...), and parasites. There are ~40 trillion microbial cells in a human body (equal to the number of our cells), represented by ~1150 species in the gut and ~450 species in saliva. Vaginal, skin, and other microbiomes have far fewer species and cells, but they also play an important role in our health. The vast majority of the species in the human microbiome support our health. One of the main reasons for the chronic disease epidemic in the developed countries is that we have been systematically destroying our microbiome (antibiotics, food preservatives, sterile life, sterile food, no playing in nature...). Being "dirty" used to be the norm for 1000s of years, but has become bad in the las...

Becoming a vegan can be a very healthy or unhealthy choice. It's up to you which one it will be.   Very nutritious and super tasty vegan tacos (all made from scratch in less than 1 hour): whole wheat/chickpea flour tortillas, chickpea and veggie filling, sweet potato fries (optional, but very good), pickled cabbage, cilantro, and avocados. You get the fiber, protein, carbs, healthy fats (olive oil), and a variety of veggies with phytonutrients, antioxidants, etc. Have you heard conflicting info about veganism? Here is the reality: Veganism can be very healthy if you are informed, disciplined, and follow these guidelines: You must supplement your diet with calcium, B12, and iron (see details below). You should consume 25-50 grams of complete protein every day, which is not difficult at all. More than 50 grams per day comes with health risks (see details below). If you are trying to increase lean muscle mass, you should aim for 75 grams of protein per day, distributed evenly in ...