Re: H Pylori

I never actually confirmed through testing that I had an H P problem, I was just acting on a hunch. (They say in the US between 30-60% of the population has it, but that 80% of those people are asymptomatic.) I know I had low stomach acid for many years, and close family members w/ HP and similar issues. The 2 methods I mentioned above are pretty cheap to try. No noticeable difference for me, but with this asterisk. I had gone through a couple of boxes of licorice root tea, prepared using the "steep" method. I liked it but I always felt slightly, slightly queasy drinking it. Then 1 day I decided to prep it the "medicinal method," letting it simmer 10-15 minutes. When I drank that, I did have what would be best described as a die-off reaction--feeling totally out of it, brain fog, and then a short while later a watery BM. Though not as strong as mastic, licorice root on its own can kill HP, so it makes me wonder if I had a mild case of it, which was chipped away at by those cups of steeped LR tea, and then that medicinally prepared batch was the knockout punch...

Anyway, let me put in a good word for fermented foods. There's a long list of them and I'm working my way down it. Have had great success w/ sauerkraut and miso... today for the first time I bought tempeh. There've been times when the sauerkraut seemed tough to digest--too acidic, plus cabbage kind of has 'sharp elbows,' like celery. But looking back I think that was a sign my stomach was out of whack. Sauerkraut has a pH between 3 and 4. Empty stomach has a pH around 2. So I'm thinking the person who says, "I don't like sauerkraut, it's too acidic," that's exactly the type of person who needs to eat it!...