Six Weeks of Ryze Coffee

 

Image via AS Phillips

Before you jump to a conclusion

Nope, I haven’t given up the daily consumption of one of my most favorite beverages, regular leaded coffee. I’m just mixing it with ½ teaspoon of Ryze mushroom coffee and it’s impressed enough to continue with it. 

What interested me in Ryze?

After my cancer challenge, I wanted to increase my overall health, especially, my gut-health, as organically as possible. Due to a colon resection with a permanent colostomy, gradually, my digestion ability slowed in some areas, causing obstructions. 

Before getting a colostomy, I was able to eat a wider variety of high-fiber, low carb foods. About a year into recovery, that changed. Now, two-and-a-half years later, I’ve eliminated most of them from my diet due to an increased gut-reaction. 

This isn’t the case for all ostomates. Some of us can eat whatever we want without any ill effects.

In researching mushroom coffees, I found Ryze to be affordable and great positive feedback and reviews from customers. It also plays well with low-carb diets.

What’s in it?

Ryze is a coffee made of a variety of mushrooms blended into a smooth powder. 

It has 1 gram of total carbohydrates per teaspoon, 1 gram of total fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 0 milligrams of sodium, 0 grams of dietary fiber, and 0 grams of protein. 

Ingredients

☙ Arabica coffee

☙ Organic mushrooms: cordyceps, lion's mane, reishi, shiitake, turkey tail, and king trumpet. The mushrooms are sustainably grown in California.

☙ Organic MCT (medium chain triglycerides) oil

☙ Organic coconut milk

Benefits

☙ Ryze is BIG on antioxidants: Medicinal mushrooms boast an ungodly amount of antioxidants. Decades of scientific research show how antioxidants help protect you from all kinds of harmful problems including premature aging.

☙ Immunity boosts:  Wards off infections and harmful bacteria. Medicinal mushrooms can help stimulate the immune system in such a way that they strengthen immune response and have been found to exert anti-tumor and anti-cancer activity against harmful cells in the body.

☙ Increased brain health: Improves focus and is beneficial for brain health. Most mushroom coffee has less caffeine than coffee but focuses your brain in a different, better way. Some medicinal mushrooms have been found to repair and regenerate neurons and improve cognitive function.  

☙ Increased energy levels without the jitters: Caffeine can improve focus, but in excess can cause jitters and elevated anxiety. Thus, adding in stress-regulating adaptogenic mushrooms mitigates the energy spikes and leaves a jitter-free no crash feeling of awesome steady focus and energy.

☙ Keeps digestion calm as a low-acidity coffee alternative: Special compounds in medicinal mushrooms act as prebiotics in the digestive system and directly help improve digestive health. They patrol the gut and help keep the gut microbiome free of bad bacteria.  

☙ Improves organ health because it's rich in antioxidants and essential vitamins

Additional info...

Medicinal mushrooms, especially Reishi, contain vital nutrients that can prevent liver toxicity and lower glucose levels, directly affecting heart health. Medicinal mushrooms are also antivirals, antimicrobials, and contain antioxidants that pump up the body’s natural defenses to fight disease.

My overall experience with Ryze

One of my friends asked me what Ryze tastes like. Although many reviewers said it tasted exactly like coffee to them, that wasn’t the case for me. 

My own experience is that it has a very mild, earthy flavor that doesn’t take away from the flavor of my coffee. They  consistently pair well together.

I also found it to be a healthy addition to soups and salads. Its fine-powder consistency made it easy to blend into everything I’ve tried it with and hasn’t clashed with any recipes.

I’ve had a decrease in fatigue and an increase in energy. That’s been a huge help due to the challenge of chronic fatigue worsening after getting an ostomy. In order to decrease symptoms of GI disorder, exercise has been essential. Before Ryze, I was losing ground in the fatigue battle. Within the time I’ve been using Ryze, I’ve been more able to maintain therapeutic workouts, at least most days.

Where to get it

Amazon carries it for a few dollars less than what I purchased it on eBay. Click here to check it out for yourself.

"Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine". Ezekiel 47:12

 The wrap!

Thanks for visiting! If you’ve had your own experience with Ryze, or other types of mushroom coffees and teas, I encourage you to share it with us in the comments! Your interest and input is always appreciated and other readers may find it very helpful.

Shalom

 

Spring Quarter Status 2024: Maintaining cancer-free

Image via Pixabay

Happily wrapping up another healthy quarter!

One check-up left to go, but the quarterly test results are in. Still cancer free,  for one year, six months and holding.

Woohoo! I’m thankful and celebrating!

Reasons for the quarterly schedule

About six months after finishing chemotherapy and radiation, a CT scan showed new masses had developed. One on my intestinal wall, the other in my lung. 

I was already getting scanned quarterly to keep an eye on two previously existing masses–one my right lung, the other on my right adrenal gland. 

No one was happy to see two brand new masses showing up, one of them sitting next to the older one in my lung.

We were all relieved that they were small enough to not have to do any major intervention. 

Yup, still celebrating that, too!

And so, my care team scheduled me for quarterly CT scans, to ensure if one of these masses gets up to any funny business, it gets caught early enough (hopefully) to wipe it out before it can do any damage.

The following quarter, CT scan showed no changes in the older masses, but there were changes in the new ones.

They were smaller! Bet you can tell I'm smiling... 😁

Clarification

There’s been no biopsies on any of these.

One is known to be a lipoma (the one in the intestines), and won’t be messed with unless it gets large enough to cause trouble. They’re vascular, bleed a lot and are a pain to remove, especially through a colostomy. 

I’d provide a vid for an example, but don’t wanna get anyone wigged out over a surgical procedure. 

The other masses, including the new one in the lung, we don’t know what they are, only that the two older ones have been stable since their discovery. The newer one, because it shrank and didn’t grow, was enough to not disturb it. 

Something akin to stepping away softly and not waking the lion. 

I’m sooo good with that!

I’m also good with not having to go through another colonoscopy for at least another six months and maybe another year, since I’m maintaining good results with the CT scans.

Looking for the good is sometimes like sifting through dirt for diamonds. But, when you find one, it’s always worth the effort.

Word up!

28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 (World Messianic Bible Translation)

The wrap   

This is definitely a brag post. Not for bragging on myself, but definitely to brag on my gracious, loving Messiah, who consistently drenches His people’s lives in mercy.

From our perspective, doesn’t always seem like that, but He remains tried and true, not just in my life but in the lives of millions! As we walk by faith, He holds us tight, navigating us through treacherous circumstances.

If you don’t have that sort of relationship with Him, I encourage you to just try Him... He is the best thing that’ll ever happen to you.

8 Oh taste and see that the LORD is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8 (World Messianic Translation)

‘Til next time,

Shalom

OstomyLife: Calamine lotion--an ostomate essential!

 Image via AS Phillips

OstomyLife and skin irritation

It’s one of those distressing aspects of ostomy life. Some ostomates never have an issue with it, but lots of us have to deal with it at least occasionally, or far more often than any of us would like.

I’ve been an ostomate for about a year and a half. A long time ago I developed a sensitivity to medical adhesives. Since our stoma pouching systems are kept in place with adhesive, I began experiencing acute skin reaction with breakdown and bleeding in multiple areas attached to my pouching system.

It was distressing and painful and I dreaded every pouch change.

Thankfully, there are some wonderful folks in a global ostomate group I belong to on Facebook, and they helped navigate me in seeking out alternatives that I wasn’t as reactive to, and alternative medicines that helped heal up the occasional flare-ups.

My best medicine for skin breakdown

Even tho I use a skin-barrier spray, I still have an occasional tear when removing my phlange or protective barrier sheet, from around my stoma. I also get inflamed, weepy skin around my stoma if there’s been any output coming into contact with the adjacent skin.

I wear a two-piece drainable pouching system, specifically the Mio Sensura Convex by Coloplast. Since I don’t have to remove the pouch to drain and rinse it nearly as often as a one-piece system, sometimes I’m not aware that my skin’s developing breakdown until I remove the whole thing or begin to have pain near my stoma site.

I’ve used paste and wax rings in an attempt to prevent output from getting under the phlange and touching my skin, but so far, it still happens often enough for me to keep a remedy on hand to help me heal up quickly and provide additional protection between pouch changes.

Calamine lotion has been that solution for over a year! Below are some points I love about it.

• Doesn’t sting when applied to irritated/broken skin
• Easily applied
• Easily portable
• Highly recommended by other veteran ostomates, with similar skin challenges
• Inexpensive
• No Rx needed
• Works great!

Proceed with caution!

If you’ve never used Calamine lotion, I urge you to use it in a small, test area before applying it to any irritated skin because some folks have an allergy to one or more of it’s ingredients.

Basic calamine lotion contains...

• Iron oxide
• Powdered calamine mineral
• Purified water
• Zinc oxide

If you’re not allergic to it and want to try it for yourself, it can be applied with only your fingertips. However, my own preference is to apply it with cotton swabs. 

It’s pink and chalky as it dries. The cotton swabs help keep potential mess to a minimum.

Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.”

They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

2Kings 20:7

World Messianic Bible Translation

 The wrap!

My hope is that even tho you’ve read this, you don’t have an ostomy to deal with. But, if you do, I hope you’ve found it helpful for yourself, or maybe someone you know who is either challenged with skin breakdown, or even caring for someone who has an ostomy and suffering with ostomy-induced skin issues.

‘Til next time,

Shalom!

No shirt, no shoes, no service

 

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

You know the scenario... 

Such and such business refused service to such and such individual, group or organization. The business gets slammed with bad press, slandered on social media and often sued, because they choose to not provide a request for a service that violates their ethics or spiritual standards.

I’ll always love a constitutional republic because it constitutionally guarantees that my rights stop where your rights start, and vice versa. 

Hint: If you want a pork pie, don’t demand a Muslim-owned bakery make it for you and have a fit when they refuse. Same for Jewish and vegan bakeries.

Such requests are ludicrous and forcing them to do it violates their rights. 

Our rights stop where others' rights start... remember?

Whittling

What the Kens and Karens aren’t getting is, when they insist others' rights should be violated, to fulfill their demands, it causes a ripple effect. Before long the rights of Kens and Karens will be violated as well. 

The loss of freedom is like a snowball on a downhill roll. It gets bigger and bigger, gobbling up everything in its path, regardless of race, religion or politics. 

It’s kinda like a snake eating its own tail.

What are they anyway???

Oh yeah... What are Kens and Karens?

 

Images via Pixabay

Per dictionary.com, a Karen (or Ken for the male version) is a person who is perceived as entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is normal. 

The definition also noted that Karens were usually white, middle-aged women with bobbed hairstyles. But the sad truth is, every ethnicity and social group has at least a few Kens and Karens in it. 

I’ve lived in a lot of places in and out of the USA, and yup, they’re everywhere and come in all colors, shapes and sizes.

Service Denied

I’m not a racist and I hate racism. I also have to pray for help in loving racists.

But for the Lord being so forgiving with me, well... If you know you know.

Sadly, I saw racism sooooo often when I lived in Virginia. It grieved me and made me angry. I have to admit, I jumped at every chance to dress ‘em down, at any opportunity, and especially when their demonic-influenced attacks were launched at my own loved ones of color. 

But, as disgusting and wicked as these folks are, there’s a better way to manage them. We simply step out of our tent and enlarge our own. Oh, and be sweet before you exit. Nothing makes the demonic more angry than a kind response to their wicked actions. 

I know. It ain’t easy and I can’t speak for everyone, but for Christians, we’re required to take the high road and we’ll be blessed for it.

“But, I don’t have a tent!”

Yup, you do and it encompasses lots of things. Here are a few...

• Where you live
• Loved ones and others you associate with
• Your physical and financial assets

An example I’m personally familiar with is the north Ft. Worth, Texas community where I lived and worked for many years. I was thankful it was a colorful community with every race represented, but, we were also blessed with many independently owned businesses that kept prices competitive, allowing us to go to them to purchase many of our goods and services.

So, let’s say one of the businesses disrespected a local shopper (although I never saw that happen, even once), giving poor service because they didn’t like their color, accent, religion, or whatever else, that shouldn't matter anyhow.

The potential customer can give the servant (that’s what business owners should be, in regards to clients and potential clients) a smile and a wave as they walk out the door and go spend their money elsewhere. They can invest in an alternative business, offering the same goods and services, thus enlarging their tent by investing in a business of integrity, rather than one that’s lacking.

Know your verbiage

Via the Oxford Dictionary...

Disagree: To have or express a different opinion

Hate: An intense or passionate dislike

So, dear Kens and Karens, I pray all of you have a come to Jesus moment, and learn that the universe never has, and never will, revolve around you. Maybe then you’ll also learn that enlarging your tent is a much better thing than tearing down your community. There are great blessings to reap in those two things.

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure, it will be measured back to you.”

Luke 6:38

(World Messianic Bible Translation)

The wrap

Thanks for visiting today. I pray your community thrives in businesses practicing integrity, and when there are instances you encounter less than best business interactions, you’ll leave with a smile and head out to enlarge your tent.

‘Til next time,

Shalom

VillageVibe: Of all places...

Image via AS Phillips

Personal perspective

This edition of By the Way is a personal one and parts of it fall into two categories on the site, ShoutOuts and a new one, VillageVibe.

I’ve got a fresh cuppa java and I’m writing this at my desk, on the first day of 2024.  First event of the morning was well before dawn. I got Touching Fire’s alfalfa cubes soaking, so her breakfast would be ready by 0800. She’s over 40 and has a specialized diet and feeding schedule to keep her lookin’ like a 20-year-old. She’s worth it, too! 

Touching Fire 

Image via AS Phillips

During the meal prep, for her and our newly adopted barn-cat, Rocky (whose nickname is Sher Kahn, cause he growls, bites and scratches like a tiger) I was also in prayer, being reminded by nearly everything around me to be thankful to the Lord for another day with all of our little farm animals, safe and healthy. A little later, I was thankful for the pretty snow that was only looking good, and not piling up anywhere.

That’s not a brag, just sharing how the day started. I pray your day started in similar fashion, beautifully blessed.

In 2023, I’m thankful to have not had a single overnight stay in a hospital and as of the end of November, I’m still officially cancer-free. There are loads more blessings I could write here, but it’d take days to list them all, so, I’m gonna focus on sharing what’s on my heart.

Blessed!

In my younger years, I loved visiting our little village. Its name is Stewartsville.

My family’s farm was about two miles north of here, and Stewartsville was where we often shopped. Granny Moore’s little store was on the north end of the village. Mrs. Patton’s on the southside. 

This village is about one mile in circumference and when I moved home from Texas, there were nearly as many horses as there were people. 

When I was a kid, my sister and our friend Dennis and I, used to ride our horses into this village. We could tie them up at Granny’s, go inside for some soda and chips, then we’d be on our way. Mostly we shopped at Granny’s but sometimes we rode a bit further, through the village (yup, right down the street), to Mrs. Patton’s, but mostly we shopped at Granny’s when we were on our horses. 

Yup! To this day, it hasn’t ever been better than that!

We, like much of my mama’s family, were all Punkin Runners, meaning we lived in Pumpkin Run, a tiny area made up of gardens, fields, a few chickens, cattle and horses. It was, and is still, tiny, but for us, it was the center of the universe.

Punkin Run folks were very interactive. We camped, had cookouts, fished, took long rides on our horses, helped each other during crisis, like getting livestock out of the weather, and vehicles out of ditches. 

The Punkin Run kids, had a sitter in nearly every direction.

Our parents hunted and dressed meat to share with needy families. We shared what we grew in our gardens, too.

Punkin Run wasn’t without its troubles, but it was a sincerely idyllic place to grow up. I still love it and still ride through the area often. 

The heart of Punkin Run, currently

Image via Google Maps

Village people

I’m happy to report, that (at least here in Stewartsville) most of our village folks are just as caring and interactive. We spend time together, even on holidays. We break bread together. We pray for each other. We guard each other, watching over our own properties as well as those of our neighbors.

During my year of cancer treatment, I got checked on daily. Because I was on social restriction to prevent even something as simple as catching a cold, our neighbors checked on me via my sister and brother-in-law, or stopped by for a visit, from a safe distance on our front steps.

Folks dropped off food that I could keep down, and money for fuel to help with the expense of the Monday through Friday commute to Gateway Hospital in Newburgh, Indiana, where I got chemo and radiation. 

It put hundreds of miles on my sister’s car and required hundreds of dollars (in truth, prolly thousands) to fuel her van’s tank.

Like Punkin Run, Stewartsville isn’t without its challenges. There are no perfect people. But, the good aspects dwarf the less-than-best ones.

My friend, Nate, grazing Fire in our front yard

Image via AS Phillips

Gratitude

I’m very thankful to be here and thankful for the wonderful exchanges and adventures I’ve had living here.

The cool thing about living in a village is that the lifestyle we enjoy isn’t limited to hamlets or villages. Cities and towns have villages too, at least in a sense. They’re called neighborhoods. 😉

My close friend and colleague, Vicki Warner of WarnerWords, grew up much like I did, in a rural farming area, but in South Africa. She’s lived and worked around the globe, being originally from England, and has the same appreciation that I have for village life and we share many similar experiences. 

Her site is new, so please pardon the small amount of content there. We’re working on getting it fattened up as quick as we can. Meanwhile, I’m sure she’d appreciate a visit from you!

She’s also been a huge blessing to me, even all the way from Western Canada. She checked on me almost daily, was consistently encouraging, even post-treatment, during this past year of recovery.

We’re from two different countries, but in many ways, we share the same roots.

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 91:1 

(World Messianic Bible)

Youth night in our village--learning to give thanks and pray for others

Image via AS Phillips

The wrap

It’s my sincere hope that wherever you live be it in a city, town or a rural village like mine, you’re blessed with being part of a community you love and one that loves you back!

I’ve lived and traveled to a lot of places, but of all the places I could be, I’m thankful God has me here, at least for now. 

Enjoy the beauty of the road less traveled

Image via AS Phillips

Happy New Year to you and yours and ‘til next time,

Shalom, shalom!