Bicarbonate of Soda, not just for baking.

Bicarbonate of Soda, also known as Baking Soda, and as Sodium Bicarbonate has many uses as you will see in the posting below. However before you read it, and  open the links included about this subject, I’ll tell you about our own experience with this versatile white powder.

My wife, Karola, needs blood transfusions because her bone marrow doesn’t produce new blood. However, this new blood comes with a lot of iron, which the body cannot dispose of adequately. Excess iron in the body can be fatal. The only  way that she can get rid of this excess iron is by chemical means, called chelation.  She has to take a tablet dissolved in water every day two hours after breakfast; it is a “brew” like dissolved chalk and tastes like that as well. Then she has to give it one hour to work before being able to eat. 

This chemical process also produces a myriad of unpleasant side effects – too many to mention them all. One side effect is that it plays havoc with her kidneys; and this was also why we were so vehemently opposed to water fluoridation, as silicofluoride in the water is of no benefit at all, especially to sick kidneys. Karola’s kidney problems in particular made me search for a solution on the Internet. 

I found that Bicarbonate of Soda is an alkalising substance and beneficial for the kidneys, I made some printouts and asked Karola to try taking a quarter teaspoon with half a glass of water daily on an empty stomach. It took a lot of effort on my part to persuade Karola to try this, but I eventually succeeded.

A final observation.  Once the kidney function drops to 10% and below a person has to undergo a kidney dialysis.  Karola’s kidney function had reached the low point of 14 %. So, two weeks after Karola took Bicarbonate of Soda as mentioned above, the blood test showed that her kidney function has increased to 24%. We look forward to what the next blood test will show.

Please open the interesting links at the bottom of this posting it will elucidate the subject matter for you. - Werner
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What is Bi-Carb Soda made of?
http://www.mckenziesfoods.com.au/FAQs
As one of Australia's largest suppliers, McKenzie's supply only the finest quality Bi-Carbonate Soda through stringent standards. Sodium Bicarbonate is a fine white powder produced through a complex process of combining salt, water and limestone.
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McKenzie’s Bi-Carb is a natural food grade product and does not contain any aluminium or aluminium based additives, nor is aluminium used in the processing of the sodium bicarbonate.

All McKenzie’s Bi-Carb is 100% mined and packed in Australia, ensuring that it meets our high quality standards as you have known for generations.

Generations of Australians have relied on McKenzie's Bi-carb Soda for cooking, cleaning and deodorising. Environmentally friendly and budget-priced, McKenzie's Bi-carb Soda is a must-have product for your home. You'll be amazed at its myriad of uses - an effective, no-fuss alternative to expensive, over-packaged and toxic products. Refer to the Bi-Carb section on our website for more details.
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Baking soda: For cooking, cleaning and kidney health?
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-07/ason-bsf070909.php
 Sodium bicarbonate appears to slow progression of chronic kidney disease. A

daily dose of sodium bicarbonate - baking soda, already used for baking, cleaning, acid indigestion, sunburn, and more—slows the decline of kidney function in some patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD), reports an upcoming study in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). "This cheap and simple strategy also improves patients' nutritional status, and has the potential of translating into significant economic, quality of life, and clinical outcome benefits," comments Magdi Yaqoob, MD (Royal London Hospital).

The study included 134 patients with advanced CKD and low bicarbonate levels, also called metabolic acidosis. One group received a small daily dose of sodium bicarbonate in tablet form, in addition to their usual care. For this group, the rate of decline in kidney function was greatly reduced - about two-thirds slower than in patients. "In fact, in patients taking sodium bicarbonate, the rate of decline in kidney function was similar to the normal age-related decline," says Yaqoob.

Rapid progression of kidney disease occurred in just nine percent of patients taking sodium bicarbonate, compared to 45 percent of the other group. Patients taking sodium bicarbonate were also less likely to develop end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring dialysis.

Patients taking sodium bicarbonate also had improvement in several measures of nutrition. Although their sodium levels went up, this didn't lead to any problems with increased blood pressure.

Low bicarbonate levels are common in patients with CKD and can lead to a wide range of other problems. "This is the first randomized controlled study of its kind," says Yaqoob. "A simple remedy like sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), when used appropriately, can be very effective."

The researchers note some important limitations of their study - there was no placebo group and the researchers were aware of which patients were receiving sodium bicarbonate. "Our results will need validation in a multi centre study," says Yaqoob.
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Further interesting reading:

1. How to Drink Bicarbonate of Soda for Health
2 Using Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) for Kidney Cancer.
3. 75 Extraordinary Uses for Baking soda.
4. The Many Medicinal Uses of Bicarbonate of Soda.
5. Sodium Bicarbonate – works miracles.
6. Healing the Kidneys with Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)
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My thought for today. – Werner
A healthy outside starts from the inside. - Robert Urich
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The trouble selling our bed.

Life is never a straight line, there are lots of ups and downs and some funny episodes in-between. With that in mind, following is a true story that is about such a “moment” in my life, or a mild case of “bedlam" in this case might be a better description. This happened in the early 1980s. - Werner

The trouble with selling our bed.
Being a cabinetmaker (now retired) I decided to make a nice queen-size bed with beautiful rainforest silky oak timber. So we decided to sell the old double bed, which was smaller, but still in a very good condition, for one hundred dollars.

"Our classified advertisements bring results; take three and you get one free," was the catchcry of our local newspaper, the Cairns Post.  Since we were keen to get our old bed out of the way, I said to myself, "Let’s try it", and we took up that offer.  We certainly got results, but we hadn't envisaged that our sales drive would turn into a bit of a circus.

On the day the first advertisement appeared, we received the first phone call at seven in the morning, and another one soon after.   The first caller arrived first and paid for the bed, wanting to pick it up after work. So I rang the Cairns Post to cancel the extra ads.

The next ten callers were told that the bed had been sold.  But the 13th call (unlucky) was the buyer, profusely apologetic, saying that his wife wanted a queen size bed and he would be around to pick up his $100.00.  “Lucky,” I thought, "that we didn't spend it.” The ex-buyer handed me $20.00, "for my trouble" he said.  I thought, “If I get five more such transactions, I would not only have made the $100.00 sale price of the bed, but I still would have the bed."

The next day I rang the Cairns Post to re-insert the advertisement.  I had hardly hung up the phone, when a woman rang to see if I still had the bed, which was advertised the previous day.  She called in shortly afterward and decided that she wanted to buy the bed, and would have the money in three days time, and would then pick up the bed.  I was a little bit suspicious, and told her what had happened to me previously, but she assured me the she will take the bed and was prepared to swear on the bible, if necessary.  With such a seemingly ironclad assurance at hand, I rang the newspaper again (the second time within half an hour) to cancel the ad again.

Three days later, the lady phoned telling me that she was unable to organise a trailer, but would pick up the bed as soon she had one.  The fourth and the fifth day had passed without hearing anything from the lady, and I resigned myself that I might have had another "Clayton's sale," a sale when you haven't got a sale.

On the morning of the sixth day I set a deadline for the lady, “If she hasn't turned up by 10 am, I'll ring the newspaper again to re-insert the ad.”  The deadline passed and I walked to the phone, but got no further than dialling three digits, when my wife called out to stop.  "A car and a trailer had just stopped in front of the house," she informed me.

I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming, but the bed went out and the money came in. But most of all, I was sooooooo pleased that I was spared the embarrassment of ringing the Cairns Post once again, to re-insert the ad.  Even the thought, that I was only 5 digits away from an embarrassing phone call, makes me squirm.
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My thought for today. - Werner
Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.~ Will Rogers
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