The gypsy traveller finds a passenger...in all its parasitic glory

While in Peru, a new traveller friend was upset about how her teen cousin had been gloating about his drinking saying "no good story ever began with eating salad." I countered jokingly that clearly he had never travelled to South America, where many a good story of delirious illness and 25 hour bus trips spent mostly on the ill-equiped and anything but luxurious or even adequate toilet began just that way. Indeed, as a travelling yoga teacher (oh hey, I'm now a yoga teacher! more about that in a later post), I have modified namaste for my fellow wanderlusters to mean "the parasite in me bows to the parasite in you."

When in Cusco, a fellow Canadian suggested we get tested together - definitely a statement of true friendship, no? And so for three days, we pooped in cups and tried to inconspicuously carry them to the nearby clinic. One day the clinic was closed for lunch and as I was on my way to Reiki training, I had to awkwardly stow my sample in my bag for a few hours. When we got our results, it appeared we had sibling ameobas - the blastocystis hominis variety. At least it had a cool name.

Such afflictions are not altogether uncommon and a good number of fellow travellers I have met have had their own passengers. Many turn to antibiotic treatment, but not always with success. Antibiotics don't always kill the parasite or ameoba (indeed the variety my friend and I share is notoriously hard to kill this way) and lead to weakened intestinal flora, which make fighting the existing or future encounters with such lifeforms even more difficult. So what's one to do when they don`t wish to spend their vacation in the bathroom (hopefully having remembered to bring their own roll of toilet paper) and when they realize it`s a bit hard to make friends when the smell of rotten eggs is continually emanating from you? I have devised a protocol that can help rid one of such unwelcomed guests and can also be of great aid when one does go the antibiotic route. As an added benefit, it also targets candida - which can often accompany parasites for an extra fun situation.

AVOID/LIMIT

• Sugars
• All refined and processed foods and grains and sugars
• Concentrated sweeteners (honey, syrups, dried fruits)
• LIMIT (avoid if can) grains and sweet fruits
• for me bananas are especially a problem and bring on a lot of symptoms.
• When you eat fruits, eat alone and try to only eat more tart fruit (papaya, pomegranate, green apple, citrus)
• Oils
• Dairy
• Starchy veggies – potatoes, corn
• Nuts that tend to be mouldy - peanuts, pistachios, cashews

EAT

• Leafy greens
• Vegetables
• Garlic
• Turmeric
• Nuts and seeds
• sprouted legumes
• Legumes in small quantities
• papaya seeds - these can be dried and ground as pepper. They are very similar to peppercorn in flavour.

TAKE

• Probiotics 
• Oregano oil 
• Black walnut/Cloves/wormwood combination
• Grapefruit seed extract
• Digestive enzymes and apple cider vinegar in some warm water before eating can be helpful as well

Drink lots of pure water throughout. Supplements are usually taken for two weeks. Often it is a good idea to repeat the black walnut mixture again two weeks later to kill off the larvae of residual eggs. I recommend continuing the rest of the protocol for the whole time.

Here's hoping your travels are free of unwanted passengers. But should you find any hitchhikers, hopefully this will help you evict them quickly!

xo
Selene