Hi Aunt Bean, Can you tell me what your current list of "supplements" or foods that you rely on for your PD health? Thank you.

Have you noticed any symptoms improving?

Hi Japhl..... I have cut way back on supplements since starting to eat nut regimen last January. I fill my daily supplement organizer up and it takes 2 to three weeks before I have taken them instead of one. I guess the foods being eaten are the biggest contributor to my PD health. My mandolin playing is still improving all the time. If my dopamine goes low..I can't sing or play well and am slower....but I just take a dropper of my homemade L-dopa from fava bean pods or plant top and within minutes am back up to par again. I eat a lot of sweet potatoes, experiment several times a week with gluten-free recipes. Just found a new flour called Domata Gluten -free flour in a 4 lb bag for $12.99 that I have tried for many recipes now and it works good. It already has xanthan gum mixed in. So instead of mixing rice flour, sorghum, tapioca flour and or garfava flour....I can grab this one in a pinch for time and it works well with my gluten free recipes. I am consuming a lot of vegies from our organic garden and berries and peaches that we were blessed to have this year ( the peaches usually get hit by frost and we don't get any) Also , a neighbor's apple trees did well and we picked buckets of non-sprayed apples that we are enjoying. I buy papayas whenever I can also. God is so good. I still used Essiac tea morning and night, calcium/ magnesium / vit C daily. We eat a lot of organic eggs , also. Hope this helps answer your questions....sorry , I don't get on the computer very often to read and update my post. We are so busy with music etc....life is good. Blessings to all this holiday season and a healthy New Year.

New Exercise for Aunt Bean
Happy and Healthy New Year to you all. Just wanted to share something that I've been doing for a week now and it has really helped me physically and mentally. Now that it is cold outside (about 13 degrees this morning) I am not outside working as usual. We play instruments often during the day to prepare for entertaining at several nursing homes in the area. I dragged my little exercise bike over to our music corner and started sitting on it and pedaling while playing the mandolin or guitar or base. I actually have learned to keep beat with the songs and , low and behold....my legs have stopped aching and feeling so tired all the time. Love it!! Find a new thing to do....challenge your body and brain at the same time. May God bless and guide you all thru the coming year. Aunt Bean

I can't believe that it is almost December and the last post was last January.
Doing very well and stronger than last year by far. Apparently the combination of foods, nuts and seeds/ exercise is just what is needed for my PD. Starting to plant an orchard, studying permaculture and food forest, mushrooms and combination tree plantings for the farm. Planning to grow seeds for many herbs that are unfamiliar to me this year, but look promising for Parkinsons research to help our symptoms. Looking forward to the coming year and may God bless and guide us all toward a cure for PD. Aunt Bean

Well, it is almost February already! Can't believe it is 2019.....never thought I'd see 2000! Hope everyone is staying warm and well. I feel super and working hard outside when the weather is tolerable. Getting ready to order mushrooms now and more trees. Have started lots of different kinds of Apples and Cherries from seed , and a couple plums have started and are 6 inches tall now. So excited about getting more fruit trees growing here on Bean Acres. Have more kiwi now to plant also....so we have to build trellis for them. You all (ya'll in TN) look into Lion's Mane Mushroom for PD.....sounds like it will help a lot. Oh, I have started taking Black seed oil and feel like it has done a whole body make -over. There is a couple cautions with it so check (research) that before using...don't use if you have had a transplant or something like a pig valve put in/ and there is another precaution....can't remember what it was. But, it helps every organ in your body to function better (plus memory and energy improvement) A win all the way around. Love to all.....Aunt Bean

My thanks go to Iqbaliqbal at HU for pointing me at this.

"The phytopharmaceutical value was improved during germination by a microwave treatment of the seeds, the phenolic content of the germinated sprouts increasing 700% and l-DOPA content by 59% compared to control."

"Microwave-induced stimulation of l-DOPA, phenolics and antioxidant
activity in fava bean (Vicia faba) for Parkinson’s diet"
Reena Randhir, Kalidas Shetty
Filebin

Hello from east Tennessee. Aunt Bean here , working hard on the farm. We are trying to create a food forest// permaculture // no till here. I feel really good....eating a lot of okra and fresh fruits, berries, sweet peppers, egg plant, fresh organic eggs (not from here). Still do not have chickens. Have about 100 trees planted now since spring. Some delicious apples of many varieties that I saved the see from in the Oct/ Nov/ Dec months are now trees nearly shoulder high on me. Three are as tall as me already. Others in poorer soil are still about a foot tall...and may not make it thru winter. Still have holes to dig and more of them to plant. My wrist and finger joints are tender from spreading tree mulch, but happy to finally have it to use.. .the road crews cutting around power lines nearby have dropped it here 4 times and there is a mountain of wood mulch! Perhaps in a few years...you can come pick apples and other fruits and berries with me. God is so good. By the way, I am still doing very well taking black cumin seed oil and recommend it highly. May God Bless You all. Have a great day!

Hi from Bean Acres in beautiful east Tennessee. Just an update on the farm Oct 29th. The permaculture orchard is doing very well. We finally got a little rain and didn't have to water the trees last week. I am harvesting Lemon Balm this week (check out the medicinal properties of this herb...sounds very encouraging for PD. Memory, cognition, anxiety, spasms, restlessness, insomnia, anti-inflammatory. Will let you know how the oils, salves, tea, lip balm turn out. Also , first frost is predicted for the weekend and that means I can dig Ashwaghanda roots...which I have used in bought capsules...also good for PD, but the fresh homegrown roots are supposed to be more potent. The cooler weather is sure great for digging and spreading the wood mulch. This has really been a hot summer. May God bless you.....and the wind be always at your back. Aunt Bean

Dear Aunt Bean,
I would appreciate your view on what recipe would most closely provide an equivalent L-Dopa/C-Dopa dose to Sinemet 100/25?
A fava bean soup for example? I also wonder if cooking the beans reduces the natural L-Dopa/C-Dopa content or maybe not by much?
Kind regards
Simon

Simon,

Welcome to the forum.

Aunt Bean is well worth hearing from, but nowadays she is on the forum only rarely.

This forum is a good one to be on if you're interested in the lived experience of PwP, the science of Parkinsons and DIY solutions.

John

July 7th,2020 Can't believe it has been so long since posting! sorry, we are so busy on the farm. Took me a while to even figure out the new format on NeuroTalk, but finally got signed in! Farm work comes first, check emails usually every day, but not much time to write....still here and kicking though. Fava bean harvest is over for the year, and we are back to planting perennial crops. Trying to propagate more strawberries, blueberries, etc and planting fruit trees, pruning, mulching . Lots of weed-eating to do also. Do have a "workaway" person here right now that is good with engine repair and he has gotten 3 weedeaters running perfectly for me now that were broken down...now I can hit the wooded area again and get it cleaned up so we can pick wild blackberries and wineberries up there. Our tame blackberries are about a week away from starting to ripen also. Want so much to get mushrooms started. My health is very good, muscle strength and stamina even better than last year. Still using the fava pod tincture a couple of times a day when slowing down and my neck starts to scream at me and walking gets slow. A couple minutes and I'm back to working again. God is so good and has blessed us so very much. Soon we will have tomatoes to share, gave away 6 cucumbers today and they are starting to come on strong. Our support groups have not been able to meet because of the COvid, but hope we can get back together for an outdoor picnic soon Miss seeing everyone and pray that you all are staying well and keeping active during this strange time in our world of masks and seclusion. God Bless and be be with everyone. Love, Aunt Bean

Hello from Tennessee! Sorry it has been so long since posting......things are slowing down on the farm now that cold weather has set in. I will try to check in more often and be able to actually have time to read posts by other people too. The orchard trees planted are doing well, so far no appreciable deer grazing damage. We now have about 150 fruit trees planted. The deer hunters have gotten a few this year and we have been making bone broth. That stuff is sooooo good. I am still doing very well on my fava pod tincture. Still very active getting new garden area ready for 2021. Seems very strange to even think about 2021. We have 3 chicken tractors now to move every other day to give them fresh grazing. The young chickens will start laying in about January.....so far we are just buying farm fresh eggs. We still have 2 rabbits and 2 cats. Not much livestock! Starting to look at seed catalogues for planting next year....my favorite winter sport. Still doing research for PD...... check out Black seed (sativa nigra) , olive leaf extract or tea, mulberry leaf tea or extracts. I am still eating what we now call glutton -free (gluten - free), new family joke. I love experimenting with food recipes. Well, guess there is not a whole lot to write about . Pray for me....I just bought a chain saw and need some teeth pulled. Things may change considerably in the next couple weeks with these two things in my future. But, I am hopeful. God bless you all. Aunt Bean

Well, I guess it has been longer than I thought since I have been here. Many things have changed on the farm. More animals have been added, We now have a milking goat and another one expecting in December. There are more chickens (about 20). Muskovy Ducks have taken over my fenced in garden space for the winter....they are so beautiful! I really enjoy them. Still have a mama rabbit and will need a new buck in spring so we can have baby bunnies for the grandchildren to enjoy once more. We also have 3 cats and a n adopted shitzu dog with an underbite that everyone loves. ** I am still growing my organic fava beans and making tincture from the outer pods for my dopamine supplement and still doing fine on it. Usually take only once a day, at no specific time. If we are playing music at a nursing home I definitely take it right before playing and may need extra that day because performing seems to deplete me. I have started making fermented , cultured soybeans called NATTO. It really seems to help me and I am going to try doing the recipe with fava bean seeds when the batch I finished making to day is eaten up. It is amazing to me that I have lived nearly 71 years and never heard about NATTO. Some Japanese eat it every morning and it has super health benefits. That is all I can think of to share right now. Bedtime for me, chickens went a very long time ago! I dread the time change and dark coming even earlier. Guess we need more sleep in the winter?? God is good. I wish you all a good nite!