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this is unrelated to diet, but my ex was a mosquito magnet, until he donated platelets, for what ever reason he would have a month or two of no bites after this….worth a try!
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) at the skin level helps repel insects. I believe there are skin patches available. As far as the diet, do you eat nuts & seeds? They are good sources of B1 in the raw diet. One cup of raw sunflower seeds has 138% daily value of B1. One cup of flax has 184%, but I eat sunflower seeds in that amount easier than flax. :P Soaking the sunflower seeds gets rid of some of the fat, too – I love Zoe’s “Cheese with Spring Onions” and I make raw tacos with a sunflower seed filling. Interesting that I’ve been craving them like crazy (I make the cheese about once a week lately, plus I made raw tacos yesterday), and today I looked up the B1 info. for you & found out they’ll help save me from bug bites – yay! :)
Wow! I’ve had the opposite effect. Nothing bites me now. Great info., Angie.
I used to get attacked by fleas all the time, ever since going raw, they’ve stopped bothering me!!
Okay, more info. – One ounce of oats has 14% daily value of thiamin (B1). Oat groats aren’t raw even if they’re labeled that way, but sprouting oats are available at www.sunorganic.com and raw rolled oats are for sale at www.alissacohen.com
That’s weird! I actually have less of a problem, now! But I eat LOTS of seeds – well over 1 cup a day! I know it’s bad but I’m working on it…
I have heard for years that something in bananas attracts insects to you if you’ve eaten one recently (and who goes a day without a banana, right?), so that could be a culprit? I’m not sure about remedies, though.
Soaking the sunflower seeds gets rid of some of the fat, too
I didn’t know soaking seeds got rid of some fat! That’s nice to know, not that I’m worried about it, but that’s a great tip!
The same thing happened to me around month 5 on raw. I was just getting eaten alive at night. I have dogs so I suspected fleas but looked at the dogs and they had no fleas. I checked my bed over and over and found no bugs of any kind. I thought that maybe it was mites but the bite locations were randome and did not match that at all. I asked the doctor as I was going crazy and then had started breaking out in hives. He said to use Aveeno coloidial oatmeal lotion on the bites and it helped the itch more than anything I had used including campho phanic and tea tree oil. Sometimes I had to rub it in to a bite a couple of times but it would take care of it. Anyway I stopped using Dr. Bronners almond soap and the rash finally went away. Right now I get a bite only occaisionally and I fiqure that to be mesquitos so it finally resoved itself. I had to think of all the things I had done differently so I did change the soap. This trial is still a mystery to me but I just wanted to encourage you that it can turn around.
I don’t think eating lots of seeds is bad, unless you don’t feel good eating them & continue to do it anyway? Maybe your body needs their mutrients. :)
My mom used to say that if you eat lots of sugar, insects will be attracted to you, and that eating vinegar would keep them away. I don’t know if that’s all true, or if raw apple cider vinegar in the diet would work like the white vinegar?
well, I feel fine eating them but I think I’m getting too many of my daily calories from seeds and not enough from greens… I kinda slowed down on my green eating for some reason – I’m sure I’ll pick it up again soon, though.
They have raw rolled oats?! Oh heaven!!!! Oats are one of my favorite foods! Happy time… :D
edit just looked at the Alissa Cohen store site, and I was wondering… what’s the difference between coconut butter and coconut oil? I thought they were the same?
Kminty3~ Can’t remember where I found this info but if you put Listerine, I use the citrus flavored for this, in a spray bottle and spray yourself, the bugs don’t bite you…. Also, I received an email last week that suggested putting a dryer sheet in you pocket… I was outside cutting up peaches so I took a sheet out with me, laid it on the chair next to me and no bugs bothered me or the peaches… A fly came by and left immediately… Both these have been successful for me… Hope you find these methods helpful… GRIN
hi kminty3…you may find it helps to wash with Dr Bronner’s eucalyptus soap . you can also make your own bug spray mix of 8oz. water ,20 drops citronella oil,10 drops lavender,and 8 drops eucalyptus mixed in a spray bottle. you can also use the essential oils in a light oil base of sunflower or apricot kernel oil.another combination of oils are lemon eucalyptus,basil and tea tree.these are also safe for pets. i have used Herbal Armor from www.allterrainco.com and that seems to work well.i recently read somewhere to chew basil because it disguises the scent of carbon dioxide the bugs use to locate us!if you live close to the adirondaks though, the only sure solution is to move! he he!!!!!!
Khaas Ladki – Some people use the terms coconut butter & coconut oil interchangeably, but others use the term coconut butter or coconut spread to describe the ground-up coconut meat (oil is pressed out of the meat, but the butter/spread is all of it ground up together).
evergreen – thanks for the ideas!
I heard people adding extra B vitamins to their diet to combat bugs. I wonder if maybe if you eat more fruit you taste sweeter?? Just a guess there.
Great question Bitt I was just about to say that the more sweets you eat the sweeter you are to the bugs!! LOL If when you are out in bug country it is always best to eat lemon and spray lemon and water on you. If you know you are gonna be in bug country hold off on the sweets before you go!
I know of only one total cure for your condition. It works completely, quickly and wonderfully. You have to heal your Bug Karma. I did it and it worked in less than a week. To heal your Bug Karma you have to Love all Bugs. All Bugs. Every time you see a Bug you have to affirm it’s right to have a place in the world and welcome it into your space. (who’s space is it really?) You have to stop hurting and killing Bugs completely. No swatting, spraying or anything else! As soon as you can radiate acceptance for them they will leave you alone completely. I have not been bitten or even bothered by any insect since 2003 when I healed my Bug Karma.
Love the Bugs!
Lovebows, Chris
fun idea chris! I’m going to try it. i wonder if it works with spiders and gnats too. i doubt i could have genuinely positive feelings toward spiders though.
Thanks Angie for the coconut info ;-)
This is all great info. Bugs don’t bite my husband much. He eats TONS of nuts! I, on the other hand, am constantly bitten and I eat a lot of sweets. Only recently eating more nuts with the raw diet.
waterbaby12347, interesting note. I just learned that drinking lemon water before you go out will help! But, I think they said it had to do with pH balance. It could just be the citrus!
Great comment Chris! All life is worthy of respect! :)
I had commented in sunshinerose’s post about Boycotting Bee Pollen that
Many people do not realize how dependent we are on insects and, sadly, they are not typically the most respected creatures. But anyone who ever got a good look at a Tiger Beetle, Egyptian Scarabs, or a Lunar Moth might be in awe of how amazing they really are.
I did a workshop on Dragonflies last summer at the Mohonk Preserve in NY
http://www.mohonkpreserve.org/ that was so very insightful and enlightening…
I recommend checkingout “Bug Girl’s Blog”…. Cheers! :)
http://membracid.wordpress.com/
OK… bug girl’s entry today is a bit risqué! lol
She wrote about “lovely butterflies gettin’ it on”.
I know that there are rather sensitive folks who may be taken back about that one (can’t say I’m one of them though actually), but honestly she generally has good stories and photos.
If you scroll down the site there is an interesting entry about “Fireflies and Citizen Science” and one on Monarch butterflies….