Take The Parasite Quiz!

August 17, 2020
Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Award-winning nutritionist and New York Times bestselling author.

Your favorite salad bar may be a breeding ground for parasites that make you fat, sick and tired.

Catherine Z. knew her size made her look older, but she struggled to keep the weight off, no matter what she tried. “I was going to give up, despite having diabetes, but two years ago I met Ann Louise Gittleman. We talked about parasites, and I was intrigued because it was different. I knew diets weren’t working, maybe this would.” It did! Within 2 weeks of starting the cleanse, she lost 22 pounds! After 9 months of detox and changing eating habits, she is happily down a total of 85 pounds! Catherine is pleased at how often she’s told she looks younger now. “I have so much energy and incredibly, I’m no longer diabetic!”

The truth is, parasites are not uncommon, and anyone – regardless of hygiene or socioeconomic status – can become infected. They range from the microscopic – like the giardia and crytosporidia that contaminate our water supplies – to the large roundworms our pets pass on to us. Every single state in our country has experienced at least one recent parasite outbreak, especially in nursing homes and day care centers.

If you have pets in your home or animals you raise, swim in natural waters like ponds and rivers, drink unfiltered tap water, eat raw foods like sushi or salad bars, go hiking or camping, garden, get bitten by insects, have had unprotected sex, work in health or veterinary care, take care of children or elderly, travel internationally, eat exotic foods, or have been scratched by an animal, then you have been exposed to parasites. According to the CDC, there are more than 60 million people in the US right now that are infected with the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, which is primarily transmitted by cats.

How Do You Know If You’ve Got a Parasite Problem?

Some parasitic infections don’t come with any symptoms, while others make quite a grand entrance. We typically think of parasites as causing acute infections with symptoms like fever, fatigue, and digestive upset, but these may just be the initial signs of infection, and the parasite can continue living inside of you even after these symptoms have come and gone. Most people simply think they’ve had some type of flu or stomach virus and don’t give it another thought.

Parasites can wreak havoc in your body and be a cause of everything from weight gain to hair loss to autoimmune disease and so much more. Once they’re established and growing inside your body, they consume your food and nutrients, give off toxic waste products, and over time will destroy targeted tissues and cells, leading to common diseases. They acidify your body and slow your metabolic rate for the excess acids produced by these unwanted invaders to be stored inside your fat cells, making it more of a challenge to lose weight.

Shelly T. struggled to squat and open her office safe. Her knees soon gave way and she found herself with her butt on the floor. As a thriving business owner, she should have been enjoying her success. “But I felt more like Jabba the Hutt than Bill Gates! I hated what I saw in the mirror.” Her husband, who had been following my detox program with My Colon Cleansing Kit, told her about parasites. She was skeptical but decided to try it. Her energy skyrocketed. “Within two weeks I lost 18 pounds! I even put a happy sticker on that safe to celebrate how far I’ve come. Bill Gates, look out!” She’s lost a total of 57 pounds.

Common Symptoms of Parasites

If you have any of these issues and haven’t been tested for parasites or recently gone through a cleanse, then you may have a parasite problem.

  • Diarrhea
  • Constipation
  • Gas and Bloating
  • Abdominal Pain
  • Loss of Appetite or Excessive Appetite
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
  • Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD)
  • “Leaky Gut” Syndrome
  • “Fluttery” Feeling of Movement in the Abdomen
  • Rectal Itching
  • Interstitial Cystitis
  • Joint and Muscle Aches and Pains
  • Anemia
  • Allergy
  • Dark Circles Under the Eyes
  • Skin Conditions
  • Granulomas
  • Nervousness
  • Hyperactivity
  • Sleep Issues
  • Headaches
  • Teeth Grinding
  • Chronic Fatigue
  • Autoimmunity
  • Immune Dysfunction
  • Unexplained Fevers
  • Hair Loss
  • Weight Loss or Gain
  • Tooth Loss

Take the Parasite Quiz!

Answering “yes” to any of these questions is a risk factor for parasite infection.

  • Do you have pets in your home?
  • Do you live on a farm and take care of animals?
  • Do you go hiking, camping, or fishing?
  • Do you swim in lakes, ponds or rivers?
  • Do you drink untested well water?
  • Do you eat unwashed raw fruits, vegetables, and salads (especially in restaurants)?
  • Do you eat sushi or other rare-cooked or raw fish or meat?
  • Do you eat exotic foods?
  • Do you eat organ meats?
  • Do you eat pork, beef, bear, fish or shellfish?
  • Have you had a variety of sexual partners or practice oral sex?
  • Do you take immunosuppressive drugs?
  • Do you work in health care?
  • Do work with or around animals?
  • Do you garden?
  • Do you walk barefoot?
  • Do you work in sanitation or as a plumber?
  • Have you been bitten by ticks, mosquitoes, flies, or other biting insects?
  • Have you been bitten or scratched deeply by an animal?
  • Have you taken repeated or prolonged courses of antibiotics, a prolonged course of prednisone or other steroid (including inhaled), or taken hormonal birth control pills for more than 3 years?
  • Do you have food sensitivities, intolerances, or allergies, or do foods trigger your symptoms or weight gain?
  • Are you unusually sensitive to tobacco smoke, perfumes, and other chemical odors?
  • Do you feel “sick all over” but the cause hasn’t been found?
  • Do you have trouble with memory, concentration, or brain fog?
  • Do you have digestive issues, like diarrhea, constipation, gas, or bloating?
  • Have you traveled to remote areas or out of the country?

The Most Effective Parasite Cleanse

If you’ve taken the quiz and found that you have the signs of a parasite problem, you may be squirming in your seat or simply horrified at the thought that unwanted invaders have made their home inside your body. Fortunately, you can do a safe and effective cleanse in the privacy of your own home and give your microbiome the reset it needs to rid itself of these hidden hitchhikers. You can walk into any natural health store and find an entire shelf of products that claim to rid you of parasites – and some of them may even work. But buyer beware – many products contain harsh stimulant laxatives that can leave you with bloating, cramping, and an unexpected urgency for the closest bathroom!

While there are drugs and medications that treat specific parasitic infections, there are ancient herbal combinations that have been used for centuries to address a wider array of organisms that may be living so deep in your tissues they don’t show up on common stool tests. Natural herbs like black walnut, bromelain from pineapple, butternut, cranberry, pomegranate, grapefruit seed, cloves, slippery elm, and wormwood can combat parasites and other unwanted invaders like yeasts, molds, and more. Rather than going on a scavenger hunt to collect all these effective herbs, they’ve all been combined into My Colon Cleansing Kit.

Not only does this kit provide you with gentle, effective, pH-balanced supplements that contain therapeutic amounts of these anti-parasite herbs and probiotics to repopulate you with helpful bacteria to support your immune health, but it also comes with a detailed instruction booklet to guide you through the 30-day process and answer your most pressing questions. Parasite cleansing should begin a couple of days before the full moon, which is when parasites are thought to be the most active. And for maintenance once you’ve done the cleanse, take the herbs starting 2 days before the full moon and continue for a total of 5 days.

When was the last time you tested for parasites in your GI tract? It may be time to consider testing with UNI KEY Health’s Expanded GI Panel. Learn about what may tagging along in your gut, including parasites, yeasts and bacteria.

Have you taken this quiz? What did you learn? Share your stories below!

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Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books including The Fat Flush Plan series and her latest book, Radical Metabolism. She’s been rewriting the rules of nutrition for more than 40 years and is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the field of diet, detox and women’s health issues. 

For a FREE daily dose of tips and strategies for maintaining healthy weight, conquering insomnia, and much more…check out my Radical Health Tips.

I’d like to meet and greet you on my Facebook groups, so won’t you check us out at the Radical Metabolism RevolutionFat Flush Nation, or my Inner Circle!

3 Comments

  1. Lara

    I’ve been eating lots of salad this Summer. This is alarming. I do have some digestive symptoms but had no idea it could be related to eating salads!

    Reply
  2. Myra

    Interesting quiz. I never thought about having parasites before but I do have several of these symptoms.

    Reply
  3. Tom

    I’m a farmer and I’m around my animals every day. I’ve had bad digestion for years. Now I’m starting to get forgetful. This is interesting about the parasites.

    Reply

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