Maybe too much information, but here's the problem:

I have a sports injury plus a really bad pain in the right butt from arthritis flaring up from the constant hamstring pain. The inflammation caused by the injury has brought the arthritis on in the hip socket.

I take an anti-infammatory (Ketoprofen 200 CR) every morning of every day for the arthritis. It alleviates most days. But this flare-up is awful. Sitting and lying down are straining it. Standing is mostly pain-free.

I also take a Percodan, but only when the pain is scream level. I can't take more than two a day of the pain-killer or I can't even think straight. So when it gets really awful I take some Aleve.

This has been a very tough Spring season. All the flowering blossoms came at the same time. Our pollen count soared to way over 1000 parts per cm of air. Three days in a row it got over 1400. A normal Spring season usually gets around 250 to 400.

So, my allergies went haywire. I cough and drain constantly. At night it is near impossible to lie down and sleep without an hour or more of coughing and hacking up.

So, I take a Zyrtec, now OTC, for that about an hour before bedtime.

The trouble with antihistamines like Zyrtec contains is that it drains moisture from the body. It dries up the sinuses, and it dries just about everything else. That includes the intestinal tract.

When water is drained from the intestines, constipation usually results.

It happened to me. My stool had the consistency of galvanized pipe.

So, I took Senna tablets to solve that problem.

Now here I am, the guy who touts natural foods and careful diet, taking an array of meds and pills to try and get my body functioning in a normal manner!

STOP!

I know the way to kill this series of mishaps.

I got out a bag of frozen lima beans and a bag of frozen Brussells sprouts. This time of year you can't buy either of them fresh in the produce section, so frozen is the only option.

I cooked them separately. The sprouts get a small amount of water under a steamer tray. The beans get slow cooked with chopped onions and garlic. I cook the latter until they change to a light, near beige color. Sometimes that takes two hours.

Then I ate the fare.

Problem solved. Nature's best and fastest way of clearing the iron pipe from my body.

The outside air is better today. We have had almost three days of constant rain and drizzle. The blossoms are almost gone and the pollen is on the wet ground. (There are almost no bees anymore, so they don't care.) I can breathe much better and the cough is only a rare occurrence.

No more Zyrtec, maybe. They cost a buck apiece, anyway! And now I don't need the Senna!

But the hip is awful. My pals are playing golf right now as I write this. I wonder if they will miss me again? I will wonder the same next week, because I will not go out on the course for a while.

Along the same lines, tonight's dinner will be Fried slawed cabbage and potatoes, placed in a long flat baking dish and topped with thin, browned boneless pork chops. Pour a little Worcester sauce on the chops. Then pour about half a cup of milk into the cabbage and potato mix. Dust with Parmesan and bake uncovered until done.

Cabbage works, too. You would have a hard time finding a better group of foods for your alimentary ailments than cabbage and sprouts, or Lima beans. Bananas are great and they infuse you with Potassium. But the cabbage crops are the best source of vitamin C without all the acids you get from citrus vitamin C sources.

You can make a great butter bean dish using frozen Limas, chopped onion and garlic in a crock pot. Add a package of dry onion soup mix for flavor. Add some bacon, ham (torn up) or salt pork. Use about 1 and a half cups of water per bag of beans, too. Set the crock pot to cook for 6 hours. Stir it a couple times over that period. The sauce will thicken. I use a lot of garlic. Season it with cracked pepper and thyme.

This dish accompanies any kind of pork main course. It is also good without the added meat if you veg. I had some leftover once and used it as the base to a stew the next day.