Connecting the dots

Isn't that the hardest part sometimes?  So I had a massage with cannabis cream just before Thanksgiving.  I ended up getting constipated but with Thanksgiving and eating more carbs again I wasn't sure it was connected.  I cut the carbs back out and moved on.  Throughout the month I experienced increased stomach (like actual stomach, not lower abdomen) bloating, gas with belching, popping out through my diastasis recti, constipation and resulting crankiness and feeling like crap.  I couldn't figure out what was going on. I'm really bad at recognizing patterns and connecting things.  A week ago I was chatting with my massage therapist during my weekly massage (I know a luxury, but he's awesome and uber inexpensive) and we are talking about digestion stuff and he says he's been using cannabis cream on me weekly since just before Thanksgiving.  Ugh and eureka! I love that my therapist was trying to help relieve my muscle tension in the best way he knew how and don't hold him at fault.  I talked to him about how permeable the skin is and how the cannabis can relax all muscles including the ones involved in moving food through the system.

I spent the next 3 days suffering and then things slowly improved.  Now I know what the heck has been going on.  It's not a new food sensitivity and it's not a hiatal hernia.  My ND says that my diastasis recti is narrow enough that I may be able to knit it back together using the exercise he showed me years ago that I never followed through on.  He wanted me to try an elimination diet but that was before the cannabis discovery and we didn't know what was going on.  Now I'm not sure I really want to.

Tests for Hashimoto's are unclear at this point.  Still waiting for one more number to come back and a follow up appt to go over the results.  My guess is it's positive and mild and that my diet over the past year has really brought things under control.

I cheated a bit on Christmas (a cinnamon roll made with coconut flour, almond flour and a bit of coconut sugar) and did okay.  The thought of doing an elimination diet has caused me to go off the rails a bit.  I don't do well with diets.  Lifestyle changes yes, temporary change, no.  I drank beer a couple of nights ago and have been eating a few sweet potato chips here and there and more chocolate in sort of a last hurray (although I generally don't even eat those things).  I laid in bed last night and itched all over, back to the good ole days :)  I need to get my shit together, in other words, either start the diet or decide not to do it and just move on.

What now???

So as my abdominal muscles have gotten stronger, um..... stuff has been popping out under my rib cage more and more.  It used to be rarely during yoga, now it's almost every practice and last night I went to put lotion on me feet and wham! out it came.  I sit as upright as I can and it slides back in but it's getting harder to get things back where they go.  It's as gross and creepy as it sounds. And, I've been belching, which is new and feeling a bit nauseous when I need to belch.  I hold my stomach in, admit it, you do too, especially since all this bloating started.  My ND says this pushes everything up.  I have diastasis recti from my c-section and have thought that's where stuff was pushing through but now I kind of wonder about a hiatal hernia.  Thankfully I have an ND appt tomorrow.  His specialty is visceral manipulation so hopefully he can give some insight, especially now that I can pop things out pretty easily and demonstrate exactly what I'm talking about.

Other things on my list to discuss, Hashimoto's.  I've been reading too much Dr. Datis Kharrazian :)  I think I've pretty much ruled out a neurological cause for my motility issues, my uvula and the roof of my mouth have good bounce and flexibility when I "ahhhh" but I'll ask him about that too.  I checked out his Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms book and a lot of what I have skimmed resonates with me.  I've always thought I have thyroid issues but the docs always say "no" everything looks good.  I pulled out my most recent thyroid labs from 18 months ago and things look low to me when compared to where he says they should be.  My sister has thyroid and gluten issues so thought better to check it out than to keep stabbing in the dark.  That would mean going more toward an AIP diet.  Not that I want to restrict my diet anymore but if it will make things even better and enable a quicker recovery, why not??  I've come this far, it's too late to go back now :)

I had a smoothie for dinner.  I haven't been eating fruit at all.  I did strawberries, blueberries, spinach, carrot, coconut milk, a bit of chia and 1/2 serving of sprouted rice protein (new, thanks to Dr. Datis) and 1/2 serving of pea protein.  I wanted a salad but chewing is still posing painful since my orthodontist appt on Wednesday even with all the turmeric.

Happy Holidays or whatever

I say that because if you are anything like me, your social media is being inundated with posts of recipes for delicious looking food recipes that would actually make me sick.  I spend a lot of my time blocking various recipe sites when I am on Facebook so I don't have to look at all the absolute garbage recipes people are liking and sharing.  Once upon a time I may have eaten that way but not now and I never will again.

I just got done flipping through The Slim Palate cookbook and flagged several of the recipes to try.  I tried the coconut breakfast muffin tonight to go with my chicken and it was a like trying to eat a dry sponge.  My ramekin wasn't actually a ramekin so that was probably part of the problem.  I may try it again and just not microwave it as long.

This year our childcare fell through so I didn't get to go to my husband's holiday work party.  It was a blessing since there was nothing being served by the catering company that I could actually eat and to sit there and not eat makes me look like some kind of eating disordered person (which I can feel like sometimes).  People just don't understand that cheating creates setbacks to my path to wellness and I'm just not willing to compromise unless it's on my terms.

I survived last Christmas, I'll survive this one too.  How do you handle the food thing when you attend catered events?

Veggies/Diet/Supps

I am not an indian food or curry lover by any means.  I would never choose to eat it.  That said I made this tonight and it was so delicious.  I just substituted garlic infused oil for the oil and garlic.  I weighed out 1 1/2 FODMAP servings or less of the following veggies (green beens, zucchini, cabbage, peas, bell pepper) and divided it into 2 portions when I was done.  The veggies looked overcooked but that was intentional on my part.  Still having issues with chewing crunchy veggies with all the hardware in my mouth.  I dumped a can of sardines on the side and voila! dinner.  I have a busy day tomorrow so I will have the same thing for lunch.  I think you could leave out the lime leaves and be fine.

Feeling so much better now that I've cut out all the moderately carby things (again) I was eating 1/2 a banana, a little bit of sweet potato, a little bit of white potato in stews, and the occasional organic potato or corn chip.  I can't believe it took me a whole freaking year to figure that out. All I have to say is experiment with your diet, it definitely could be holding you back.  I think it's the biggest factor in beating this thing.  Of course I haven't had a breath test in a while.  Maybe that will be my New Years treat :)

I would love to be able to say that Huperzine A or Resveratrol has made a difference but I'm not sure it has.  I haven't started the whole gagging/gargling thing yet.  Wondering if there is a brain link for me at all.  There's a practitioner in the area who has trained with Dr. Datis Kharrazian, maybe I'll schedule a consult with her and see what she thinks.  I found this link on his website.  The roof of my mouth and uvula seem to function fine when I "ahhhhh".  I see my ND on Monday, I'll have to ask him about it.  Hopefully he doesn't think I'm crazy :)

Mexican food, seriously??

My son and I were at a class on Thursday night so I wasn't home to make dinner.  When we got home my husband was just finished cooking his dinner.  He had make fresh flour tortillas, rice, refried beans, etc.  He proceeded to heap all the very SIBO unfriendly food on his plate and dump Trader Joe's Green Salsa over the top.  Have you tried that?  It's so good!  Then he cracked open a beer.  UGH!  He eats 2 meals a day outside the house, couldn't he indulge then??  Sheesh!

So tonight I made SIBO friendly enchilada sauce and grain free tortillas from Against All Grain, that never seem to turn out.  They are always like very thin omelets that fall apart.  Clearly I am doing something wrong, everyone else raves about them.  Not to be dissuaded, I flopped them on the plate with some roast beef (the chicken didn't thaw in time) and topped them with enchilada sauce.  A little squash on the side and dinner was done.  Next summer when we grow tomatillos I am definitely making a big batch and canning it in tons of little jars.

Green Enchilada Sauce

• 2-3 Tbsp. garlic infused oil
• 2 bunches green onion, chopped
• 2 roasted bell peppers, chopped
• 1-2 roasted jalapeños (1 for med spice, 2 for hot)
• 2 lb. tomatillos, husked and quartered or halved
• 1 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 2 c. homemade chicken meat broth
• 1 Tbsp. honey (optional)

1. Add oil to pot, heat on medium. Stir in onion and sauté until soft. Add cumin, sauté a minute more. 
2. Add 2 cups of chicken broth, peppers, tomatillos, cilantro, and honey to pot. Simmer on low until veggies have softened enough to blend them with a stick blender.  If needed you can strain the seeds out after you blend it.  Continue to let simmer on low until the sauce reaches the consistency you desire. If you find it's thickened too much you can always add a bit more chicken broth.  Makes enough for four 12 oz jars.

Bitters

I use bitters before meals to help prepare my stomach to digest food.  I have problems breaking down protein.  Last week I ran out of my usual bitters and found an old bottle of Swedish bitters.  I started taking them 1/2t - 1t before meals.  After a few days I came down with horrible diarrhea.  I was also treating the infection in my breast so didn't connect the dots.  I decided since the bitters were old I would start with replacing them.  Super Supplements had a pretty limited selection of bitters unfortunately and I wasn't due to place any supplement orders online.  I picked up a bottle of the NatureWorks Swedish Bitters in the store and was reading the label (mine was too faded and wrinkled to read), there it was, Senna!  Senna is a freaking laxative.  These are what I purchased and have used in the past without any digestive upset.  I have also used Heron Botanicals bitters and like them but they are twice as expensive but I'm not sure I've noticed enough of a difference to make the cost worth it.

Inflammation/Infection

I woke up in the middle of the night a week and a half ago with my right big toe throbbing by my toenail (so not gout!).  I couldn't find an ingrown toenail or anything visibly wrong so I figured maybe it was just an infection.  I soaked a cotton pad in avocado oil and then added several drops of Oregano essential oil and wrapped it up.  The throbbing started to dissipate over the next few hours and I was able to sleep.  It felt better the next day but still tender.  I wrapped it again the next night and viola, it completely resolved leaving just a red oblong splotch along the side of my toenail.  I had purchased a pair of cheap boots at a consignment shop but I've done that before and never had a problem so I just chalked it up to coincidence.  Several days later I started to get pain on the little toe of the right foot so I did the same thing as before and then took the boots back and explained to the owner what happened.

Last night at dinner, my right breast was hurting.  I went in to change for yoga and my husband came in and noted that it was much larger than the left.  What the heck???  The pain and swelling increased overnight, enough that I got up and put an ice pack on my chest.  I've taken turmeric and extra fish oil today and have a rag soaked in avocado oil and oil of oregano in my bra but it's left me wondering what the heck is going on with my body. I am estrogen dominant so more prone to breast issues but have never experienced anything like this outside of when I was lactating.

Is this all just a coincidence?  All the right side of my body.  Does it have anything to do with the screws in my jaw messing with my chemistry?  Shouldn't the protocol I am on keep infections at bay?  It certainly knocked H1N1 out of my system in short order last winter.  Could it simply be inflammation without infection?  Gaaaa!

My next ND appt isn't until the 21st.  Not sure I'm going to be willing to wait that long!

Has anyone else experienced bizarre symptoms that don't seem to be related to their SIBO while on treatment?

Protocol as of Dec 1

First thing in the morning I take:

1/2 tsp Lipophos EDTA (but will be discontinuing when it's gone because in the Digestion Sessions Dr. Siebecker said she hasn't seem anything that indicates it actually helps in treatment.  Bummer!)

20 minutes before meals:

4 tablets Spectrazyme

1/2 - 1 tsp of Bitters

20 drops of Iberogast

With meals:

1-2 Metagest (depending on the type of protein I am eating)

1 tsp Herbal Biotic

1 Allimed

1 Berberine

1 Neem Plus

1 Resveratrol (after listening to the gut-brain axis talk)

1 Huperzine A (after listening to the gut-brain axis talk)

Bedtime:

1/2 tsp Lipophos EDTA

I take other supplements as indication by labs but these are nutrients specific to my needs.

I need to work in the whole gagging and gargling thing to see if it actually helps motility as discussed by Dr. Datis Kharrazian.  Still waiting to get his book from the library.  I am definitely not delving into the whole coffee enema until I've read more!

Diet seems to be the key

I've been tinkering with my diet after flipping through JJ Virgins latest book.  I cut all the carbs out of my diet except for the slowest digesting.  Which means squash, that's it, because the rest on the list are fruit, beans and quinoa and other equally forbidden things. And of course most the green vegetables are okay but depending on where I am with my teeth (braces, rubber chains, screws and what not), I can't always chew the green veggies without wanting to cry.  Oh, and no honey.  But guess what, I felt better, my energy was more consistent and I didn't look 6 months pregnant at bedtime.  Well, that sucks!  I mean my yams, occasional bananas and my hot chocolate with a touch of honey were my only REAL treats and oh how I loved them.  But survive I will. I made a yam, squash and spinach bake thing for Thanksgiving and have eaten it, probably in a bit larger quantities than I should have, since and what am I??  Constipated and bloated, that's what I am. Yuck and bummer!

Oh and did I fail to mention that I agreed to do a triathlon on Thanksgiving morning??  What the heck??  I haven't swam a lap in over 10 years.  It's been at least 5 since I jogged on a regular basis.  Not the brightest of ideas, and yes it was mine.  I took a little bit of extra digestive support after I completed it in the form of Endozin because stressing the body is so bad for the gut.  Not sure if Endozin would be helpful but it is what I had on hand so I popped one with the other supplements I take.  I should have taken my aminos but could they be more nasty???  NO!  I need to get some capsules for them.

Back to the basics tomorrow.  Protein and sauteed veggies.  What did my family spend the weekend eating??  Buttermilk pancakes and pizza.  The nerve!

Cookbook Black Friday Deal

This is one of my very favorite cookbooks and right now it's only $2.99 on the kindle! Many of the recipes in this books can be easily adapted to be low FODMAP.  She uses cashews in many of her baked goods but you can swap out macadamia nuts or a variety of nuts to make the recipe work for you.

Amazon is also offering 30% off a book purchase with the code Holiday30 until November 30th.

Digestion Sessions Encore

Dr. Siebecker is back in the encore of the Digestion Sessions, as is Dr. Kharrazian.  There is also a link where you can print the transcripts which I am definitely going to do as there is a ton of information that I will never remember and my notes just aren't as good.

The bottom line with Dr. Siebecker is that everyone is different and your treatment and especially your diet must be individualized.  And when it comes to diet the only person who can really figure that out is you (with or without the help of your provider).  Soooo helpful :) Wouldn't it be nice if there were a one size fits all treatment and diet??

Dr. Kharrazian's book "Why Isn't My Brain Working" on hold at the library.  I may decide I can't wait and just download it from Amazon, since it's only $10.

As a side note, my aunt has been very ill and her doctor's can not figure out what's wrong with her. Turns out she has these bouts of nausea, exhaustion, etc when she is with my grandmother or talks to my grandmother who isn't the nicest to her.  I tell you this why? Because if you don't deal with your stress and set limits with people, you will never be well. And again, you need to figure out what works best for you in terms of relieving your stress. I've mentioned before that I tap, do yoga and take daily walks.  What I still need to work on is being more present because it's so easy to get wrapped up in things I want to do rather than what I am doing.

Digestion Sessions

If you have not clicked this you should!  There was an excellent video today with Dr. Datis Kharrazian all about the brain - gut connection, how it impacts your motility and simple exercises you can do to fix it.  I'm all about trying things that cost NOTHING!  I'm going to get this all wrong because there was so much information but it has to do with your vagus nerve not functioning properly and how you can exercise this nerve by gargling to the point of tearing up several times a day (like everytime you go to the bathroom) and using tongue depressors to stimulate the gag reflex.  He also said coffee enemas help too although I didn't really catch or understand all the science behind it.  It wasn't about detoxing, it was about a chemical reaction.  Anyway, you need to listen for yourself!

In other news in addition to braces I now have 8 shiny screws in my jaw in an attempt to move my teeth up and allow my jaw to sit differently so my teeth actually touch enough that I can chew.  It's been fun I tell you.  It's made it even more difficult to chew my food and I end up with enough stuck in the bands in my cheeks to tide me over until my next meal.  Fingers crossed it works and I don't have to have my jaw broken and realigned.  The things we do for digestive health I tell you!!!

I've ditched the iodine for now since I am having enough trouble taking everything else my ND has me on.

Dr. Siebecker video for limited time!!!

Sorry!  I just discovered this in my facebook feed.  Looks likes weeks of really interesting videos!

I that link doesn't get you there, this should.

Breath Test #6

Here is breath test #6.  Finally some good progress.  Numbers are still high but overall everything has decreased which is really awesome.  I did this test after a little over 2 weeks on Rifaximin/Neomycin with Lipophos EDTA as my biofilm buster.  I think Lipophos EDTA works better for me.  I'm back on Klaire Labs Interfase Plus right now but will do a couple of bottles of Lipophos EDTA when I'm done. 

I think the hardest part of the whole process is sticking to the diet when you are not seeing results.  It's such a restricted diet and a real pain to measure everything but in the end, feeling better and having a healthy gut will make it all worth it!

My new favorite product

My ND wanted me to add more probiotics into my diet.  It's incredibly hard to find fermented products that do not have onions or garlic.  This is simply Carrots, ginger and sea salt.  I don't normally eat carrots on their own and I'm new to fermented food, not to mention pretty picky.  This is really good.  On the pricey side, close to $9 but you probably won't be able to tolerate a whole bunch anyway when adding probiotic foods into your diet.  I started off with about 1 tablespoon a day with a meal (because I have been eating homemade kimchee now and again).  If you are more sensitive you may have to start with way, way less.

With Good Sometimes Comes Bad

I met with my ND and got the results from the last stool test.  The blastocystis hominis of which there was many is now gone, HURRAY!  Thank goodness for Heron Botanical's formula Purge the Whorl.  But with good comes bad and it looks like my dysbiosis is even worse.  The only thing I did differently over the summer was add the Purge the Whorl and do a couple of rounds of the elemental diet.  Could the elemental diet have made it worse???

We decided to switch everything up to see if we could get some better results.  I am now on a combination of Heron Botanical's Herbal Biotic, Heron Botanical's Bitters (to aid digestion), Berberine Complex, Neem Plus, Interface Plus, Metagest (digestion), Spectrazyme (digestion) and PrescriptAssist, the probiotic Chris Kresser recommends.  Oh, and my low dose Erythromycin at night to keep things moving and the couple of drops of iodine that I continually forget to take.  I take other supplements but they are related to general health and not SIBO.  He doesn't want me to do any tests again for 6 months.  He knows how much I love numbers but says with the lack of positive movement I need to let that go and focus on how I feel instead.  Poo!  I have the results from my breath test coming next week to see if the Rifaximin/Neomycin with biofilm buster Lipophos EDTA did any better than the abx with Interface Plus.

Great Post on SIBO and Methane from Chris Kresser

I can't believe I didn't link this the second I heard it.  It's a great post where he talks about SIBO and methane and archaea.  Archaea???  I had never heard of that and listened with great interest but in the end it's still the same, starve/kill the bacteria to get better.  The best part was the end when he listed a whole bunch of herbs that he uses to do just that.  Many I had never even heard of!  I love that he prints the transcript so you don't have to quickly scrawl everything down and try to figure out how to spell things.

It's been too long since I posted last but there's a lot going on trying to wrap up summer crops and taking care of the 6 egg laying chickens and the 7 new meat chicks.  It's amazing what you can do with 6000 square feet of land in the city.  Local ordinance says we can have 6 adult chickens (10 with written permission from neighbors) but no roosters.  When one of our chickens goes broody we order her fertile meat chicken eggs to sit on and hatch. The meat chickens never technically develop into adult birds so we can have as many as we want.  Pastured, organic chicken meat is hard to find and when you do it's super expensive so this is an awesome way to cut costs a bit and the babies are so cute and funny.  We haven't taken on processing them ourselves yet instead we pay a farmer from the local Farmer's Market do it for us.

Off to make Carne Asada Beef Jerky (from Danielle Walker's Against All Grain cookbook).

Labor Day Carbs

Went to my mom's for a Labor Day bbq.  My day was all rushed and messed up so I ended up eating not enough veggies and too many carbs (a banana with breakfast and again with lunch and corn tortilla chips at my mom's, bbq sauce on my burger, sweet potato, white potato, etc).  I did not sleep well that night and the next morning I was achy and felt hungover.  Coincidence?  Yesterday I ate too much fat (stayed low carb), made the Energy Bar recipe from Keto Clarity, tons of nuts AND coconut oil.  Slept okay and woke up feeling fine.  Will have to continue to experiment.

And, the tummy pain is back.  You know the one that comes on suddenly and hurts like hell. Ugh!  Used to have them daily, now they only come once in a great while.  Seems like I've had (very) short bouts of pain every day for a week or more.  I always wonder if that's the antibiotics doing their thing, an increase in bacteria or just related to my cycle.

Tried stevia in my hot chocolate this morning.  Blech!  Think I'll go back to honey and try to work stevia into other recipes.  I thought the cacao powder would overwhelm but it doesn't.

My current go-to breakfast

2 or 3 eggs scrambled, with homemade low FODMAP salsa and 30g of avocado with a mug of hot chocolate (made with coconut milk, raw cacao powder and a touch of honey).  Good fat, little carbs and a nice amount of protein.  I either used canned coconut milk, organic with zero additives or I make my own in the Blendtec with shaved coconut and water, blend and strain through a fine mesh bag.

I make the salsa by slicing and roasting tomatoes, tomatillo and spicy peppers.  I use about 20-25% tomatoes and 75-80% tomatillos, based on size and vary the amount of spicy peppers depending on how much heat I want.  The baking sheet is coated with a garlic infused olive oil.  I haven't had a chance to infuse any coconut oil lately, it's what I prefer for cooking but hopefully will get to it this week.  Bake in the oven at 375 for about 10-15 minutes until they are soft and wrinkly, let them cool and then scrape them in the food processor with all the juice.  Add cilantro (half a large bunch), green onion (half to whole bunch with the ends cut off), lime juice (1/2 to whole lime) and cumin (up to a tablespoon) and process to the consistency you like.  I don't measure any of these things, just throw them together.  

I've also thrown together a bunch of frozen salsa packs in the freezer, one tomato in a quart freezer bag and fill the rest with tomatillos.  That way I can have salsa from our homegrown tomatoes this winter.

Carbs are not my friend... and apparently neither is marijuana

I try to stay within my allowable FODMAPs while camping but usually end up drinking too much alcohol and eating too many carbs.  I make sure to switch the carbs up to keep them FODMAP legal but my body just doesn't seem to handle them well. Oh and I forgot to take my low dose Erythromycin 2 out of the 3 nights and realized just how much it helps keep things moving.  I just come home looking 6 months pregnant.  Ugh, do I hate that.  So I am back to low carb, mod protein and higher fat, and looking much better. 

When I got back I switched to 4 meals every 3 hours which I probably shouldn't do but I just can't seem to eat enough to stay full for 4-5 hours between meals.  I'm going to make at least one or two of my meals a well blended smoothie so at least it digests quickly (my ND at the SIBO center recommended this previously).  When I try to have such a huge gap I just end up getting panicky and then eating a bunch of stuff while waiting for my meal to be ready.  The quickest thing to grab is nuts and my digestion just doesn't seem to handle them well, especially when I eat a lot.  Mac Nuts are FODMAP legal up to 40grams, that's 1/3 of a cup!  This is where I get my mac nuts, by the way, very expensive but by far the best I've found.

On to the marijuana, because I know I peaked your curiosity.  Where I live recreational marijuana is now legal so I thought, hey, maybe it would be better on my gut to get my buzz on with a bit of weed.  Thankfully I did some good ole internet searches before I purchased any. Turns out in all studies done marijuana slows intestinal motility.  My motility is already slow enough, thank you very much.  So I guess I'll just have to practice breathing, meditation and tapping and keep my cool that way.  Bummer!

And speaking of prokinetics.  Has anyone tried Resolor?  It's more expensive than Erythromycin and I'd have to order from Canada but maybe it works better???

Back on Rifaximin

I didn't really plan this.  I am both a planner and spur of the moment decision person.  Imagine how fun it is to be my spouse!

I ran out of all my herbals at once (Allimed, Neem and Berberine) and I have a TON of Rifaximin and Neomycin (from Canada) so I decided to just use it instead of spending the money to buy more herbals.  I'm not sure how effective they are given they are from India and I didn't have great results last time.  But I'm doing it again.  I did get some Lipophos EDTA because I do like to switch up my biofilm buster.  I usually do Interface Plus.  I really haven't thought about how long I'll stay on the abx but I think I have 5 weeks worth.  Maybe I'll test at 3 or 4 weeks and then decide whether or not I'd like to continue.

I'm also still taking iodine, between 10-12.5 mg per day (4 drops at 2%).  Haven't noticed anything remarkably different.  Will up the dose again in a few days.

Homemade Mayonnaise

I have been searching and searching for a homemade mayonnaise recipe that actually tastes like mayonnaise.  Every one I've come across just tastes like emulsified oil.  Tonight I made a mayo that I can actually tolerate.  I love my mayo!  It's always been my favorite condiment.  The recipe was in the book Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore.  I haven't read the book but when I saw the mayonnaise recipe I had to give it a try.  I'd recommend some adjustments.

Mayonnaise

1 duck egg (room temp)

2 duck egg yolks (room temp)

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbl ground mustard

1 Tbl lemon juice

1 Tbl rice vinegar (or white wine)

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup avocado oil

Mix all the ingredients except the oil in a high speed blender or with an immersion blender. Slowly drizzle in the oil while blending.  Stop adding oil when the mayonnaise is the desired thickness.  Because of the coconut oil the mayo should solidify a bit more when chilled.  For more flavor substitute some of the oil with garlic infused olive oil.

Sandwich bun trial from Against All Grain

I finally got around to making these sandwich buns tonight.  The recipe says it makes 10 but I'm not much of a bread person so I'd make them into at least 18.  

This thing's almost as thick as a muffin!  I'll never get it in my mouth with a burger in it. I like just enough bread to hold the condiments and toppings, not to mention the FODMAP load if you just make 10.  Oh, and I also subbed macadamia nuts for the cashews.  I miss cashews.

My husband tasted the batter and said, "that tastes like bread", the highest compliment he could give since he bakes with real flours and is very picky about his bread.

I got the best result for a thin bun by just spreading the batter in a circle on the pan.  It spread a little bit and was pretty thin but even when I spread the batter thinly in the muffin rings they still puffed up quite a bit. 

These were the same thickness when I put them in the oven. The one on the right was in the ring, the one on the left not (my kind of bun).  The giants in the back were the ones that I filled 2/3rds full as the recipe calls for.

The real test will come when I make an actual burger.  These babies are not supposed to fall apart which her previous recipe had a tendency to do.  The addition of arrowroot took care of that, of course If you leave the arrowroot out they will be a bit fragile but will still be delicious!

Verdict:  Yum!  I froze the buns and then thawed and used one today.  It wasn't crumbly and it didn't get too soggy.  I'll definitely be keeping these in the freezer!

Iodine update and recipe

Have you tried this strawberry jam recipe?  If you haven't, you should.  Not that there's much we can put it on :)  The occasional muffin I guess or some gf bread if you are inclined to eat a bit of low FODMAP grains (I am not at this point).

So, I started the Lugol's Iodine 2%.  I am doing 2 drops with breakfast which is around 5-6 mg.  I have been doing it for a few days.  I'm going to increase tomorrow by adding 2 drops with dinner so I'll be around 10-12 mg per day.  The plan is to keep increasing until I get up to 15-16 drops (50mg) per day.  Of course I won't have pre and post breath test to see the actual results. And my doctors never give credit to one supplement I've added.  They always say it's more likely all the supplements working together. It would be really nice to see the before and after results, but who has the $$ to test every time you add something new??  

Quick Breakfast (sort of)

I wasn't feeling thrilled about my usual breakfast this morning so I threw 2 eggs in the blender with a banana, a pinch of baking powder, a sprinkle of cinnamon and about a tablespoon of almond flour. Viola! Pancakes.  I cooked them over the lowest heat in my cast iron skillet.  It made 9 small pancakes.  If you don't want to add any almond flour or nut flour, you don't have to.  This recipe turns out okay with just 2 eggs and a banana.  I have a tendency to use more maple syrup than I should so I put a little peanut butter and a drizzle of honey on these.  They were pretty good.  Not something you'd find in your local pancake house but pretty darn good for not having all the FODMAPs or a list of ingredients that you don't have in your kitchen.

Pancakes/Waffles from Deliciously Organic

These look interesting.  I think I'll give them a try this weekend.  I'm trying to keep any sort of baked goods to once or twice a week.  It's really easy for me to rely on baked goods (muffins, quick breads, "granola" bars) when I'm in a hurry but I don't seem to digest nuts very readily (constipation) so I try to keep them to a minimum.  Not to mention that we should be focusing on vegetables, protein and healthy fats, delicious but sometimes *yawn*.  

It can be hard to find time to prepare all the food required for these crazy diets (FODMAP, SCD, GAPS).  That's why I love to prep foods and freeze or keep leftover in the refrigerator. While chopping vegetables for fajitas the other night I realized I had a bit of extra time and all the veggies out so I made a batch of stir fry.  Bam!  4 lunches ready to go.  I always keep soup in the freezer as well, currently beef/vegetable.  My son is in swimming lessons this week and next and we don't get home until almost 1:00.  By then I am starving so it's nice to have something to quickly heat up so I don't start rifling through the cupboards.  I don't cheat in terms of FODMAPs but the calories from grazing while preparing a meal can quickly add up.

I'm thinking about moving to 4 meals a day this fall when school starts again.  With breakfast at 7, it makes for a long haul to lunch and then a longer span to dinner.  I know ideally us SIBO people stick to 3 meals to help our MMC (migratory motor complex) do it's thing but it's hard to go without food for that long, especially if you are active.  I often wonder if it slows metabolism because your body is hungry and in need of calories but you deny it.  All the fitness magazines and many of the "diet" books I read say you should ideally eat 5 times a day, every 3 hours. These are not meals mind you, it's generally protein and veggies for meals, and light snacks, a bit of nut butter, hummus or cheese with fruit/veggies for snacks.  I'm also thinking about doing a little homemade elemental meal after workouts so it feeds the body but doesn't require digestion.  I just need to find a way to make it taste better :)

Iodine

I asked my ND about using Iodine to treat SIBO and he said he's never seen or heard anything to indicate it's been used. He did say that most people are low in Iodine and it wouldn't hurt to try it because it's water soluable and I don't have any thyroid issues.  Iodine is antibacterial so who knows, it's worth a try.  I ordered some Lugol's Iodine off of Amazon.   I think I ordered the 2% solution,  probably should have got the 5%.

So far this is the best information I can find on dosing. "The best dose is 10 mg – 12 mg daily. You can go up to 50 mg daily for loading purposes but not for long."  from this site.

Breakfast

2 scrambled eggs with a bit of sundried tomatoes and some steamed green beans.  Need to get some avocados!  If you stay under 30g avocados are low in FODMAP according to Monash University and oh so healthy.  I'm going to down a bit of MCT oil as well since there weren't many calories in my breakfast and I need it to stick around a while.

I'm going to check out a bunch of low carb books today from the library.  Mostly because I think there could be some good recipes since FODMAPS are carbs but also because I'm wondering what the heck these people eat since their diet is mostly fat.  I'm also grabbing Chris Powell's book on carb cycling because I have no idea what that is and if it's rotating from low carb to mod or even high carb and back that's probably a better thing then just being low carb.  I wonder how low carb people get their fiber.  While fiber can be problematic for us SIBO folks you really need it to keep your gut healthy.

Did you know that your skin is 60% transdermal??  And that chemicals you put on your skin are absorbed directly into your bloodstream, bypassing the liver???  I heard this the other day on a podcast and it kind of blew my mind.  I'm really careful about what I put on my skin.  The first thing my naturopath commented on was my dry skin.  My last batch of lotion did not turn out very well and my ND told me I should be making my own oils.  He also busted me for not taking my fish oil.  Oops!

Has anyone tried fermented cod liver oil?  It seems to be all the rage with the Paleo folks right now and I don't know anything about it.

Stick a fork in me

I hate throwing in the towel, but I saw my ND today and my digestion was locked up tight.  All the sphincters in my intestines were tightly shut allowing bacteria to fester and the blood supply to my intestines was really restricted.  He got everything open and hopefully moving. He says I need to focus on stimulating my digestion not starving out the bacteria.  All the supplements and biofilm busters won't do any good if everything is shut down.  

Last time I did the elemental diet my energy stayed good and my strength strong.  This time I just bonked, low energy and just mental exhaustion.  Not really sure why, could have been the protein, could have been the timing (too close to the last time).  My ND says next time I want to do it I can schedule some time with him for some intravenous amino acids.

So I came home and made myself some hot chocolate and downed some herbal muscle relaxers for my back and all my supplements.  I ate a few steamed green beans.  Now I'm relaxing with heat on my back.

Day 11, Round 2, Elemental Diet

Weight:  118.2 lbs

I had scrambled eggs for dinner.  Hard to believe that made me gain a full pound but this diet and my body's reaction to it is crazy.

I'm really, really close to throwing in the towel.  My back has been spasming all week and it hurts.  Not sure if my magnesium is too low or if it just needs time to heal.  My massage therapist has been sick or on vacation since I've been back so I haven't been able to see him.  It's really hard not to eat when I'm hurting all the time.  I know you shouldn't use food (or wine :) for comfort but it what I really want.  You can probably guess that when my back flares up I usually gain weight.

I'll see my Naturopath today and hopefully my Massage Therapist tomorrow.  At that point I will be at day 12 and might as well keep this up until day 14.  Still haven't decided if I'm going to test at the end to see if the different biofilm buster (Lipophos EDTA) or the MCT oil made a difference.

Green Onion Powder

Most recipes out there call for onion and garlic.  I haven't figured out what to do about the garlic but as I was dehydrating tomatoes it dawned on me that I could dehydrate green onions and grind them up to use in recipes.  If you don't have a dehydrator you can dry them in you oven on the lowest heat (usually 170 degrees).  It took quite a while for them to feel dry but I kept adding fresh tomatoes (moisture) to the dehydrator so I'm not sure how long it should take.  Once I thought they were dry enough I threw them in my blender and ground them up.  They smell like sour cream and onion potato chips!!  Hope it tastes just as good when I add them to recipes.

Day 10, Round 2, Elemental Deit

Weight:  117.6 lbs

I am just not hitting my groove this time.  By the time I hit day 10 last time I was feeling great, working out, not minding not eating.  Now I still struggle.  I still feel indecisive.  Should I quit, should I keep going?  Should I test when I'm done or not spend the $$?  What's the point of doing it if I'm not going to get results to see if it was effective.  Should I start a round of Rifaximin/Neomycin when I'm done to kill all the remaining bacteria who start to eat again?  Hoping my ND can help me answer some of these questions tomorrow.

Day 9, Round 2, Elemental Diet

Weight:  118.0 lbs

No more protein.  It just stops up my digestion and at some point the bacteria will just adapt and start eating it.  All the magnesium citrate finally did the trick.  That made for a pleasant day ;)

I'm past my feelings of nausea.  It felt like that took longer to resolve this time.  Although I can't really say for sure how long it's been gone.

Can't believe I'm almost to the halfway point.  Wow!  What didn't seem doable a couple of days ago is all good now.  I'm sure that will change.  Evening has been the hardest in terms of feelings of wanting to give up.

Beer and Pizza

This is what my husband is having for dinner.  My son wanted pizza so I started the crust so my husband could make it when he got home.  Smells so good!  But I am strong.  I couldn't eat it anyway, elemental diet or not.

Day 8, Round 2, Elemental Diet

Weight: 119.4 (another gain!)

Don't ever let yourself quit part way through the day.  I really wanted to throw in the towel last night.  This would have been my excuse.

This is our harvest from yesterday alone (with a bunch of crap in the background).  Our house is a war zone on the weekends.  We just don't spend time cleaning up after ourselves.
What I did do was told myself if I still felt the same way tomorrow than sure I would consider it.  But I didn't allow myself to eat last night.  Why?  Because I knew what I was feeling would probably pass and that I would really regret messing up 7 days of fasting if I woke up feeling like I could continue.  If I woke up feeling like I didn't want to do it anymore than maybe this would be an entirely different post.

I did take a boatload of mag citrate yesterday.  1000mg with breakfast and 600mg with lunch and 600mg again at dinner.  I need to stop eating meat.  I'm afraid with starving the bacteria and meat sitting in my gut the bugs will just learn to eat it, then where will I be??

There was a person who posted several comments on the recent Chris Kresser article about the elemental diet.  She says she used Iodine to cure her SIBO and was really upset that people weren't listening to her.  I did a search last night and couldn't find anything about using Iodine to kill SIBO.  Has anyone heard anything about this?? 

Day 7, Round 2, Elemental Diet

Weight:  119.2

Ha!  I managed to gain weight on this crazy diet :)  We processed our meat chickens on Friday and I cooked one up yesterday.  I didn't think I ate THAT much!  I'm not moving waste out which is typical both on the elemental diet without meat and when I do the meat fast for the breath test.  I'm going to down a handful of magnesium citrate with breakfast to see if I can get things moving today.

Day 6, Round 2, Elemental Diet

Weight: 119.0

I did fairly okay through the day yesterday but then evening came and I started in with the, "I hate this", "I don't want to do this", "I'm just not into this" stuff.  I need to get over myself.  I'm 6 days in for goodness sake, pretty much 1/3 of the way done.  I did get a bit nauseous in the evening.  Lunch has been late just about everyday, 2:00 instead of my usual between 12 and 1.  I'm sure that's not helping.  

Day 5, Round 2, Elemental Diet

Weight: 120.2 (Yahoo! No weight loss)

I stopped taking the magnesium citrate.  So perhaps I'm not losing water.  I'm not losing any solids either so that could be a problem if I keep eating.

This is from last night:
"Ugh!  I am so not into this diet this go around.  I have been so tired.  Our garden is overflowing with fresh veggies and I just want to give up and do in the winter when there isn't such an abundance of food.  My husband thinks I just need to stop eating protein.  I do too and I need to tap.  I wonder about the amount of honey I am eating as well, 2 T per meal.  That's about 32 grams of carbohydrate and it's all sugar.  The 3 T of coconut oil works out to about 42 g of fat.  My elemental meals are around 550 calories.  I don't remember experiencing such exhaustion the first time around."

I did my tapping and I do feel better today.  Took our chickens out to a local farm for processing and hit the local mountain bike park for a quick ride with my son.  Felt good to be out and active.  We'll see how the rest of the day goes!

My favorite blogger/cookbook author posted a sandwich bun recipe today from her new cookbook.  This is similar to the hamburger bun recipe I use. I generally swap macadamia nuts for cashews or a combination of almond flour, sunflower seeds and mac nuts.  I also usually make much smaller portions to keep FODMAPs in check.  For her burger bun recipe, it says it makes 4 buns and I think I make at least 8-10 thinner buns.  Her bun recipe does not use arrowroot which means they tend to crumble a bit more.  Can't wait to give this new recipe a try. Only 16 or so more days.

Day 4, Round 2, Elemental Diet

Weight: 120.2 lbs

I planned on doing the just elemental meals yesterday (and today) but my son didn't finish his scrambled eggs yesterday or this morning so I ate them so they didn't go to waste.  We raise our own chickens and barely get enough eggs as is.  

We have 2 CornishX meat chickens going in for processing tomorrow.  Can't wait to roast one up this weekend!

I stopped taking all my herbal abx. I'm still taking probiotics (Lactoprime Plus and Align) and my biofilm busters (just finished Interfase Plus, now switching to Lipophos EDTA).  I like the idea of switching back and forth for some reason.  I also think the Lipophos EDTA might work better but that's only because it tastes horrible :)

Still feeling fine.  No nausea, headaches or anything.  I might be a bit more tired than usual but I just got back from vacation so that's to be expected.

What I Ate Camping

A lot of meat!  

My usual breakfast was scrambled eggs with a bit of avocado (under 30g) and homemade low FODMAP salsa and a banana or a banana walnut muffin (made with nut/coconut flours).  Some mornings I would grill up a couple of sausages.  Illegal ones as I know they were seasoned with a small amount of onion and garlic.

Lunch was a mismash, sometimes on the run, cold beef vegetable soup (not the most satisfying), kale salad with a salmon patty or beef jerky, a banana and some potato chips or plantain chips.  Not that I advise eating potato chips, but they are low FODMAP if you don't eat too many.  I packed 3 servings of stir fry with peanut sauce as well and that was great because it's not that bad cold.  Between the stirfy and the soup it was easy to pack 6 lunches.  We were gone 2 weeks and sometimes we were driving or cycling over lunch which is where the beef jerky and chips comes in handy :)  I packed a lot of kale from our garden and made a handful of kale salads because they pack really well.

Dinner was either hot dogs, turkey burger or bison burger on a mac nut bun.  So filling there is no need for sides.  My guys sometimes wanted to go out for a meal and in that case I almost always ordered a burger and smuggled in my own bun.  I'm not going to lie, eating out is the hardest part.  I indulged in a bit of bbq sauce one meal out and totally cheated toward the end. Beer!  Bend, Oregon is the capital for beer, I swear.  The last restaurant we went to had burgers but they were 1/2 lb of meat.  1/2 of a pound!  There was no way, so I ordered chicken satay with peanut sauce.  I knew the sauce would probably have garlic and onion in it but when the chicken came it was covered in a curry seasoning that probably had garlic and onion as well. That was the last meal before the drive home so I just ate it.  I think I would have been more strict if my last breath test had been better.  

Surprisingly I didn't experience any bloating outside the norm even though I sometimes when overboard on the FODMAPs or downright illegal on all accounts.

Oh and wine, I drank way too much wine.

Day 3, Round 2, Elemental Diet

Weight: 121.0 lbs

So it seems even if you keep the carbs up you still shed a significant amount of water weight in the beginning.  I think it's helpful to understand this is not real weight loss otherwise you start to panic.  By real weight loss I mean the weight comes back on within a few days of resuming a normal diet.  I've been taking magnesium citrate every night as well and this could be contributing to water loss since it pulls water into the intestines.

Yesterday because I had a 2 hour appointment at 11:30 I ended up packing scrambled eggs in a thermos and eating them for lunch, only about 320 calories.  I had an early elemental dinner before work, then a snack of salmon when I got home from work (around 8:30pm).  I normally do not snack and work to keep all my food consumption 3-4 hours apart to give my digestive tract time to do it's thing.  Today I will do all elemental, eating an actual protein meal isn't doing anything to prevent me from losing weight and is just contributing to constipation, so what's the point!  My body doesn't process protein easily probably because my open bite prevents me from chewing and breaking down food adequately.  Which is why I had the 2 hour appt, braces! The things we do to get healthy :)

Research by Dr. Pimental has shown that bacteria does not eat when being starved so I'm contemplating stopping my herbal antibiotics.  They are expensive and if they are not doing anything or there's no proof that they work during the elemental diet then what's the point.  From what I have read Dr. Pimental doesn't have his patients alter their diet until after they kill off the bacteria.  I have an appt with my ND next week so I may stop until then.  Have a nice little pill break.

Day 2, Round 2, Elemental Diet

Weight: 122 lbs

Let's hope the 1.2 lbs of loss from yesterday to today is just water.  Here's a picture of last nights dinner.  I take them in this order (left to right).

Dinner (coconut oil, aminos, honey)

Yesterday was hard.  The first day always is.  I tried to convince myself that maybe I should slowly transition in, have hot chocolate or tea, just today.  Thankfully I was able to resist.  When it comes to food though I am an all or nothing kind of person.  I did end up eating scrambled eggs for lunch.  I didn't want to but I was nauseous, tired, hungry and my ND encouraged me to eat some protein each day.  

Going to a movie after "dinner" was probably not the best idea in the world.  I wanted popcorn so bad!

Today should be interesting.  Yesterday I napped instead of going shopping to buy more coconut oil, so after breakfast I'm out.  I have a long appt scheduled over lunch so need to figure out how/what to eat, probably scrambled eggs in a thermos.  A can of salmon would be easier but it's an orthodontist appointment so that would be kind of rude.

Day 1, Round 2, Elemental Diet

Starting weight: 123.2 lbs

Meals consist of: 

• 3 Tablespoons Coconut oil in small jar, microwave 15 seconds then slurp down.  I also bought some Bulletproof MCT Oil to incorporate.
• 2 Tablespoons Pure Form 21 Blend Amino Acid in a small jar mixed with a small amount of water, let it sit and hopefully dissolve, stir again and down it.
• 2 Tablespoons of Honey mixed with a bit of hot water so it goes down quick and easy.
• 2 Pure Encapsulations Nutrient 950 with Vitamin K multivitamins

And of course, all the various supplements I am currently taking.  I am a few doses of being done with Purge the Whorl, the treatment for the Blastocystis Hominis.  It will be nice to be done with that.  My ND will probably want to retest to see how much is still in there but since it's a stool test it may have to wait until I'm done with the elemental diet so there's enough of a sample.

As usual I procrastinated starting and didn't have breakfast until 10:30.  Experience has taught me I need to make a meal schedule and keep to it otherwise I crash.

I'm back!

Back from camping.  Will post later about what I ate and how things went.

Found this in my email.  It's an interesting read.  I will start my second round of the elemental diet tomorrow. 

My current protocol....

Too many bottles to pack for camping that's for sure.  I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks.  See you all when I get back for round 2 of the elemental diet!

Vacation and then Elemental Diet Round 2!

I skyped with my NCNM doctor this morning and she added Berberine Complex to my regimen.   I'll start with one capsule 3 times a day and work up to 6 capsules.  If you are working on gut healing you would go up to 9 capsules but my gut lining is good (knock on wood) so 6 will probably do it for me.  Glad to hear that since I call the medicinary yesterday and requested a mail order of it.  We talked about my results and she says I could certainly do the elemental diet again but only for 3 weeks (instead of a month) and only that long if I ate meat for dinner (prepared just like the breath test prep diet, no spices).  It's funny you would think I would be all over adding a meal but it just doesn't appeal.  I get really backed up when I do the meat fast for the breath test.  But if I am able to keep the Erythromycin in maybe it won't be a problem.  

I cut and pasted my last three breath test results together since the tests were really close in time 5/2/14, 6/12/14 and 6/30/14.  It was interesting to see the changes made by each attempt by me to kill the little buggers off.  I tried to get a good picture of it to post but it just gets blurry when you try to enlarge it so you can read the numbers.

Made this jam to take camping.  I used frozen strawberries because if I can I buy most things frozen and in bulk, so much less expensive.  Hope it turns out!

Breath Test #5 - Post Elemental Diet

My test results were emailed to me today.  We are in triple digits now!!  It looks like the elemental diet (and everything else I have done) has just continued to move most of the bacteria further down my small intestine. But the methane has increased throughout this time.  At least the last couple of times the test showed several zeros.  This time there was only one zero on the methane.  Kind of a bummer but I like the fast results with the elemental diet.  My husband is encouraging me to do it for a month next time.  My mother would have a fit.  I would really have to make an effort to choke down all the honey required or see if I can find some dextrose that isn't from GMO corn.  If I can get down enough carbs I won't get ketogenic and dump a bunch of water weight.

So what now? I have a skype appt with the SIBO center at NCNM on Thursday.  Maybe they will add Berberine.  Then I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks.  I'm going to unplug and just have fun.  I will still eat low FODMAP, probably mostly protein since we will be camping and when I return I will do the elemental diet again to see if I can make more progress.  How long I do it depends on what my NCNM doc recommends and what my Seattle ND says when I see him mid-August.

It's funny because both docs told me my case was going to be tough to resolve.  I'm not sure I've every really gotten clarification why.  My levels were not very high to begin with and the only real symptoms I had were constipation, bloating and an itchy belly (which I didn't realize was related at the time).  I do know the methane is more difficult to resolve.  Oh well.  I'm making slow steady progress and it's better than none at all!

Chicken Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce

I made a chicken stir fry yesterday for lunch.  I always make a big batch to divide into 3-4 meals. The whole low FODMAP thing makes cooking meals on the fly a pain.  I usually add bell peppers (under 150g)  and zucchini (under 200g) but I didn't have them and it was fine without. I spiralize the zucchini. If you don't have a spiralizer, you need one of these.  Don't believe me? Check out this blog. I buy large bags of frozen organic peas, green beans, and broccoli at Costco to keep on hand.  I also buy organic chicken breasts from Costco too, bake them, chop them up and freeze them.  When I am making meals I just thaw out what I need.

So here's what I did...

Chicken Stir fry with Peanut Sauce
Peanut Sauce:
1/3 cup Peanut Butter (or a mix of nut butters)
1 T rice (or coconut) vinegar
1/4 cup Tamari (or coconut aminos)
1 T fish sauce (Red Boat is the best)
1 T honey
Srirachi sauce optional (recipe here, leave out the dates!)

Place it all in a bowl and stir in enough hot water to get it to the consistency you desire.

Veggies:
275g Cabbage, sliced into fine shreds
74g Carrots, sliced thin
150g Broccoli
70g Peas
140g Green Beans
150g Bell Pepper (I use orange, yellow or red)
200g Zucchini, spiralized

12oz cooked diced chicken breast (or other protein)
1 T garlic infused oil
Ginger, about an inch

Heat oil over medium heat in your wok or large pan.  Use a microplane or fine shredder to shred ginger into pan.  I like about an inch or so.  Add the cabbage and carrots and stir.  Place a small amount of water in the pan, a tablespoon or two and cover.  Let steam for 3-5 minutes. The longer you let it steam the softer the vegetables.  Add the rest of the vegetables and the chicken, give it a stir and add in a bit more water to prevent sticking and put the lid back on.

Once the vegetables and chicken are thawed/warm, add the peanut sauce.  Stir well and turn the heat down to med-low to prevent burning.  You can let it continue to cook to soften or eat when vegetables are crisper.  Divide equally into 4 servings.

There is a lot of sauce so you don't taste much of the vegetables, just the way I like it.  You can use less sauce and if you are having trouble with nuts you can leave the nut butter out.  I actually dislike most vegetables but the sauce makes the stir fry yummy.

The estimated calorie breakdown is:
345 calories per serving
31.5g protein  (36% of the calories)
16g fat  (46% of the calories)
15g carbs (17% of the calories)

If you want more calories, you can add in 1/2 cup of coconut milk to the peanut sauce, this will boost calories by 50 per serving.  Or you could increase protein and fat by scrambling an egg and stirring it in your bowl.  And I just realized I didn't include any green onions or chives.  These can be added to the stir fry toward the end or sprinkled on top as a garnish.