No more guar!

I've only got one or so more days of my kill supplements so I am stopping the guar gum and will just take the supplements with my meals.  Tomorrow will be my last day of Allicin, Oregano and Biocidin.  I ran out of Olivirex a day or two ago.  I have two more days of Berberine. Will do the follow up breath test on Friday or Saturday.  Then wait on pins and needles for who know how long for the results. That's always the worst part.  Although it will be easier this time because I am need a break from all the killing. Really the worst part is going back to being super strict with diet which means cutting back on avocados :( and no more sweet potatoes (the ferment potential is just too high) and NO MORE FRENCH FRIES or potatoes or leftover potato skins no matter how much I want them.

Have I told you how much I like Ox Bile.  Ha ha.  It makes things so smooth and easy.  Why didn't any of my NDs tell me about this little trick???  Since bile activates Rifaximin I wonder if it be beneficial to take it during treatment??  Dr. Pimental says that once Rifaximin goes into the large intestine there is no more bile so the Rifaximin crystalizes and passes right through without disturbing the large intestine flora.  Wonder if taking excess bile would keep the Rifaximin active throughout the colon??  That would be bad...  Hmmmm.  

I have yoga teacher training for the next 5 weekends and I just put my back out last weekend.  Thanks to my chiro it's healing quickly this time.  Her orders, no sitting. I've been doing way too much sitting (and reading in bed) and not enough yoga and walking which I used to do daily.  I call it taking a break, but I'm really just getting out of shape obviously since I can't bend over to pick up my hat without throwing my back out.  Standing is not comfortable and the first time I walked I thought I was going to have to call someone for a ride home but everything loosened up halfway through the walk and I'm been improving ever since.  My massage therapist had Monday and Tuesday off this week so I can't see him until Thursday.  Ah well, gives me a chance to resolve some of the resulting muscle spasms a bit before he digs into them.  And my husband loves me so much that he has sympathy muscle spasms in his back.  Good times!  LOL!  Seriously, I'm not complaining at all, we have a lovely easy life 99% of the time.  It's hiccups like this that remind you to get off your ass and take care of yourself.

Off to tackle laundry mountain!

Fits and Spurts

Sometimes I guess I just don't have much to say.  The suddenly I'll think of 10 things and write a bunch of posts.  Anyway!  I signed up for Wanderlust months ago.  Wanderlust is a big yoga festival that travels all over.  I am in the midst of it now.  In preparation I cut out lunch.  Seems odd, I know, but my Wanderlust schedule has me in classes from 8am to 3:30pm and so I wanted to acclimate my body to that before diving in.  I guess I didn't cut out lunch competely, I eat a packet of almond butter and have jasmine tea (not really what anyone in their right mind would consider a meal!).

And of course the festival doesn't come to my hometown so I had to pack up a CRAPTON of food to bring with me.  Today I didn't have leftovers in the refrigerator when I got back so I whipped up a smoothie.  I haven't tried one in a loooooong time.  I kept it low FODMAP (coconut milk, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, carrot and spinach).  It immediately made me feel sick, thank goodness my body throws up major warning signals to keep me from downing the whole thing and suffering for it..  My body just isn't ready to handle the raw stuff yet.  I recently ate a banana successfully so I don't think it's the fructose.  All I can say is thank goodness for hot dogs :)

My first class tomorrow is a meditation class so I'll be able to eat a HUGE breakfast to sustain me better and I have all the veggies ready to be sauteed up when I get home.  This morning all I could choke down was an offal muffin and a hot chocolate.

While I am here I do plan on eating out and drinking a glass of wine here or there so I am taking all my Biocidin, Olivirex, Red Yeast Rice with Garlic, SerraGold and Oreganol for 10 days.  I took a break just before I came but wanted to be a little more lax with my diet (french fries) while here so decided to do another round.

Other than that, life has been same old thing.  Sticking with the diet (for the most part) and treating off and on.  Trying to get my hands on a breath test to see if this latest protocol has made a difference at all.

Oh, and after all the yoga craziness is done I will be adding back lunch again.  With my adrenals as taxed as they are it's not good to deprive your body of meals (and drink caffeine instead).

White Fudge is my current obsession

I have always had a HUGE sweet tooth.  Going to a low carb, high fat diet has helped this tremendously but I still love a treat.....  with every meal :)  So I make fatty mildly sweet treats.  I found this recipe a while back.  The amount of maple syrup in it would kill me so I adapted it to make it way less carbs and low FODMAP.

White Fudge

6 oz raw organic cacao butter

3-4 oz coconut oil (4 oz will make them softer)

75 grams coconut butter (or coconut manna)

1 T vanilla (ground vanilla beans are best but so expensive)

2 T honey

1/8 salt

I mix all these things together in a double boiler.  Before I had a double boiler I would just place a stainless steel bowl over a pot with boiling water in it.  Stir until everything is melted together.  The honey never seems to mix in very well and I love this.  The more you let it sit, the more solid it gets at the bottom of the pan.  I then pour the fat off the top into a 12 muffin  or 24 mini muffin pan (silicone works awesome).  I then scoop the honey off the bottom and distribute it between the 12 (or 24) cups.  You can add unsweetened cacao nibs at this point to add a chocolately crunch. I then place it in the freezer over night to solidify.  When you pop them out in the morning the honey will have formed a little caramel like layer.  So yummy!  I put them in mason jars for storage and keep one in the refrigerator and one in the freezer for later.

If you are the kind of person who can't stay out of treats then don't make them, you will just eat too many and regret it.  

Home again, home again...

Oh how my bowels are happy to be home.  TMI :)  Sorry!  Not sure if it's related but I rolled a ball under my foot while sitting in the symposium this morning and things finally started moving. Phew!

What an amazingly fun weekend hanging out with online friends (in person) who are just like me!  Last night we went to the The Brooklyn House for dinner last night.  They are well versed in dietary challenged people and are rumored to have a copy of the SIBO Specific Diet in the kitchen.  My meal wasn't spectacular, but really what can you do with white fish if you can't use butter, garlic, onions, etc.  I should have tried the rabbit.  The rib eye steak looked fabulous too but my chewing it would have been too difficult.  They messed up and accidently gave me a side of grilled cauliflower instead of grilled vegetables but with the huge amount of fish and the potatoes I knew it would be too much so didn't request them.

Today we went to The Cultured Caveman on the way home.  I chose wrong again!  I'm just not accustomed to eating out.  I had hot dogs (off the kids menu) and they were scrawny things with a pretty tough exterior.  I had zoodles on the side, bone broth and a shot of fermented cod liver oil.  I usually take this fermented cod liver oil but in capsules. They had the same brand in liquid form.  It was so disgusting and I burped fish for the rest of the 3 hour ride home.  But the restaurant was so cool and they had so many paleo products to browse and buy, including cookbooks.

I'll update on everything I learned tomorrow.  It's going to take time to put my notes together and I am exhausted!

A few of my favorite things

Whole Foods opened up nearby a little over a week ago.  I knew I wanted to add back in some fermented foods and I just have trouble making them myself.  They grow weird stuff and I panic about food poisoning myself.  I love Firefly Kitchens, a local company.  I had not tried their Firefly Kimchi.  You open it up and it smells like spicy garlic.  I heard somewhere, probably not a reliable source even, that fermenting helps break down the FODMAPs in garlic.  Not sure I believe it but since I haven't been reacting to much of anything I thought I'd give it a go.  So far so good.

Then someone posted the Probionic Tonic on facebook and tagged Whole Foods.  I was completely unaware of this product!  It was so crowded on the day I was there that it was hard to see much of anything.  Back I went and disappointed I was not!  I love the tonic.  Although the spiciness give me a touch of burn.  I drop about half of a shot glass with one meal a day, eat the kim chi with another and take my MegaSpore with a 3rd.  Hopefully I'm not just refilling my small intestine with bugs!!!  We'll see.

Podcast by Dr. Ruscio

You really should like to Dr. Ruscio's 2 part podcast on SIBO. Here is the link to iTunes. I wonder now if I've just extended my treatment by trying to starve the bacteria with a low FODMAP diet during treatment. And the information on methane dominant SIBO and related weight issues was fascinating. And here is a link to his website and blog. Your welcome :) enjoy!

Interesting Articles

I love the idea that the SIBO bacteria may latch on to the resistant starch and ride it into the large intestine.  I may start playing with it, starting with 1/8 of a tsp or less and SLOWLY moving up from there.  Seems everyone uses the Bob's Redmill Unmodified Potato Starch.  Wonder if I can find something organic (and unmodified) as potatoes are usually one of the dirtiest of the dirty dozen.  
http://eatingoffthefoodgrid.blogspot.com/2013/10/resistant-starch-and-sibo.html

Even if you don't have MTHFR or think you have MTHFR this article has a lot of good information about how nutrients feed SIBO and how the SIBO blocks nutrients from being utilized by the body.  I sent in my 23andme kit yesterday.  Wonder how long it takes to process??
http://beyondmthfr.com/2014/09/09/mthfr-and-sibo/