Links I found interesting

Some articles I have found interesting:
Is stress damaging your gut?

And videos:
SIBO patient follow up with Dr. Ruscio - it's all well and good IF and only IF you are symptom free (for the most part anyway).  There are those of us (me) whose numbers are really low but still have symptoms.  Frustrating to say the least, especially when those last few numbers don't want to budge.

Recipes I'm contemplating:
keto peanut butter fudge bars by RuledMe - I have a hard time getting enough fat without consuming dairy or intact nuts (can't chew them well enough), coconut or chocolate.  So many fat bombs are chocolate and I already eat too much of it!  In this recipe I will sub ghee for butter and coconut milk fat for heavy cream.

This podcast was quite interesting:
High Intensity Health with Dr. Russell Jaffe - they touch on SIBO at around 48ish minutes and what he has to say pretty interesting.  Not sure he understands how recalcitrant SIBO can be for some of us!

Sometimes I need a treat..

I eat chocolate ALL the time, like almost every meal.  I love it so much.  With leaky gut though, those every day repetitive foods can sometimes become a sensitivity because they don't stay where they are supposed to be and the assault is relentless.  So I kicked myself in the butt and made an old favorite recipe from my Raw Energy book.

1 cup walnuts
1 cup pecan (you can use all walnuts or even sub in some yummy mac nuts)
1 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
a touch of sea salt

Whirl it all together in the food processor to the consistency you like and form it into balls. I'd opt for small ones if you are concerned about FODMAPs and the carbs in the honey. I'm feeding so I scarfed on waaaaay too much!  Ha!  No wonder I'm a lil porker these days :)

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.  

Soup for dinner

I love Against All Grain, so when this recipe showed up in my inbox I knew I had to make it (adapted to keep it low FODMAP of course).  Do the usual garlic/onion substitution.  I used garlic infused coconut oil, about 3 times what was called for and a boatload of green onions.  I left out the celery, but you could substitute green beans.  I'll definitely do that next time.  I left out the sweet potatoes because I don't tolerate them and instead chopped up a bit of leftover parsnip.  Instead of chicken breast I used chicken thighs because it's what I have on hand and I'm obviously I'm not afraid of fat.  Topped it off with chopped cilantro and a bit of avocado.  Delicious!  Would have been nice to have some corn chips or plantain chips on the side but oh well, it was nice to have some spicy mexican flavored soup.

Clearly I need to at least clear off the counter before I take a picture.  Jeez!  Never said I was professional.  Ha!

I'm continuing to feel better and better, glad I got over that hump, whatever it was!

Jasmine rice, my friend

So far, so good.  First attempt last week, I had one tablespoon of jasmine rice with dinner.  It may have been coincidental but the intermittent stomach pains that I had been having went away.  They came back during my accidental sugaring of myself and my experimentation with potatoes (that were far too old) and a banana (which has a high ferment potential).  So no idea if somehow the rice helped those pains or if they were just on their way out anyway.

Last night I tried again and had 2 tablespoons of jasmine rice with dinner.  So far so good.  I made the Butter Chicken recipe from My Heart Beets.  It was really good, the husband even approved.  This morning I woke up quite stiff and sore but I did a very different yoga class than usual yesterday, then got a massage.  Both activities targeted the shoulders so I don't think it was the tomatoes, peppers or the jasmine rice.  But it's still something to keep an eye on.

I've been having a lot of cramping down the right side of my neck due to a new screw that was placed in my jaw.  My massage therapist said the whole right side of my neck was tight and there was puffiness along the spine. It doesn't seem like it should impact the muscles but the screw is so high up above my teeth that it pushes into my cheek and a little crater has to form and then heal, the ball head of the screw nestles in the crater.  I get spasms in my cheek for up to 2 weeks while this happens and I fight infection as the food gets trapped in there.  It's not fun and I do not recommend it.  Alas things are healing and I ate actual stir fried vegetables today, such a treat after trying not to chew for 2 weeks!  I've been eating mostly creamed vegetable soup and mashed squash alongside fish and scrambled eggs.

My freaking temp has gone back down below 98 so it looks like I'll be going on another T3 taper, increasing dose every 6 days and then decreasing dose every 3 days.  Waiting to hear back from Dr. Keller.

I've been using Melaleuca/Rosemary/Thyme for a couple of days to treat my SIBO.  The melaleuca is pretty harsh so only a couple of days and then I'm going to switch to the same formula as in Candibactin-AR (Thyme/Oregano/Sage/Melissa).  I may stay on it a full 7 days, we'll see.  Disclaimer - please don't try this on your own, if you are interested in trying anything like this, talk to your healthcare provider.  For all you know I could be burning holes in my gut and ruining my health and not killing anything (or worse yet, killing everything!).

Testing Starch

So at the request of my ND I have been flirting with starch.  I ate a banana last Sunday with my breakfast which was a poor choice given that bananas have a high ferment potential.  I didn't notice any bloating or gas but dealt with C on Monday.  Wednesday I had a small amount of potato with dinner and ended up really bloated (although I also put a bit of garlic powder on the roast).  I ate a tiny amount of potato a couple of days later and did okay and I've eaten the roast separately and did okay so it seems like it was just too much potato. And I don't even like potatoes!  

Adding in that bit of carbs just throws me out of whack and drives my appetite (and cravings) through the roof.  I can't even tell you how many calories I have consumed in the past week but I know it's been astronomical especially the last 3-4 days. I'm lucky that the scale has been kind.  I really do think it's because I keep the carbs down and the fat high. For me it seems to be the key to keeping my belly happy.

Once I got through those blips my digestion has gone back to spot on.  I have been eating celeriac and parsnip noodles with no issues.  Both have starch and fiber so I'll stick with those.  I made Beef Stroganoff with Celeriac Noodles twice.  It's sooooo good.  So then I tried Easy Turkey Taco Celeriac Pasta, delish!  I used either ground beef or bison because it's what I had on hand.  Obviously I am not following AIP so well :)  I seem to be reacting only to eggs and citrus so I'm keeping them out (or limited).  I made Parsnip Noodles with Tuna and Fried Egg next.  It was great for a quick meal.  The chickens are laying like crazy so we always have eggs and I order canned salmon in bulk so as long as I have something to spiralize we're good to go.

The only problem is that my Paderno Spiralizer is starting to cry uncle.  The celeriac in particular is hard for it to handle.  The warranty is only a year and I'm sure we are past that so I'm SOL.  I preordered the Inspiralizer because if anyone knows about what would make a good one, it's this girl.  And it has a 2 year warranty.

FODMAP Note - for all recipes I substitute garlic infused oil for garlic and green onion for regular onions, leave the mushrooms out of the Stroganoff.

Branching Out

I've been happily in a food rut for weeks.  I don't like to think about what to eat.  I just want to pull out my leftovers from the refrigerator, heat them and not think about it.  My favorite breakfast is still an offal muffin, mashed squash and hot chocolate (instead of a fat bomb).  I LOVE hot chocolate.  I figured since my fat bombs are coconut with a bit of flavor and sweetener it's really not much different than hot chocolate (coconut milk, water, raw cacao powder, cinnamon, vanilla, a pinch of stevia and less than a tsp of honey).  Lunch is sauteed veggies, protein and a fat bomb.  Dinner, veggie soup, protein and a fat bomb.  

Recently a favorite blogger of mine released a cookbook.  I went back through her site this morning and found that many of the recipes can be adapted to be SIBO safe.  So I'm walking up to the store today to buy some celeriac (for beef stroganoff) and parsnip (for a tuna dish).  My husband will surely appreciate it if I cook more and using vegetable noodles it keeps the dish light and low carb (great for an evening meal).

What I Eat

I tried to take pictures over the last week to give you all an idea of what I have been eating.  I am feeling good, no bloating (I started measuring) and pretty good motility.  I usually have a veggie soup with one meal, mashed squash with one meal and sautéed veggies with one meal.  I don't like eating vegetables singularly so I find sautés and soups work better for me.  I try to vary my protein but always get a bit of offal in my diet.  I'm so in love with sardines and offal muffins right now. 

Blended vegetable soup (broth, carrot, zucchini, green beans, green onions, garlic infused coconut or olive oil, spices, coconut milk and either kale or spinach).  Vanilla fudge fat bomb 

http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/white-chocolate-healthy-paleo-fudge/  I decreased the sweetener to just a touch of honey and some stevia.

Squash mashed with coconut oil and coconut milk, Liverwurst from US Wellness Meats, Offal Muffin http://petra8paleo.com/2014/05/05/victorious-offal-muffins/ , white fudge (recipe link above.

Veggies sauteed in garlic infused oil, coconut aminos, fish sauce and rice vinegar.  Berry Fat Bomb http://petra8paleo.com/2014/07/18/pbj-ice-cream-cupcake-fudge-aip-walhspaelo/

Turkey Meatballs http://www.marthastewart.com/875683/turkey-meatballs modified to be low FODMAP (substitute a bit of coconut flour for bread crumbs, green onion for onion, single spices for italian seasoning), mashed squash and a berry fat bomb.

When I am really short on time (usually at breakfast), I eat a nut butter patty (1 cup mac nuts, 1 cup walnuts, 2-3 T almond butter, 1 cup coconut oil, 4 tablespoons Bulletproof Collagen, cinnamon, vanilla, a touch of stevia, and a touch of honey (less than 1 tablespoon) ground into a nut butter in the food processor and frozen in a silicone muffin tin).  This weekend I am in the midst of a 10 hour yoga workshop so for lunch I added the extra protein in the form of summer sausage (homemade with just salt, pepper, liquid smoke and the preserving salts) and a bit of Liverwurst. I had a nice mug of hot water on the side with 2 drops of peppermint essential oil.

Paleo AIP Day 6 - pancakes

Okay, so these are not going to be sold in IHOP anytime soon but they were pancake-like enough to satisfy my hankering for something sorta baked that wasn't anything like a smoothie.  For protein I added in a hamburger patty.  My husband suggested eggs.  I think he wants a divorce :)  Seriously though, try at he might, it's impossible to keep up with what I am and am not eating now.

My intention for the morning was to get up and have a non-AIP nut butter energy bar (that I make) and head off to yoga.  But I am going to a yoga workshop at 2pm and I'm not really sleeping all that well.  Not sure if it's the adjustment back to the school schedule or if it's related to diet change.  Sometimes diet can impact hormone levels and disrupt sleep.

I'm still mildly nauseous after I eat.  I've been this way since that first cannabis massage.  Wonder when my body will bounce back and my digestion will return to normal.

This AIP thing is tough to stick to when you are not having any real problems that are being fixed.  I feel pretty much the same except a bit more stressed around meals at times as I try to figure what I can eat.  I ended up eating the first 1 1/2 of 3 pancakes standing in the kitchen while cooking the last pancake and the beef patty.  Not ideal. 

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.

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.

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.

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 :)

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 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.