Just received my large free jar of coconut oil from Tropical Traditions. Along with organic tomato paste and some all natural deodorant.
One of the things I've been doing over that last several months is trying to reduce my exposure to toxins. I figure if I'm having to get weekly IVs of glutathione so my body can rid itself of toxins maybe it is a good idea not to come in to contact with toxins in the first place. I already ate organic and drank filtered water so that rules out those sources but I was still using dishwasher detergent, shampoo, soap and deodorant.
Last month I went "poo-less", as it is commonly known in the blogsphere. I'm now using a mixture of 1T of baking soda to 1c of warm water instead of shampoo and 1T of organic vinegar to 1C of warm water instead of conditioner. It works AWESOME!!! My hair is soft, easy to comb out, full of natural curls, and much less oily than it used to be. My scalp is also less itchy. I thought my head had gotten greasier over the years. Now I think the shampoos have become less effective. I would shower every morning and look like a greaseball by the end of work and I was at a desk or lab bench most of the time. Now my hair stays clean for 2-3 days. Woohoo!!
I've also been on a quest to find some natural deodorant. I just can't go deodorant free. I stink. Particularly with the hot flashes I've been experiencing lately. I bought a solid but the scent was too overpowering. I just got a new roll on today from Tropical Traditions. The scent is a bit strong at first but it quickly calms down to the tolerable range. Now I have to see if it works all day. It has coconut oil, baking soda, essential oils and a few other innocuous ingredients in it. A vast improvement over the chemical laden antiperspirant I was using.
Since I don't wear makeup that isn't an issue. I already use an organic fluoride free toothpaste. All I'm left with now is soap and moisturizer that I need to find replacements for. BTW, toxins are readily absorbed through the skin which is why I'm worried about this stuff.
As far as the dishes go, the soap is highly caustic and quite nasty to ingest. Hubs always uses too much of it and my glass would always have a ring of soap bubbles in it when I filled it up with water to drink. Hence, when I use regular dishwasher soap I run the dishwasher a second time on a short cycle with no soap. This rinses off the dishes. I could (but haven't yet) put vinegar in the rinse dispenser which will also help rinse the excess soap off. I was using Biokleen soap which was awesome. It left the dishes squeaky clean without any soap residue without having to run the dishwasher twice. When I ran out hubs went back to the regular crap. I need to buy some more of the good stuff. It even comes in a scent free version.
We are still using old school Tide for our laundry. I'm just not that worried about my clothes. I should be but I'm focusing my energy on cooking. I have found recipes to make your own laundry detergent but I don't have the energy to make the stuff even though it is pretty easy. I did buy the borax for it but still have to find the washing soda. Maybe I'll have my kid grate up the bar of fels naptha I have hanging around in the laundry room.
I've also been trying to stay away from inhaling stuff. This can be difficult since hubs is a gearhead at heart and is always out in the garage building cars. This means all sorts of airborn nasties floating back into the house such as gasoline or paint fumes. Ugh. He makes fun of me now but I don't care. I'm trying to reduce my toxic load so that my body doesn't have to work so hard.
While I have been having detox baths with either epsom salts or baking soda about once a week, the GAPS diet calls for a nightly detox bath and rotates through a series of bath additions: epsom salts, baking soda, apple cider vinegar and seaweed powder. I have to order the powder still.
In general things are buzzing along. Prep is well underway. I have a second source for beef bones and tallow and I'm going to comparison shop with Whole Foods tomorrow since they are a tad expensive. $5/lb for bones is a bit excessive. They should run about $2.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Pre GAPS part two
I'm making some progress in my prep work. I've ordered the Internal Bliss cookbook. I checked Wellness Meats and found that they were out of beef bones, chicken backs and tallow. I'll have to wait to order more. I found a cheaper source for the fermented cod liver oil I'm supposed to take. The manufacturer sells it for half the price of the GAPS site. I won't get that for a few weeks since I don't need it until stage 2 or 3 of GAPS which will be roughly the third or fourth week of January.
I also talked to hubs. I told him that he will have to sneak ice cream in the garage while I'm doing this. The temptation will just be too much for me if there is anything in the house. He agreed to support me on the diet. When I asked him what he would eat he said we'll just wing it. I told him that the food won't be that great for a couple of weeks until I can add some variety and a few more cooking methods back in. I told him that he could always stop for a burrito on the way home if he gets sick of the weird food.
I am very scared that I'll cheat. I'm weird about food. I wish... No I LONG, I PINE for normal food. I love sandwiches and cake and cookies. I love a bowl of good pasta once in a while. I love ice cream. However, these foods no longer love me. I keep trying to tell myself that what I am doing is healthier for me. That I'm doing this to fuel my body with nutrient dense foods. That I'm using food to heal my guts and possibly heal my CFS. But, OMG the temptation. The cravings. For instance, hubs eats normal bread. The craving tonight for a regular ham sandwich was unbelievable. It didn't matter that I wasn't hungry. It didn't matter that it would give me many pains in my intestines. It didn't matter that I would end up burping up stomach acid at 5am. By God I wanted an F'n ham sandwich. I managed not to succumb. Not sure if I'll be able to do this for a whole month though.
What I did instead of making myself a yummy ham sandwich was poach a hamburger. This is one of the GAPS recipes. You poach it in bone broth. I made it with some peas. While this was tolerable, it is not the most tasty thing to be eating. More like chewing on fishy shoe leather. However, I can deal for the first couple of stages of GAPS with this. I'm thinking a lot of poached fish will be in my near future. I like that way better than poached burgers but I do want to rotate through different meats while on the diet so that I get different nutrients.
I'm beginning to suspect that these specific food craving are actually fat cravings. I want to drink coffee for the cream in it. I want the ham sandwich for the mayonnaise. When I was drinking raw milk I would have a nice big glass of milk and I didn't have these problems. Maybe when I get more fats into my diet during GAPS these weird cravings will stop. Prior to the intestinal virus I was getting most of my dietary fats from dairy products. I'm still not back up to the dairy intake I was on prior to the illness. I seem to have way more cravings now that a few weeks ago. I've been on a low fat diet for 20 years now. I just not used to eating a high fat diet yet. I'm learning though.
I also talked to hubs. I told him that he will have to sneak ice cream in the garage while I'm doing this. The temptation will just be too much for me if there is anything in the house. He agreed to support me on the diet. When I asked him what he would eat he said we'll just wing it. I told him that the food won't be that great for a couple of weeks until I can add some variety and a few more cooking methods back in. I told him that he could always stop for a burrito on the way home if he gets sick of the weird food.
I am very scared that I'll cheat. I'm weird about food. I wish... No I LONG, I PINE for normal food. I love sandwiches and cake and cookies. I love a bowl of good pasta once in a while. I love ice cream. However, these foods no longer love me. I keep trying to tell myself that what I am doing is healthier for me. That I'm doing this to fuel my body with nutrient dense foods. That I'm using food to heal my guts and possibly heal my CFS. But, OMG the temptation. The cravings. For instance, hubs eats normal bread. The craving tonight for a regular ham sandwich was unbelievable. It didn't matter that I wasn't hungry. It didn't matter that it would give me many pains in my intestines. It didn't matter that I would end up burping up stomach acid at 5am. By God I wanted an F'n ham sandwich. I managed not to succumb. Not sure if I'll be able to do this for a whole month though.
What I did instead of making myself a yummy ham sandwich was poach a hamburger. This is one of the GAPS recipes. You poach it in bone broth. I made it with some peas. While this was tolerable, it is not the most tasty thing to be eating. More like chewing on fishy shoe leather. However, I can deal for the first couple of stages of GAPS with this. I'm thinking a lot of poached fish will be in my near future. I like that way better than poached burgers but I do want to rotate through different meats while on the diet so that I get different nutrients.
I'm beginning to suspect that these specific food craving are actually fat cravings. I want to drink coffee for the cream in it. I want the ham sandwich for the mayonnaise. When I was drinking raw milk I would have a nice big glass of milk and I didn't have these problems. Maybe when I get more fats into my diet during GAPS these weird cravings will stop. Prior to the intestinal virus I was getting most of my dietary fats from dairy products. I'm still not back up to the dairy intake I was on prior to the illness. I seem to have way more cravings now that a few weeks ago. I've been on a low fat diet for 20 years now. I just not used to eating a high fat diet yet. I'm learning though.
Pre GAPS part one
The Gut and Psychology Syndrome diet.
Warning this post is going to ramble cuz I'm in the middle of crashing from the exciting wonderful weekend I had with my family.
I've been thinking about doing GAPS for a while now but have been too scared. I was worried that it would make me really sick like the elimination diet did in the spring. So what changed my mind? Having that nasty intestinal infection.
While it was going full tilt, I looked up the foods I could eat on GAPS Intro diet knowing that these foods are easily digested which would give my guts a break and a chance to heal from the infection. For over a week I subsisted on chicken broth, chicken soup, soft boiled eggs, pears and butternut squash soup.
Even though I was horribly sick and in pain, I also had days in between where I felt fine and had no pain at all even though I had stopped all of my meds and supplements. That is right; no joint pain, no back pain, no muscle pain, no headache. I also had a clear head. No fog. I could read books no problem. I had tons of energy. I got a lot accomplished when I wasn't having "an episode" and as long as I adhered to the strict diet. I slowly added foods back in but I'm still not back to my old diet. I'm eating dairy again but not a lot of it and no raw milk and no yogurt.
So despite having an intestinal virus and despite eating a severely restricted diet, I didn't keel over. I didn't get sicker like I did this past spring. I even felt better from the CFS in between the bouts of intestinal torture. Now that I'm eating grains again and cheated like crazy over the Christmas weekend all the aches and pains are back. I've had to start the Celebrex again. I'm crashed today.
The other thing that I'm taking into consideration is that the pain meds I've been on damage the guts. I've had serious problems with malabsorption of just about every vitamin and mineral they've tested for. I've been taking aspirin or Vioxx or Celebrex for years now. Probably almost ten years. This has got to cause some serious damage and would explain the sudden wheat intolerance that hit me about six years ago.
I was also reading on Ncubator yesterday about a woman that has recovered most of her functionality after 15 years with severe CFS with a combination of things, a biggie being diet.
So what is pushing me over the edge from thought to action? Well the ebook "What can I eat now? 30 days of recipes and tips for the GAPS Intro diet" is on sale for $14 from Cara at Health, Home and Happiness. I bought my copy yesterday. And I just found out that a 30 day challenge is starting over on Our Nourishing Roots on Jan 15th. This will give me just enough time to order supplies in and get the required reading done. I'll try to report on my progress here.
GAPS Plans for this week:
Warning this post is going to ramble cuz I'm in the middle of crashing from the exciting wonderful weekend I had with my family.
I've been thinking about doing GAPS for a while now but have been too scared. I was worried that it would make me really sick like the elimination diet did in the spring. So what changed my mind? Having that nasty intestinal infection.
While it was going full tilt, I looked up the foods I could eat on GAPS Intro diet knowing that these foods are easily digested which would give my guts a break and a chance to heal from the infection. For over a week I subsisted on chicken broth, chicken soup, soft boiled eggs, pears and butternut squash soup.
Even though I was horribly sick and in pain, I also had days in between where I felt fine and had no pain at all even though I had stopped all of my meds and supplements. That is right; no joint pain, no back pain, no muscle pain, no headache. I also had a clear head. No fog. I could read books no problem. I had tons of energy. I got a lot accomplished when I wasn't having "an episode" and as long as I adhered to the strict diet. I slowly added foods back in but I'm still not back to my old diet. I'm eating dairy again but not a lot of it and no raw milk and no yogurt.
So despite having an intestinal virus and despite eating a severely restricted diet, I didn't keel over. I didn't get sicker like I did this past spring. I even felt better from the CFS in between the bouts of intestinal torture. Now that I'm eating grains again and cheated like crazy over the Christmas weekend all the aches and pains are back. I've had to start the Celebrex again. I'm crashed today.
The other thing that I'm taking into consideration is that the pain meds I've been on damage the guts. I've had serious problems with malabsorption of just about every vitamin and mineral they've tested for. I've been taking aspirin or Vioxx or Celebrex for years now. Probably almost ten years. This has got to cause some serious damage and would explain the sudden wheat intolerance that hit me about six years ago.
I was also reading on Ncubator yesterday about a woman that has recovered most of her functionality after 15 years with severe CFS with a combination of things, a biggie being diet.
So what is pushing me over the edge from thought to action? Well the ebook "What can I eat now? 30 days of recipes and tips for the GAPS Intro diet" is on sale for $14 from Cara at Health, Home and Happiness. I bought my copy yesterday. And I just found out that a 30 day challenge is starting over on Our Nourishing Roots on Jan 15th. This will give me just enough time to order supplies in and get the required reading done. I'll try to report on my progress here.
GAPS Plans for this week:
- Tell hubby what I'm going to do. Discuss it with him so he doesn't try to temp me with trips to the ice cream store or bring chocolate mousse home (yes he did that to me during my intestinal infection and I was stupid enough to eat it).
- Order Internal Bliss cookbook from the GAPS store and any other supplies I need. I already own the GAPS book and Nourishing Traditions.
- Get together an order for US Wellness Meats for soup bones and beef tallow. I'm going to have to watch their website since they are frequently out of both.
- Start collecting GAPS recipes.
- Read the book. (this is going to be a toughie since I can't read/comprehend text when I'm crashed)
- Maybe start introducing some of the foods into my current diet. Try them out and see if I like them. I love the squash soup. I've also made cauliflower soup which was good. My fav versions aren't GAPS legal since they both have dairy in them which will be a no no on the Intro diet but it is a start.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Tummy Trouble Part 2
Had my follow up with the doc today. He thinks my intestines became infected. He doesn't know how or with what. Nothing showed up in my tests. If it was bacterial there was no trace of it in the poo sample. If it was viral it wouldn't show up. He told me that viruses tend to be 24 hour things so being sick for over a week didn't make sense. Since I seem to be on the mend he is going to let it go for now and have me check back in with him in two weeks. Maybe it was all the activated charcoal and bentonite clay I ate that cleared things out of my system. Maybe I confounded the tests. Maybe I confounded the bugs. It is all speculation at this point.
I've had some odd side effects from this lack of intestinal fortitude: I seem to be able to eat wheat now with no repercussions and I have way fewer aches and pains than before. I'm also quite warm this evening although the room temp is the same as ever. Because of my belly aches I stopped all my meds. I did fine for several days before succumbing to some joint pain. I started on my Celebrex again which nipped that in the bud. I decided (and doc agreed) not to start the hydrocortisone again. It is a nasty med that needs to be used with caution. However, I am sitting here pain free in the middle of a major rain storm. This is unheard of for me. Rain typically kills me. It has for years. What is different now??? Why do I feel fine???
I'm just wondering if I just had a "health crisis". These often happen when a massive change in body chemistry occurs. It is the state of getting worse just before getting better. I've been on my new diet since August. I don't always behave but I'm probably about 80% compliant. I know I've managed some healing with it. My head is clearer. I have a little bit more energy. I can read books again. I've been able to read science papers occasionally. I've been able to plan more often. I've driven myself around to local appointments occasionally. Maybe this week of poo is the beginning of my recovery.
I want to get excited but that is foolish. I keep reminding myself that I have to live in the moment. Now is the only time that I have and I have to work with the energy level I have at the moment. But I want to be optimistic. I want to jump up and down and do my happy dance. I'm feeling better. I want to be better. I want to recover.
I've had some odd side effects from this lack of intestinal fortitude: I seem to be able to eat wheat now with no repercussions and I have way fewer aches and pains than before. I'm also quite warm this evening although the room temp is the same as ever. Because of my belly aches I stopped all my meds. I did fine for several days before succumbing to some joint pain. I started on my Celebrex again which nipped that in the bud. I decided (and doc agreed) not to start the hydrocortisone again. It is a nasty med that needs to be used with caution. However, I am sitting here pain free in the middle of a major rain storm. This is unheard of for me. Rain typically kills me. It has for years. What is different now??? Why do I feel fine???
I'm just wondering if I just had a "health crisis". These often happen when a massive change in body chemistry occurs. It is the state of getting worse just before getting better. I've been on my new diet since August. I don't always behave but I'm probably about 80% compliant. I know I've managed some healing with it. My head is clearer. I have a little bit more energy. I can read books again. I've been able to read science papers occasionally. I've been able to plan more often. I've driven myself around to local appointments occasionally. Maybe this week of poo is the beginning of my recovery.
I want to get excited but that is foolish. I keep reminding myself that I have to live in the moment. Now is the only time that I have and I have to work with the energy level I have at the moment. But I want to be optimistic. I want to jump up and down and do my happy dance. I'm feeling better. I want to be better. I want to recover.
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