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The Autonomic Nervous System and Diet…Where I’m Headed For Now

It seems I keep learning new stuff every day 🙂  I have read part of Change Your Brain Change Your Life (I still have a lot of reading and learning to do!). And there is a lot of great information. One thing that really stood out to me already was the discussion of the sympathetic vs. the parasympathetic nervous system.

“There are two branches of [the autonomic nervous] system. One of these branches, the sympathetic nervous system, is often referred to as the “fight or flight” branch. It helps you burn energy. The other branch is the parasympathetic nervous system. This branch helps you conserve energy. It also helps you digest food.” (1)

Both in GAPS and CYBCYL I have read about this. And I found that I have major sympathetic dominance. This correlates to OCD, worry, anxiety, etc. It also correlates to slow/poor digestion. When your sympathetic nervous systems is overactive you are often in a fight or flight state. This state shuts down unnecessary processes…as in digestion. I knew that my anxiety made my digestion worse. This just makes it really understandable now. And gives me direction. I need to calm my sympathetic nervous system and stimulate my parasympathetic nervous system (I mentioned this once in an update post after reading about it in the GAPS FAQ). This will let my digestive system function and get rid of the worry. It will help my brain and gut function normally.

So I was doing a little research on diet related to the PNS, and I came across metabolic typing. Bill Wolcott says that different people have different nutritional needs (makes sense). Some people need more protein and fats, while others need more carbohydrates, depending on whether you are sympathetic or parasympathetic dominant. And depending on how your body burns energy. Here is the basic idea behind this type of diet.  You can do an online test to see what type of diet you need. Turns out I’m a carbo type…which corresponds to your body functioning best with a high carb, low fat, lower protein diet.

“Generally speaking, if you’re a carbo type you need a higher percentage of carbohydrates in your diet in order to strengthen the parasympathetic branch of your nervous system, which is weaker than your sympathetic system, and thereby alkalinize your too-acid metabolism. Or you need more carbohydrates to speed up your naturally slow cellular oxidation rate, thereby bringing it into balance by acidifying your too-alkaline metabolism.
Carbo types typically do well on a low-fat, relatively low-protein diet — one that includes liberal amounts of carbohydrates in the form of vegetables, fruits and whole grains. However, carbo types need to remember that a “low-protein” diet does not mean a “no-protein” diet. In fact, most carbo types will find that they need to include protein at most meals, but they need to focus on leaner, lighter meats, seafood and poultry than protein types. They should restrict their consumption of red meat in favor of light meat chicken and turkey and lighter seafood such as haddock, cod, perch, sole, catfish and flounder.
If you’re a carbo type you should stick to low-fat dairy products, but you can eat a very wide selection of vegetables, fruits, and grains. However, many carbo types, like protein types, do best by focusing on vegetables that contain low or moderate levels of sugar and starch.”(2)

This is definitely not the way I’ve been eating. By following GAPS I tended to eat a high protein/fat, low carb diet. Not intentionally. That’s just what tends to happen since GAPS is so focused on nourishing animal foods and fats. I’m finding that GAPS tends to be better suited for people with parasympathetic dominance (protein types). And this might be why I struggle so much with too much meat (especially beef) or fat or nuts. I don’t balance it with the proper amount of carbs.

Does this mean I need to start eating tons of bread, pasta, etc.? Absolutely not! Does this mean you can’t do GAPS and follow metabolic typing? No. I have to be more deliberate about my food choices and ratios. Carbs come from vegetables. When I put food on my plate I need to add more vegetables and less meat (the opposite of how I’ve been eating). Grains still may not be the best option for me. I have to try and see. Here is some info from Dr. Mercola on this issue.

“While this is technically correct, if one doesn’t understand the practical distinction between grains and vegetables, one is likely headed for a health disaster. It is important to remember that over two-thirds of Americans are either obese or overweight, and nearly every one of these individuals needs to lower their insulin levels.

Additionally, most people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes also struggle with elevated insulin levels that respond quite well to grain restriction.

So what nearly all of these people–likely over 85 percent of the U.S. population–will benefit from is not a low-carb diet (the Atkins Diet), but the grain-free diet outlined in detail in my new book.

So if you are a Carb Nutritional Type™ you will require about 60 percent of your food as carbs, 25 percent protein and 15 percent fat, but this type may need as little as 10 percent fat and as high as 80 percent carbs in exceptional times. If you followed an Atkins Diet you might improve initially but eventually your system would break down because it required far more carbohydrate.

Once a person attains a normal weight and does not struggle with other insulin related disorders, it is actually possible to consume some grains and remain perfectly healthy. Carb types actually can do quite well with grains, but remember this is likely to only be about 15 percent of the population at best.

Don’t stress out about the percentages; they are only rough guidelines. Even if they needed to be precise, you wouldn’t take the time or make the effort to eat exact percentages of foods every single time you ate, especially for the rest of your life.
Additionally, your activity and stress levels will affect and alter the quantity of food, as well as the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, you need to feel your best.
Last, there is also a circadian rhythm to account for. Your biochemistry moves through various phases throughout the day. These rhythms involve your hormonal output, your acid/alkaline shifts, your waking/sleeping times and many other time-based variables. While some people will have a need for the same ratios of protein, fat and carbs at each meal, others will discover that they need very different ratios at the different meals in order to derive optimum energy, well being and performance” (3)

Here is a guideline of foods that are good for carbo types.

I’ve been so focused on eating protein and fat and grain free that I think I got too low carb (again, not intentionally). While this may have helped seal my gut, it made my PNS even slower…resulting in slower digestion…and not improving my OCD.

What does this all mean? It means I have some experimenting to do. It means I need to be conscious of the ratios of food on my plate. It means I need to increase veggies. It means I’m gradually returning to where I started this journey…a whole/real food balanced diet that does not include processed foods and sugar. At the moment I am still eating a full GAPS diet. But I need to shift it a bit so that I eat plenty of carbohydrates and not quite as much protein and fat. And see if my body handles that better. I would like to add a small amount of properly prepared grains (soaked, fermented, sourdough) as well in the near future and see how I do. I don’t intend to eat “low fat.” I still think I need plenty of healthy fat. But maybe not quite as much as I have been eating and in better balance with my carb intake. I will still eat full fat dairy. I’m not a fan of low fat dairy, especially when nursing and trying to get my hormones in balance. And I don’t intend to eat tons of grains. I don’t think that’s good for anyone. I’m going to try to find the right balance of nourishing food for my body. For now that will focus on shifting from high protein/fat to high carbohydrate. In some ways this sounds like a big change, but in other ways it’s not. Really I just need to eat more vegetables 😛  And I need to be sure I’m not eating sweets. I need to combine all of information I’ve learned over the last couple years with this new information and with what I know about my own body. I still believe in eating lots of nourishing foods like eggs, butter, broth, coconut oil, fish, etc. But the quantities may have to be adjusted for each person’s body/metabolism type. Let the experimentation begin!

I know some people don’t believe in metabolic typing. I can’t say at this point if it does or does not work. But I’m going to try it. I figure I have nothing to lose. If it doesn’t give me improvement, then I find something else. But then again it might help! So this is where I’m at right now. I would also like to try to figure out Rebecca’s metabolic profile to see if I need to adjust her diet. I can’t assume hers is the same as mine. Everyone’s is different. And it can change throughout your life. Again, this is where I’m at for now. I’ll see how it goes and continue to listen to my body while focusing on healthy, real, nourishing food.

I will have to experiment with my ratios. I am a carbo type. But I think I lean a little towards a mixed type too…which would require an equal balance of protein, fat and carbs.

I am curious to see if this has any impact on Abram as well. He has had digestive issues lately, slow digestion. Is it possible that my carb/protein ratios can impact the makeup of my milk in the same way? I guess we’ll see.

There is still more that I’m learning and would like to share at some point. I will be looking into supplements. And I hope to do a series of posts on brain function and tools to overcome problems.

Do you have any experience with metabolic typing? Any thoughts or opinions? I will update as I experiment. But I’d love to hear stories from others as well.

(1) – Alternative Medicine
(2) – The Metabolic Typing Diet
(3) – Mercola

Change Your Brain…

Change your brain…is that possible? For someone with OCD most days that seems impossible. But maybe it’s not…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and again and again. I have to keep reminding myself.)…God’s timing is perfect. And He knows exactly what we need when we need it. I’ve been adjusting my diet over the last couple years to try to be healthier and heal both my mind and body. This journey led me to the GAPS diet. Which has been extremely helpful. After 9 months I have seen a lot of progress. But I’m still not where I want/need to be. Then a few weeks ago as I was digging through the clutter on my desk I spotted a book that has been on my shelf for well over a year now. And it’s not even mine! Sorry, Sara. I will give it back. I promise 🙂  My SIL loaned me Change Your Brain Change Your Life a long time ago (thanks so much!!). It’s been on my to-read list ever since. But life got busy with pregnancy, kids, etc. And I forgot about it. But for some reason a few weeks ago I spotted it, pulled it off the shelf and started to flip through it (not something I would normally take the time to do, but God knows better).

I don’t often have time to read. I have several books sitting on my desk that I started reading when I was pregnant…that I haven’t touched since then. But it just so happens that when we have overnight guests (like we did over Christmas) I bike in the mornings in the office instead of the basement, which means no tv. I can only read. Normally that would mean flip through a magazine. But instead I started reading this book. I skipped right to the chapter on worry and obsessiveness (in other words OCD). It was like reading a chapter about my life. The idea behind this book is that when you have a mental illness it is actually a physical issue in your brain…that can be fixed. If your brain was scanned you could see strange activity in certain areas, correlating to certain mental illnesses/brain functions. OCD stems from problems with the cingulate system. Problems with the cingulate system cause:

worrying
holding on to hurts from the past
getting stuck on thoughts (obsessions)
getting stuck on behaviors (compulsions)
oppositional behavior
argumentativeness
uncooperativeness (tendency to say no automatically)
addictive behaviors (alcohol, drugs, eating disorders)
chronic pain
cognitive inflexibility
OCD
eating disorders
road rage

Well…that pretty much sums it up 😛  That’s me…and I don’t like it one bit! My brain makes me negative, argumentative, obsessive, quick to say no. No wonder growing up my dad often said the common phrase “Mary, Mary quite contrary.” It was true. My behavior is made up of all kinds of stuff that I don’t like and that is not the kind of example I want to set for my kids. I want to be a Godly woman that is loving and kind and patient. I want to be a good wife and mother and not let my messed up brain control me. So I want to do something about it. I want to change my brain. This book gives quite a few techniques for overcoming these issues. And I intend to try some of them (I have already done some via my years of therapy). I hope to do more posts about some of the specific techniques later. Sadly this book jumps right to medications as a solution. I don’t intend to do that (although some days it is tempting to think that a pill could magically take away the obsessive thoughts that I can’t get out of my head). Thankfully it also talks about diet. I’m glad this author sees that as a critical part of healing. Wouldn’t you know it…he says that a high protein, low carb diet (like GAPS tends to be unless you are very careful and intentional) can actually make cingulate problems worse! It can lower levels of brain serotonin. He suggests foods high in carbohydrates (to increase serotonin levels via l-tryptophan…calming effect) or foods rich in tryptophan (to increase cerebral serotonin) such as chicken, turkey, salmon, beef, peanut butter, eggs, green peas, potatoes and milk. After reading about magnesium and grains and already debating about adding them back into my diet this was the information I needed to decide to change directions with my diet. I truly believe GAPS has helped heal my gut. But it may be having some of the opposite effects on my OCD it seems. So now that I have started healing my gut I want to heal my brain. This will require dedication on my part to balance the two. I still need gut healing foods, but also some properly prepared grains/carbs. Thankfully I already eat a lot of the food that is naturally high in tryptophan. And I will be adding more dairy to my diet (including raw milk). This book does not say if this is more a “quick fix” when you are anxious/a way to keep things in check or a way to truly heal. I guess I’ll have to experiment and see.

The author also talks about supplements. The main one is l-tryptophan (a naturally occurring amino acid found in milk, meat and eggs). He also mention B vitamins…which is something I’ve been debating about taking for a long time anyway. So I am planning to look into a good B vitamin complex.

Finally he mentions exercise as an effective treatment. I could have told you that 🙂  That’s why I exercise daily. It is my main way to relax and forget about anxieties and worries. It doesn’t have to be intense exercise. Just some simple biking or jogging.

So that is the main information I wanted to share and the direction I’m headed. But I also wanted to mention a few other things. First, this is actually not the first time I’ve read from this book. Way back when I started seeing my psychologist about 5 1/2 years ago she printed out a section of this book for me to read. It was the section on anxiety and the basil ganglia part of the brain (at that time I didn’t know I had OCD and had not shared any of that stuff with her). So I started following some of the advice from this book many years ago. And I know that it helps.

I also wanted to talk a little about Rebecca and her behavior. It’s no secret we’ve been struggling lately with her behavior. Lots of tantrums, refusal to obey, refusal to answer questions, struggles eating, all kinds of stuff. I’m sure some of it is just typical 3 year old behavior. Especially a 3 year old with a baby brother that gets lots of attention. But I often wonder if there is more to it than that. I know that mental disorders are genetic (my mom has struggled with anxiety and depression for years, and I believe my dad has some OCD though he’s never been diagnosed). So it would make sense that Rebecca could have some of the same tendencies. As I was reading about worry and obsessiveness I came across a section about ODD…oppositional defiant disorder. This is what is says:

“ODD is considered a behavioral disorder of children…who are negative, hostile, defiant and contrary. They tend to be argumentative, are easily annoyed, and lose their temper often, especially when they do not get their way. These children are chronically uncooperative. They tend to say no even when saying yes is clearly in their own best interest…Most children will comply [with a parent’s request] seven to eight times out of ten without a problem. For most ODD children [this usually only happens] three or fewer; for many of them it is zero.”

It certainly would explain a lot of Rebecca’s behavior. I found this part very interesting: “These children cannot shift their attention. They get stuck on No, No way, You can’t make me do it. They often have ‘cingulate parents,’ and many of them have a family history of OCD and other cingulate problems.” (meaning me :P)  “One of the most interesting findings among [ODD children] was that mothers or fathers who had obsessive thoughts, compulsive behaviors, or inflexible personality styles tended to have children with ODD.” “A child’s inability to shift attention causes his behavior to appear oppositional. It is also possible that the parent’s rigid style causes the child to react in an oppositional way as a way to gain independence and autonomy.” “[Some] oppositional children get worse (“more stuck”) under pressure or when they are pushed to comply with certain requests.” This would explain why once Rebecca starts to get defiant and you ask her over to do something (and you get more impatient/stressed) she just gets worse, the tantrums start, she cries harder and she can’t get “unstuck” from the cycle until you give her something calming (her milk cup) and let her be for a minute. She often even says “I can’t stop. I need something to settle down.” I guess I need to start listening to her.

So, what do we do about it? Well, I can start with diet for her just like for me. Stick to nourishing foods with a good balance of carbs and protein (I’m so glad she drinks so much raw milk!). It is also very helpful to give her options and distractions. This will help her get “unstuck”…change her thoughts. If she is having a meltdown about getting on her shoes, instead of getting impatient with her I should forget about the shoes for a moment and ask her what doll she wants to bring to the store. Then go back to the shoes after she has cleared her mind a bit. And that is also why I mentioned in my goals post about giving her options that require more than a yes or no answer. Since she is likely to automatically say no that doesn’t work. I need her to have choices that make her think and give a true response. This will change her thought process and get her away from any obsessive thoughts. This could also be why Rebecca can’t drop a topic. If she has a question she will ask you over and over and over until you answer. And sometimes you even have to answer multiple times. She can’t get it out of her head.

I’ll be honest, I have only read the part of the book that talks about OCD/worry. I want to read the whole book at some point since I know I have other mental issues that need to be addressed. But this is my starting point since the OCD is my biggest struggle. God knew exactly what I needed to know right now in order to continue on my healing journey and to help with Rebecca. I have a lot of changes to make in the way I interact with her.

So this is my starting point. It will be experimental. I’ll see how things go with the diet and supplements. If adding grains makes my gut way worse than I’ll switch back to GAPS and just be careful about my carb intake. For now this is where I’m at…right where God wants me to be. And I feel a peace about it. I hope that it helps both Rebecca and myself…and the whole family. I want to be a loving Christian wife and mother that brings joy to her family. I want to heal my brain and change my life.

Do you struggle with OCD or any other mental illnesses? I’d love to hear from anyone that has found things that work.

God’s Perfect Timing and Placement

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written any reflective posts. But I’ve been thinking lately about God’s perfect timing. I’ve talked about it in the past. And I was reminded of it again lately. Oddly enough it relates to food 🙂

Last winter we tried raw milk for the first time. It was at a farm close to home. And it was only for the winter…a perfect way to try it and see if we liked it. And perfect timing…it coincided with my 2nd trimester of pregnancy almost down to the day. The trimester when dairy is such a critical nutrient as the baby’s muscles are forming. I was able to drink tons of nourishing raw milk every day during my  second trimester. It was wonderful. Then our winter share ended. And I stopped drinking much milk since we didn’t have raw milk anymore. Then I started doing GAPS. And after Abram was born I went totally dairy free. It really seemed to help with his reflux and my gut. Although I still would have liked to give Rebecca raw milk it wasn’t critical for me anymore. I’ve mentioned a few times now that we just started a new cow share. It is so wonderful to have healthy raw milk again. Although this option was available to us for the past year we didn’t take advantage of it. We debated. It seemed like a bit of a drive. We were kind of waiting to see if we’d get a winter share again from the farm we got it last year. We were on the waiting list there and wondered if there would be any openings (no luck). So we just waited and went without raw milk for a while. Then in August we took a tour of Grassfields Farm. We got our beef and our pork there this year. And they are such nice people. We love their cheese and chicken as well. I mentioned on facebook that we had visited. And wouldn’t you know it, one of the moms from my MOPS table was thinking about getting a cow share there. And wanted to know if we were going to do the same and wanted to share the drive/pick up. We had always said we’d be more open to going there if we could share the work. And God just set it all up for us…right at the perfect time. It just so happens that as we were considering it and talking with the other mom I decided to start adding dairy back into my diet. I think it will now benefit both Abram and me. But I didn’t want to add dairy unless it was raw. So we talked about it and prayed about it. And tried the milk. And decided to go for it! In the few weeks before we got our milk I was able to introduce ghee and butter. Then just when I was ready to move to the next step was our first week of raw milk…and I could make raw sour cream to add in. Perfect. It also happens to be a great time for Rebecca to get back on raw milk. Just in the last couple weeks she is making such progress on her eating and her tastes changing. And I feel like giving her raw milk is one of the final steps we need to take for her. Also, Abram will be 6 months old next week. So he’ll be starting solids very soon. And if he is going to have any dairy I want it to be raw. Again, God worked everything out in his perfect time, in the perfect season. My healing from GAPS seems to be hitting a rough patch at the moment. The last few weeks have been up and down. I think adding cultured raw dairy is the boost I need to keep things going and continue healing. And get the nutrients I need. And maybe gain a few pounds back? 😛

God doesn’t only have perfect timing. He has perfect placement. As I mentioned I am now sharing the milk pick up with a mom from my MOPS table. She also happens to have a daughter in Rebecca’s Kindermusik class and lives close by. When MOPS started this year I was a little nervous about who would be at my table. I really enjoyed getting to know the women at my table last year. So I wasn’t sure how it would go, if I would connect with anyone, etc. Then I met Stephanie (the one we’re getting milk with). And then I found out that another mom at my table is into natural living. She already has a cow share at Grassfields, eats real food, actually knows what GAPS is, eats grain free at times, reads the blogs I read, etc. So yesterday I had the pleasure of talking to her and getting to know her a little more. Sometimes I feel like the only person around me that eats the way I do, etc. And then to end up at a MOPS table with not one but two women that share the same views I do?? That’s just crazy. And amazing. And to top it off our tables are arranged by where we live…which means that these women live very close to me. I am very excited to get to know these women better.

There are days when I feel like I’m making such good progress, feeling good, on the right track, etc. And there are days where I wonder if I’m doing anything right and maybe I’m just crazy for trying to heal my body with GAPS (like during the last few really rough days I’ve had). Then God shows me that He is in control. He is leading me down this path. He has plans to prosper me, not to harm me. He knows what I need and when I need it. We go through all different seasons in our lives. And this just happens to be the season I’m in right now. When I look at the big picture I see how far I’ve come from a few years ago. And each step along the way has been in God’s perfect time. So I will be patient and see where he wants me to go next. I am excited to be making a step in the right direction for the health of our whole family. And I am excited to have the opportunity to develop new friendships and get the support I need from other women.

God is perfect. And his plans are perfect. I will trust in that and hold on to that hope daily, through the good days and the bad days. God is using me for his good and perfect plan. And for that I am thankful.

Fermented Vegetables (GAPS-legal)

I finally got around to making some fermented veggies yesterday. I followed the directions in the GAPS book. It doesn’t give quantities, but it tells the method. I used cabbage, beet and carrot. GAPS also suggests cauliflower, but I’m avoiding that right now. I hope I do ok with the carrot in this form. It was super easy to do. I made 3 quarts. It takes about  week to ferment. I’m anxious to try this when it’s done! This is a great probiotic food that will aid in digestion. The veggies and liquid should be added to your diet gradually because of the probiotics.

Fermented Vegetables
makes ~ 3 qts.

1/2 large green or red cabbage
2 large carrots
1 large beet root
cauliflower (I didn’t use this)
salt
garlic (I just added some garlic powder)
3/4 cup kefir whey
water

Chop veggies into bite size pieces or shreds. Season with salt to taste. Add chopped garlic or garlic powder. Mix. Distribute evenly between 3 wide mouth quart jars. Add 1/4 cup whey to each jar. Fill with water so that all of the veggies are submerged. Seal jar. Let ferment on the counter for 1 week before transferring to the refrigerator.

Digestive Enzymes and Stomach Acid – What and Why

On my journey towards healing my gut I have focused a lot on probiotics. By now most people know about probiotics. They are the good bacteria in your gut and help digestion. So I’ve been taking those for quite some time. And thought that was enough. But it wasn’t until I read GAPS that I heard about the impact of digestive enzymes and stomach acid on gut health. If you have abnormal gut flora, chances are you have low stomach acid. Which makes it hard/impossible for your body to break down/digest proteins properly. The solution? Bump up the acid! Sounds counterintiutive in our culture where everyone is popping antacids like candy. So here’s a short explanation.

Pepsin, a protein-digesting enzyme, breaks down proteins into peptides and amino acids. The acid in the stomach is what activates the pepsin. The pH in the stomach needs to be 3 or less to do this. So if the stomach acid is insufficient, the digestive process goes wrong from step 1…which only leads to more trouble as the process continues. Maldigested proteins pass through the small intestine. The intestinal wall and pancreatic enzymes then don’t get the proteins in the form they expect…and can’t do their job properly (step 2 gone bad). Food coming from the stomach should have a pH of 2 or less to stimulate the production of the hormones secretin and cholecystokinin. Secretin stimulates the liver to produce bile…to continue the digestive process. More importantly it stimulates the pancreas to produce alkalising bicarbonate solution to reduce the acid in the food (a more alkaline environment), which the small intestine needs. It is critical for pancreatic enzymes to digest protein, carbohydrates and fat. And these enzymes are only produced if cholecystokinin is first produced. It tells the pancreas to make the enzymes necessary to digest the food. Without these 2 hormones digestion does not happen.

So what does that mean…if food is not digested? Maldigestion and malabsorption. Partially digested food “leaks” through the intestinal wall. Maldigested proteins cause allergies and autoimmune reactions. Maldigested carbohydrates get converted into toxins. Nutritional deficiencies are a big problem when this happens. Vitamins, amino acids and minerals are not absorbed. Fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E, K and essential fatty acids are not absorbed since fat is not digested. And the undigested food rots in the digestive tract, becoming toxic. Doesn’t sound too good to me. But wait, that’s not all.

Stomach acid is also critical for killing microbes that you ingest from food. If stomach acid is too low the microbes can survive and colonise in the intestines and even the stomach. This can cause stomach cancer, ulcers and gastritis.

These microbes particularly feed on carbohydrates. When stomach acid is too low, microbes start fermenting carbohydrates. This produces toxins and causes excess gas. Also, some pathogens grow around the sphinchter muscle, which can paralyze it and cause reflux. Sadly antacids are usually prescribed for this. Although it does stop the immediate burn from the acid in the throat, in the long run it just perpetuates the problem.

Finally, the solution…take a supplement that bumps the stomach acid back up. This is called Betaine HCI with added pepsin. You take it with the first bite of each meal. Thankfully this is a short term problem. And can usually be fixed by taking the supplement for a couple months.

There are a couple other simple steps you can take. Chewing your food very thoroughly will kick off the digestive process and make less work for stomach. Also eating sauerkraut and drinking its juice just before a meal will help. Drinking broth with a meal will also help in digestion.

There are also other digestive enzymes you can take. But usually once stomach acid is restored to normal levels the body produces them naturally. So they aren’t usually necessary.

What does this mean for me? I’m guessing that I, like other people with messed up guts, have low stomach acid. So I just started taking the Betaine HCI supplement. I started with 1 pill a day (with dinner). This week I will bump it up to 2 meals a day, and all 3 next week. I can’t report on the impact yet, since I just started. But hopefully it will be very helpful. Especially in reducing gas…my biggest problem since starting this journey many years ago. It makes so much sense now why I had such extreme amounts of gas and bloating when I was living on bread and sugar 😛  I was told to avoid fat and eat bland/starchy food. The complete opposite of what I really needed. I need to avoid carbohydrates/sugar and get my stomach acid levels up. What a concept now to truly be digesting my food for once and not having it ferment in my gut 😛  I’m also hoping it will help Abram with his reflux and gas (by me taking it). Only time will tell. But I’m hopeful.

So if you struggle with reflux or gas…increase your stomach acid! Don’t neutralize it. Without enough stomach acid you can’t digest your food.

GAPS – It Does A Baby Good (and Mommy too :)

When I first got serious about wanting to try the GAPS diet I was pregnant. So I was a little apprehensive. Would it be ok for the baby? Would I be getting/giving proper nourishment? Don’t I need to eat whole grains and lots of fiber? I was nervous. But I read the GAPS book and other blogs and continued to pursue it. I took baby steps so as to not have any strong reactions in my body that could harm the baby. I slowly added probiotic food/supplements, increased my fat intake and cut out grains. I did experience some die off at various points, but not too bad. I finally got to full GAPS. I had a very healthy pregnancy. At almost every check up the nurse said my blood pressure was “perfect.” I had no complications. And on May 9 gave birth to a very healthy baby boy.

And here we are now 5 weeks later. Abram is growing like a weed. I had my postpartum check up yesterday. The first words out of my OB’s mouth when she entered the room…”Is that a toddler or a baby?” In 5 weeks he went from 8 lbs. to 12 lbs. The nurses and OB kept saying he looks like he’s 3 or 4 months old and he looks so healthy (and cute :). My OB just could not get over the fact that he is exclusively breastfed and as big as he is. The nurse said I must be producing pure cream 🙂  The OB even had to “show him off” to one of the receptionists that is expecting her first soon. She kept going on and on about him and that he is EBF. And said I should bottle my milk and sell it 🙂  Needless to say, GAPS is definitely doing him some good! Did I tell them I eat raw egg yolks and lots of saturated fat every day? No 😛  There was another baby in the waiting room at my OB’s office. She was the same age as Abram (mom there for her pp check up too). She was soooo tiny. She and Abram looked like they were months apart…when in reality she may even be older. Must be something in his milk 🙂

And what about mommy? Well, 2 weeks post c-section I was running errands with both kids and walking outside or on the treadmill every day. 3 weeks post birth I had put away all maternity clothes. And now…after gaining over 45 lbs. (a very healthy weight gain in my opinion) during pregnancy, 5 weeks later I’m only about 5 lbs. over my pre-pregnancy weight (and yes, I try to eat as much fat as possible). My blood pressure is great. I’ve been walking or jogging daily. And I have experienced a lot of digestive and mental healing already. My OCD is much more under control than ever. And I’m not uncomfortable/in pain all the time. I can keep up with my crazy kids that seem to not want to sleep/are not on a schedule. I’m excited about getting out and doing things this summer. And my milk supply is obviously good.

What I’m trying to say is…GAPS is definitely doable and very healthy while pregnant and breastfeeding!! It will give both mommy and baby everything they need. No, you don’t need 10 servings of whole grain every day. No, you don’t have to OD on fiber. Keep it simple. Lots of broth, meat, healthy fats (animal fats, butter, evoo, etc.), eggs and veggies. Don’t be scared of GAPS. It has done wonders for me and my baby. I would suggest doing full GAPS while pregnant. And being cautious if trying GAPS intro while breastfeeding. Work your way to it gradually so there aren’t any strong reactions.

Just for a visual. Here is Abram at 1 week old. And yesterday at 5 weeks old (already wearing 3-6m clothes). I think he wants to be bigger/older than he is. He always wants to hold his head up as much as he can and look around. He’ll be keeping up with his big sister before we know it 🙂

GAPS – What, Why, How? The Start of My Journey

Forewarning…this is long 🙂  And I’m still just figuring things out/learning (I haven’t even read the whole book yet). So bear with me. But I wanted to get this out for those that have read my blog and are wondering what in the world GAPS is and why I’m on this path.

GAPS – Gut and Psychology Syndrome

I heard about GAPS quite a while ago. And it intrigued me. But it sounded pretty extreme. I put the book on my Christmas list just in case someone might buy it for me. Nobody did. Oh well. I continued to hear more and more about it. I did some research. I read numerous testimonials of healing. I started to wonder if this might be what I need. I put the book on my birthday list (at the top of my book list this time). Still didn’t get it. I did more research. I finally broke down and bought the book. And I LOVE it. It’s very eye-opening. And it makes so much sense to me.

I should have jumped on it the first time I heard the title. A brain/gut connection? Hello. I’ve know that’s my problem for years now. But this is a new way of looking at it. Instead of always being told that half of my problems are psychological and that I have to cure that to get my gut in order, I now see that it’s quite the opposite. And honestly I’ve always known that. But no doctor ever believed it. I’ve been seeing a psychologist for 5 years to treat anxiety and OCD. And I know I have seen a lot of benefits from it. But at the same time I always kept wondering…how much of this is mental and how much of it is truly a physical problem? That has always been my biggest struggle. Sure, I can force myself to not stick to my daily routine, but I know I’ll be in so much pain if I do. I’m told it’s all in my head. But I know it’s not. When my stomach is in knots day after day it’s not something that relaxing or forcing myself to try to ignore is going to take away.

GAPS has really shed some light on everything for me. The digestive problems did not come from anxiety/ocd. The anxiety/ocd came from major problems in my gut. I first have to heal that…then the mental stuff will get better. I kept trying to tell my doctor that. If I didn’t feel sick all of the time I wouldn’t worry about the OCD stuff. I don’t believe any amount of CBT or exposure therapy is going to make me better. I firmly believe that I have to get my gut healthy first. Then I will be able to fully get over the other stuff. Like I said, I’ve kind of known that all along. But when doctors tell you otherwise you believe them.

So, what is GAPS and how did it all start for me? Basically normal functioning of all parts of your body start in the gut. If your gut is unhealthy then it will eventually lead to other health problems. This is especially true for conditions like autism, ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, allergies, depression, OCD and schizophrenia. We all start out with a sterile gut. And then inherit our gut flora from our parents. Then as we get older other factors help improve it or make it worse. If it gets worse and harmful things are piled on then the body gets worse and worse…resulting in various illnesses. In order to get healthy a person needs to get his/her gut flora back in balance…back to having the good outweigh the bad. If the bad bacteria takes over it leads to gut dysbiosis/leaky gut. And the intestines can no longer process food the way they should. Partially digested food “leaks” through the gut wall and causes lots of problems/allows toxins into the body.

Obviously I can’t say what my gut was like when I was born. I’m sure I inherited some degree of damage from my parents (most people probably do). But that alone doesn’t mean I was destined to have problems. Childhood vaccinations are a potential harm. For a healthy child they aren’t a problem. But for a child that already has a compromised gut they can be harmful. Again, I can’t say that this was an issue for me, but it could be a factor. The first major thing I can pinpoint is that I had a lot of ear infections when I was little…which means lots of antibiotics. And that is a BIG factor when talking about the health of your gut. Every time you take antibiotics it kills off the good stuff with the bad. I had ear infections every year, some pretty severe, until about 6th grade. And that was about when I started having days here and there when I could barely sit up in school because I had so much pain in my side. I now know that it was gas/GI pain. But back then I had no idea. I just knew I needed to lay down for a while to make it go away. In addition to yearly antibiotics I know diet had a big impact. We grew up eating plenty of processed foods…HFCS, white flour, white sugar, frozen/packaged food, etc. Which added to the deterioration of my gut health. The good was killed and replaced with bad. Late jr. high/early high school was when things really started to decline…when it took a toll on me mentally. This is when the eating disorder and very skewed self-perception kicked in. I thought I was fat. I did not like the way I looked. So I started to eat a lot less. And I stopped eating fat almost entirely. This was very detrimental to my physical and mental health. But I didn’t know it at the time. My fat intake was very low, which means severe lack of critical fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K…leading to a very compromised immune system. My protein intake went down (not good for a growing teen), which means all kind of nutrient deficiencies. And of course then I craved carbs and sweets…so that became the bulk of my diet. Which leads to zero nutrients, hormonal imbalance, messed up insulin levels, and your body starts to store fat. So the vicious cycle continues. You try to eat less and less food and fat…your body stores more and more fat…you get sicker and sicker…your gut gets majorly damaged…your mental condition gets worse and worse. Here are the typical stages of an eating disorder (summarized from GAPS):

“1. multiple nutritional deficiencies…lowered immune system…illness…antibiotics…damage to the gut flora.
2. GAPS develops where the abnormal gut flora start producing toxins…these toxins get into the brain causing problems with mood, behavior, learning, concentration, memory and sensory perception…namely self perception.
3. Gut degeneration…it becomes porous and “leaky” and unable to fulfill its functions. The person cannot digest and absorb food properly, which leads to more nutritional deficiencies. The person suffers from digestive problems that get worse when they are coaxed to eat as their gut is in no fit state to handle food.
4. Hormonal exhaustion. Hormones rule metabolism, growth and repair. The lack of hormones leads to developmental issues (sexual development, fatigue, emotional problems, sleep problems, skin problems, etc.).
5. GAPS comes with a craving for carbohydrates, from swinging blood sugar levels. Patients binge on processed carbohydrates, feeding abnormal gut flora and perpetuating the whole problem further.”

That is like reading my life story from early high school to just a year or two ago. I hardly ate anything. I got sicker. I craved sweets (anyone who knows me knows about my obsession with massive amounts of ice cream)…and that’s mostly what I ate. I got sicker. My GI issues got worse. I tried certain diets (for IBS, etc.)…which were based on white, starchy foods. I got sicker. My GI issues got worse. I tried various medications. I got worse. My mental condition got worse. My whole body has been out of whack for a long time. And it has led to major GI issues, major mental issues and infertility.

It doesn’t end there. Many medications can cause further damage to the gut. One big one is birth control. I regret now ever taking it (for 5 years). I obviously didn’t need it 😛  And I’m sure it did a lot of damage. I have also been taking thyroid medication for quite a few years.

I’m kind of condensing a lot of stuff here. But the major factors for me were antibiotics (as a child and as an adult due to surgeries, etc.), diet and drugs (birth control, anti-depressants, GI meds, thyroid meds). Which led to a whole host of problems that all started in the gut. Even though I was told they were in my head.

I am very thankful that over the past year I have already made a lot of progress towards healing my body by cutting out a lot of the damaging food I was eating (processed, white, refined, etc.). And more recently really focusing on very nourishing and healing foods. But I know I still have a long road ahead of me. My gut has been so severely damaged…and it shows (inability to digest food properly, anxiety, ocd, infertility). So I need to really start from square one and heal it. Sounds easy…but I know it’s not.

This is where the GAPS diet comes in. There are different stages of the diet. To truly heal you have to start with the intro…which is mostly eating bone broth all day every day for a couple weeks. Then other foods are gradually added back in one at a time, ending with the full GAPS diet. This process of healing can take up to 2 years, which is likely for someone like me. Sounds a bit daunting. But is it worth it? Absolutely!!! For my own sake and the sake of my family.

Where does that leave me now? Well, I can’t start with the GAPS intro while I’m pregnant. When you start healing your gut and getting rid of all of the toxins there is a lot of die off. Your body gets the bad stuff out. Not good for a growing baby. It can even be harmful while breastfeeding. So my full healing process will obviously have to wait a while. However, I can start on the full GAPS diet right away. That has all of the nutrition you need. And it will be much easier on my body. Will it totally heal me? No, not completely. But will it really help me to live more pain free, be more stable, function more normally and be prepared for intro when I’m able? YES! So far I have only taken some steps towards the full GAPS diet (mainly eating grain free). And I can already see differences. For the past 3 days I have been reducing my OCD behavior/compulsions. It wasn’t a conscious choice. It just kind of happened. And my anxiety didn’t get out of control. It was pretty amazing. Did I feel great the rest of the day? No. I still had problems. But not really anything worse than usual. If that can happen after only small steps towards the full GAPS diet, I’m excited to see how much better I can feel on the full GAPS diet (and once my digestive organs aren’t being smushed by a big baby :P). With only a few weeks left before having this baby I don’t intend to even get to full GAPS by then. I will not be cutting out all dairy and sugar yet. I don’t want to make too many more changes right now. But after the baby is here and is a couple months old I’ll hopefully be ready to jump into full GAPS. Then someday down the road I’ll start from the beginning.

I’ve wanted this change for so long. I’m ready. For me to feel better. But I have another motivation…Rebecca. I want to be a good mother. But more than that I want her to be healthy too. So I will be gearing her diet more towards GAPS foods as well. Not as extreme as my diet. But definitely make sure she’s eating plenty of nourishing foods and not too much starchy/grain food. Sadly I know I passed some of my GI issues on to her. I want her to have healing from a very young age and hopefully prevent her from going down the road I did. And I want her sibling(s) to have a better start as well. I’m anxious to see in the coming weeks/months if I can tell a change in Rebecca’s GI patterns and behavior from a diet modification.

I mentioned that I have been seeing a psychologist for quite some time now. Well, I’m not sure I want to continue at the moment. The last time I was there I felt very uneasy. Like she was telling me the same things over and over and talking down to me a bit. I have the tools. I know the process. I am doing the stuff…but it doesn’t work!!! Until I get the physical healing started the mental will not change. And I’m guessing she won’t agree with me. I left my last appt. feeling like I didn’t want to go back for a long time (normally I feel great when I leave). Like she was going to want me to do things that would actually push me in the wrong direction. Trying too hard to work on the mental stuff if the gut is not healed will just backfire. I do have an appt. scheduled in a few weeks. And I’ll go. But beyond that I’m not sure. We’ll see where this leads and how I’m doing after the baby.

Another thing that stood out to me in the book was the mention of medications. Just because you are starting GAPS doesn’t mean you can stop all of your current medications. First you have to heal the gut…then wean off the stuff that you don’t need anymore. So as much as I would love to stop taking my thyroid med and miralax, I know they are necessary to function right now. As I get healthier I can then work on getting rid of the medication.

That’s a condensed version of my story. Now…what is the GAPS diet? You can read a lot of the details, the steps and what’s allowed/what isn’t on the GAPS website. Some of the main things to avoid are grains, starchy food, carbohydrates, sugar (in any form aside from fruit), dairy (at first…some is allowed on full GAPS), anything processed, bad oils/fats, anything containing gluten and caesin, anything artificial. You don’t just avoid bad stuff. You fill your body with good stuff…bone broth, eggs, meat, fish, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, lots of healthy fat (from meat, butter, ghee, coconut oil, olive oil), kefir and fermented food.

I am taking baby steps to get started. Right now I’m focusing on eating grain free and adding more bone broth to my diet. At some point I’ll work on cutting out sugar and most dairy.

This is both scary and exciting. But I truly believe it’s where I need to be. And I’m anxious to finish reading the book! God is guiding me through this long journey one step at a time…and in his perfect time.

Gluten Free…Is It For Me? Or Maybe Even Grain Free?

I’m starting to realize it’s just not worth it. The momentary pleasure of eating something made with wheat is just not worth the pain and suffereing that comes after. Over the last couple months I’ve been making big steps towards becoming “mostly” grain free. But this month I started out a little more strict. And I think it was what I needed to shed some light on the next steps in my journey towards healing my gut. I had 2 days in a row of eating completely grain free. And I was feeling quite good. Then Wednesday I had sourdough muffins in the morning and burritos on whole wheat tortillas in the evening. This was a great experiment and told me a lot. I know my body well enough by now to know that foods usually impact me about 24 hours after I eat them (give or take). So if I’m not feeling well I can usually have a pretty good idea of at least what meal the offender came from. Yesterday was a great example. I felt great in the morning. Which means the sourdough muffins didn’t seem to cause much harm (they were made only with sourdough and sprouted wheat flour). But in the afternoon…it hit. The intestinal distress. And I knew right away it was the whole wheat tortillas (boughten) I had eaten the evening before. And it was like a light went on. I’ve gone back and forth for a long time about trying to eat completley gluten free or grain free. But I never go all in. But yesterday it just clicked. I saw how good I could feel. And how bad I could feel just from one meal with wheat. And I thought it’s just not worth it.

The crazy thing is that as usual I see God’s perfect timing. I am 9 weeks away from having baby #2. And it weighs heavy on my mind often about how I am going to handle 2 kids while not feeling well so often. But I had a glimpse of how I could feel earlier in the week. And it just seemed like God was clearning things up this week about what direction to take…just in time.

I don’t know for sure how far I’ll need to take this. But I am thankful to at least have a starting point and some direction. So I’m going to do a montly goal update now instead of waiting until April. My plan for this month is to start with only eating wheat that is soaked, sprouted or sourdough. And aside from that eat gluten free (and oat and potato free). I know it won’t be easy, but I’m anxious to see how much it helps. I’m sure I will have slip ups, but hopefully not many. I will make one exception to have a piece of my birthday cake 🙂  Depending on how I do I may go totally gluten free next month. And depending on how that goes I may try totally grain free at some point. And down the road I think I want to go even farther and do GAPS. But for now this is where I’m starting. I hope it will be a big help. I feel very good about this decision and am excited to see how I feel. God has given me a sense of peace about this path. All in his perfect time 🙂

I’ll have to make more of an effort this month to make sprouted flour. And I’ll have to start experimenting with recipes using sprouted flour. See how I handle it. One step at a time. Odd to say, but I was actually quite thankful for a bad day yesterday since it made things seem so clear. But hopefully the bad days will be fewer and fewer 🙂  I just wish the recovery period from eating wheat didn’t last so long. As I said before, it’s just not worth it. A few bites of food for a couple days of misery. No thanks.

Cereal…Why It’s Not As Healthy As You Think…Actually Not Healthy At All

Time to kick off my healthy lifestyle series. I’ll start with something near and dear to me…my beloved cereal 😛  I used to be the cereal queen. I ate it EVERY day for breakfast for years. From college to just a few months ago I’d say there were only a few days I didn’t have cereal for breakfast. And that was either on vacation (and even then I usually had cereal) or if I was too sick. In addition to my daily breakfast I snacked on it pretty much every day. I thought, like most people, that cereal was healthy. Low fat. Lots of vitamins. High fiber (the kind I ate was). But sadly that is not the case.

Cereal is quite unhealthy for multiple reasons.

*The obvious is that some cereals are full of sugar. Especially white processed sugar…which is like an anti-nutrient for your body.

*Then there is the white flour. Again, very processed and hard on your body.

*Most cereals are full of artifical ingredients…colors, sweeteners, flavorings, etc. Anything artifical is foreign to your body and hard to digest…putting more strain on your system.

*All big brand cereals contain GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Another unnatural ingredient that we don’t know the full effects of. GM foods have not been proven safe to eat. They increase the use of pesticides. I personally choose to avoid them at all costs. I want to know exactly what I’m eating…not some mutated, altered food with hidden ingredients. Corn is one of the  most widely used GM food. And it’s in just about every cereal. For example, take a look at the ingredients in a box of Kix (supposedly a great cereal for kids)…whole grain corn, corn meal, sugar, corn bran, salt, brown sugar syrup, trisodium phosphate, vitamin E (and some other added vitamins). It’s all GM corn and processed sugar. How is that good for a growing child?

*Most cereals are fortified with vitamins and minerals. Sounds healthy. But in reality they are synthetic versions that your body can’t really absorb. So they don’t do you much good. Maybe some harm actually.

*Finally, cereal (even the organic “healthy” kind) is toxic. Here is some great information from The Healthy Home Economist:

“To make boxed breakfast cereal in the factory, the grains first have to be subjected to such intense pressure and heat that they actually liquify into a slurry. This slurry allows the grains to be quickly and easily shaped into the puffs, flakes, and other shapes that make each cereal distinct. The manufacturing process used to make boxed cereal is called “extrusion” and it is so violent and denaturing that the proteins in the grains are actually rendered toxic by the process. This is why organic boxed breakfast cereal is more toxic than nonorganic – because organic boxed cereal is whole grain and thereby has more protein in it! The more protein, the more toxic the boxed cereal.”

It saddens me that something so bad for you is marketed as being so healthy…and that so many people (myself included for a long time) buy into it. When in reality it can make you sick and is very hard on your body. It especially saddens me that I ate Fiber One (mixed with various other cereals) almost every single day of my pregnancy with Rebecca. Artifical sweeteners, fake fiber, syntheic vitamins, GMOs, toxic substances. I hope it did not harm her development. I don’t like that cereal is one of the first things most people feed their children…baby cereal, Cheerios, etc. I’ll definitely be taking a different route with any future children. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing all of that cereal had an impact on my digestive issues and my infertility. I wish I would have known sooner how bad it was.

I am happy to say I have not eaten cereal for breakfast for a couple months now. It feels good to be cereal free 🙂  My whole body is thanking me. And I’m glad to start my daughter off on a good path eating real food for breakfast from an early age.

It’s tough to make the switch if you’re a die-hard cereal fan like I was. It’s convenient. It tastes good. But it’s worth it to stop eating it. Honestly, now I think most cereal tastes like fake cardboard. It grosses me out. The skim milk I used to pour on my cereal does too 😛  There are so many other healthy things to eat for breakfast. Here are some of our favorite quick breakfasts. You can make them ahead of time or prep things ahead so breakfast only takes minutes to prepare in the morning.

chewy granola bars
crunchy granola bars
homemade granola
grain free granola
giant breakfast cookies
soaked coffee cake
oatmeal muffins
blueberry muffins
strawberry bread
fresh fruit w/ cream cheese dip
kefir smoothie

Scrambled, fried or hard boiled eggs are always good too.

Enjoy a healthy breakfast every day…that does not include boxed cereal 🙂

Sauerkraut

Last week I made my first batch of sauerkraut. I finally got around to tasting it today 🙂  Very good! It tastes like pickles to me. I just used the basic recipe in Nourishing Traditions. I used purple cabbage. Very simple (aside from a good arm workout pounding cabbage for 10 min.). Very good. And so great for your gut!! Plus it gets better with age. So it should taste really good in a few months 🙂

Sauerkraut
Makes 1 quart

1 medium cabbage, cored and shredded (I used my food processor for this)
1 Tbsp. caraway seeds
1 Tbsp. sea salt
4 Tbsp. whey, if not available use an additional 1 Tbsp. salt

In a bowl, mix cabbage with caraway seeds, sea salt and whey. Pound with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer for about 10 minutes to release juices. Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down firmly with a pounder or meat hammer until juices come to the top of the cabbage. The top of the cabbage should be at least 1 inch (2,5cm) below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage. The sauerkraut may be eaten immediately, but it improves with age.