Day 2 ~ Introduction to Leaky Gut

Breakfast

Fruit salad with walnuts... really needed something light this morning and was craving some fruit anyway. It's my second day off my medication and the fluid retention is pretty bad in my face although I have seen a marked improvement in my leg swelling... Bonus!
It's really going to take time to see changes so at this stage of the game it's really kind of ordinary posting my every meal without heaps to write about, changes etc. I did however take a trip to my local organic food store this morning and grabbed some slippery elm. Most of you may know what it is but for those of you who don't, it is used to heal the stomach and gut, like in the existence of 'leaky gut'. I am going to have some before lunch and see how I go but I'll be taking that for a while because I have my suspicions that I have leaky gut, hence all the 'gut' problems. Apparently a large percentage of the population are suffering in silence from 'leaky gut' and have absolutely no idea!! That is a really scary thought considering it has a serious impact on your health and well being. It is characterised as the permeability of the human gut (i.e stomach, intestines etc) where food and other particles and molecules 'leak' out invading the bloodstream and vital organs. This process inevitably wreaks havoc on the system.
As far as I know you can purchase slippery elm in various forms from any health food store (including as a tea), my friend who is also a practising naturopath gave it to me in bark powder form not capsule and it's kind of hard to get over the texture as it goes down but I am told it is the best way to take it. I have just made up a herbal tea and put the slippery elm paste in there so hopefully that's not as bad as taking it straight. Don't get me wrong, it tastes nice (being the opposite to absolutely foul in this instance), it's just the texture of it going down leaves it a bit to be desired.




slippery elm powder made into a paste

Lunch

 Lunch today was definitely a highlight! I decided that since I can't flavour anything with sauces I might try something new... hmmmm.. keep reading... well... you know how pork has a pretty distinct taste that kind of goes better with something sweet??? especially something like Chinese Char Siu??! Well as you already know that is definitely a no no on Paleo, actually have you ever looked at the back of the jar and read the ingredients in Char Siu? I was mortified... it's not good. So here I was racking my brain trying to think of how I could make pork taste reasonably sweet, really edible and be healthy all at the same time. Okay... sure there's herbs and spices to flavour, pffft... I use them everyday and I wanted to try something new. So here's what I came up with. These were so nice I thought I would include the recipe!

 Oven baked Pork and Turkey Meatballs with Grated Apple and Fennel...

served with salad and avocado.

Recipe:

500gm turkey mince (100% turkey meat, try and get organic grass fed obviously it will be better for you)

500gm pork mince (same goes for the pork)

2 tsp coconut butter

3 generous sized green apples grated and slightly stewed in 1 tsp coconut butter

Fennel seeds ground in a mortar and pestle with 1 tsp coconut butter

Pinch of Himalayan salt/or in this case I used Australian lake salt

1 tbsp of almond meal

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 200 C.

First I stewed the apples in the coconut butter til they were just softened. Allow them to retain some colour.
Let the apples cool in a bowl, now grind a generous amount of fennel seeds and 1 tsp of coconut butter in a bowl, also set aside.
When the apples have cooled add the almond meal and  fennel seeds, then mix until thoroughly combined.

Add the mince and salt with the apples and roll into medium size balls. Place on a metal tray lined with baking paper (foil sticks) and cook for 20-30 minutes or til brown and cooked throughout. You can check by breaking one open. With pork always make sure it is WELL cooked.

  

Some new goodies...

I bought these today too.. can't wait to try!! They smell amazing and are made from 100% all natural non-toxic ingredients! Can be found at all good health food stores but I will add a link in my sidebar for online stockists.




Sukin hair care and Uniquely Natural body wash

 

 

My mid afternoon snack :)

Hard boiled eggs with anchovies and dill... Now I know not everyone is a fan of anchovies but they are a great source of omega-3 and contain less mercury than almost all fish. Only thing is they are high in salt so I am trying not to have too many... TRYING being the operative word!! lol... ohhhh but they are soooooo good!!

Dinner

My partner was nice enough to cook some steamed fish and vegies.

I am just sitting down now to a bit of slippery elm tea (slippery elm powder in hot water with some lemon) finally!
I have a 10am appointment with an immunologist tomorrow so I will be excercising my first day of intermittent fasting but only because I don't want to eat outside the home since I trust very little of what is available. I have come to hate eating out from the amount of times I have gotten sick from the food!!

Day 1 ~ Starting the Paleo Diet

To be completely honest I have had a bit of a head start on the Paleo eating plan. In my mind I had to be 100% prepared for this 90 day challenge so first I researched what foods and beverages I could consume before I threw myself in the deep end. Officially I start the 90 days from this morning to make it nice and clear but I trialed a few days without grains and dairy before today, 3 to be exact. Considering I'm a long time sufferer of joint aches and fatigue you can imagine my surprise when I noticed a massive improvement on these symptoms in only 3 days!! I can't wait to see what 90 days will do and in fact I am excited!
Unfortunately I take regular medication for swelling and fluid retention so my main goal in 90 days would be to come off that medication because I no longer need it to control these symptoms.

Before breakfast

2 cups of organic loose leaf Jasmin tea with juice of half a lemon

Also

5ml organic omega-3 fish oil (Herbs of Gold is a really good non-commercial brand)

2 capsules of Inner Health Plus probiotics (although I will be getting a better brand in the upcoming week so I'll keep you posted)

Breakfast 

Broccoli and brussel sprouts lightly sautéd in extra virgin olive oil (cold pressed) and organic almond, cashew, brazil nut butter tossed with scrambled eggs garlic, peppercorns and coriander seeds (ground in a mortar and pestle). Add a sprig of dill and an anchovy and viola!

Just finished breakfast; I feel satisfied but not bloated which is such a massive relief! I used to always feel bloated and yuk after eating even the lightest meal and digestion took forever! I'm not going to overdo the eggs though cause they do feel a little bit heavy but defintely an improvement.

Also I really want to emphasize that I AM NOT doing this to lose weight but moreso to improve my quality of life.

Currently I weigh 51kg (weighed yesterday) and have put on 3 kilos since the start of winter. I know.. you're probably thinking 'what is she complaining about, she's only 51 kilos'!!! The truth is, like most women, I too struggle with putting weight on in those lovely areas our men love to grab such as thighs, hips and bum. Although I am not considered overweight I do not have the ideal body type, I lack muscle tone and suffer from muscle fatigue. Fluid retention is my greatest enemy... grrrrrr and I have taken prescription meds to help, something which I am not proud of since I have taken the natural approach on almost  EVERYTHING in my life!! It definitely got the better of me.

2:11pm

Only just started to feel kind of hungry after this morning's breakfast so good news... it's kept me going til now... bad news... I feel nauseous and foggy. Can't help but feel this may be a natural process to such an extreme change in diet. Did a bit of research and found a couple of forums on the topic of nausea when starting the 'Paleo' eating plan and nausea is apparently common in most people and passes quickly. It's commonly known as 'low carb flu'... hmm, sounds a lot like how I feel! It seems to affect women more than men from what I can tell from the feedback on the forums.
Recommendation: Eat some sweet potato so I'm going to do just that.

Lunch

Well I do feel much better since having some lunch and the nausea has subsided ( I wonder if the snacking on anchovies had anything to do with it?? I have a lot of energy atm though so I just cleaned out my kitchen of all processed crap (flours, ricecrumbs, corn and other bits and pieces). Can you believe it covered almost my whole kitchen table and took up 2 garbage bags?!! I am shocked cause I honestly thought I ate fairly healthy...
Okay so lunch was oven baked sweet potato with italian herbs and a slice of baked fish, I usually do it in foil to lock in moisture.

P.S Lunch was awesome!!



Dinner

What an amazing day! (except for the feeling a bit icky earlier) I feel pretty good now though and definitely looking forward to the fun I'll get up to in the kitchen tomorrow, I might already be slightly biased in favour of this way of eating but I really think I could get used to this, permanently! I just love the food!!

Beef casserole with thyme, leek and capsicum. Cheers to no grains or dairy for a whole day!