Back on Track

I’ve really been enjoying this relatively new found attitude of self-forgiving and low stress healing.  It feels as though my overall  health has improved greatly within the past month or so because of my shift to a desire of and effort towards more self acceptance rather than a forceful control of all the little details.  Although I believe my new attitude has helped me tremendously, I’ve become rather lax about my routine — even experimenting with adding in local, but pasteurized goat dairy and gluten containing products like deliciously addicting sourdough  from the Wednesday farmers market in Santa Monica, and late night snacking on rich honey and date sweetened raw desserts made with high quality organic ingredients– but which none the less promote the growth of Candida and contribute to gut disbiosis.
While my symptomatic health has improved greatly, and I am more than convinced of the integral role our attitude plays in our well-being, I’m still feeling brain fog, breakouts, occasional indigestion, bloating, and other Crohn’s disease related symptoms — which are all signs of Candidiasis according to Donna Gates and other health professionals. I attribute these symptoms to my increased consumption of improperly combined ingredients, pasteurized and gluten rich foods, and over eating natural sugar.  Luckily I picked up some kefir grains from Lauren yesterday, so I can re-introduce live, home-made probiotic rich kefir into my daily diet.
Here is the healing protocol I’m planning on implementing to take my health to the next level:
-Drink at least 8 cups of water daily (including herbal teas and vegetable juices)
-Take a tablespoon of L-glutamine between meals to heal stomach lining and decrease intestinal permeability
-Continue taking Bio-k probiotic supplement at least every three days
-Drink raw kefir, coconut water kefir, or kombucha daily
-Eliminate pasteurized dairy and gluten containing foods
-Eat primarily vegetables, green juices and green smoothies, probiotic rich foods, sprout-fed eggs from the farmers market,soaked nuts and seeds, squash/red potato/beets/root vegetables,wild-caught salmon, lentils, and grains in their whole form.  Limit grains and starches to no more than 20 percent of a meal. Limit sugar sources to low sugar fruits like grapefruit, berries, pomegranate, and try not to combine fruit with other ingredients.
-Continue taking enzymes and acidifiers like Betain or HCL with substantial meals.
-Continue taking New Chapters multi vitamin and iron supplement.
-Don’t worry, be happy/appreciate — if something makes me feel sick, I think of it as an experiment and learning journey rather than attaching guilt to my actions.
-Move everyday! Walk, run, hike, dance, yoga, sweat!

Favorite YouTube Nutrition Lectures

“If you are not your own doctor, you are a fool.” – Hippocrates

I cannot stress the importance of being your own doctor for your healing process. On my journey, I seen many health professionals (western, eastern, and integrative) and some of the information has been conflicting, or just plain wrong. Not that it’s their fault. Many doctor’s are focused in one area of expertise and used to treating a specific type of illness or injury, but many of us don’t fall into to a nice neat category. The same goes for diet, we all have different nutritional needs and those needs should be addressed. Assuming one diet is better than another could be dangerous.

“You should never assume. You know what happens when you assume. You make an ass out of you and me because that’s how it’s spelled.” – Ellen DeGeneres

Furthermore, if you are knowledgeable about your disease you will have better communication with your doctor and get more out of the appointment, as oppose to wasting your time and money. That’s why I’ve put together a YouTube channel for our blog with some of my favorite Lectures so you can begin your own YouTube Education.

youTube lectures

 

Spring Shoe Love

spring keds

Don’t these shoes make you want to go outside and enjoy the warmer weather! It’s important to be active, but sometimes my beat up sneakers aren’t the cutest. These would be perfect for a day trip or an outdoor picnic. I’m trying to spend more time outdoors, and I think these would be practical and pretty. Keds $40.00

 

Good Ol’ Lemon Juice

lemon
Ever since I began making my own meals at home, I use up lemons like a mad woman. Nothing brings out  the savory flavors of a dish like quite like citrus and I could just about always go for a glass of stevia sweetened lemonade.  Last weekend I went to the Santa Monica farmers market and bought a massive five pound bag of lemons for the week.  I recently rediscovered a small citrus juicer that I had forgotten about, so I decided to put it to use.  I Juiced the entire bag, and bottled up the juice to store in the fridge for convenient usage throughout the week.  It was lovely not to have to pick out lemon seeds from sauce pans, and not to worry about paper cuts stinging while squeezing juice out of lemon halves. I’m definitely going to keep pre-juicing these suckers!

Probiotic Cinnamon Cheesecake Smoothie with Kefir

Probiotic Cinnamon Kefir Smoothie

I thought I would update you on how I am doing with my newish kefir. Although I don’t have a comparison, I feel like my kefir is really starting to work out well. It’s much tastier than when I first starting culturing it. When I go to strain it now, the fermented milk is much thicker with a jello-like solidity. Although it’s hard to measure, I believe the bacteria are getting larger as well. Now my kefir is a little thicker and resembles a drinkable yogurt.

I still don’t like it plain, it tastes a little too cheesy and savory for me to drink it,  so I add 7-10 drops of SweetLeaf liquid stevia in vanilla creme. This makes it taste like vanilla yogurt, and the stevia doesn’t feed the bad bacteria in my gut. Getting rid of the bad bacteria and replacing it with good bacteria is the main reason I drink kefir, so adding sugar even from healthy sources would be counter productive. Sometimes, I add in a some cinnamon as well, which tastes like a drinkable vanilla cinnamon cheesecake. Yummm.

Probiotic Cinnamon Cheesecake Smoothie

2 cups of kefir, preferably made from kefir grains and raw, grass-fed whole milk
7 – 10 drops of SweetLeaf liquid stevia in vanilla creme
1/4 tsp of cinnamon, saigon cinnamon is my favorite

Combine kefir, stevia, and cinnamon, then stir. I use this recipe when I am craving dessert. Reducing sugar is hard, and this recipe helps me get rid of cravings.

A Health and Wellness Blog