Recent Eats

Lots and lots and lots and lots of final studying has been going on here...

And we're all kind of bored with it...

Unfortunately, upon returning back to MA, my sleeping abilities went even farther down the tube. I have a few culprits, one of which I'll get into in a later post, but the moral of the story is I've started waking up after about 5 hrs and can't get back to sleep, which led me to getting very, very sick for about a week, smack dab in the middle of finals. No bueno. But I'm on the upside now, just in time for our last one in physiology. And the good news is I was able to make it through 2.5h of standing during our anatomy practical yesterday. The second night I was sick, I had done a TON of batch-cooking to get me through the week. Unfortunately, I spent a few days where I ate nothing but broth, jello, and some ground beef, so most of it has gone to the freezer where it will most likely be used in emergencies early next semester. But here's what's been going down in the kitchen...

Chordae tendinae!

A renal pelvis!

This is a tangent off of this recipe (which I made for Christmas step-by-step last year and it was great).  I made a stew with some chopped up Boston butt, pork heart, pork kidneys, cabbage, butternut squash, prunes, and onions. I was a little crunched for time and I could've left it in a bit longer, but it's made for several tasty breakfasts. 

With the rest of the butt, I finally figured out how my mom makes some great "pulled pork." And by that I mean, I just asked her. But I had been under the impression she does it on the stove, but apparently that's just how she would warm up leftovers. But apparently you just preheat the oven to 350*, put the butt in a heavy pot after coating it in whatever you want (for me, just salt and garlic powder), fill the pot about 1/3 of the way up with broth (or water or wine), and stick it in the oven for 3-5 hours, depending on how big it is. My mom says she rotates it every hour or so but I didn't bother. I also added in some cabbage, which caramelized deliciously. I also take the lid off for the last 30 minutes or so. It turned out great!

This actually happened before the big batch-cooking night. On that night, I took another big butt :) and put it into my dutch oven with carrots, cabbage, garlic, and onions. I used water for the liquid, because I hadn't made broth (because I'm considering testing out a low histamine diet, but then I read The Paleo Mom's take on histamines and she hasn't found broth and slow-cooking to be an issue, so in the throes of illness, I whipped up a continuous batch of broth so I'm all stocked up again... but more on this later). Again, I put it in too late and as a result couldn't wait for all the caramelize-y goodness to occur, but it's been pretty tasty. 

I also don't have a photo, because during my almost/sort-of sick day, all I did was a ton of vegetable chopping, and so the next day, when I was sicker, I just threw it all in the pot and put it in (because a defrosted butt and several cups of chopped onions can only hang out in a fridge for so long). So maybe I'll get a plate picture up now that I'm eating again.

I also made 2 lbs. of ground beef with some onions and oregano, a butternut squash and fennel roast, carrots, some sauteed kale, mushrooms, and broccoli, garlic, and mushrooms. Most of it's gone to the freezer since I'm going home in a few days. 

And here's the end result in my fridge and little freezer. I also made lots of jello (for glycine, to help with the sleeping) and segmented a few grapefruits (I've decided to make some concessions in locality for AIP). 

But this is what was going on the weekend before all this started, when I had time for some fancy, non-left-over shenanigans...

I bought a tub of chicken liver at WFM. It's lower quality than what I would eat for actual chicken, but hey, liver's liver, right? So I had chicken liver twice a day for about four days straight. 

Anybody else think salting raw liver makes it look cancerous? Anybody?

Served over baked apples with Brussels sprouts and a sweet potato one night and over broccoli the next.

I came across this atrocity while I was at WFM...

I also brought back a bunch of fish from home that my mom was kind enough to vacuum-pack and freeze for me. We have two awesome fish mongers at our local farmers' market. They come straight out of Long Island. Even in the middle of summer, they open their case and all you smell is briny sea air. I'm seriously missing good fish here in central Massachusetts. One night I sauteed some scallops and wrapped two of them in two slices of bacon that were left over from Thanksgiving. 

Treat yo' self!

Aside from our physiology final on Friday, I'm seeing a new practitioner in a few hours to hopefully push my healing along. It's a ways a way (plus we got another almost foot of snow last night) but I'm hoping it will be worth it. I'll try to get some more meal photos up and before Christmas will try to get a post up that (gasp!) is about some recent animal experiences.

In the meantime, some lazy concessions are being made for the end of finals week...

Sometimes

Sometimes... you don't need Paleo friends. You just need good friends who get you, no matter what.

Sweet potato birthday "cake"

And sometimes... dinner looks like this:

Why yes, that is just a sweet potato with coconut oil and some bacon on the side. BUT, it was a sweet potato grown in my backyard... so that counts for something, right?

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I remained completely nut-free, which greatly helped with the holiday food hangover. As my mom raises chickens (and they eat organic soy-free feed at my urging), however, I did eat a lot of eggs and since raw milk is legal in NY, I also ate a lot of dairy. It took a few days to build up in my system, but now dealing with it back in class (and with finals), I regret it. Here's to a strict AIP Christmas!

GT's 'booch in my wine glass

A bacon-less and rosemary-full version (because I was lazy) of these biscuits

My signature side dish: roasted butternut squash, Brussel sprouts, apples, and bacon

The carved bird (my mom and I each roasted one and I stuffed mine with onions, lemon, and thyme)

I altered this recipe so much it's probably not even worth linking back to it, but this was my stuffing (I should've let it boil off a bit longer)

I also made this gravy BUT, in an unfortunate turn of events, I knew my mother had left out a mug full of melted pork fat (from some pulled pork she'd made), so while making this stuffing, I grabbed a mug half-full with translucent, light brown liquid inside and cooked my onions in it. Turns out it was green tea. The end result was still tasty, though. I also used anchovy paste instead of fish sauce and left out the tomato paste (because even if this was not an AIP-friendly weekend, nightshades are still a no-no). 

I also made my now infamous pumpkin marrow garlic soup... except I forgot the garlic. I basically have been making it every time I make broth with new marrow bones, so I'll post a recipe-type thing next time. 

Now this.... this beauty is this recipe, without the frosting. I am forever grateful to Mickey for coming up with this recipe. A pumpkin dessert that doesn't require eggs (because it's easy enough to leave off nut-crusts and use coconut milk)? I'm sold! I have several pieces in my freezer waiting for me to finish my exams and will probably make this for Christmas again. Now, I may have accidentally spilled some extra gelatin into the filling, and my brothers may have taunted me by seeing what they could stack on top of this pie without it sinking in or losing its form, but they can laugh! I'll go on to feel fabulous after eating this. 

For Christmas, I'll probably stick to things from this AIP recipe roundup. 

Happy holiday season!

One Year

Ok, so actually, today is #382. My one year anniversary was the 16th of November, but as I was in the thick of things.... the post was put off. But I wanted to commemorate the occasion and share what has been going on during this last whirlwind of a year.

First of all, I still keep a VERY detailed food and symptom diary. Let me show you...

I kept track of quantity for about the first month or so, but then I stopped bothering. But every day, I include: the date, day number, estimated hours of sleep, whether or not I'm menstruating, every bit of food/drink that goes into my mouth (with the exception of non-dairy fats/oils or water), every supplement, and my symptoms. I record instances of reflux and gas on a half hour basis on a scale of 1 to 3. BMs are recorded using the Bristol scale. Anything out of the ordinary (sinus issues, stomach pains, etc.) is recorded off to the side. Any reflux or gas that's a level 3, more than 2 consecutive hours of either symptoms, a BM of 6 or 7, or more than 3 BMs in a day gets noted with a "!". If I eat an off-limits-for-now food, like a nightshade, or just anything I haven't officially introduced yet (basically any broad-spectrum primal food), it gets highlighted in orange. If it's a total no-no (like on day 62 or something where I snuck back into the kitchen after everyone had gone to sleep and stuffed four of my mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies in my mouth), it gets highlighted in red (and has only happened a couple of times). I usually reserve the orange highlight for when I go out to eat, too, and I know something was cooked in vegetable oils or I can tell there is some unnamed nightshade spice on it. 

I also keep track of when I introduced any kind of food or supplement, and take note of how it affected me and whether I took it back out or reintroduced it.  I keep lists of potentially problematic foods and have a (now very short) list of food that I still want to add. 

You think that's anal (pun intended)? Just wait...

I add up all my symptoms from the day and record them in a separate graph for each symptom. 

And add all the symptoms together and put them in another graph. Each graph has a line of best fit. I'm happy to say that the slopes have always been negative, though they're starting to even out now. Most of that is probably due to those spikes in the beginning, which are almost exclusively caused by nut consumption over the holidays. 

And if that weren't enough...

I also take the 10-day average of my symptoms. Can you tell when vet school started???

My BMs and gas improved early on, with the occasional days here and there that I can't contribute to anything (and other days where I can point to the almond-flour based Irish soda bread or something).  I do have a couple of food/symptom diaries from senior year when I was strict low FODMAP/vegetarian, but I was using a different scale. I know it doesn't look like it was that bad on a day-to-day basis, but that's just because I didn't include what was going on before. Thinking back to high school when I was having seven or eight loose stools before I left the house in the morning or sophomore year of college when I would have such awful gas that I would have to close my door and turn the fan on and spray perfume obsessively or junior year when the stress of finals and having no idea what to do with my diet caused my stomach to make indescribably loud noises at the worst of times or senior year when the gas pressure built up so much in my lower GI tract that I would think I would just pass some gas but actually passed some other stuff into pants (TMI? no such thing in Paleo-land...), this is a HUGE improvement and more than enough fuel to give me a reason to throw myself into this lifestyle 100% and never, ever, go back to anything else.

But honestly, I didn't start to see consistent improvements in reflux until the end of this summer, which is why it's such a bummer that the stress of vet school has undone a lot of that. But it gives me hope for next summer, which is when I'm due for my next endoscopy. I try not to get my hopes up too much by wondering if I've reversed any of the seemingly permanent atrophy and remind myself that to halt the progression of my disease would be impressive, but sometimes it's hard. I'm getting better about accepting the fact that I may have to put myself in the category of people who cannot be "fixed" by a paleo lifestyle – my stomach lining may always be atrophied and I may always need to take HCl at the very least.

Here are other aspects of a well-rounded Paleo lifestyle I've been working on over this past year, along with interesting tidbits and changes I've noticed along the way...

• Barefoot and minimalist shoes (I wish I'd realized this before buying $600 custom orthotics!)
• I squat
• I switched to these hair products and make my own deodorant
• I no longer find perfumes appealing and have no desire to wear them anymore (not sure what to do with the 20 bottles collecting dust in my bathroom)
• I never experienced a carb flu or anything, but I did have this detox period, or something, where I had this extreme internal itching in my extremities and joints
• I prioritize sleep (I think I would blow my classmates' minds if I told them I have yet to be in bed for less than 7.5h this year)
• I prioritize walking and sun exposure (even more than I used to)
• I try very hard to eat mindfully and slowly
• I'm faster to pick up on stressful moments that may have gone by unnoticed before (like driving in traffic, eating when I'm actively worried about something or rushing somewhere)
• I see a chiropractor on a regular basis
• I dealt with adrenal fatigue twice and SIBO once (but for a second time overall, the first was about a year and a half ago now)
• I use f.lux and these glasses
• I'm better about sleeping in a totally dark room and no longer watch TV on my (far away) laptop anymore before going to bed
• My tolerance for sun increased
• I'm losing the desire to drive, use screens, be in cities, etc. I used to think I wanted to be an equine vet because I loved driving from barn to barn, but now I sort of resent it. I was never really a technologically-inclined person, but now I have no desire to mindlessly surf the internet (usually) or play games on my phone. And I never thought I would want to live in a city, at least not for more than a year, but now I don't even really like to visit. Maybe that's just me growing up and realizing what I want more, but who knows.
• I feel like I'm more sensitive to sound. Early on in this journey, I realized I had to consistently turn down the volume in my car by several notches. 
• I basically never, EVER wash my face anymore (if I had makeup on, which seems to have gone the same way as my perfumes, then I oil-cleanse)
• My periods have been ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE.
• I said no to some vaccines

These are things I'd like to work on or see change in the next year...

• Just because I've corrected the adrenal fatigue and SIBO doesn't mean I've noticed any changes yet...
• I'd like to manage my reflux better during the school year
• I'd like to work on strength-training (tomorrow I'm going to trial a local crossfit class!)
• I'd like to see my trichotillomania go away
• I'd like to see my dandruff go away
• I'd like my nails and nail beds to be healthy
• I'd like to have less dry skin
• I'd really, really, really like my allergies to go away
• I'd like my joints to stop hurting and prioritize true barefoot walking more this summer
• I'd like to normalize my menstruation cycle
• Yoga and meditation.... we'll see
• I'd like my memory to improve and revert back to my high school days
• I'd like to know what life is like without brain fog
• I'm going to start replacing my everyday underwire bras with these (because of this), because I'm already pretty good at going bra-less at home. I'll keep some fancy ones around for fancy occasions. 

Overall, I would just like to FEEL the real foods difference. People are always talking about how great and amazing they feel burning fat instead of sugar, getting enough sleep, etc. and having way more energy and mental clarity. While deep down this diet and lifestyle just feels right and that's all I need to keep doing it and be all in, and of course my lower digestive health has improved dramatically, I still just don't feel any different. My energy levels and mental clarity are still less than ideal and niggling symptoms are persisting. I'm still working towards that magic moment where I feel like I learn what it means to be truly healthy. 

(Sort of) Recent Eats

Quick and dirty run-down of some late November meals:

This is one of my favorite lunches to make. It needs to be made in advance, to allow the nori to get soft, but it's so so good. And once it's made, it's fast and easy to eat!

"Sushi:" (Pal-ushi? Lazy person's sashimi?)

• A can/pouch/what-have-you of salmon (but I've used other fish as well)
• Avocado
• Fermented vegetables (sauerkraut, kimchi, whatever)
• Coconut aminos
• Toasted sesame oil
• Nori, as above
• Maybe some grated/dry ginger or garlic (if it's not already in your fermented vegetables)

Roll it up and let it sit! Then enjoy a pretty fancy lunch! 

 Pretty simple meal (I probably ate it for all three):

Brussel sprouts, cooked in bacon fat or tallow, and pork breakfast sausage (this was before I finished clearing out my non-AIP items).

This was a pretty exciting concoction: 

• Loose pork breakfast sausage
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Cranberries

Sauteed and stuffed in a (unfortunately tasteless) roasted pumpkin! I don't know if I would bother with a whole pumpkin again (I had two and they were both pretty bland) but this is definitely a saute to make again (and again and again... once I'm off strict AIP or if I make my own sausage spices). 

This breakfast was exciting! It's my first time introducing whole-fruit citrus back into my diet. I've been using lemon and lime juice for several months now, but I had yet to eat any citrus fruit and this grapefruit tasted so good! It's funny how I used to sprinkle sugar on my grapefruits, because this was very sweet on its own. Served with more breakfast sausage and more vegetables than a vegetarian (carrots and kale)!

And finally...... MY HALF HOG SHARE!

I was afraid it wouldn't fit in my freezer, but there was room to spare!

Seriously, it was like Christmas came early (for both of us)!

And such personal service put a smile on my face! 

Seriously, this half-hog business is the way to go. It all came out to about $5/lb AND when I got there, several people didn't want their organs and I got about 10 lbs of bones for free because the farmer just wanted to clear out his freezer. Unfortunately they've moved so I'm not sure if they will be back in the area, but if they are, next time I might try a lamb share. 

And to wrap it up, one of our last PChem lectures posed a question along these lines:

"Do you think a low carbohydrate, high protein, low fat diet is a good way to treat a human with diabetes mellitus?"

Our professor's answer was a resounding yes! He told us a story of an old friend of his (who taught at the med school) who had DM and could no longer read/prepare his lectures due to diabetes cataracts. At his wit's end, and against the advice of his doctors (including his peers), he adopted the Atkins diet. And voila! much of his sight was restored and he regained much of his health. Unfortunately, he has since passed away, but our professor went on to talk about the benefits of keep insulin low and why Atkins had a lot going for him. He expressed utter confusion as to why MDs still suggest high carbohydrate diets for DM patients, but then again, one of his catch phrases is, "MDs know nothing," so...

In addition, at one point he asked us, "So... do you think starvation is a good way to get an animal to lose weight?" after talking about the body's coping mechanisms during survival, including things like cortisol response and protein metabolism. Again, the answer was no, which was music to my ears! I wonder (hope) if some of my classmates' minds were blown...