Step Four: The Part Where I Have to Feed My New Friends in England

We do a lot of complaining in America when it comes to food. It's too expensive, it's hard to find grass-fed or organic, all I have is a Stop and Shop, I don't want to give Whole Paycheck my whole paycheck, it's so wasteful, the farmers' market is far away and meets at an inconvenient time, etc. etc.

I realize my interpretation of the "difficulties" surrounding acquiring quality food is clouded by the fact that I've always lived in the northeast but chances are that wherever you are in the US, you'll have an easier time eating grain-free real foods there than in the UK.

As evidenced by my ill-fated pursuit of Whole Foods earlier in my trip, they do exist. And they actually had more organic produce selection than the ones I've visited in the US. But unless you live in London or Glasgow, you're out of luck. And I have yet to come across a single health food store or chain that sells produce (there are a couple that sell non-perishables, supplements, and beauty products). Chain supermarkets that cater to the average customer who doesn't care much about the quality of the soil their vegetables came from or that their chicken breast came from a real, live, clucking chicken at all (let alone a happy and healthy one) are the norm.

I can tell myself that everyday I drive past plenty of sheep and cows munching away happily and vibrantly green fields and that European countries don't use the worst of the pesticides that are used in the US, but the fact of the matter is, if you want to eat squeaky clean and feel good about what you're eating (and to me that means organic, small local farms, grass-fed), you might just go hungry or get very bored.

Obviously I don't live here, so I'm speaking from a tourist's perspective. I occasionally passed small farms and if I'd have been there longer, I would have made better mental notes about where they were, turned around, and investigated (easier said than done when the sign's made of cardboard and on the side of the highway and someone's on your tail because you're going too slowly trying to figure out which lane you need to be in for the upcoming roundabout).  I'm sure I could make a life for myself here where I could buy whole animals that lived a suitable life from beginning to end, keep them in a chest freezer, and feel good about my meat choices. Produce is definitely another story, though. And I understand. The growing season is only just getting underway where I live at home, and here it's much cloudier and cooler. I was only able to find local (no mention of organic) cabbage, asparagus, rhubarb, and strawberries. I bought the first three local but I just couldn't justify purchasing the anemic-looking British strawberries. I'm sure they perk up as the summer warms up. Everything else I pretty much was able to buy organic in the supermarket, Waitrose, except for a few things that I got at the market.

I don't have too many meals to share. You're not supposed to go to the treatment hungry or full and you're supposed to be a bit dehydrated. This was hard for me because I usually start my mornings with broth or occasionally herbal tea, and that jumpstarts my digestion so that by the time I'm done making breakfast, I'm usually hungry. That sets me up well to be hungry once or twice more the rest of the day, depending on how large my meals are. The first few days I ate nothing before my appointment, and then the second week I tried having a small snack. Neither made much of a difference on my appetite for the rest of the day. I regularly suffered from gas, bloating, reflux, and insomnia with occasional bouts of nausea, so that definitely dampened my appetite. It's hard to say whether it was the Oxyklenz, the act of having the treatments, the treatments themselves, different water, different food, different schedule, etc. but regardless, my calorie count over the last two weeks has been a bit low. Some of these meals I had to stop eating halfway through and put away for next time so that, in combination with buying produce early on with the intention that my appetite would come back to normal (I don't often feel pleasantly hungry but I at least don't often feel so sick that I can't have a normal-sized meal), I ended up with many leftover vegetables that I tried to consume towards the end despite feeling sick. That's never a good idea.

Two other things may have messed me up a bit, too.  First, I laid the FODMAPs on heavy. I'd been doing this (in addition to more starch) with quite a bit of success through most of April and May (perhaps thanks to the LDN). After the combination of the first colon lavage in MA, Oxyklenz, the stress of finals, and the death of one of my cats, my digestion took a hit. Despite being slightly positive for SIBO, one of my doctors encouraged me to eat lots of prebiotics while I was here. I also couldn't imagine NOT feeding my new friends with their favorite food, no matter what bad stuff was still around there or higher up in my intestines. I figured if I could get them to grow, they would eventually outcompete their rude and unhealthy neighbors and tell my immune system to tell everyone else to simmer the fuck down. I guess that's why I should stop worrying about what's going on now and wait a few months to see what happens. But what I'm trying to say is that I'm eating for my goals, not my current symptoms, right now. And I don't know whether that's what's best for me right now, but it's what I'm doing. I tried to talk this over with the clinic but didn't really get an answer. And I understand. Everyone's different. Not only does everyone respond differently, but we all come from such different places of medical history, current symptoms, and current diets. And then we all do different things and feel different things as the treatments occur. So who knows which variables contribute the most to success? It's a total crapshoot (pun intended).

On a related note to eating my goals, I also had some dairy. I found myself in the health store looking at the fridge and thinking I should've been eating fermented food this whole time. But by the time I had that thought, I didn't have enough days left to finish the large jar of red sauerkraut I saw, so after some hesitation (and disappointment at the ingredients in the other fermented options), I went with something that sounded like milk kefir. Well, that was dumb. I talked up all the stories I'd heard about milk kefir being some magic elixir and forgot the most important argument--my body doesn't like it. Anything with more dairy in it than butter makes turns my moderate allergies severe and just generally makes me feel ill. Last week was no exception. And due to my lack of willpower (or something) towards my ability to waste food, I continued to eat it anyway. I even did the same for some maybe organic, maybe grass-fed cheddar my mom had left. Bad. Bad. Bad. I kept trying to tell myself I was training my new friends, but they weren't ready to be thrown in the deep end just yet.

Without further ado, here's what I've been eating.

Aforementioned allergen-friendly restaurant in Cambridge

Aforementioned allergen-friendly restaurant in Cambridge

Snacks from the health food store in Hitchin, served with dried fruit and/or in coconut yogurt

Breakfast of GF organic pork leek sausage, hard boiled egg, and a cauliflower, onion, zucchini stir-fry 

Salad with mixed greens, olives, avocado, beets, and tuna with oil and vinegar served up with Nom Nom Paleo's podcast

Beef burger with bacon and asparagus and mushrooms

The making of one of the greatest meals I ever made: chicken breasts with onions and dried apricots, deglazed with chicken stock from the grocery store

The finished product with sweet potatoes and broccoli

A light breakfast of honey dew melon and the amazingly clean coconut yogurt

Bad dairy decision #1: kefir-like drink mixed with blackberries and coconut milk yogurt

Brunch of GF organic pork leek pork sausages, spinach, artichokes with butter, coconut yogurt with strawberries and blackberries, a little bit of chicken stock, and herbal tea with a little bit of the kefir

Ground beef, zucchini, cabbage, garlic, and onion stir fry with orange and white sweet potatoes

Light breakfast of honey dew melon drizzled with coconut butter and pumpkin seed butter

The last of the kefir over raspberries and strawberries with pumpkin seed butter and honey

Smoked haddock with steamed orange and black carrots with lots of a big blob of butter and sweet potatoes with fermented and then pasteurized beet juice (only option...)

Dessert of cold cherries dipped in warm coconut butter

Weekend brunch of eggs scrambled with mushrooms, broccoli, garlic, onions, basil, and bad dairy decision #2, cheddar, over sweet potatoes with a side of strawberries and dried blueberries in coconut yogurt with herbal tea 

Organic beef meatballs with very clean, minimal ingredients, steamed kale, carrots, and sweet potatoes

I cooked one pound of English rhubarb with two dried apricots. Here's half of it mixed with coconut butter. 

Big weekend brunch of a zucchini, garlic, onion, mushroom, basil stir-fry with eggs, sweet potatoes, strawberries and dried blueberries in coconut milk yogurt with honey, and herbal tea with coconut butter

Three fresh Turkish figs cooked down with butter, a few strawberries, and a handful of dried blueberries. Served here mixed with coconut yogurt, honey, and pumpkin seed butter. 

Dinner of cabbage, onions, garlic, and Jerusalem artichokes with organic beef meatballs; peas with olive oil; sweet potatoes; and beet juice

Lunch of cabbage, onions, garlic, and jerusalem artichokes with organic beef meatballs, artichokes with butter, and beet juice

Second to last dinner was probably too heavy on the FODMAPs (but not the only one) – cabbage, garlic, onions, Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, and peas topped with beef meatballs and sweet potatoes

Final lunch in Hertfordshire, already trying to tone down the FODMAPs: all the leftover carrots with butter, beef meatballs, baked kale, and sweet potatoes

 And a final dinner: "room service" 

Room service order: a plate, a bowl, and a setting of cutlery

Add to that Scottish smoked salmon, hard boiled eggs, coriander (cilantro?), and cherries

Looks better to me than any of the room service options

Served up with some Ina and herbal tea

A pleasant surprise that I didn't overcook the hard boiled eggs as I had thought

My final breakfast at the hotel: lukewarm chocolate coconut yogurt, dried blueberries, honey, and pumpkin seed butter. The 4:15 am sunrise finally worked in my favor when my alarm went off at this time and it was already bright outside!