Sauerkruat

Sandor Kratz has become is the the Prince of Fermentation. He has a great book on how to ferment almost anything. Here is a YouTube video he made on how to make Sauerkraut. From this, I have been able to make my own Sauerkraut successfully :) It tastes really good, and is great to add the juice to the dinner to increase stomach acidity, as well as probiotics.

GAPS Protocol

Much has been occurring in my life the past 3 months. I have made a complete life change in a sense. I let go of my music therapy practice in AZ and moved to Northern Cali to study Oriental Medicine. This seemed crazy the entire time I was making this change, yet I had so much peace that this is the direction my life needed to go at this time.

In addition, my health had started to really decline before the move. I was becoming intolerant to more and more foods. It was down to pretty much nothing. Not knowing what step to take next, my cousin, introduced me to the GAPS diet (Gut and Psychology Syndrome). My doctor had recently talked about it as well, so I started to look into it. It followed the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) in many ways. I knew the benefits of this, as I had followed this when first diagnosed with Crohn's disease 11 years ago. I believe that by doing this, I avoided a lot of harsher medications, and surgeries. It wasn't until I started to eat away from the SCD diet that my health really started to go down.

What I like about the GAPS though is that it has strengthened the SCD, where looking back, I see did not work for me. I can also see where the GAPS is needs strengthening as well in some areas, but we are all different, and have individual needs. The GAPS diet though is more flexible and helps you to see what to do for your individual case more.

With the GAPS diet, it is not a life long diet, nor a way to help you deal with the issues at the time. It is a way to permanently heal the digestive system, the leaky gut, the autoimmune disease, etc so that  you will in the future be able to eat those healthy foods you find you can't at this moment.

The GAPS diet was initiated by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. A neurosurgeon in the UK, she began to see a connection between the Gut and Brain after her first son was diagnosed with severe autism. She wouldn't accept that there was no cure for it, so she went back to school and received additional doctoral degree's in nutrition. She found the SCD diet and began to apply it to her son and family, with the modifications she observed. From doing this, her son shows no signs of autism now. He is completely mainstreamed in school. She now focuses her practice on helping other children as well, but found that this helps with anyone, as all disease begin in the gut. As she began to have more people requesting her services, she found that she could not treat everyone, so she wrote the book on how to follow the protocol, so that anyone can do this without her assistance.

The GAPS diet follows different phases. You have the Full GAPS (which is similar to SCD), and then you have the 6 Introduction Phases (which is where the healing of the digestive system takes place).

I started GAPS right before I moved to CA. May not have been the best time to do this, but I needed to do something. I think it helped me get through all the transitions taking place in my life. I see now though that I was adding things in faster than my body was ready, and not following it as well.

Last week, I started to have digestive problems again, and so after talking with my doctor, decided to restart the GAPS diet with the Introduction 1 phase. This time though, just really eliminate everything, and eat only meat and broths to allow my body to rest and heal. Wow! if I did not know what would happen by doing this. I have been experiencing the worst die-off effects I have ever had before. I could barely move the first day. The exhaustion and severe joint pain was unreal. It is getting better though, and I becoming much more wiser with how to handle die-offs. I think for me experiencing is the only motivation to do research and to know if something does work or not. But I have been experiencing some incredible benefits as well since doing this. My anxiety has REALLY decreased. It makes me sad, because I finally got an herb to help with this, and now I really don't need it. Also, my mind is much more calmer and at peace more (except when die-off's become really bad).

I'm can't say that the GAPS diet will completely heal me, but I have faith it will strengthen me more. From what I have experienced so far, I think it can benefit a great many people. From those experiencing autism, ADD/ADHD, eczema, leaky gut, candida, celiac, autoimmune disease, diabetes, adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc.

I'll keep you updated on my progress and the things I am learning through this new adventure.

Ohhhhh....mom you are going to LOVE this post!

So what is the first thing I think of to do, as I study late Saturday night and need a break?.... make liver pate :)

I am currently following the GAPS protocol, which has been really helping me with a foundation of what to eat in order to heal (thank you B. for directing me to it). In it, she emphasizes eating liver and organ meats to get all those dense nutrients that are hard to get anywhere else. I had been hearing through an online support group I am on with GAPS where it has helped them with their energy levels (due to Vit B). I decided this weekend would be a good time to try it, as I have midterms starting next week. 

I have NEVER had liver before, and had no idea how to make it. I've just heard "stories." I got advice from my Grandpa on how to make it, and went online to see different recipes. I ended combining several recipes, than adding some things for my first experience. I don't have exact measurements, but this is what I did. 

I have to say, it's interesting ordering liver at the butcher counter. The lady next to me started to tell me her favorite liver recipes, then became so inspired that decided to get some herself. The guy behind the counter looked like he couldn't understand what the excitement was with it. 

Soak liver in lemon juice for 3-4 hours (supposedly this is to take away the bitter taste. Rinse the liver off afterwards.

 During that time, cut up 1 med onion and parsley.

 Here is the liver rinsed off - I ordered only 1/2 lb. Had no idea how much that really was.

 Cut the liver up into smaller sizes.

 During the past week or so, I had been collecting the fat from the meat stock I had been making. I take some of the fat and put it in the skillet (you could also use butter, or some other kind of animal fat).

 Cook the liver and onions.

I added some meat stock to the skillet, as it looked a bit dry. I let it cook for a few minutes. Then I cut up one avocado, for use later. (this is something I decided to add on my own...)

 Here it is all cooked up, and looking great!

 Put the meat mixture, some parsley, more animal fat in (I ended up putting the rest of the supply in) and avocado into the blender, or food processor, and blend till "pate" consistency. It looks like a chip dip!

Wahla! Here is it. And the verdict on taste... It tastes really good. It has a great dip flavor. I was really pleased with the results, and it will not be hard at all to eat this a little during the week.

Stuck Tire Tip

This week, my dad and I have been changing brakes on our cars almost every morning. 1 set on my back, 1 set for my front, than my dad's back brakes. When we got to my dad's back brake's, we took off the bolts from the first tire, and realized we could NOT take the tire off. We didn't know what to do. We hit it, we told it to come off.... nothing seemed to work. I went online to see if anyone had any suggestions. I found this site http://autorepair.about.com/od/quicktips/qt/tire_lug_break.htm

In it, they said... There's a trick to freeing a stuck-on wheel that almost never fails. You already have the lugs removed, but now reinstall them leaving about 5 turns before they start to get snug. Now lower the car to the ground, get in and start it up. Drive back and forth 4 or 5 feet a few times. Now jack the car up and test the wheel. It should be nice and loose now, ready for you to replace with your spare so you can move on down the road.

My dad tried this and worked!!! I just wanted to pass it on to anyone else who may have this experience.

Gluten Free Flour

Since becoming gluten free, I have been reading up, and at times trying to re-learn new ways to make some of my favorite recipes. At this time, due to limitations on diet, I have not been able to do much. My dad though has become more interested in cooking gluten free, and so was inquiring as to how to make gluten free flours. The ones at the stores don't seem to taste right, nor are they in the price range we would like to spend for flour. 

One thing that has been hard to grasp is how to create the right gluten free flour for baking. There seems to be an art to this. This new way of cooking feels like a foreign language at times. It's definitely not the way my grandma or mom cooked. No more "...add flour..." and wallah it's done! You need the right combination of flours to make the recipe work. In addition, buying gluten free flours are bit more than what I would like to spend at this time... and at times don't taste as good.    

I enjoy reading "Gluten Free Girl's" cooking adventures. Here is some excerpts from her on how to make gluten free flour.   

"You see, I have been realizing this lately: if you bake by weight in grams and you have a recipe based on the solid ratios that work for the different baked goods, you have a great gluten-free recipe waiting to be made. Simply substitute 140 grams of gluten-free flours for 140 grams of gluten flours, and you have it.

... other than a difference in color, baked goods made with whole-grain flours are fairly identical in texture to the starchy AP mix we used for the cookies. That means the protein of quinoa, the iron of teff, the goodness provided by these different flours? They can show up in everything you bake.

Want to make a whole grain all purpose (AP) mix in your kitchen? Here's how.

We're working with 70% whole grains/30% starches. We might someday go to all whole grains for some baked goods, but this blend works well for us now.

If you want to make a big batch for all the baking in your kitchen?

Choose 700 grams of any combination of the following flours:

Almond
Amaranth
Brown Rice
Buckwheat
Corn
Millet
Oat
Quinoa
Sorghum
Sweet Brown Rice
Teff

Almond is not a grain, but it is a whole flour, so I've thrown it in there. You might notice that I have not put in garbanzo (I don't like it) or coconut (I don't like the way it tastes or the way it sucks all the moisture out of a baked good) or soy (I'm having a hard time finding a good gluten-free one). You might like those. Substitute if you want.

This means that you can make your own blend. If you are allergic to corn, and you know you can't eat the certified gluten-free oats, blend up 100 grams each of almond, brown rice, buckwheat, corn, millet, sorghum, and teff. (the flavor you find by blending all these different taste is fascinating. It's amazing how boring regular AP flour seems after you use this.) Find your own favorite combination.

And then throw in 300 grams of any combination of the following:

Arrowroot
Cornstarch
Potato Starch
Tapioca Flour
White Rice Flour

We like using 150 grams each of arrowroot and potato starch, at the moment.

Combine the 700 grams of whole-grain flours with the 300 grams of starches in a big container. Shake it all up. You have whole-grain flour mix.

Oakland Temple

Last weekend I flew up to see my Dr in Alameda, CA again. During that time my sister, her boys and I visited the Oakland Temple. I don't recall seeing pictures of this temple. It is absolutely beautiful! The grounds and view of San Francisco was amazing. On one side of the Temple is a carved mural of Christ teaching the sermon on the mount. On the other side of the temple was a sculpture on the temple of Christ teaching in the American's the beatitudes.

Here are some pictures of the experience.

View of San Francisco from the Temple

I love this pictures

There are way to many other things to do than take pictures it looks like.

Visitor's Center

He was the BEST turtle I'd seen that afternoon

Trying to be like his brother

Sister made some great dehydrated zucchini. Another snack I am able to add to my diet :)

Gluten Free Cake

My mom made a cake....

Not just any cake....

A gluten free cake......

For a baby shower....

Nobody could tell that it was gluten free......

And the cake was loved by all.....