Plz help re: disappearing diet/malabsorption

[mellowjello]

DD and I are now eating only wild rice, meat (any seems to be OK, though favorites are lamb and chicken), avocados, and dark leafy greens.

She is reacting to any kind of sugar, even now to the maltose in her VSL probiotic (so says muscle testing, if you believe in that kind of thing). Her candida is bad right now and I can't give her any probiotic for it because they all have some kind of sugar for the growth medium.

I am taking B12 injections now for pernicious anemia and our moods are just millions times better. Wish I had learned this so much sooner!!!! But still not sleeping/digesting. Also, since I started megadosing on B12 the hypoglycemia is WORSE. For DD I assumed it was just either candida or insulin resistance that was making her want to constantly nurse, but now I am feeling it too (weakness, that low blood sugar low feeling). Does anyone know about this? It is crazyness for me right now trying to guess how much to supp. I feel like I'm just doing some crazy chemistry experiment on us both and not knowing what I'm doing. We are both very reactive to under/overdosing and it is super hard to maintain a constant level, esp for DD when I don't know how much she'll be nursing and it seems her needs are different from mine. Is there a good thread on supping Bs?

We may be getting too much vit K through leafy greens? I blend with chicken broth into a soup. These are our only veggies and we eat them almost every day but maybe that's not a good idea. Worried because vit K is fat soluble and processed by liver and our livers are completely maxed out right now. What other burdens might our diet be placing on already stressed livers?

Pretty much everything is giving me heartburn though I never had this before even with some pretty serious malabsorption issues. DD doesn't seem to have noticeable reflux anymore but is burping and hiccuping some. She is pooping very frequently and it is green with lots of visible undigested food.

I soak my grains because of something I learned about phyates and absorption but worried I'm doing it wrong and throwing out all the nutrition with the soaking water. (I cook it in too but often there is too much in the pot to cook with so I dump some out and I'm horrible at guessing how much to leave in so usually there is some to drain out after cooking too). Is there a good thread that tells you exactly how to keep the right temp for soaking without overcooking? How do you do all this cooking with a super high needs baby?

Concerned about eating massive amounts of protein. She swings wildly, sometimes wanting only meat, sometimes wanting only rice. Always wants tons of avocado and would eat a whole one probably at each meal but I am worried about her system taking in that much fat at one time. Before this current bout of {candida/hypoglycemia/insulin resistance/I'm not sure what to call it} she was better about eating a balanced meal but she pretty much always wants to eat a ton. Every single person who sees her eat comments on how much she eats. Sometimes it's as much as a small adult meal. I always thought this was because of not absorbing much from her food. I should probably be pureeing everything for her but it's hard because she wants to eat table food. Any time she sees any food she wants it, no matter when she last ate.

A friend mentioned to me possible testing of liver enzymes for malabsorption. What is this testing and would it get us anywhere? Would it inform treatment or just confirm what I already know?

Thank you for any suggestions. I am too exhausted right now to search and pick through threads, I apologize. I am promising to myself I will pay this forward when we are doing better.

[kortner]

Hey - couldn't read and not post, though a lot of this is over my head.

Do you have a good tool to puree? I'd make some BIG BIG batches of things she likes to eat and freeze portions (those silicone cupcake trays work well) for later, so you only have to reheat (I put mine in a little dish in a pan with water on the stove).

We've been having the same thing with undigested food in the stool. If you think about it - if it's not broken down, they aren't getting any nutrition from it. I figured the net effect was causing more work for the body to process than energy gained from calories. However, the really pureed stuff seems to be well digested, so that is what I'm doing. Even avocado - the chunks cause obvious irritation and sometimes mucous, but if it's well pureed, no problem.

I don't really know anything on the sugar/candida/insulin issue. Do you have thrush or yeasty diaper rash or other sx? You could apply apple cider vinegar to thrush, or even in the diaper area if it isn't raw - if it is I'd do coconut oil.

Are you taking anything to help support your liver? I'd do milk thistle tincture (1 squirt/30 drops 3x/day) or freeze-dried caps (2 - 3x/day). Vit. C in divided doses throughout the day (if there's one you can have). I can't think of anything else at the moment, maybe dandelion tea?

If you're doing the same greens every day you may need a break/change. I was eating lots and lots of chard and kale and started having a problem with it. Switching to spinach worked for me - but all those greens are high in oxalates which can be hard for some people to process. You could try lettuces, herbs (like basil), radish greens, or other veggies you don't have regularly.

Heartburn = I just read a post on another thread from whoMe mentioning low stomach acid (which is usually a factor in heartburn) can point to a zinc deficiency. Are you taking any zinc? You can try the taste test with zinc sulfate to see if you're deficient. If it tastes like water, you need zinc! You can also try adding fermented foods to help increase your stomach HCl - again, dandelion tea would work here for bitters (the bitter taste stimulates HCl). This would also be a sugar-free source of probiotics. I've given sauerkraut juice to DS and he likes it! (He can't handle the actual sauerkraut though - you know, not pureed). Bubbies is commercially available naturally fermented sauerkraut - Pat/WuWei says even a few tablespoons a day is enough to get marked benefits.

Shoot - I could be wrong on this, but I thought you were supposed to drain off the soaking water and put new water in??? I know you can add kombu or other seaweed to cooking water to increase nutrients and aid digestion.

Well I sure had a lot to say for not knowing what to say! Hope some of it makes sense for you. Sorry I can't help with the sugar/absorption query. Oh! I do think there is a stool test from Enterolab for fat malapsorbtion.

Are you losing weight yourself on this diet? Getting enough fat?

[FireWithin]

There is not a good thread on Bs. The info is all mixed around.
Are you taking a b complex? I really believe that it is essential when on a limited diet because some of the B vitamins are used for food detoxind and some of the other Bs are used to recycle them. I hadn't been using a complex and I think I threw my system out of whack.
Thorne and Perque both have high quality b complexes that use the appriste forms if folate.

I think a thread on Bs is a good idea.

[Theloose]

I second the vote for a B complex. When I supp one without the rest, I get symptoms pretty fast. And I bet it'll be hard to see anything clearly until you fix that issue - there are so many variables that it's hard to tell anything when a known issue is in the way, yk?

don't feel bad about not reading the other threads. sometimes we just need the answers handed to us before we can figure out the finer details.

About the meat - I worry about too much protein, as that can create high ammonia levels and other problems. If you choose fatty cuts of meat, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. And I wouldn't worry about too much fat, unless you're seeing actual symptoms from it. I'd be much more worried about too much protein/carbs, especially with blood sugar issues.

I'll see about starting a b vit thread, but dd is waking up from her nap...

eta:
www.detoxpuzzle.com has info on some of the B's