Healing the Gut Tribe--January 2007

[caedmyn]

Happy New Year, everyone!

[Punchy Kaby]

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a great holiday!

I started my new Failsafe diet today, I get to eat rice, lentils and pears oh my!

[joeysmom1729]

Happy New Year! I'm new to this tribe! I really need some major healing, I don't think I'm digesting much of anything right now. My gut is severely damaged from ulcerative colitis and corticosteroids. I just don't even know where to begin. As mentioned in the December thread, I've tried SCD so many times but I just get sooo hungry and end up eating some kind of carb with rice in it. I'm only doing no gluten and no dairy now. I've been off dairy three years and gluten six months.

I'm currently taking Flax oil, L-Glutamine, prenatal multi and Floradix Floravital for anemia.

Would love to see what everyone else is doing.

[MommyofPunkiePie]

Subbing

[MeMommy]

Hi all! Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays.

Welcome Melissa! I'm also new here, and my DD and I have major thrush issues. There's a ton to learn!

Some questions for y'all.....

-If I'm taking digestive enzymes to assist my antifungals, when should I take them? The directions say before food, but shouldn't I take them before my meds (which come after I eat)?

-Which is better, virgin coconut oil in a whole spelt flour cake made with brown rice malt - which is the ONLY way I can eat enough to help me - or this: http://www.omeganutrition.com/produc...et-coconut.php which is made from copra and goes through a process to remove the flavor. It is not refined: http://www.omeganutrition.com/faqs-n...coconut.php#q8 I know it's not optimal, but if the only way I can eat it is in a cake, that's REALLY not optimal!

Any thoughts???

[bluets]

Originally Posted by joeysmom1729

Happy New Year! I'm new to this tribe! I really need some major healing, I don't think I'm digesting much of anything right now. My gut is severely damaged from ulcerative colitis and corticosteroids. I just don't even know where to begin. As mentioned in the December thread, I've tried SCD so many times but I just get sooo hungry and end up eating some kind of carb with rice in it. I'm only doing no gluten and no dairy now. I've been off dairy three years and gluten six months.

I'm currently taking Flax oil, L-Glutamine, prenatal multi and Floradix Floravital for anemia.

Would love to see what everyone else is doing.

I'd add cod liver oil, maybe evening primrose oil (or borage oil). Perhaps some MSM (helps heal the interstitial spaces between cells). Vitamin C + bioflavonoids (we use Pure Radiance C, for example) - go read JaneS' vitamin C link somewhere here.

For snacking, why not use soaked nuts/nut butter with fruit? Apples and almond butter or apples with cashew butter are divine. In fact, I've come to believe that the only reason apples exist is so that they can be carriers of nut butters.

Cashew butter pancakes are heavenly. And cashew butter cookies are even better than peanut butter cookies.

not that I've done SCD... but I would recommend the book "Grain-free Gourmet" - lots of good ideas in there that ARE SCD-legal.

[bluets]

Originally Posted by Nolansmum

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a great holiday!

I started my new Failsafe diet today, I get to eat rice, lentils and pears oh my!

Yummy. Let us know how it goes. Nothing like a New Year to begin a new healing process.

[mommy2girlies]

Quote:
Originally Posted by caedmyn
mommy2girlies--Thrush is a symptom of a yeast overgrowth. Eczema can be caused by yeast, too, or by food allergies, or by essential fatty acid deficit. Splenda's a chemical sweetener and I wouldn't use it. Stevia, while not SCD legal (but Splenda isn't either), is an herbal calorie-free sweetener you could try.

If you think dairy is causing your DS's problems, you need to eliminate it for several weeks--it takes up to 6 weeks for dairy to get out of your system. If that doesn't help or doesn't completely clear up the issues, you might want to consider a candida program with diet changes, anti-fungals or enzymes, and probiotics. The probiotics would be a good idea in any case.

Ok, so thrush is gone. I found Stevia at our local grocery store and I've been using that. But eczema is still there. I haven't gone full non dairy yet hard thru the holidays..And we've stopped giving him any solids. But we were really analyzing what could be the problem and we both (dh and I) recall that the eczema didn't start till after we started him on solids. So although Im pretty sure he is dairy sensitive, I don't think thats what caused the eczema, seeing as how it didn't appear earlier, before solids. So now Im only bf'ing and watching the eczema and if it disappears, we'll add solids back in one at a time. I read a good way of introducing solids. You touch their face w/ the food, then wait 4 hours for a reaction, if no reaction, you put some on their lips, wait again, etc. I think this'll be the way we do it.

Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on what could be the cause of the eczema. its fairly mild, but I hate that he has it at all. He only ever ate either fresh or jarred (organic) sweet potato, avocado, carrot, pear. Im not sure if these foods are normal allergens. Thanks in advance

ps, Dh is doing wonderfully after we started w/ the SCD diet!! We're not following it to the letter (hard to make the commitment) but he's been pain free since we started!

[sparkletruck]

I have Bacteria for Breakfast for $10. PM me if you want it...

Joeysmom - I havent done SCD either, but bluets is right about FAT (nuts, butter, oil, etc), and lots of it. Ive heard that butter, nuts, and olive oil stick to your ribs more than coconut oil. Im doing anticandida, and until I started eating A LOT of coconut oil I was losing weight. Cademyn, another ati-candida mama, eats about 1/2 C of CO/day. I definitely eat that much if not more. Also, if you do start on lots of nuts, do soak them (maybe SCD requires this )- I dont know about UC but nuts are hard to digest and I imagine that would not be a good thing for an inflamed colon.

Happy New Year everyone!!

[MeMommy]

saskiasmom, how do you stand the taste? I really, really need to eat coconut oil, as I'm also anticandida, but I can't, unless I mask the taste in a cake, which is NOT anticandida! So I'm stuck. See my previous post - I found a coconut oil that has the taste taken out, but it's made from copra, is that okay?

[joeysmom1729]

Originally Posted by saskiasmom

I have Bacteria for Breakfast for $10. PM me if you want it...

Joeysmom - I havent done SCD either, but bluets is right about FAT (nuts, butter, oil, etc), and lots of it. Ive heard that butter, nuts, and olive oil stick to your ribs more than coconut oil. Im doing anticandida, and until I started eating A LOT of coconut oil I was losing weight. Cademyn, another ati-candida mama, eats about 1/2 C of CO/day. I definitely eat that much if not more. Also, if you do start on lots of nuts, do soak them (maybe SCD requires this )- I dont know about UC but nuts are hard to digest and I imagine that would not be a good thing for an inflamed colon.

Happy New Year everyone!!

How do you eat the coconut oil?

[EBG]

Originally Posted by MeMommy

saskiasmom, how do you stand the taste? I really, really need to eat coconut oil, as I'm also anticandida, but I can't, unless I mask the taste in a cake, which is NOT anticandida! So I'm stuck. See my previous post - I found a coconut oil that has the taste taken out, but it's made from copra, is that okay?

I'm not saskiamom but I have some ideas....
Copra is dried coconut and could be contaminated with mycotoxins...
It's better to get virgin CO. Or if you can't stand the taste, organic refined not from copra such as Jarrow or Tropical Traditions Expeller Pressed.

You can put it into smoothies: coconut milk, CO and berries, or avocado, or other low-sugar stuff.
You can make chocolate with it. Melt, mix in pure cocoa/carob powder and stevia. put a scoop into hot peppermint tea.
Use it for cooking eggs.
Another dessert: mix with almond butter, drop spoonfuls on chilled pan and put in freezer for an hour.

[sparkletruck]

Originally Posted by joeysmom1729

How do you eat the coconut oil?

Hmm, well, I dont have the problem of hating the taste. I think its yummy (so do the kids! Never have they eaten so many vegetables). How I eat it; use about 4 tbsp. per meal in cooking (every meal is a pile of veggies sauteed in CO and eggs or meat). I used to put some in my tea, but didnt like it. I sometimes mix a few tbsps with a few drops of stevia and a LOT of cinnamon, mash it all together, put it in the freezer until hard and munch on CO/cinnamon chunks. The kids beg me to share, whereas my friend said it almost made her hurl, so be warned. I have made *fake cream* out of butter, CO (total of 1/2C melted fat), 3 raw eggs, 1 C boiling water and 2 tbsp. gelatin mixed in a blender. It will have the consistency of jello. You can use this in tea, or just eat it. But I am out of the habit of making that... Seriously, my kids line up in the morning; "viatmin C!, blue oil! [aka cod liver oil - the bottle is blue], coconut oil!" and they get each one, the CO on a spoon.

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by MeMommy

Hi all! Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays.

Welcome Melissa! I'm also new here, and my DD and I have major thrush issues. There's a ton to learn!

Some questions for y'all.....

-If I'm taking digestive enzymes to assist my antifungals, when should I take them? The directions say before food, but shouldn't I take them before my meds (which come after I eat)?

-Which is better, virgin coconut oil in a whole spelt flour cake made with brown rice malt - which is the ONLY way I can eat enough to help me - or this: http://www.omeganutrition.com/produc...et-coconut.php which is made from copra and goes through a process to remove the flavor. It is not refined: http://www.omeganutrition.com/faqs-n...coconut.php#q8 I know it's not optimal, but if the only way I can eat it is in a cake, that's REALLY not optimal!

Any thoughts???

Digestive enzymes need to be taken 2 hrs after meals or 1 hour before (at least)...they are supposed to work by destroying the cell walls of the yeast, and then anti-fungals can come in and finish killing the yeast, so enzymes and anti-fungals don't need to be taken at the same time of day.

From what I understand refined CO still has health benefits, it just isn't as good as unrefined, so if you can find good quality refined that might be the way to go.

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by joeysmom1729

How do you eat the coconut oil?

I add a Tbsp or so to hot tea, use a Tbsp to cook my eggs in the morning, add about 4 Tbsp to my meat and veggies dinners, and add 2-3 Tbsp to my soup for lunch. I also make mayo with 1/2 EVOO and 1/2 CO, and then make "Thousand Island" salad dressing with that and have a couple of salads a day. If you're doing the SCD you can add it to nut butters if you make your own.

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by saskiasmom

I sometimes mix a few tbsps with a few drops of stevia and a LOT of cinnamon, mash it all together, put it in the freezer until hard and munch on CO/cinnamon chunks. The kids beg me to share, whereas my friend said it almost made her hurl, so be warned.

I tried this once...it was nasty!

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by mommy2girlies

Quote:
Originally Posted by caedmyn
mommy2girlies--Thrush is a symptom of a yeast overgrowth. Eczema can be caused by yeast, too, or by food allergies, or by essential fatty acid deficit. Splenda's a chemical sweetener and I wouldn't use it. Stevia, while not SCD legal (but Splenda isn't either), is an herbal calorie-free sweetener you could try.

If you think dairy is causing your DS's problems, you need to eliminate it for several weeks--it takes up to 6 weeks for dairy to get out of your system. If that doesn't help or doesn't completely clear up the issues, you might want to consider a candida program with diet changes, anti-fungals or enzymes, and probiotics. The probiotics would be a good idea in any case.

Ok, so thrush is gone. I found Stevia at our local grocery store and I've been using that. But eczema is still there. I haven't gone full non dairy yet hard thru the holidays..And we've stopped giving him any solids. But we were really analyzing what could be the problem and we both (dh and I) recall that the eczema didn't start till after we started him on solids. So although Im pretty sure he is dairy sensitive, I don't think thats what caused the eczema, seeing as how it didn't appear earlier, before solids. So now Im only bf'ing and watching the eczema and if it disappears, we'll add solids back in one at a time. I read a good way of introducing solids. You touch their face w/ the food, then wait 4 hours for a reaction, if no reaction, you put some on their lips, wait again, etc. I think this'll be the way we do it.

Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on what could be the cause of the eczema. its fairly mild, but I hate that he has it at all. He only ever ate either fresh or jarred (organic) sweet potato, avocado, carrot, pear. Im not sure if these foods are normal allergens. Thanks in advance

ps, Dh is doing wonderfully after we started w/ the SCD diet!! We're not following it to the letter (hard to make the commitment) but he's been pain free since we started!

I posted a reply for you on the December thread

[caedmyn]

I'm trying a major herbal gut healing protocol for the next couple of months...dandelion, burdock root, nettle, slippery elm bark, vitamin C, liquid chlorophyll, chlorella or spirulina, 32 oz of water kefirs a day and 12 oz of kombuch a day: I hope it works!

DD's reflux symptoms seem to have gone away since I eliminated wheat. Unfortunately I think she may be reacting to something else I'm eating, probably either eggs or tomatoes I think I will have to eliminate them for a bit but it's going to be difficult as I only eat about 10 foods on a regular basis and those are two of them. I'm going to start her on solids again, too, as she's really wanting to eat when I eat now and eliminating solids didn't help her eczema any, so I might as well feed her.

[Pookietooth]

joeysmom, what is it about the SCD that makes you hungry? I remember being hungry only when I tried to combine SCD and anti-candida. Is it because you can't do dairy? That would make it harder. Can you do nuts? I think nut butter is the first to be introduced. Eat lots of fatty meat, like lamb and dark meat poultry and salmon and beef. Eat freqently. Eat bananas! And introduce cooked apples fairly soon. And if having it around temps you then don't have it in the house! If you need carbs, eat more carrots! The soup has a ton of carrots in it, that should help. You could also try a bit of cooked squash like butternut squash. It's not on the intro diet, but it's better than rice!

[Pattyla]

Hi everyone,
No time to catch up right now but a quick question.

I bought the bobs red mill coconut flour. Are other brands of coconut flour better? This stuff tastes like cardboard! I thought the brm almond meal was bad!