SCD Birthday cake :)

Ok, I know, 2 posts in one day is sorta weird for someone who posts so infrequently! But, it was my birthday this past weekend and I had to share a picture of the delicious cake we made!

We basically took the coconut four "Honey Muffins" recipe from Cooking with Coconut Flour to make the cake. Just double the recipe and make it in a springform pan so it's easy to get out. The icing we improvised on and it turned out pretty darn good.

I don't have specific quantities but something along the lines of the following should work:
1/2 cup Dry curd cottage cheese
1/4 cup Thick homemade yogurt from 1/2 and 1/2 cream (10%)
2 tbsp Honey
1/4 tsp vanilla
coconut flour

Beat together top four ingredients. Add coconut flour until it's the right consistency

Celiac?

OK, first a bit of history as I don't believe I've blogged about this. Thinking back, I don't think I have ever blogged this because when it happens it's so unbearable I can't be bothered to sit down and type. Then when it's over it's somehow so forgettable! It started the day after I started SCD, January 29th 2008. I got a wicked awful rash. I was completely caught off guard and bewildered. What the heck was this, die off? This soon? I posted questions on message boards but most people hadn't had that reaction. Of course I first noticed this Friday evening. Great, doctor is not available. By Sunday the rash was all across my chest, on my neck, a bit on my back and my scalp. I went to the after hours clinic.

"Oh, yep, you have scabies" Um, what? Scabies? Seriously? (Scabies is a bug that burrows in your skin, causing an allergic hives-like reaction)
Ok.. so I went to the pharmacy and got some toxic cream and slathered myself up and down. I did 5 million loads of laundry, vaccuumed the entire house and slept on the floor for 3 weeks to make sure my matress didn't have bugs. Throughout this my bf (sharing a bed) and parents didn't get a single bite. Hmmm.. Rash itched like mad, but went away after about 4 days. I repeated the toxic cream and frantic house cleaning a second time at the advice of the pharmacist and the instructions on the tube of cream.

That was January, fast forward to summer 2008. I get another rash, this time mostly on my neck and back. I went to the after hours clinic again, because again this happened on a Friday evening and became unbearable by Sunday. This time I was told it was heat rash causing hives and to apply an ice pack, stay out of the sun, and have cold showers. Fine, done. Rash still itched like mad, but went away after about 4 days.

October 2008 comes around and I notice a few little red bumps on my chest. Panic ensues, and with good reason. The next day I'm in full blown rash mode. Scalp, neck, chest and most of my back. Of course, what day is it? Friday. I call my doctor, they can't see me today. PLEASE I pleaded with them, but nope they can't fit me in until Tuesday next week. FINE. I called my naturopath, at this point crying. They gave me an appointment that afternoon. I went in and she just looked at me like I was an alien. What the heck is this rash? She said she'd never seen a thing like it. Great. She said that sometimes parasites can cause weird rashes, or liver problems too. She sent me home with a list of tests to ask for from my doctor. Tuesday rolls around, and of course the rash is on its way out. Stupid me didn't take pictures of it at its worst, so my doctor thinks I'm a lunatic, a rash can't be that bad, it's probably just from using a weird soap. I demand the tests anyway and she agrees. She really is a good doctor once you get in to see her, and if I suspect anything she's always thorough to figure it out. I'm sent away with a parasite stool test, blood test, liver function test and an abdominal ultrasound (2 months wait).

3 weeks later, another rash. Oh it was awful, to get it so soon again. Since I was still waiting for test results, I didn't go see the doctor. Still being stupid, I didn't take pictures. Mistakes.

Test results showed nothing except for a slightly elevated eosinophils. Doctor thinks I have some form of colitis in the upper GI tract that is causing irritation. She decides to book me an appointment with a GI doctor. Oh, umm, that GI doctor she sent me to last? Doesn't want to see me again. He thought I was crazy for thinking I had Celiac disease and told me to find a new doctor when I didn't believe him. Great. So she books me an appointment with a GI doctor she knows is good, but the waiting time is average 1 year. I made a face I guess because she looked at me with sympathy and said "Well, you're still here right (as in alive, not dead) so that's good! Wow, how comforting, I have no idea whats wrong with me but I'm alive, yay. Naturopath thinks it's parasites. She puts me on an herbal cleanse. (For the record, the herbal cleanse helped tremendously, but did not cure the rashes!).

January 2009 I go to Mexico with my bf, excited to get away and forget about my troubles. I stick to SCD as much as I can, having lots of plain meat, steamed veggies, eggs, bananas, and papaya. Day 2, I get the rash. I called the doctor for the hotel in and he starts talking about allergies to foods. He recommends no pork, seafood, strawberries, chocolate or nuts. Ok, I had been having lots of seafood so I stopped that. Also did the cold ice packs and cold showers in case it was heat related. Rash itched like mad but cleared up after 4 days.

May 2 2009, the day I moved into my new house, I notice spots. Panic. It's Saturday, so of course I can't see my doctor. I wait patiently until Monday and call the doctor, pleading with them. They book me for Tuesday morning. My doctor cannot believe what she sees and almost started crying for me. Finally I have her taking it a bit more seriously. She actually admits she has no idea what it is and asks me to stay, she'll be right back. She went flipping through her medical books until she saw it. Dermatitis Herpetiformis. Celiac rash. There was no doubt in her mind it looked identical. That coupled with the digestive history I have, she was convinced. So she did a skin biopsy right then which she guaranteed me would tell us if I had it. If I did have it, then it meant I did have Celiac disease. This didn't have much of an implication for me as I was already on SCD, but one thing I hadn't been careful of is handling wheat containing food. I still cut up bread and served pasta to my family, touching it and probably (accidentaly) ingesting it. My doctor recommends absolutely staying away from all gluten so I do.

2 weeks of the longest wait ever. I'm not sure if I was nervous and scared for having such a disease, or excited to finally have answers. Either way my heart jumped at every phone call. I finally talked to the doctor. UN-freaking-believable. The test was inconclusive. Turns out she had to take a biopsy of normal unaffected skin too but didn't know. She swears to me I have Celiac disease and recommends I follow the proper diet for my lifetime. If I happen to get the rash again, we'll do the biopsy properly. I felt a bit down, but decided to just think of it as a diagnosis and let it be. I now tell people I have Celiac. Technically on my health records, I don't have Celiac. My previous GI had done a blood test that returned negative, but I wasn't eating much wheat then so no wonder it did. All the times I had the rashes I can relate to having had gluten: the day before I started SCD I ate barley soup, the rash in the summer was after a bbq with burgers and buns on the same grill, October/November I tried eating a restaurants, January I ate buffet food in Mexico, and when I moved into my house we ordered take out burgers for everyone (I served everyone, then ate my own food with my hands without washing).

That brings me to now. I have not touched gluten since early May. I threw out my hair products and soaps (all contained gluten, I have replaced everything with one natural bar soap). I have not had a rash, a pimple, anything on my skin. It's pretty unbelievable how clear it has been actually. I really hope this means it was just the gluten. I'm happy on this diet and don't care if I'm on it my whole life. I'm less focused now on finding the 'culprit' and more on healing my (probably) damaged gut. I just can't believe it took this many years to finally conclude that I probably have Celiac disease. Looking at the list of symptoms, I had so many: weight loss, iron anemia, unexplained low B12 and folate, abnormal appetite (feeling extremely hungry after meals), fatigue, weakness, hypoglycemia, missed menstrual periods, heaving bleeding and cramping during periods, mouth ulcers, scalp sores, unexplained acne (onset after teen years), abdominal cramping, diarrhea, pale bulky foul-smelling stools, abdominal distention, muscle cramping, tooth enamel defects, tingling in the hands and feet, and finally Dermatitis Herpetiformis.

Update again plus coconut flour!

Since my last post I ended up restarting the parasite herbal cleanse and stuck to it for about 8 weeks. I started with a very small dose and slowly increased until I was at the recommended level. I didn't notice any side effects this time. About 4 weeks into it I noticed quite an improvement in my digestive symptoms. The often loose stool, undigested food, plae in colour, was starting to all go away. Then after the 8 weeks I stopped the cleanse and still the symptoms stayed away. It was only a few weeks after moving into a new house that I realized I had hardly any digestive problems for weeks. Not 100% sure it was parasites, but it seems that this herbal mixture really fixed me up well.

I had also gone 'off' eggs when I last posted. I have since been having them once or twice a week only, and have been rotating between duck and chicken eggs. I have a small local farmer that sells both at the farmer's market. It's incredible how good they are. Lately I have been able to have small amounts more often, as I have been using them to make muffins.

I used to rely solely on almonds for making baked goods while on SCD. I was almost scared of trying anything different. Message boards and other bloggers seem to claim that everyone should have the nut baked goods. At the same time there seems to be a consensus on coconut flour being too 'advanced'. Well I figured after almost a year of eating nut baked goods (not constantly, I would go weeks without, just to make sure I'm not addicted) I was going to try coconut flour. So I got the book 'Cooking with Coconut Flour' from my library and gave it a go. Oh My these were good. I don't even like coconut that much but wow, these muffins were like cupcakes they were so good. Light, fluffy, way better than dense almond flour. So of course I gorged and ate three right away. I figured this would help me find out if coconut flour was truly an 'advanced' food. Well I was fine. In fact, I did better gorging on these than I did only having one almond flour muffin per day. So to anyone who is nervous about trying coconut flour, go for it! It's worth trying at least. I just think if I had been having these instead of nuts I would have been so much better off. I would think it's also more helpful against Candida and bad bugs, since coconut seems to have such healing properties. If you're like me, it's better for you and easier to digest than the nut flours. A side effect quickly noted was that I seem to get a weird body odor with almond muffins if I eat a lot. With the coconut muffins, I actually smell good.

After I realized that I did better with coconut than almonds, I decided to experiment to see if I could include nuts in my diet in some other way. I had done the basic almond flour recipes, tried it with applesauce instead of eggs, tried soaking the almonds before hand and tried having very small portions infrequently. All three methods seemed to produce the same result. I can eat them without being sick, until I eat too many, say 2 per day for a few days. I seem to do ok if I only have 1 or 2 muffins per week, but still have that weird body odor. Then I tried just eating a handful of nuts. Not soaked, not ground up into flour or butter, not cooked. I did this for a week, and surprisingly the body odor stayed away and no digestive symptoms surfaced. So of course I thought immediately it must be something else in the muffins that was bothering me, except that I did the same recipe, with coconut flour in place of almond, and had been eating those every day. So something about cooking nuts just doesn't sit well with me. I'm wondering if it's something to do with the type of fats they're made up of. Coconut flour is mostly saturated fat and withstands heat well. Almond flour is mostly monounsaturated fats which aren't quite so stable in heat and can go rancid. Rancid fats can definitely affect body odour. I'm also wondering if it has to do with the Omega fats balance. Almond flour is high in Omega 6, while coconut is not. Maybe my body doesn't like the extra Omega 6.

If anyone is wondering why I even bother with nuts and baked goods, I am seriously trying to gain weight. Everytime I cut out nuts (or now the coconut flour that has taken their place) I lose a few pounds and freak out. That's with eating lots of meat and good fats, as much vegetables as I can have, and yogurt made from 10% cream, sometimes 2 cups a day. I think I just need more calories, but eating more meat doesn't seem to help and I'm reluctant to use more honey, fruit or higher carb vegetables. The coconut flour muffins I made are actually quite low carb (and lower than the almonds, which need more honey!). So I guess you could say I'm now doing a lower-carb version of SCD, and I'm liking it.

I'm looking forward to trying out a few coconut recipes, like coconut ice cream or adding coconut milk to some indian dishes I make. Any extra coconut and calories sounds like a good plan to me!

Easy banana muffins and an update

I've been away from the blog for a while trying to figure out what to try next in an attempt to get rid of all my digestive symptoms. I have been on SCD since January 2008 and am still having problems. I found GAPS a while ago and incorporated some of that into my plan as well. Basically GAPS is SCD with extra care on the dairy and supplementation.

I was still having problems this fall with digestive symptoms and so my naturopath suggested a diagnostic test by Genova called the Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis. She suggested I get the full test plus parasite test but that was extremely expensive and not covered by my insurance. So I got the full test, and went to my family doctor for an Ova & Parasites test. The CDSA test showed that I am not producing enough stomach acid or pancreatic enzymes. I have some markers of inflammation which can be due to infection by parasites or bacteria. My doctor ran bloodwork and did the O&P test. The O&P showed nothing, which doesn't say much because it is a test that has many false negatives. The blood work showed some elevated liver enzyme and elevated eosinophils. This could be due to parasites as well. So my naturopath decided I have parasites, and my family doctor did not disagree. My family doctor is using this as an opportunity to refer me to a new GI doctor, now that some test I have had done showed something is up. Her hope is that finally a GI doctor will take me seriously and be of some help. I won't hold my breath.

This past month I tried doing a parasite herbal cleanse prepared by my naturopath. It contains black walnut, quassia, artemisia, berberis, cloves and chiretta. I started on it too strong in the beginning and ended up suffering for 2 weeks with the dreaded 'D'. So at this point I have stopped taking it but plan to start it very slowly soon. The goal is to take it for over a month to kill all parasites. I'm also supplementing with Betaine HCL and pancreatic enzymes.

Since doing this cleanse I have noticed I can't seem to tolerate the same foods. I was doing great on eggs, meat, SCD yogurt, raw cheddar cheese, bananas, avocado, applesauce, stewed veggies and some nut baked goods (nuts soaked). I'm actually thinking that right now eggs are really bothering me. I plan to cut them out for 3 days (really tough! it's my breakfast everyday) and see how that goes. I already tried cutting out nuts and that didn't help at all, and adding them back in seemed completely fine. So I'll continue with the nuts. If the eggs are ok, I may see if having too much chicken is bothering me.

For now, here is a recipe I have been making with extra bananas lying around the house:

Banana Nut Muffins

2 cups blanched almonds, soaked
1 egg (optional)
2 bananas
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup honey

Blend almonds to make almond flour or butter. Add all ingredients and mix well. Spread into two 8"x8" baking pans or muffin tins. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes.

You might notice my nut recipes all look the same with a tiny difference in the amount of nuts or honey. That's because I haven't exactly strayed too far from the original nut butter brownies recipe. Don't fix what ain't broke, right?

The photo is of my current ferments. I made SCD yogurt using half n' half cream in my Yogourmet maker (big white bucket).

The orange stuff is a mixed ferment of carrots, ginger, garlic, and onion. All from the farmer's market and as fresh as can be! I chopped/grated it all up and added sea salt and whey and pressed it down in the jar. I kept pressing it down a few times a day for about 5 days then kept it in the fridge. It's been in my fridge about 2 months and is still perfect.

The purple is beet kvass. I make about 2 cups at a time because that's the size of jars I have. This one is almost done but I have another one on the counter just starting. I leave it on the counter 2 days then in the fridge until it's gone.

The small jar is very basic sauerkraut. Cabbage shredded up with salt and some whey. I really don't like the taste of it! I much prefer the carrots.

What I ate today:
Breakfast-1/4 cup beet kvass, 1 cup half n' half cream yogurt with honey & blueberries, 1 egg hardboiled

Snack-banana

Lunch-chicken leg with skin coated with butter and salt, almond brownie, fermented carrot juices (about 1 tsp)

Snack-cheddar cheese with liver pate

Dinner-lamb stew with carrot, celery, onion, tomato, 1/4 cup beet kvass, 1/4 cup chicken broth

What I cooked today:
lamb stew: set it up in the crockpot before work this morning. I actually get up 15 mins early (6:15am!) to cook now.
2 cups beet kvass: will have to sit on the counter for 2 days.

What I moved today:
Walked 30 mins, yoga 30 mins

What's in my freezer:
I took stock of what I have right now. All meats are pastured, all veggies are organic, the berries are picked from a local farm and the tomatoes are from my boyfriend's mom's garden.
10 lbs ground beef
5 lbs stew beef
5 lbs ribs beef
5 lbs roasts beef
2 whole chickens
2 lbs goat stew
10 lbs lamb stew
6 lbs pork chops
3 lbs pork roast
2 lbs duck legs
2 lbs wild salmon
1 lbs sea scallops
4 lbs chicken drumsticks
2 liters frozen tomatoes
2 liters frozen blueberries
10 liters frozen applesauce
4 liters frozen carrots & green beans
4 cups baked butternut squash

Update - It's been a while..

I haven't written in a few months now. I would love to say all is well and that I have no symptoms and my diet's going great! Reality is, I'm still playing around with my diet, trying new supplements, seeing a naturopath etc... Things are still improving and I'm very hopeful to be completely health one day, but my journey's not over yet.

I finished up my Master's degree and started a job in September. The transition wasn't as stressful as I expected it to be. I was going from working at home on my own time, to being in an office 40 hours a week. All I could think of was how am I going to have time for cooking when I'm not home, how am I going to keep up with making sure I have enough food! Well it has been going really well. I have been using my crockpot A LOT and it has been saving me! 5 minutes in the morning and I have dinner for that night and lunch the next day. I'm slowly learning to cook in bulk, prepare snacks and yogurt on weekends when I have time, and how to buy in bulk. Being at work 40 hours a week has been really nice. When I'm there, I can't even THINK about cooking or what I'm eating, because 1) I can't cook at work and 2) I have certain food I brought and that's what I'm eating for the day. It feels like freedom! Plus having a gym on site is quite nice. I work out with weights 3 times a week and do yoga once a week.

One thing I have gotten really into this summer is the farmers market, and consequently, buying in bulk directly from farmers. I have been buying grass-fed beef from a local farmer for a while. I usually order about 25 pounds worth per order. I decided to buy about 20 pounds of lamb from a farmer at the market. Other things I buy individually but from one farmer who ends up giving me a bit of a discount for placing a large order. I've been getting pork chops, goat stew meat, whole frozen chickens, duck, eggs, and liver pates. I found a good source for frozen wild salmon at my health food store and sometimes they even have scallops. Needless to say, my freezer is full for the winter coming up! And it's so nice to not have chicken everyday! (And probably healthier..)

I have been relying on getting fresh produce from the farmer's market as well. This winter I plan on buying some frozen organic produce from grocery stores to keep me going until spring when the farmer's market reopens (it closes this weekend). I like juicing carrots and celery, so getting those fresh this winter may not be easy.

I'm really loving this way of eating. All fresh produce, meats raised properly, local honey, etc. And it hasn't cost me extra, you just have to be aware of the deals and how much you really need. I used to buy lots of produce and throw out half of it. Now I run out!

My diet still follows SCD but I'm leaning more towards the GAPS version of it. I'm trying to eat lots and lots of broth, organ meats, and even started fermenting some vegetables. I'll post some of those that I've tried soon. I haven't introduced much in the way of new foods, but I'm getting so many different types of meat in my diet so that is really helping me enjoy it.

I will be posting more often so keep checking back. I have some recipes to update and the fermented stuff to include.
That's all for now,
Kat

What to add fats and honey to

When on the SCDiet it's sort of hard to enjoy your food while trying to gain weight. Eating coconut oil off a spoon will do the trick but is quite gross. Trying to eat extra fats and honey all the time makes my appetite shrink before my next meal. So here are my ideas for what to add fats and honey to:

Butter
-applesauce
-any leftovers being warmed up, put a pat of butter on top to add flavour and keep it moist
-any cooked vegetables taste good with butter
-eggs
-soups
-stews

Coconut oil
Trickier than butter, unless you really like the taste of it (I don't). It hides decently well in:
-leftovers warmed up
-anything with a thick sauce, if you're making home made gravy etc

Olive oil
-drizzle over avocado or any vegetables
-surprisingly good with hard boiled eggs
-good with any tomato product, ketchup, soup, tomato sauce

Honey
-warmed up leftover dark meat chicken, this reminds me of old-style McDonalds chicken nuggets I used to eat with honey as a kid
-applesauce
-yogurt
-drizzle over fruit, particularly good over berries

Hopefully I'll add more to this list!