Friday, November 25, 2016

GAPS-friendly Vegetable Stuffing

My family does not eat bread stuffing. We have a vegetable stuffing recipe that has been in our family for generations. I am in so much luck, because the premise of the stuffing is to roast a rhino's-load of vegetables for hours!

The recipe was adopted slightly to remove saltine crackers, potatoes and onions since onions make my stomach flip upside down. Here is the recipe!

GAPS-friendly Vegetable Stuffing

Ingredients:
1.5 lb celery
4 turnips
1 lb butternut squash
1 lb carrots
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp cayenne
1/2 cup olive or Coconut Oil
2 cups turkey bone broth or juice from your turkey

Need:
Food processor
Roasting pan with high edges for oven or large pan for stovetop

Directions:
- peel all vegetables and chop into manageable sizes for food processor
- process all the vegetables in food processor, transferring it into your ungreased pan
- add and mix in your seasoning
- set oven to 350 or stove on medium
- cook vegetables, mixing occasionally
- when water from vegetables has finished cooking out add olive oil
- when all of the vegetables are brown and taste roasted add your turkey juice, cook for 30 more minutes

Note:
This takes a long time to cook, and taste pretty gross and veggie-like for a while. It requires patience to let it cook until the roasted flavor takes over. I personally don't think you can cook this too long, the more roasted the better!

Dx and Rx, round one

Right off the bat, my new functional medicine doctor told me that everything I am experiencing is linked to my gut health. 6 years ago I experienced some kind of event that triggered a gut bacterial imbalance, and it has wreaked havoc on my ability to absorb nutrition and regulate hormones.

Initial treatment:
She did not want to wait before starting a round of antibiotics and probiotics.
For sleep-
Melatonin-1 mg
2 weeks-
Xifaxan, 1 pill 3x/day
2 months-
Candibactin AR, 2 pills 2x/day
Candibactin BR, 2 pills 2x/day
2 hour gap between next two
GI Revive, 7 pills 2x/day
Ultra Flora IB, 1 pill 2x/day

This sounds like a lot, but if it helps I am all for it! I would do FMT if it was available for people without C. Diff.

Initial test:
Stool Sample- Genova Diagnostics
This was pretty weird, and I am still, waiting for the results. I look forward to the results.

Cortisol Saliva Sample- Quest Diagnostics
Quest only shows upper normal limits for this test, so it is hard to assess adrenal fatigue. I looked up lower bounds and discovered that my levels were extremely low. This occurs when your body is bombarded by stress and it becomes unresponsive to it. That's what 6 years of stomache pain will do!

40 blood tests- Quest Diagnostics
We checked for metal poisoning as well as auto-antibodies, metabolic markers and markers of PCOS. I have only gotten 1 of 4 tests back, but I have found this so far:
- TSH: 1.4, down from 3.5 last year and 2.6 3 months ago, progress!
- T3 total: 91, low normal and much lower than the optimal/functional values
- blood cortisol: 7, low normal is 4. Again, much lower than ideal
- DHEAS: 343, in high normal.

Thyroid Ultrasound- TBD
My doctor felt a nodule during my physical exam, and I have yet to follow up on this test

Lactulose Breath Test- Brigham and Women's Hospital- 
My kind technician let me take a copy of my results. My hydrogen levels had a HUGE peak at 60 min indicating SIBO.

My next visit is in 2 weeks, and I can't wait to discuss these results and come up with a plan.

*If you need Xifaxan, don't let your insurance bully you into taking an alternative, less effective, antibiotic. Use their copay card: https://www.xifaxan.com/Copay-Card?gclid=CPbxsIv0xNACFYWVfgodMHoD0g