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

low FODMAP Mac and Cheese

First day of senior year! College flew by so quickly. I get to start every morning with a cycling class and end every day with practice, I am going to be in such good shape!

My best friend visited me over the summer, and I wanted to convince her that the food I eat doesn't suck. I decided to try a new dish; I don't often repeat the exact same meal twice. I searched for a Mac and Cheese recipe that didn't call for flour and didn't require fifty different ingredients,  not much luck. Needless to say I tested my food improve and chemistry skills in order to make a BOMB Mac and Cheese! No pictures, sorry! As a I mentioned in my introduction, and revealed in my second post about making breakfast hash, I do not use direct measurements when I cook. I am not Chef Boyardi, I am just a college student who gets tired of exact measurements after three hours in Chem lab.

Low FODMAP Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:
1 bag gluten free pasta (I like the brown rice pasta that comes in different fun shapes)
1:1 ratio butter to milk (dairy-free)
1/2 T baking powder OR Flour*
3/4 bag of grated cheddar or mexican blend cheese
however much Parmesan cheese you want
garlic powder
cayenne pepper
salt
dash of Frank's Red Hot

Utensils Needed:
sauce pan
large pasta pan
fork and knife (or hands)

follow the package instructions to cook the pasta, corn pasta takes two seconds vs brown rice pasta which takes 15+ minutes. I prefer to slightly under-cook my pasta, so that it doesn't turn into a mushy rice ball.
Melt your butter in a sauce pan, add in milk and bring to a simmer (keep burner low for stove-heated dairy products!) add in baking powder or flour. let simmer for 10-15 minutes, if you do not notice any thickening in your roux, add a SMALL amount more. baking powder thickens more than flour, so more flour will be needed than if baking powder was used. add In your spices.
Once the roux has thickened, add your cheese! If there are other kinds of cheeses you would like to use, do it! Cheese will make the sauce pretty thick. If it seems way to thick to mix with pasta, a little bit more milk will loosen it up. Once the pasta is done, drain it and mix it with the sauce. VOILA!
Some people love to get fancy with Mac. Bacon is awesome, but definitely not Kosher. spinach is not horrible. You could cut up some gluten free chicken nuggets, add in some more frank's red hot, and make some Buffalo Mac. If you find out that Garlic and Onion don't bother your intestines, or you make your own barbecue sauce using garlic and onion powder, barbecue mac and cheese is pretty tasty too.
If you stick to one cup of mac and cheese per meal and eat some veggies, this dish will be awesome left over! It is even good cold if you want to take it to work or the library.

*I'm sure baking soda could be used to thicken the roux as well, I have never used it so I don't have much experience to share. I HAVE however used so much baking powder in a gravy that it actually turned into jelly. Less is more with this stuff.

Up Next: the importance of indulging (once in a while)

Low FODMAP diet

I have been talking a lot about the low FODMAP diet, at this point it is necessary that I give an overview of the diet that I am following with help of a nutritionist. There are many published documents on the internet about this diet. The Low FODMAP targets carbohydrates (sugars) in the diet.

This is not the full list that I have been following, but a pretty good overview of the carbohydrates targeted by the diet

four two to four weeks, all five of these carbohydrates have been eliminated from my diet, while simultaneously limiting glucose consumption. The point of this cleansing period is to help your stomache heal from the damage inflicted from years of eating irritating foods. The second phase involves re-introducing sample foods of the five categories into your diet at varying quantities to identify which cause IBS symptoms and how much of each is tolerated. With the help of a nutritionist, you can properly decide which foods to reintroduce based on any suspicions that you may have about food intolerances (for example: I am pretty sure that Fructans are not my friend)

This is the list of foods that I can eat:

foods in bold should be eaten in the quantity listed (quantity is per meal, not per day) choose no more than one bold food per meal

this is a sample shopping list online

My shopping list looks something like this:
Quinoa
Rice
Gluten free pasta
coconut flour
baking soda
baking powder
sugar
lactose free chocolate chips (in gluten free isle)
maple syrup
vanilla extract
all the spices in the world
rice wine vinegar
balsamic vinegar
garlic olive oil
organic ketchup
beef broth
red wine
mustard
mayonnaise
cans of tomato sauce (to make homemade crock pot sauce)
rice krispies
gluten free crackers
brownie mix
beef
chicken
bacon
eggs
tuna
crab meat
shrimp
cheddar cheese
lactaid milk (tried almond milk but its sugar content caused me stomach problems)
butter
eggplant
cucumber
carrots
tomato
squash (butternut or spaghetti)
zucchini
potato
sweet potato
spinach
avocado (eaten in limited quantities)
bananas
canned beets
canned jalapenos
frozen gluten free chicken nuggets or patties
pirates booty
joe joe's
coffee

my list consists of a lot of ingredients that can be mixed into a million different things. This list pretty much covers the wide range of foods that pop up in the recipes I find online. A lot of low FODMAP and paleo recipes call for coconut flour and coconut oil, I use butter instead of coconut oil without stomache issues. some people opt for almond flour, but I have not tried it because of my bad reaction to Almond milk. As you may also notice, I don't buy salad. I prefer to just eat some chopped up fresh veggies, because I buy groceries for a week for one person and salad tends to go bad after a day, and I HATE wilted lettuce (I am eating some right now and want to cry).

Up next: low FODMAP Mac and Cheese

Moving Frenzy

I have spent the last three days moving from one end of campus to the other. both kitchens have been in a state of chaos, posing a challenge to eating. Once I did have a kitchen to work with, I still did not have much time to spend cooking. These are some easy foods that I have been eating during this process (including store-bought products and a few recipes):

Saffron Road Chicken Nuggets

 

I found these in the frozen food section of my campus convenience store. They have become awesome about providing gluten free and unknowingly low FODMAP foods for students. I picked up two boxes of these and had them two days in a row, I ate the whole box because these were the only things that I ate the whole day. They taste really good with organic ketchup, and are completely FODMAP free (garlic and onion powder are considered low FODMAP, but their whole food equivalents are NOT)

Joe Joe's

These taste pretty awesome with some Lactaid Milk, they dont really taste like Oreos but they are good in their own right. the only sketchy ingredient in these is invert syrup, I didnt know what it was until I looked it up on the internet only after I ate two cookies. Luckily invert syrup is low FODMAP, it is equal parts Fructose to Glucose. Thus, Invert Syrup would belong in the category of fruits that are allowed on a low FODMAP diet. Because this category of food contains fructose, they are only to be eaten in limited quantities per meal (1/2 cup of fruit according to my guide).

Pirate's Booty

 I love this stuff! According to my brother, these are basically flavored packing peanuts, but I dont mind because I think the consistency is addicting. This product does contain milk, but Cheddar cheese is considered Lactose-free.

Coconut Flour Flatbread Sandwiches

PINTEREST! here is the recipe link http://www.thrive-style.com/2012/02/fancy-grilled-cheese-on-coconut-flour-flatbread-gluten-and-grain-free/

I LOVE sandwiches, so I wanted to find a way to make them without using store-bought gluten free bread. I am trying to make grain choices based on a paleo diet, so I chose to try a few recipes with coconut flour. I actually tried this recipe with about three different kinds of gluten free flour, including Bob's Red Mill All Purpose and Pamela's Pancake mix... did not turn out so well. Coconut flour has a fluffy and full consistency that makes it ideal for flatbread.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by this recipe, it was super easy and tasted pretty good. My one complaint is that it came out pretty moist and omelette-like, I guess I'm not quite used to gluten free bread products.

I decided to put cheddar cheese and fat free bologna inside, you could do just a grilled cheese, or you could make some Low FODMAP Sundried tomato spread (http://welshgirleats.com/category/low-fodmap/) and put that with spinach and tomato.

Grain-Free Lemon Loaf

Utensils:
Loaf pan
cutting board
knife
magic bullet or small grade peeler
spatula makes life much easier

I do not have a picture to show you, sorry! I found this recipe on pinterest, which I LOVE using to collect all my recipes. here is the link to the recipe http://www.primallyinspired.com/no-grains-delicious-lemon-bread-with-a-lemon-glaze/

The recipe claims that this loaf comes out just like the Starbucks lemon loaf. I admit that I am a pretty awesome cook but more of a baker in training, so my loaf did not come out quite as expected. Since I dont have fancy cooking artillary, I used a knife to remove the lemon rind, and then threw it into my magic bullet to turn it into "zest", it was pretty chunky. Mine also came out pretty moist, a bit too moist for my liking. I should have followed the instructions and covered the loaf with foil to protect the crust, which would have allowed me to bake it longer. It does taste good, but just like Udi's gluten free bagels, I can take 6 bites before getting sick of the flavor and consistency.

Mish Mosh Hash and Eggs

Prep: 1 min     Cook: 5 min     Total Time: 6-8 min

Ingredients:
2 Slices Bacon
1 Potato
2 cubes Butternut Squash
1 Hanfull carrots
1 Handfull Spinach
1 Egg

Utensils:
cutting board
pan
knife
spatula

This morning I made a pretty awesome breakfast/lunch (it was 11:00 AM). I cut up some butternut squash (buy at trader joe's because it is already skinned and cubed), potato, and carrots and threw them all in a bowl in the microwave for 3 minutes. I am a college student, if I waited for these veggies to cook in a pan I would have already graduated with a Masters in Biology. While the microwave did its thang, I cut up the bacon into small chunks and threw it in a small pan on 3 heat. Then, I threw in the microwaved veggies and let those cook with the bacon until the potatoes started to get a brow coating. This is when I threw in the spinach.  I threw it into a bowl once the spinach cooked down and cooked an egg easy over in the same pan. I did not cook the yoke, so that it would act as a tasty sauce to the hash. I ate this with some coffee and a slice of my lemon loaf. SO tasty.

More to Come: an overview of the Low FODMAP diet, complete with a go-to shopping list

Introduction

Hi All!

yay first post! A couple days ago I moved into my last on campus housing ever. As a Senior I got THE BEST apartment on campus, complete with a HUGE kitchen and tons of storage space. I am really excited!

 having a good apartment will be vital in the search for the source of my IBS, which I was diagnosed with about 6 months ago. This diagnosis came quite late though, because I have been suffering from severe stomach problems for about two years now, and I became a self-proclaimed celiac for a short stint in order to relieve my symptoms. No extensive tests past blood indicator tests have been done, because I seem completely healthy to doctors. I might have more severe scaring in my stomach, but I don't know if I will ever know how badly injured my intestines are. For a while, that made me really upset and stressed. I would eat really well, and suddenly my stomach would be so bad that I thought a rabid raccoon was living inside of my intestines.

The turning point came when my parents discovered the FODMAP diet, an eating plan that eliminates known stomach irritants and then reintroduces them as a way of identifying how much of certain foods a person can tolerate. I have been in the cleansing faze for about four weeks now. I still get pretty bad stomach episodes every once in a while and my stomach is always tender, obviously my stomach has not healed from whatever damage has been done. Luckily I am WAY less bloated. My plan is to go through the reintroduction faze, and if i still have frequent episodes and stomach tenderness I will insist on further tests.

That is my IBS story, which is not the sole purpose of this blog. This is merely an introduction so that other people can relate to what I am going through. I am a college student with severe IBS and no idea of any known allergies or intolerances, I'm posititve I am not one of a kind.

The purpose of this blog is to provide motivation for others as well as myself by introducing low FODMAP recipes and meal ideas I enjoy and other tips and tricks for being prepared.

disclaimer: I don't really follow strict measurements when I cook, my mom likes to criticize me for it but I find it unnecessary unless I am baking.