Liver with Onions, Bacon and Apple (recipe)

My special order of cow bones didn't come in. Maybe next week? I have doubts.

I bought another slab of liver. I know...it was such a waste to throw the last slab in the garbage. I'm pretty sure those chicken livers were the reason for my last migraine and that leads me to believe they were anything but "natural". So back to regular, very gross, but incredibly clean cow liver.

I cooked it the same way as last time and it tasted just as bad. With every bite I would tell myself, That's enough. Throw the rest away. But I kept eating. It was just a tiny amount, but with much willpower I got it all down. Just looking at it raw in the bowl floating in blood is enough to make me puke.

Then I found a recipe online for gluten-free liver. Most recipes instruct to coat the liver in flour before frying and that's how I remember it from my childhood. This might make it taste better or milder by sealing in the juices, but being gluten-free does not make this an option.

 

I found this recipe on The Gluten-Free Homemaker Hopeful, but still wary, I adjusted it to make a very small portion so although you can follow her recipe for exact measurements, this is what I did:

Soak a small amount of liver in coconut milk. It seems our grandmothers soaked liver in milk and which tenderizes it and decreases the nasty taste. The blogger is also staying away from dairy so she suggested coconut milk.

Cut liver into small, thin slices.

Fry one strip of bacon. Remove from pan and break into smaller pieces. Remove some of the leftover grease, but save it for the liver.

Fry a few slices of yellow onion. Remove from pan.

Fry a few slices of apple. Remove from pan.

On medium high heat, add bacon grease and quickly fry liver with salt and pepper. (This is "old-style" cooking - everything is fry. LOL.)

Return bacon, onions, and apples to the pan when liver is almost done. Mix. Serve.

Did it make the liver taste better? NO. But the bacon and apples were good and by alternating bites balanced out the nasty with a sweet-tangy flavor which made that liver easier to swallow.

I'm trying. This is my third day forcing liver down my throat. I am determined to do this diet right and everything I've read said without the organ meats and the bone broth (which most people aren't excited about), it won't work. One needs those extra nutrients. Instructions are fairly clear: organs and other parts need to be organic, steroid-free, grass-fed which are difficult to find since so many health-minded people are doing this diet. The only way to get organic chicken livers is to special order them with a minimum amount of 12 lbs. I've ordered the cow bones. We'll see if they ever arrive.

I have been tempted to quit the diet, but I've already gone through four weeks of sacrifice. I don't see the point of giving up after so much work.

It's All About the Bacon

I found the more bacon I add, the better these chicken livers taste!

 

I started out with only three pieces of bacon, a handful of onions, and a container of supposedly-natural, no hormone- or steroid-filled chicken livers. No mention of antibiotics or chemicals so I don't really know how safe they are, but this will have to do until my cow bone order comes in next week.

Compared to the cow liver, they have a better texture and once cooked, they are NOT dripping with blood. I can do this. The taste is pretty much the same, but I can eat these in small amounts with no problem.

It even looks better with more bacon!

 

Next day I took the leftovers added four more slices of bacon to the grill, warmed up the livers right on top of the greasy bacon. I'm thinking tomorrow I'll add a pound of bacon to the two remaining chicken liver pieces and be really satisfied with a scrumptious meal!

I'll probably have a heart attack by the end of this diet.

Probiotic Farting

I've never really been an excessive farter. There are always foods that are commonly problematic for almost everyone, but as a health-crazed, vegetarian teenager I read Diet for a Small Planet and discovered proper digestion is all about food combinations to create whole proteins out of incomplete proteins. So if you eat beans, you should eat dairy with them. Hey, I can do massive amounts of sour cream with my wheat-wrapped, deep-fried bean burrito! The Paleo-Hashimoto's diet restricts not only wheat and oils, but beans and dairy so that solved any issue I might have had with incomplete proteins.

I've always thought farting was a sign something was not quite right with one's digestion. Lack of digestive enzymes or hydrochloric acid? Impaired liver function or intestinal mobility? The question is always what is causing it? Food? Stress? Chemicals? Besides the typical fart-producing foods, eating while stressed is never good for digestion and eating foods laced with chemicals is suicide. If I get anywhere near certain essential oils I get severe intestinal cramps so it would make sense that any number of unknown environmental contaminants might have an effect on my digestive tract. Fortunately, my digestion is rarely effected by much.

Unfortunately, I started farting yesterday. Out of control. Yeah, I thought this might be too private a confession to share, but I see it as a AIP diet tale of caution. I was worried. I had added back allspice to a dish filled with onions. Although neither is absolutely restricted on the AIP diet there was a short note that both might be an issue for some. I hope it's not allspice and I don't know how I'd live without onions. Then it dawned on me...

According to Girl Alive farting is a sign your probiotic bugs are in the house and farting is the by-product of bacterial breakdown of food during the digestive process. I'm not sold on the farting is a normal, healthy process theory. Long ago I wrote another post on farting: medieval people thought farting was demonic possession. I'm more inclined to believe this than the beneficial bacteria theory. If anything, it's a sign of gut flora imbalance. The satanic bugs are working too much or too little.

 

Then I had an epiphany of sorts. Sauerkraut is cabbage. It is most definitely a fart-producing food. As a cruciferous vegetable and especially in it's difficult-to-digest raw state, eating it would incite even the laziest of beneficial bugs into a satanic frenzy. This sauerkraut is as raw as those bugs are alive. This made me ponder the origins of sauerkraut. Was fermentation a solution to make eating cabbage more socially acceptable? Probably.

Cabbage is also a goitrogenic or a thyroid-suppressing food which is another reason people experiencing hypothyroidism should be cautious when eating cabbage. I've never really liked cabbage in any form and that should be a clue for me. I'm not eating more than 2-3 tablespoons of sauerkraut a day, but I'm thinking I've added too much.

I'll be really happy when this diet is OVER.

Undoubtedly The Worst Tasting Food in the World

Sugar-free coconut milk yogurt. I can't describe how bad it tastes. I had serious reservations having tasted the sweetened version which was tolerable, but the texture was slimy. I was really hoping to add something new and delicious to this incredibly boring diet just to get me through the next three weeks. Really, really outstandingly horrible.

High School Reunion

My ex-best friend from junior high finally sent me an incredibly brief Facebook message asking me if I wanted to go with her to our next high school reunion that may take place this year. I'm confused. She has 453 Facebook friends with whom she's been friendlier much longer than she has been with me, but she wants ME to go with her? Does she not like any of her 453 Facefriends? Are they just numbers? Trophies? Has she not cultivated any connection with any of them and she feels closest to me? So weird.

I haven't had any contact with her throughout my whole adulthood. Although she professed much excitement at our initial reconnection, it took her two months to respond to my email, and her email was definitely less than 140 characters. I don't even know this woman  nor who she's become. She could be a psychopath or a serial killer. Or collect beanie babies. Or hoard cats. And she doesn't know me at all either. I could be psychopathic or...chemically sensitive! Yet she expects me to go with her to an event that will remind me of the WORST years of my life?

"High school is what gives you a record's low for judging the rest of your life.  

'Well, at least it's not as bad as high school.'"*

 

 

Now, I do know there are some people who feel those high school years were their wonder years, but for me, the more removed I became from the experience, the better my life got. It's sort of true time heals all wounds, but I have a really good memory of those three years of torture. I hated the competition and the popularity games. The rude, immature boys and snotty, back-stabbing girls. I didn't even like most of my classes. One or two of my teachers were great and I spent the lunch hours of my senior year in the library reading the Encyclopedia of American Murders so all was not lost, but most of it I'd rather forget.

 

 

But do I really want to go to a reunion? My high school best friend went to an earlier reunion and she said it was the same social game-playing only everyone was older. But CAN I even go to a reunion with all the perfume, cologne, lotions, fancy hair dos and make-up? You know all those old people will be trying to look their best and that means stink. Maybe it'll be held outside? In fresh air? Or will I travel for hours only to have to leave after five minutes? Is it worth the hassle, risk and gas money? Hmmm...

It already sounds like a plot to a really bad horror movie.

Did you go to your high school reunions?

*Quote from Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson. Hilarious book.

OMG. People Die.

Facebook is really good for cyberstalking. Maybe it's not cyberstalking if you are just searching for people? For years I've had a difficult time finding childhood friends mostly because my old girlfriends had gotten married, changed their names, and didn't seem to want to connect their maiden name with their married names. Yes, I said names. It's really problematic when they've been married more than once. Facebook has made that somewhat easier.

Due to life transitions, like most people, I spent my childhood in different locations so my friends are scattered and as children we lost touch over the years. Some of them I managed to maintain connection through letters, but even that fizzled once high school and then adulthood happened.

Lately through Facebook, I'm finding names...and finding them dead. It's strange to think childhood friends and acquaintances, people my age, have died. They sometimes died young. Unfortunately, it is not customary to advertise how people die. I guess it is some kind of etiquette rule? You can say where they died, the dates, how old they were, the relatives they left behind, and sometimes a short history. But no mention of HOW. Young people dying is discombobulating. I want to know how.

The first childhood friend I found was through the obituary of her brother. Her brother was only two years older than we were and rather cute, but not friendly. I remember he always glared at me every time I was at their house as if I were disrupting the peaceful existence of his teenage years. At age 35 he was married with two small children. He went hiking, broke his ankle, had to have surgery, and while convalescing, had what he thought were minor complications. He called the doctor who told him to come in the office. He didn't think it was a big deal so he didn't. He died. It was a blood clot that migrated to his lungs. Jeez. I only know these details due to news articles on the subsequent lawsuit.

The second childhood friend was the daughter of my parents' friends. They were rich. She had her own horse and swimming pool and I thought I'd hit the jackpot when I was invited to stay with them one summer while my step-mother was preoccupied birthing devil spawn. I was so excited! This girl was so resentful that I didn't want to do exactly what she wanted all the time. I wanted lounge at the pool like a movie star. She wanted to hang out with her snooty friends smoking and she expected me to ride on the sweaty back of her horse in shorts...which gave me a rash. After a few weeks of my noncompliance and her manipulation, we grew to hate each other. My parents would always invite her to my teenage birthday parties and she'd sit in the corner and scowl as if it was so beneath her to have fun. I found her obituary. It seems she had changed her name. Last I heard, which was years ago, she had moved to Los Angeles right out of high school and was either a stripper or porn star. I can't remember the details now. Every time I saw her parents they always tried to hide their disappointment. I have no clue how she died.

The last childhood friend I found through an online real estate transaction that brought up her married name as well as the name of her brother. I found her brother on Facebook. He only lives about an hour away from me! I continued searching and found their father's obituary from a couple years ago. "Charles is proceeded in death by his eldest daughter...." OMG. I continued to search and found the obituary of my friend's older sister who was only two years older than me. She died when she was only 33 years old. HOW? I searched all over. Who, besides my mother, dies that young? But HOW? I went through old photographs and found pictures of my friend and her older sister at all my birthday parties. I also found her mother's obituary. She died six months later.

Some of these people I didn't know very well, but with each discovery I feel the pain of that loss. My childhood is dying. I'm not a stranger to death by any means, but other than my parents and grandparents, I really have no experience with deaths of friends or relatives my own age. It's one of those discombobulating reminders of mortality.

Facebook is death.

Probiotics

Probiotics. What a weird word. I wonder who made it up? Nevertheless, probiotics is a very popular dietary concept. Not that it's new or anything as for years eating yogurt with live cultures has been touted as a cure-all for all manner of illness.

Now, however, it seems everyone knows we must cultivate and keep good bacteria in our digestive tract for optimal assimilation of nutrients and proper digestion of foods. We've killed off these beneficial bugs with too many antibiotic drugs, or by eating too much antibiotic-saturated meats, or ingesting any number of chemicals found in our food and water. Junk foods high in sugar and low in nutrients have created the perfect environment for the bad bacteria (yeast) to grow and overuse of antacids have depleted our system of much needed hydrochloric acid required for digestion. Is it any wonder we can digest anything?

The AIP diet is all about healing the digestive system by eliminating foods difficult or impossible to digest, and most importantly, replenishing good bacteria with foods such as sugar-free coconut milk-based yogurt, water kefir, kombucha, and/or raw, fermented vegetables such as kimchi, ginger, cucumbers, or sauerkraut. It is highly suggested to use anaerobic fermented products that use air-tight containers in the process to avoid common side effects of rashes, digestive upset, or inflammation. Also, to further avoid any bad reactions, wait about three weeks after starting the AIP diet and introduce the probiotic slowly and in small quantities.

Of course, I didn't find these instructions until later or maybe I was in denial and just ignored the whole fermented foods thing? Fortunately I was already aware of potential problems with adding large quantities of new foods to my diet and I didn't get brave enough to try fermented, bug-filled foods until after the second week of the diet. Hooray for good timing! I can't seem to find plain, coconut yogurt without sugar, I won't drink kefir (blah), and I have no idea what kombucha nor kimchi is although I can't find either at my co-op anyway. For too long I was eating dairy-based yogurt with real bacteria with no problem, but dairy is not allowed on any diet since it is so problematic for most.

Sauerkraut. Eeeewww. I remember sauerkraut from my childhood. Nasty texture and nasty sour taste. It made hot dogs taste like crap. Of course, my family bought the processed stuff that looked like a pile of thin, white tapeworms, tasted like someone soaked it in battery acid, and squeaked between your teeth with every chew. I didn't have any hope for sauerkraut but I thought maybe if I just eat a small spoonful a day this would work.

At the co-op they sell raw, locally-made sauerkraut for $7.91 for 16 ounces. I checked with a friend who loves sauerkraut and who just took a class on how to make it at home. I told her if I can't eat it, I'd give it to her rather than waste the money by throwing it in the garbage. I've thrown a whole lot of expensive food in the garbage since starting this diet which embarrasses me since there are so many starving people in the world. It makes me feel like an entitled, spoiled American.

I got it home, eager to experiment, and ate just one small teaspoon. Hmmm...nothing like I remembered. Yes, it had a tangy taste, but no skinny worms. It looked like thinly sliced cabbage. Recognizable. I can do that.

Fifteen minutes later...I was craving more! THAT IS A GOOD SIGN! So I ate more, but not a lot. I've learned my lesson. No side effects or bad reactions. Who would have thought? I've been eating small amounts of it 2-3 times a day.

I am on my way to a healthy, bug-replenished digestive system!

My New Motto

Am I just gullible? Ignorantly courageous? Irrationally hopeful? The other day people had me convinced mixing liver in meatballs was a rational idea. So today I took a tiny sliver of liver, chopped it into microscopic bits, mixed it with some incredibly expensive hamburger, seasoned it with every herb in my cupboard, and added three different types of onions in an attempt to camouflage it into a tasty yet health new meal. WRONG. I'm pretty sure those people who suggested such an idiotic idea were laughing hysterically at my gullibility. Damn psychopaths. Just the smell alone made me want to vomit, but the horrible taste made me want to throw it all in the garbage. Which I did. What a waste. My new motto:

 

LIFE IS TO SHORT TO EAT LIVER.

 

 

I'm getting really bored with this diet....and I'm HUNGRY!

Shrimp and Avocado Salad (recipe)

I found this recipe on the The Paleo Mom blog. It has shrimp or prawns which are not allowed on the Hashimoto's diet especially large prawns since they are considered too polluted and toxic. Shellfish is highly recommended for the AIP and Paleo diets since they are so high in good fat, Omega-3's, and minerals. I don't know. I figured if I don't eat them too often, it'll be OK. Usually when I eat prawns I have weird dreams and that is a clear indication that I ate something mildly toxic.

However, this recipe has cilantro in it. I love the smell of cilantro and have tried to grow it in my garden in year's past. I tend to shy away from cilantro as it has such a strong taste, but it's an effective detoxifier of one's liver so I'm always adding it to salads or Mexican dishes. I'm thinking the cilantro will neutralize the toxicity of the prawns. Maybe? Hmmm... I don't know if it was the lime, but the cilantro wasn't overbearing as usual. Very good!

Ingredients for Cilantro Dressing:

3 tablespoons of fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro
salt and pepper

Salad ingredients:

1 lb. cooked shrimp or prawns, shelled and de-veined
2 avocados, peeled and sliced
4 cups of lettuce or salad greens
Cilantro Dressing

Combine dressing ingredients and pour over shrimp or prawns. Mix to coat. Refrigerate for about an hour.

Place lettuce in a bowl, add avocados and shrimp/prawn mixture.

Eat.

YUM!

My dreams that night weren't anxiety-ridden or horrifying, but they went on all night. Every time I'd wake up then fall back to sleep, they'd continue. I went from being in my house with strange men outside my window, to volunteering in a hospital, to visiting Jason Mraz with his kids (he doesn't have kids), to teaching in a strange school. My brain is so weird....

Breakfast of Champions: Liver

I am the proud owner of a slab of cow's liver. Eeewww. Now don't get me wrong, as a child I grew up on beef having been raised on a small farm (you can read about that HERE) and actually liked liver as long as it was smothered in ketchup.

About a year ago after reading about the health benefits of liver, I attempted to cook a portion. It's definitely a cheap cut of meat, high in micronutrients, especially minerals. I didn't remember exactly how we cooked it during my childhood so I just threw it in the pan. It tasted like...well, let's just say it all ended up in the garbage along with the one bite I tasted.

There was a humorous anecdote in Reader's Digest about a little girl who was served liver and she asked, "Mommy, why are we eating diarrhea for dinner?" LOL! My thoughts exactly. Determined to eat like a Paleo cavewoman on the advice of many currently popular Paleo authors, I ventured forth.

As I stared at the meat case I asked anyone within hearing, "How does one make liver so it is edible?"

One woman told me she didn't think anyone should eat liver because it's the organ that filters and stores all the toxins. I told her I thought so, too, but according to The Paleo Mom (Sarah Ballantyne) book, The Paleo Approach, the liver does filter toxins, but it doesn't store them. Instead it "binds them, thereby rendering them inert, and then typically shuttles them to the kidneys for excretion in the urine but also to the gallbladder for secretion into the gastrointestinal tract and excretion in the stool." 

The Paleo Mom also explains, "While there may be some toxins present in liver from grain-fed, nonorganic, antibiotic-treated animals raised in CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations, or factory farms), those toxins are also present in the fat and muscle from those animals to a very similar degree as in the organs. (Some reports suggest that even more heavy metals sequester in muscle than in organs.)" So there you have it!

That is reassuring, sort of. Who does one believe? There are so many theories amongst the hundreds of authors, doctors, or diet gurus and they often conflict. For instance some say goitrogens suppress the thyroid, others say there is no evidence for that. Well, someone thought there was evidence at one time. Was it lost? Or is the misery due to detoxification cause for celebration or worry?  Or we should eat small, more frequent meals rather than fewer, larger meals? If the liver is so efficient at it's job, why are there so many people who have high heavy metals stored in their fat? In the end we must decide based on our common sense, personal experience, and our individual bodies. I have doubts so I'll start slowly and eat just a small amount.

The newly-enlightened woman then leaned closer and graciously imparted her liver-cooking knowledge upon me as if it were a cherished secret: Fry it on medium-high heat, each side for two minutes. Don't cook it all the way through or the texture will make it difficult to eat. It should be a little pink on the inside.

 

Eeeww...I don't eat pink meat. I visualize mad cow disease running rampant through my system. Or parasites burrowing into my brain. Both would render me a vegetable after a period of unthinkable torture and then kill me. Not the way I want to die.

We got to talking about chicken livers which were sold out (along with the elusive cow bones*), and she said fry those livers with onions and bacon. Oh! I could use the bacon grease for the liver oil and make it taste better? She said that would make it really fattening and I countered with that's the diet! Paleo people love their fat and bacon grease is gold. She laughed and said it must be wonderful to have a reason to eat bacon. Exactly!

Anticipating a bloody mess with mad cows running free, I ventured bravely ahead anyway. I was told by another shopper if you can't eat liver plain then chop it all up and add it to meatballs or another food. OR chop the raw liver into tiny pieces and swallowing them like vitamins. Eeeeww...is that safe? I've heard of people putting it in their smoothies raw, too. No way.

Anticipating failure, I cut off just a tiny piece in order to save the rest for meatballs or vitamins. I fried up bacon from grass-fed, non-steroidal pigs first as that would serve as my breakfast protein even if the liver didn't work out. The bloody liver sizzled. I counted aloud exactly two minutes on each side. It was still bloody. Gross. I kept thinking of all the rare steaks I've seen in my life and tried not to think about mad cow. I cut the cooked, slightly red liver in tiny bite-sized pieces and ate.

It was OK! The center, or blood parts, actually tasted like I remembered from childhood. The outer, overdone parts were tough and difficult. I wonder what raw liver tastes like?

Eeeewww! I don't remember it looking as bloody as this picture!
Maybe I was closing my eyes?

I washed it all down with a large salad.


It's only been two weeks, but I haven't cheated once on this AIP diet. I am amazed! However, I am desiring unsweetened carob chips - my formerly 20% Paleo cheats. It's been a long time since I've indulged and they are calling to me. It doesn't help that I'm feeling tired all the time and that just makes me want to cheat in hopes of some energy.


*I thought my co-op was just having a hard time getting cow bones as one of their employees once told me. Come to find out, the bones arrive every Tuesday and are sold out immediately due to the popularity of bone broth! And one must special order organic chicken livers and they only come in the 12 lb. size. They are not making this diet easy.

Listen to Your Body!

I've always believed our bodies tell us what we need and what we shouldn't eat and this is clearly communicated through our food choices, what we like and don't like. I've had experiences trying a new food where after the sampling even if I thought it tasted badly or had a strange texture, I find I'm craving it only to discover that particular food is good for a specific ailment of mine. I am repulsed by other foods. I've always hated oatmeal. It's only second to cream of wheat in terms of the worst food ever. Oh, what a minute, maybe it's the third worst food on the planet? The first is tapioca pudding. Just recently I found out tapioca is a cross-reactor to gluten so it all makes sense.

Now, I know my theory isn't fool-proof. Food allergies often result in cravings. As do food addictions. Sugar is a good example. Chocolate, the most wicked of all foods, is another example. And alcohol. Well, is alcohol really a food? Whatever...you know what I mean.

Then there are foods I've never eaten in my life. I don't know if it's because they have never been appealing or available or if indeed I did eat them as a child my body knows not to go there. I don't care about them so I just don't bother.

Some foods are considered so healthy and fashionable, that I've felt guilt-tripped into eating them. Kale was one of those foods. I tried forcing it down my throat a few times. Then I read kale is a goitrogen which suppresses thyroid. I was so delighted to have a valid reason not to eat kale!

Broccoli and tomatoes I have also eaten not because they taste good, but only because I thought they provided valuable nutrients so again I did some force-feeding in the name of nutrition. Then I found out tomatoes make my whole body writhe in pain and broccoli is a goitrogen. I still eat broccoli on occasion mixed with other foods, but I never overindulge and I rotate when I eat it.

I started the AIP diet at the beginning of the new year and immediately my neck and back started to burn and hurt for no apparent reason. This is normally a chemical exposure symptom, but I couldn't figure out where or what or who exposed me. Maybe I'm detoxing? I doubt it. I just wrote a post on doctors who lie about detoxing symptoms.

 

Then I started crashing. Total exhaustion. My whole body felt exhausted right down to the bone. I could hardly move. It felt like a really horrible autoimmune attack and I hadn't experienced this kind of exhaustion since I started the Paleo-Hashimoto's diet nearly four years ago.

I felt frustrated, confused, and afraid. What is it? This AIP diet is supposed to be really good and I haven't cheated at all. What gives? Suppose I can't figure this one out? I can't function with this fatigue and that places my income and well-being in jeopardy. So I started brainstorming reasons for these apparent side effects of...something.

The AIP diet is mostly about eliminating certain foods rather than adding new possibly problematic ones. The instructions say one must eat bone broth and organ meat. Eeeww... Although I'm a bit resistant because I know I don't like these things (for a reason?), I have tried to find them at the co-op. Maybe I'm crashing because I'm missing key nutrients required by the diet? Could that be it?

Maybe my body needs the minerals in nuts or eggs that are restricted on this diet? Eggs are high in zinc. Could that be it?

To compensate for the removal of foods, I've tried to add more vegetables. Like Brussels sprouts.
Yum! Brussels sprouts are goitrogens known for suppressing thyroid. Could that be it?

Parsnips are one of those foods I've never eaten. No desire. No opportunity. I have never hated the taste, I just never cared. Then I discovered a recipe for Parsnip Fries and thought I had found my answer to French-fried potatoes. Yum! I can always use more vegetables in my diet. Could that be it?

I've eaten grapefruit pretty much all my life with no problem, but my recent gene mutation results told me this is a food I shouldn't eat. Grapefruits are in season and I bought a few. How can grapefruit be anything but healthy? Could that be it?

I noticed the moon was full and it's been a full moon for the last few days. I've also had problems in the past with water chemical treatments and I often eliminated baths because I know those chemicals can be an issue for me. I'm grasping here, but for a successful elimination test one must brainstorms ALL possibilities.

I stopped bathing and stopped eating Brussels sprouts, grapefruit, and parsnips. There's nothing I can do about the moon and I'm still looking for cow bones to boil (yuck). I'll wait a week, see if the fatigue disappears, then add each item back separately at least I'll be able to narrow it down.

The exhaustion was gone by the end of the first day with just minor fatigue remaining so that's telling. The back and neck pain was replaced with itching which is still inconvenient and uncomfortable, but much better than pain and tension. Eventually that went away, too. Return to bathing was fine although now it might be beyond the water treatment schedule. Grapefruit had no negative effect.

Then I made myself a big batch of parsnip fries. I'd been looking forward to this, but the smell of them made me feel ill. I felt repulsed. I didn't want to eat them. I remember I thought the smell was weird before, too. I ate three and it felt like too many. Within about fifteen minutes my stomach hurt, my back itched, and my head hurt and felt light and dizzy. This is not good.

 

I researched a little online. Parsnips are a cross-reaction for people who are allergic to birch. Well, that's me! There were a few people with parsnip allergies who shared photos of facial rashes, eyes swollen shut, or experiences of being rushed to the hospital because they couldn't breath. That's after never in their lives eating parsnips and trying them for the first time as adults. I hate to learn from someone else's misery, but I think for those of us who are sensitive to foods in any way, we need to be cautious with new foods and try them in small quantities.

This is a lesson in listening to one's body. There's a reason I have never eaten parsnips!

Cell Phones Cause Cancer

Has anyone out there NOT heard that cell phones cause cancer? It has been suggested that famous attorney Johnnie Cochran who used his cell phone non-stop died from cell phone-induced brain cancer. Does anyone care? How many people are out there still using cell phones? And the rest of us who don't use them, how are we being affected? Or infected?

 

WAKE UP PEOPLE!

 

This is the best information I've heard on the cancer-causing toxicity of cell phones. This is attorney Jimmy Gonzalez who makes a REALLY good case. And he's articulate and cute...

 

 

 

Well, he WAS articulate and cute. November 27, 2014 he died. He was 42 years old with a wife and two small baby girls.

What an atrocity. It absolutely breaks my heart.

CELL PHONES ARE EVIL.

But it got me thinking, if my work depended on the use of a cell phone, would I be willing to give it up for my health?  Like Mr. Gonzalez I am a left-hand talker and oddly enough if I'm on the phone too long, or more than ten minutes, the left side of my head feels like it's going to explode. I see this as NOT a good sign so I gave up using phones a few years ago. I have one, cheap cell phone that I have for emergencies. It's inconvenient for sure, especially since they are required so often for any kind of professional communication, but I don't feel like I have a choice.

But...what would I do if my computer was giving me cancer? How would I live without a computer? How would I work and make money without a computer? The world is dependent on cell phones. How would people give them up? Jeez, how would teenagers function? Could we ever go back to just having landlines?

Wouldn't that be spectacular? I would be very happy never again to hear people screaming on their cell phones while standing in line at the grocery, or while sitting in a library, or hiking in the woods, or while picking berries in a berry field. When someone invented the cell phone they should have required etiquette classes and developed laws forbidding people to be rude cell phone users.

Until then I think this will be survival of the most informed and we will see an increase in cancer in the coming decades.

Quote of the Century

"Doctors give drugs of which they know little, into bodies, of which they know less, for diseases of which they know nothing at all."  -Voltaire

Well said, Voltaire!
You'd think medicine would have improved in the last 200 years.
I guess not!
 

I found this quote in the book The Paleo Approach by Sarah Ballantyne.

 

 

First Flowers

It always seems too early for flowers to bloom in January, but it reminds me that spring is just around the corner! That gives me hope!

 

Camellias are the first to bloom in all their brilliance. Native to eastern and southeastern Asia, they were brought to the United States in the 1940s.

Red camellias symbolize passion, pink symbolize longing and white, adoration, perfection, loveliness and all kinds of love including love between a mother and child. If given to a man, the white camellia also symbolizes luck.

For me, they symbolize HOPE for springtime and warmer weather!

They've also been used medicinally for asthma, heart disease and bacterial infections. Peter used to gorge on them every winter. They are high in vitamin C.

 

I found all this information on camellias at Garden Guides .

This, on the other hand, is not pretty:

I think it's a mole that has taken up residence under the camellia bush in my newly landscaped garden bed! The winter war...at least he's not living under my house! I like moles. They are so cute, but they are so messy. And I wish they wouldn't eat my earthworms which are good for a garden. I'd rather they didn't eat my bulbs or flower roots, either. However, I've read all the digging they do is really good for gardens as it aerates the dirt. So I'm fine with his free-loading. I think it's strange this is the first mole hill I've seen on my property in the nine years I've been here.

Or maybe it's a rat living underground for lack of a place to go? Eeewww...

We Are Not Alone...

...that sounds like a blog post on aliens. How many of us felt like aliens when we first showed signs of chemical sensitivity?

I was reading a blog on allergies and someone posted that she/he started having chemical sensitivity symptoms in 1986. The doctor diagnosed it as stress and asthma. End of story. For years this person didn't know and just recently, this last week in fact, discovered the world of MCS. What an epiphany that must have been! It made me reminisce about my first experiences, my confusion, and my isolation.

I spent every Sunday of my youth in church surrounded by properly dressed elderly women bathed in a whole lot of stink. My reactions at that time were like hay fever symptoms: sinus congestion, watery eyes, heavy lungs, and some slight throat clearing or coughing. Oh well. I chalked it up to allergies. After all everyone knew perfumes were made from flowers, right? My dad reacted the same way and avoided church for that very reason. Consequently, we didn't use a lot of scented products at home. I do remember opting to buy older relatives fragrance gifts for lack of a better choice. I'm sure that was influenced by television commercials. What else does a grandmother want? They already have everything!

As a young adult I was given a tiny, beautiful bottle of Oscar de la Renta perfume. I'd wear it on my wrists, but only if I went some place fancy. I knew better than to wear it anywhere near my neck. Or nose. Hay fever symptoms are anything but attractive. As soon as I'd get home I'd wash it off, but rarely did I have problems with my own perfume or anyone else's. I also didn't bathe in it.

Years later as a teacher every now and then one of my teenage students would bring a bottle of cologne to school and proceed to throw it on other students. Yeah...junior high. Whadda ya gonna do? Many students had asthma and would complain immediately, even run out of the room. Total disruption. We'd all gag choking on the stink. I'd confiscate the bottle of perfume and send the little brat to the office. It took all my will power not to smack him across the head with a book.

I took pity on one kid, but I don't remember why. Instead of sending him to the office, I took the bottle away and told him he'd get it back when his parents came in to get it for him. He came back after school that same day and begged for the return of the bottle claiming it was his older brother's cologne and he would die a thousand deaths if his brother found out.

I said, "I guess you should get your parents to make that appointment right away!" He walked away scowling. I don't know why teenagers always thought I couldn't see through their bullshit.

The student eventually rotated out of my class at the end of the quarter. Months later I discovered the bottle in a drawer where I stashed it. I figured he wasn't coming back for it and threw it away. A week later, the last day of school, he shows up again begging for his cologne claiming his brother will kill him if he doesn't return it. I'm not sure why his brother hadn't notice it missing for the past six months?

At first I panicked remembering I threw it away and then I calmly said as I looked around him innocently, "OH! Are your parents here?"

LOL! He left and I never saw him again. His brother probably killed him. Over a bottle of cologne.

Sick of the antics of junior high students, I took a break from teaching and went to work for a large corporation in an office filled with perfume-drenched women. After a few days I became incredibly sick.

It must be the flu, I thought, The stress of a new job and all.

It would go away on the weekends when, I assumed, I was getting extra sleep, drinking lots of orange juice, and taking other steps to eradicate the virus. Monday it would return and I again assumed ignorantly I did something unhealthy to make it return. This went on for three weeks until I realized one Monday when every one of those ignorant bitches came in smelling freshly bathed in stink and instead of typical flu symptoms my lungs inconveniently stopped working. I was horrified. And scared. Was I going to have to quit my new job??

Even with this new-found realization, I thought it was just me. I was weird. It's MY allergy. No one else could possibly be so weird. No one else was going to understand. I mean, WHO is allergic to scents? Everything is scented these days. Maybe I could try some allergy medications? I assured myself it would go away and until then maybe I could avoid the stinkers. Being so anti-socially different and damaged isn't something that makes one feel proud. I didn't want to tell anyone. Maybe I can still survive and fly under the radar? They'll never notice me wheezing in the corner with an asthma attack. I didn't want to quit my new job.

For the next few years I changed jobs several times. I had all kinds of logical reasons for quitting each job so I could maintain some kind of professional demeanor and my resume wouldn't suffer, but the real reason was I couldn't tolerate the personal fragrances used by fellow employees. If I could just find a job without stinky people, I'd be fine.

Teaching. Teachers don't wear perfume. Why would they ever wear perfume? They aren't trying to be sexually attractive to...children! Are they? Eeeewww. This was right about the time Mary Kay Latourneau was caught with her twelve-year old student. I didn't remember teachers ever wearing perfume. Did Mary Kay? So many of the students had asthma. That last year teaching one of my students died from an asthma attack. It would be idiotic for a teacher to wear perfume. Even I know that! I thought I found my answer. Back to teaching! Back to safety!

Why would teachers wear perfume? It took me one more job filled with perfume/cologne-bathed teachers and a desperate desire to save myself before I started doing serious research on chemical sensitivity. It was only then did I realize I'm hardly alone with this! Thirty-four percent of the population has some level of reaction to fragrances, fifteen percent have had their lives drastically altered because of it, and five percent are diagnosed with MCS. These are statistics from fifteen years ago. More recent studies suggest the age group for the highest percentage for chemical sensitivity are those between 70 and 90 years of age. By the time the baby boomers get to be 70 - 90 I think we will see a huge increase in those percentages.

No, we are not alone....

Too bad we can't organize, harness our collective energy, and effect more change.


(Confession: I have NO idea how to draw an alien! Any ten-year old can draw an alien, but I don't have a clue. It's embarrassing....)

Fart-Filtering Underwear

Yep, that's the title of my post. I like a good title!

You can buy underwear that will filter your farts so no one can smell them. For people with digestive disorders, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or Crohn's disease this just may be a godscent. (Yes, that's my pun for the day.) I guess you have to have a whole lot of body awareness and trust you'll know when your fart will be silent and deadly or LOUD and deadly. Loud even without the stink would still qualify as a social faux pas, and these undergarments don't help with the noise.

Buy them at Shreddies.  Their website photo is priceless:

It never ceases to amaze me what one can find on the Internet. I have no idea if this is a real company or someone's idea of a joke. Their motto is "Fart with Confidence." But if it is real, there must be a way to use this technology so we don't have to smell other stink...maybe make masks from the same material? I wonder if they use chemicals in their filters? I wonder if a mask made from this fabric would still allow you to breathe?

I'm curious, and that makes it very good marketing.

Parsnip Fries (recipe)

SEE WARNING AT BOTTOM OF POST!

This recipe is a great substitute for French fries.  They are quite good especially if potatoes are forbidden on your diet as they are on mine.

If you cut them thick, they are like French fries (although with that parsnip-ish taste), but if you slice them very thin and bake them until they are toasty, I think they'd make great crackers or parsnip-chips. If you are missing crunchy foods, this will satisfy. As you can see from the photo, if you don't cut them evenly one way or the other, the little skinny ones will burn before the bigger pieces cook completely. As mentioned in the instructions, they tend to burn easily. And they have a very bizarre smell. Not bad, just different. I've never been much of a parsnip connoisseur.

I found this recipe on my friend's Pinterest account and it is originally from Paleo Grubs.

Ingredients

4 medium parsnips, peeled

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tsp truffle oil (optional)

2 tbsp parsley, chopped (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Don't buy large parsnips as their cores are tough. Medium or small are preferred. Slice the peeled parsnips into thin fries.Toss in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread out in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

Turn the fries over and place back in the oven. Turn up the heat to 450 degrees F. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until crispy, watching closely to make sure that the fries do not burn.

Second batch...I tried cutting them all the same size and ended
up with less burnt pieces. I'm becoming a parsnip fries pro!

Place the fries in a large bowl and toss with the parsley and truffle oil. I don't add this stuff, but I'm sure it would make them even better. Serve warm, topped with additional sea salt if desired.

Yum.

Parsnip Chips...Really Yummy!

WARNING: After a few indulgences I realized I was reacting badly to parsnips. BADLY! Online you will find this is a common allergen creating life-threatening symptoms to some people so make sure you can eat parsnips before you indulge. Read other post on parsnips for more information.

The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) Diet

This New Year's Day was the start of "new beginnings". I'm not clear why, but a friend of mine did something with the date and year and it comes out to "1" and she says it's all about new beginnings. OK.

 

I have newly begun the AIP diet which supposedly reduces intestinal inflammation and helps put all your autoimmune misery in remission. It's very much like the GAPS diet and works by eliminating foods that are difficult to digest to ease your digestive system. After gorging on Paleo desserts for the last week, I'm actually really happy to have a reason to NOT eat more baked goods since most of them destroyed my digestive system. I also recently read if supplements make you ill, which they do, that is sign of a leaky gut. It's been four years since I did the GAPS diet, so it might be time to try something like that again.

I got the information of the website AIP Lifestyle which explains the details.

 

Here's what I have to avoid eating for six to eight weeks:

Grains
Legumes (except green beans and snow peas)
Alternative sweeteners
Dried fruits
Dairy
Processed foods (this would include sugars)
Alcohol
Chocolate
Vegetable oils (except olive, coconut, lard, cultured ghee)
Tapioca (which is a gluten cross-reactor)

Tapioca is the grossest food on the planet so I'm happy not to eat it.

That's pretty much the diet I'm on anyway, but these foods are also restricted:

Nuts and nut oils
Seeds
Eggs
Nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, paprika, mustard seeds, all chili’s including spices)
Culinary herbs from seeds (mustard, cumin, coriander, fennel, cardamom, fenugreek, caraway, nutmeg, dill seed)

I just recently stopped eating cumin due to advice based on my gene mutations. I do normally eat nuts for protein. Eggs...well, I eat a lot of eggs. Too many for any human to eat. I love eggs. And mayonnaise which is made with eggs.

What I can eat is:

Vegetables (except nightshades)
Fruits (limited to 20 grams per day)
Green beans
Snow peas
Bone broth
Coconut products
Olive oil
Avocados
Bacon fat
Cultured ghee
Fermented foods
Meats (grass-fed, no steroids)
Poultry (free-range, no steroids)
Seafood (wild-caught, even shellfish!)
Vinegars
Honey
Maple Syrup
Herbs from leaves or non-seeds
Gelatin
Arrowroot starch (unless you have adrenal issues)

The notes say some people are sensitive to onions, coconut, and nectarines. I've recently realized coconut might be problematic for me and I don't like nectarines. I may restrict onions, but I've not had a problem with them in the past and they add flavor to things I don't like (like vegetables...meats).

 

After the six to eight weeks, you should add foods back and see if they give you misery. Like I said, the GAPS diet was just like this and I didn't have a problem with eggs, nuts, seeds, or nightshades. We'll see. I'm just going to stay on my Hashimoto's diet so I still plan to avoid ALL sweeteners and I really hate fermented foods so that's not going to happen. I might cheat some with pork (bacon) which is restricted on the Hashimoto's diet, but not on this one. I won't eat much of it as it tastes like pig sweat to me and I can smell it on my skin after I eat it. (That's a clue!)

I just love a good experiment so I'll start 2015 with one for new beginnings.

Service Project 2015

I've been looking for a new service project since discovering the wetlands trail doesn't seem to have much garbage lately. I found one! I plan to single-handedly clean up the beach!  I realize with the houses falling into the ocean, I might get discouraged or overwhelmed. I'm pretty sure ten large semi-trucks could be filled with garbage and still not make a dent. My plan is for every visit to the ocean I will take a small grocery bag, fill it with beach garbage, and bring it home to be deposited in my garbage can. It'll be a little at a time. I can't stand looking at the garbage on the beach so in my own small way I'll do something about it.

Yesterday I went to the beach and there was so much garbage floating along the water line, more than I've ever seen before. Even boat floats! Big, black floats. At first I was afraid to mess with them. Then I thought maybe a boat sunk!?

I stopped a man who I'd seen often walking on the beach and asked him. He said that was common. He looked at my garbage bag, smiled and said, "That's a lost cause." I told him my plan. He said, "Just throw it back in the ocean. The waves will take it away and it'll all end up down there." He pointed to where all the fallen houses are. He did say once a year there is a community beach clean up day.

 

I am not discouraged. One bag every visit. It's quiet, peaceful, and no one is going to poison me. It's the perfect volunteer project for me.

Clam Digging Day!