Bone Broth: The Experiment is OVER!

I got through one quart of knuckle bone broth over the course of a week, but broth is only good for 3-4 days so I threw the other quart away. Yes, it was a waste of money, but I was very happy to get rid of the remainder. Good riddance crappy knuckle bone broth! I still have $15.00 worth of giant knuckles in my freezer. Some instructions say to mix the knuckles with the other bones, but I think I might put them on Freecycle and give them away...

Saturday morning and I'm at the co-op staring at the meat fridge trying to decide what to buy and what do I spy...bones. Bones? On a Saturday? Small packages of bones! I check the labels BEEF MARROW BONES! So they come in on other days besides Tuesday. Talk about not getting accurate information from co-op employees. Those people irritate me constantly.

 

How many kinds of bones are there?!!! So far I've found soup bones, knuckle bones, ox-tail bones, and marrow bones. These marrow bones were $3.99 lb. but they are so small the whole package was only $4.31. So I bought one, brought it home, baked it, then boiled it for about 20 hours and added veggies at the end. Marrow bone broth tastes much better than the knuckle bone broth and similar to the soup bone broth. Or is it just this batch? These marrow bones also didn't produce gel so this would be considered a failure.

The next day I boiled the ox-tail bones for a taste comparison. As you may recall, these are $7.99 lb so twice as expensive. Supposedly they have more cartilage than the soup bones but with a layer of juicy meat for taste. They tasted tolerable, but not as good as the marrow bone broth. And no gel either.

Left: ox-tail broth, Right: bone marrow broth

 

The only gel-producing bones were the first soup bone attempt and chicken bones. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'm tired of this experiment.

I think my bone broth days are finally over!! Hooray!

Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Broth Bones

"Dem Bones" or "Dry Bones" is a well-known spiritual-turned-children's song written during the early 20th century. You can watch a performance of it by The [incredibly good looking and dapper] Delta Rhythm Boys (circa 1940s?) HERE or listen to the children's version with sexy dancing skeletons who I think would be really good at twerking HERE . Who would have thought I'd feel spiritual about bones? YES! I have finally found and purchased beef bones for broth!

Having missed the bone deliveries that normally arrive at my co-op on Tuesday night, I finally outsmarted myself by getting up before the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning and driving to the store just as it opened. Am I a model of persistence, or what??!! There they were waiting for me!  They cost $3.99 lb. (same as the other co-op) and ox-tail bones were $7.99 lb. A little spendy for bones if you ask me, but it's all about supply and demand.

Being really tired of always missing them and everyone explaining and apologizing how other customers are "hoarding" them, I bought not just one pack but two. Yes, I am now an official hoarder joining the millions of other bone broth addicts who are incapable of sharing. This is one of the many negative effects of the AIP diet: flatulence, starvation, selfish hoarding and competitive aggression. Evidence of mad cow?

As I waited for the front doors to open, another customer walked up behind me then past me as we were greeted and welcomed into the store. I glared at her from behind and sped up muttering threats just under my breath to the back of her head. I'm pretty sure if she would have headed down the meat aisle I would have tackled her screaming like a mad [cow] woman. Lucky for her, she walked right on by. She had no idea how close she came to being the victim of a random act of violence. (According to an unofficial source not at liberty to discuss details of the investigation, police still cannot determine what motivated this crazed cow to attack the other shopper. It's a mystery.)

 

The "bones" were packaged in bizarre white sticky paper with vacuumed-packed plastic wrap over that making it look like there were multiple parts.

I made the mistake of assuming I had "bones" when in fact I bought one humongous knuckle bone. Eleven dollars worth of cow knees! Or knee. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea. What the hell did I buy?

I'm not sure if one cow knee is worth $11, but I'll give this a try.

I baked this bone at 400 degrees for 20 minutes in lieu of pan searing. No meat on this chunk. Then placed it in my newly purchased yet used over-sized pot and filled it with water and a bit of vinegar which supposedly leaches the minerals out of the bones.

After suffering forty-eight hours of gross beefy smell, I had myself some authentic bone broth. The real thing. At the last minute I threw in some onions, celery, parsley, and garlic and simmered for a bit longer.

I tried drinking it fresh just after I strained it several times, it was like drinking liquid fat. ARGH! Heck, it LOOKED like a large pot of fat! And this photo was taken when it was still hot:

I've read the fat is good. It makes you feel full. This, however, was really gross. So I cooled my authentic broth and patiently waited for the fat to harden. And there wasn't much fat to remove...hmmm...and there wasn't any gel! How can that be after I boiled these babes for 48 hours? And it looks like sludge. And smells like dead bodies. Or smelly armpits. A rancid animal stink.

Did that stop me from tasting it? Nope. I am determined to do this right. The taste was tolerable but only because of the vegetable flavor. The texture is now creamy rather than greasy. Tolerable, but not something I'd look forward to drinking. All that work and expense made two quarts of bone broth which is fine since I don't plan to drink more than a half of a tiny tea cup's worth each day. I suppose this is how supplements came into existence: someone thought they could freeze dry it and stick it in a capsule to swallow so they wouldn't have to taste it.

So, I'm not feeling so spiritual anymore, but I am praying passionately for an end to this diet.

So what to I do with the other $15.00 hunk of cow knee still in my freezer?

The Reintroduction

Someone should preface the AIP with DIET PREREQUISITES: PATIENCE. Maybe this is the same as willpower?

It is recommended to maintain this diet for 6-8 weeks although I know some doctors prescribe it for only three weeks. Maybe it depends on your level of gastrointestinal issues? Prior to the diet, I really didn't have gastrointestinal issues, but I did and do have a bizarre neuro-inflammatory problem. Well, that's my guess. I know it originated in the back of my head at the base just above my spine so I assume it's neurological. I've been reading a lot about the brain-gut connection and I had hoped this diet would relieve the constant burning sensation that travels throughout my body.

After five weeks on the AIP diet I started testing foods that were restricted. I got impatient. Not being able to find the livers and bones was discouraging. Food reintroduction is a slow process so I decided to start early out of frustration. It's hard to DO a diet if you can't get the right ingredients and I was ready to be done with it all. The reintroduction instructions are to test one food at a time and wait from three to seven days before trying another. I admit, again, I'm just not that patient and most of the foods caused a reaction immediately so I'm not sure why I needed to wait for seven days. I waited three days on most foods or after I felt better.

The instructions also say to eat only one tablespoon of the food, wait fifteen minutes, and eat another tablespoon, wait fifteen minutes and then eat it as you would for a normal helping. I know this is to make sure you don't have a serious reaction, but again, I'm not that patient! I was this meticulous with the first few foods, but then I got tired of it and just ate. It's not like I was testing chocolate or tomatoes or other known foods of misery.

I had a variety of reactions to the food reintroductions. The problem with being chemically sensitive is it's hard to determine if a reaction is caused by the food or something else. Also, at the beginning of the diet I had more problems with digestion than before the diet so it's really hard to say if the individual foods caused a reaction or if it was the diet in general. I was also under the assumption the diet would heal my leaky gut, making all foods tolerable, but I recognize I spent the first half of the diet sans organs and bones so I failed at following the diet exactly as instructed. I've never been good at instructions. It's like I'm ADHD when it comes to following directions. Or impatient.

Here are the foods I stopped eating then reintroduced:

Almonds seemed fine during the first test. They felt good going down. I waited and tried again a week later and I felt a bit queasy, but it could have been because I was really hungry and my digestive tract wasn't used to such a dense food. It didn't last long. Third test I had no problem.

Cashews seemed fine at first followed an hour later by gas and diarrhea.

Pecans are not my friends. Immediate stomach pain and then within the hour neck pain. It didn't last long. This is surprising. I've been eating a lot of pecans in the last few years.

Eggs are not only NOT my friends, but my enemies. Immediate back itch followed by neck and spine pain for two days straight. A week later I tested only egg yolks and didn't seem to have a problem. I've eaten way too many eggs in my lifetime, more than anyone should, so it's time to give them up. However, I now know egg yolks can still be used for recipes if needed. But what will I ever make that needs eggs? Baking is out as it always involves foods that are problematic.

Coconut, coconut milk, coconut flour and coconut oil are not only on all diets but highly recommended. Since my Christmas holiday recipe bonanza, these coconut products have caused me nothing but grief. During this diet I stopped using them. Later I tried some coconut oil and immediately my stomach started hurting. I also tried some coconut milk and immediately felt queasy. I might have over did it during Christmas and my body is retaliating. Coconut products are out.

Canola oil mayonnaise was fine, which I thought strange since it's made with eggs. Mayonnaise, however, is a food one wouldn't eat more than a tablespoon at a time so I don't know if the test is truly accurate since I might not be eating enough of it to incite a reaction. I have no desire to shovel an inhuman amount of mayo down my throat for the sake of testing. I didn't really miss it during the diet so I think for an occasional recipe it's fine, but I won't be eating much of it in the future. The Paleo diet restricts processed foods so it's time to get rid of this processed food.

Plain, organic yogurt made my stomach hurt immediately. Then my back hurt. Then my head hurt. Then diarrhea continuing the next day ALL day. I didn't even eat very much. In the last year I haven't eaten any yogurt so it won't be missed.

Unsweetened carob chips...I nearly forgot how much I love carob! Of course the chips are not just carob but made with soy lecithin, whey and palm kernel oil. These are bad, bad, and bad ingredients not allowed on the Paleo-Hashimoto's diet. It's hard to say exactly which ingredient caused the gas that followed. In the past I've never had a problem with carob chips, but I know carob is naturally constipating. In fact, during the yogurt-induced day of diarrhea, I was desperately desiring carob! But if gas is just bacteria working to digest food is that bad? Or is it good I have bacteria doing their jobs causing all that gas??

I find this really interesting since I normally eat carob chips with nuts, like a healthy Hershey's Bar, but all this time carob chips are constipating and nuts give me diarrhea...so it all evened out! Who would have known?

Rice. Oddly enough while on this diet I didn't have any rice for six weeks. I didn't even miss it! Amazing. I remember when I would crave it so badly I'd start pacing. I didn't test it. I've never really liked rice and only used it as a filler food. It is restricted on the Hashimoto's diet as it's a cross-reactor to gluten. White rice is a food that is forbidden on most diets due to its lack of nutrients. I can do without. If anything this diet has weaned me off of some not-so-good foods.

Sweet red bell peppers are fabulous. I didn't realize how much I had missed them. They sure add an enormous amount of flavor to a dish. I had no problem with them before and didn't on reintroduction.

Hot peppers. I had absolutely no problem with habaneros. Hooray! Ditto jalapenos. Hooray!

Butter is another food one wouldn't eat much of at a serving and not a food I have reason to eat often especially if I don't plan to be eating eggs in the future. I didn't have a problem with it before nor after the diet.

Potatoes tasted great! An hour after I ate them I feel really energetic probably from all those extra carbohydrates. A few hours later my legs hurt so badly I could hardly walk. Pain is what also happens with tomatoes another problematic nightshade. Hmmm.... However, it was near bedtime so I wasn't sure if it was the potatoes or just over working those muscles while feeling energetic. I get this incredible urge to dance when feeling energetic and since I'm not used to so much movement it's difficult to determine the origins of random pain. I waited a week and tried potatoes again. Didn't get the energy boost nor the dancing frenzy this time so all that could have been a reaction to something else. Everything was fine for the second testing. Needed a tie-breaker, the third test also no problem.

The very last test wasn't a test, it was a cheat. Cranberry-Almond Gluten-Free Cookie with all kinds of gluten-free garbage in it...no problem whatsoever. Hallelujah!

That's it! So in conclusion: pecans, cashews, eggs, coconut products, and yogurt are out. Butter, mayo and potatoes seem fine although are forbidden on the Hashimoto's diet so I'll continue to avoid those. All peppers are wonderful, almonds are in, Cranberry-Almond Gluten-Free Cookies are my reward, and carob chips in small quantities if I'm feeling particularly masochistic and just don't give a shit. (Or don't want to give a shit....)

I'm still drinking bone broth daily and trying to work up the courage to eat more liver. I haven't given up if on this diet and I haven't really discontinued it aside from the testing. I wonder if I stick with it long enough if my gut would totally heal and all foods would be tolerated? Or is that just wishful thinking and this AIP stuff is just bogus?

A friend of mine told me one of the reasons bones are hard to find is our local football team is drinking bone broth. It's bad enough football players get paid way more than any human should, but because they are treated like royalty in the USA, they are allowed to hoard the bones leaving us peasants nothing. Damn Hoarders.

The Lovely Bones

The bones came in! Who would have ever thought I'd be excited about bones?

I ordered what I thought were bones for broth. The man discussed quality and price so I was fairly confident I would get what I ordered. I had no idea there are different kinds of bones!

My bones came priced $1 per pound more than the quoted price. Hmmm... I think most people would have been so excited to finally get them, they'd just keep their mouths shut but that's a huge jump in price. So I asked. It seems there are neck bones used for soup or joint bones used for broth. This is something I've never heard about in all the books and websites I've read. The soup bones have more meat and the soup made from them is said to taste better. Joint bones are pretty much all bone with a higher mineral content needed for these AIP or GAPS gut-healing diets. The guy did remember me, apologized profusely, told me the soup bones are in high demand which is why it took so long for them to come in. He gave me a slight discount. I will order REAL bones next time. They ARE still bone so I figured it won't hurt. Here is the bone broth recipe I used:

Take two bones and sear all surfaces on medium heat in olive oil in a frying pan.

Place in a gallon of water in a boiling pan or enough to cover the bones depending on the size of your pot. Add about 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (optional) as this helps leach the minerals out of the bones. It does boil off, but the smell for the first hour was questionable. Heat to boil.

Check out my new incredibly large pot!
I just bought it this morning at a yard sale.
Only $3.00 with lid!!
 

When it reaches boiling point, turn the heat down and simmer for a minimum of four hours but up to 48 hours. The longer the better as the bones will start to soften releasing more nutrients and gelatin. For any length of time, a slow cooker or pressure cooker would work better. I simmered mine for 12 hours and it was a pain to get up in the middle of the night to make sure the water still covered the bones.

As it's simmering, check every hour or two and ciphon off the scum on the top. About one hour before finished, add handfuls of carrots, celery, onions, parsley, a clove of garlic and salt and pepper.

When finished, strain into a bowl several times.

The taste of the broth is tolerable. Not great. I'm only doing this because it's supposed to be good for me.

I know, I know, this is the kind of thinking that gets me in trouble with problematic foods. I should listen to my body, but I'll give this a chance for a short time and see what happens.

In the meantime, I'll still be looking for the other kind of bones!

UPDATE: I boiled another pot of soup bones but this time only for four hours. Tasted much better, however, it didn't gel which means I didn't cook it long enough to extract the gelatin and probably the minerals. Also, I read any kind of bones will do. Does this mean I can use the cow bones labeled "dog bones" at the butcher? Hmmm...

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.

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!

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!

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.