It’s been a while since I’ve done an update! Things got pretty stressful for me before Christmas but the holidays themselves were very relaxing. Coming down to such a relaxed state just made me even more aware of what that stress was doing to my health and happiness. Now I’m pretty focused on not letting myself feel that again. I’m slowly learning how to prioritize, take care of my health and ask for more help. Time will tell, but so far since Christmas I have been dealing much better. Oh and I got an awesome Le Creuset french oven from my family for Christmas that I really need to make something with and do a post on!

Nuts

Over the holidays I ate quite a lot of almonds and walnuts. This was after months of not eating nuts at all anymore, other than one or two days around Thanksgiving. For Christmas I had nuts in the stuffing I made for the turkey dinner and pumpkin pie for dessert. I ate them over about 5 days and felt gross. My stomach just does not like nuts at all. I find it interesting that these actually give me more digestive problems than other non-legal SCD foods like rice, soy sauce, and dairy. If you’re on SCD/GAPS and eating nuts everyday, I’d suggest a week or two off them to see how you do. I know most people think it’s not satisfying if you can’t have baked goods, but as a former cookie/cake/bread-aholic I can assure you’ll survive!

Dairy

I have been buying raw milk since late spring, both cow and sheep milk. I absolutely love it and it makes the best SCD yogurt ever. The texture is completely different from any milk I used from the store. I seem to be tolerating raw cream (not SCD-legal) so I have been enjoying that for some time now. My favorite dessert is just some cream with berries and honey. Raw kefir is another addition that has been great. It’s much easier to make than yogurt and I find it really delicious (after a first few tastes where I thought it was gross!). I have found from my dairy-free period and then dairy re-intro challenge that I don’t tolerate cheese well at all. So I’ve been cheese-free since August and although I miss it, I do feel a lot better off it.

Vitamin D

With each post about my acne issues I was getting comments and suggestions to check my vitamin D levels. I guess I never posted here about vitamin D because I was never deficient so it wasn’t a concern of mine during the time I’ve had this blog. I was tested before I started on SCD and had normal status. Then when I learned about the proper test to ask for I got that test done and my levels were high in the optimal range so I never bothered again. The optimal range was reached without me even taking a high dose D3 supplement. I took multivitamins on and off for many years (which probably contained about 400IU), plus I’m very pale and sunbathe most days for about 6 months of the year. Sometimes I was taking a fish oil that contained extra vitamin D and now I take cod liver oil that naturally contains some vitamin D. In any case, my levels were already in the optimum range when I was at my sickest, had just gotten over mono, had the worst acne and digestive issues. I can’t be certain vitamin D deficiency didn’t play a role in my getting sick, but it apparently isn’t something that is affecting me now.

Juicing

The juicing is going great! I always thought the recommendation on SCD to water down the juices meant that we shouldn’t have too much. On GAPS more importance is placed on juicing a larger quantity. Well, in my experience early on in SCD I did just fine with fresh juices made at home, not diluted. And now I’m doing great with them in large amounts. What’s nice about juicing is that it can be a good way to take raw egg yolks (mixed in the juice), even raw grated liver, and in my case, extra raw cream. After a couple months of doing this, I’m noticing my skin is a lot clearer. Also my nails which have always had deep ridges (lengthwise) are much smoother. I definitely think this is helping with nutritional deficiencies, both the juicing and getting more raw animal foods in my diet.

That’s all for now, still working on getting healthier, sleeping a lot and getting happier. Hope to post more soon.

I’m out of my house for about 4 or 5 days while we do some kitchen renovations. In a couple weeks I’ll be out again for a day or two because of the floors being redone. I’m staying at my boyfriend’s house and watching them eat wonderfully delicious homemade Chinese food while I eat my plain meats and veggies Yogurt is running low and I may have actually underestimated how much I need. Sunday and Monday I may have to go without it. The yogurt maker is at home, and I don’t have it in me to try making it in the oven at my boyfriend’s house.

A new thing I have started doing lately is meditation. I’ve always heard meditation can help relieve stress, but I never thought it would work for me. My mind goes crazy thinking too much and I can’t clear it out long enough to get any benefit. Then I came across a post on another blog about meditation, saying all you have to do is sit, focus on a spot on the wall, and count your breathing. You don’t have to not think about anything, just think about the breathing and focus on that. If your mind wanders, realize it did and then again come back to the breathing. Well I tried this and it is really relaxing. I always thought meditation had to be some complicated ‘clear your mind and achieve enlightenment’ sorta deal. This was really nice, and I have continued to do it every now and then. I’m only doing about 5-10 mins per day, but it’s worth it.

The breathing I do is ‘belly breathing’ where your belly rises and falls with each breath while your chest remains fairly stable. I do this breathing through my nose, 4 counts in, 6 counts holding, 6 counts out. This type of breathing is also supposed to help circulation and dark circles under the eyes. Over the course of a couple days I did a lot of belly breathing, probably a few hours of it each day, and noticed my eyes looked brighter the next few days. It’s a lot of work though, I need to constantly remind myself to do it.

I also read “When Panic Attacks” by David Burns and that has helped tremendously. I realize I’m one of those ‘nice’ people who doesn’t deal with issues when they bother me. Instead I shove it deep down and forget about it. Well it turns out that’s the main source of my panic, anxiety and stressful thinking. I’m now making a conscious effort to deal with problems as they happen, even if that means not being ‘nice’. For example if my family comes home, eats my food, dumps their dishes and goes to watch tv, I will tell them it bothered me and ask them to not only clean up (so that I don’t have to later) but also to help me make food. Surprisingly no one has gotten mad at me for nagging them about cleaning up or helping cook. I know, shocking! I really have to keep asking for help and telling people when they do something that bothers me. So much less stressful that way.

Here’s an idea of what I’m eating lately. I’m trying to eat properly for adrenal fatigue, not taking supplements for it or doing more research into it, just resting properly and eating well. This means a good balance of protein, fat and carbs at each meal/snack. I always eat before bed (mostly protein and fat) and first thing when I wake up.
pre-Breakfast: 1/2 cup half n’ half cream yogurt with honey
Breakfast: 2 eggs, chicken broth, cheese, banana
Lunch: Salmon, applesauce with butter
Snack: carrot and celery juice, cheddar cheese
Dinner: chicken thighs with artichoke hearts, applesauce with butter
Snack: 1/2 cup half n’ half cream yogurt with honey, piece of cheese before bed

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted and this is mostly because I had a bit of a mental breakdown. The pressure of getting my work done for my Master’s degree coupled with the insane amount of will power and time necessary to do the SCD diet eventually got to me. I have always been a perfectionist and a bit of a worrier. This caught up to me and I ended up having many panic attacks over the past few weeks. I’ve never had panic attacks before, and of course thought I was having a heart attack and going to die. A trip to the emergency room only calmed my fears temporarily.

I didn’t just sit back with all of this, but decided to finally ask for help; something I realize I have never really done. The entire time on SCD I have never asked my parents to help out with cooking, grocery shopping or dishes. Finally I told them I was exhausted and needed them to help. They were glad I finally asked them too. I also started going to see a counselor at school. So far I’ve only been twice, once for an initial visit and one full session. It has been helpful but once again I find myself searching for my own way to make myself better. While seeing my naturopath, I searched and found the SCDiet myself and then went on it with her approval. Similarly, I feel like I’m searching for techniques to get over this panic, worrying, pressure feeling on my own, while seeing a counselor to sort of ‘check in with’ and get approval to make sure I’m doing the right thing. Either way, it seems to be working for both my diet and mental health to search on my own, so I guess I’ll continue. I realize health in general requires a lot of self searching, and being somewhat selfish in devoting a lot of time to yourself.

I have still not strayed at all from the SCDiet and continue with the very basics, yogurt, cheese, meat, broth. I have stopped following the Pecanbread guidelines however. I just wasn’t seeing any improvement trying to follow those stages. I think Pecanbread doesn’t place enough emphasis on broth. I’ve been having 1-2 cups of broth per day and it’s helping. I’ve been eating stewed vegetables (any kind) in small amounts. It doesn’t seem to be what vegetable I eat, more like how it’s prepared and how much. I have also been juicing vegetables with my new juicer for a few weeks. It’s nice to have something ‘raw’ and refreshing. So far I’m just sticking with carrots, celery and cucumber because I’m enjoying the taste. I have been looking around at other dietary advice as well to get a broader look at food and health. I’m reading Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price and it’s fantastic. I’m also looking into the Gut And Psychology Syndrome diet but don’t have the book yet (library doesn’t carry it, and hey, I’m too cheap). The GAPS diet is like SCD but places more emphasis on juicing and broth. I may try the fermented veggies soon.

To anyone not having success with SCD, realize that you may need to customize it for yourself. This doesn’t mean adding in illegals, but more like figuring out what foods really are healing for you and what you really can’t do with. Don’t kid yourself, you’re the one suffering. Take the time to find your safe foods. Now if I have a touchy stomach day (so tame now compared to pre-SCD) I can rely on chicken broth, stewed chicken or beef, baked fish, homemade yogurt made with whole milk or cream, and natural cheddar cheese. That’s my base diet I know I can fall back on no matter what.

For mental health I have been practicing some relaxation techniques like breathing. I practice the breathing when I’m in panic mode, but also just at a random time of day when I feel fine. It’s amazing the more you do it, the better you feel, and the easier you can calm yourself down. I’m doing belly breathing and counting 4 counts in, hold for 4, then 6 counts out. I also do some gentle exercise and get lots of sun. Bike riding, rollerblading and volleyball are my choice activities because I enjoy them and they don’t take much effort.

I cannot believe how tanned I am getting this summer. It’s only June, I’ve been out tanning in the sun a handful of times, and I’m darker than I’ve ever been. There is definitely a diet component to this. I have not burned once nor turned pink, while my friends around me are all complaining of burning. Also, I haven’t used sunscreen AT ALL. The most I’ve been out at one time is probably about 1 hour, which doesn’t sound like much, but last summer I’d be burnt to a crisp if I did that without sunscreen. Some of my friends have burned with only 1 hour outside while I developed a nice bronzed tan. Some things I attribute to this: eating tons of homemade yogurt made with cream, cheese, butter, and coconut oil. The fats and fat soluble vitamins are so protective against the sun. Vitamin A specifically seems to help and has some relationship with vitamin D. The more vitamin A, the less I burn. Another note, my elbows are about as soft as a baby’s bottom. No joke. Those normally wrinkly dry itchy patches on my elbows are completely soft and supple. And tanned too.

I’m still dealing with acne pretty bad, and I do realize now it’s so much worse when I’m stressed out. Hopefully working on the panic attacks and worrying thoughts will help clear that up. In the meantime I’m trying a few home remedies. I’m putting SCD homemade yogurt on my face as a mask, I use my dripped whole milk yogurt with no honey added. I’m putting coconut oil on my face at night, helps moisturize and keep it soft. I’ve heard anecdotal evidence that this helps acne too. Also I’m juicing vegetables, I heard this helps acne too, certainly can’t hurt. I only juice about 4oz per day, because I’m lazy, but I’m enjoying it.

I hope to post soon about some of the books I’m reading, although I’m not putting any pressure on myself to update really often. Plus it’s summer, we should all be outside enjoying the weather, not stuck inside looking for blog updates, right? lol

The picture for this post is my bicycle. It’s a new bike, but an old ‘cruiser’ style. I love it! Not super complicated (only 7 speeds) and such a comfortable ride. No sore crotch/butt/hands on this one. I have used it probably 3 times a week to go to the store for groceries or the library for books. It’s fun!

I’ve been getting a bit tired of cooking lately. Kind of expected this to happen since I’ve been cooking for myself (plus others) multiple times a day for about 2 months now. Before that, I was probably cooking 3-4 times a week and already getting sick of it. So what to do on a day where you don’t feel like cooking? Get some salmon and throw it in the oven. I took a minute to sprinkle some random spices/herbs on it. I also quickly pan-fried some mushrooms and asparagus with onion and garlic. Took about 5 minutes. That’s about as close as you’re going to get to ‘fast food’ on the SCDiet.

I have worked my way up to over a cup of yogurt per day now. It’s great to have as a quick breakfast or snack. I tried dripping some the other day hoping to have a thicker yogurt. Well I ended up with something close to cream cheese (I think I left it too long) which I mixed with frozen blueberries and honey. Made for a delicious frozen-yogurt type of desert! I maybe overdid it on the honey in this one, but I wanted something sweet.

What I ate today:
Breakfast – SCD yogurt, blueberries, almond butter brownie
Snack – applesauce, goat cheddar cheese
Lunch – bison meatballs (with squash replacing the egg), lots of SCD ketchup, papaya
Snack – another brownie, strawberries
Dinner – salmon, mushrooms and asparagus with onion and garlic (pictured here)
Dessert – SCD dripped yogurt, honey, blueberries