Over the last 3 months I've lost 20 pounds, most of that within the last month I think. Being on an elimination diet certainly didn't help, and neither did the infection. So now I'm supposed to be focused on calories, calories, calories! But as you know from reading the info on the rest of my website, not all calories are created equal. So getting enough calories while still adhering to a modified SCD and the rules of food combining has been difficult. The worst part of it is that I have lost my appetite almost completely, and the minocycline and bactrim leave a bad taste in my mouth so that some foods taste funny. Ugh.
Anyway, I've been on the SCD for over a month now and given that I need to gain weight, I am making some adjustments based on what my body says is okay or not okay. Therefore, I added white organic sushi rice this week. I saw an amazing acupuncturist last week who told me I have a yin deficiency and therefore should be drinking a lot more water and eating a lot more oils. So I have decided that adding sushi rice (a very simple and easy-to-digest grain, relative to other starches) may play an important role as a medium for lots of oil.
So I made a rice congee and added ghee and rice vinegar. It was delicious and I had no adverse symptoms from it. I had it again the next day with tamari with no adverse effects. Two days later I made sushi rice in the rice cooker and ate it for breakfast at work. But this time I added two tablespoons of flaxseed oil and one tablespoon of sesame oil, plus the regular rice vinegar and tamari. About an hour later I started to feel a familiar feeling in my intestines, which I can only describe as the sesame oil cramps. I realize now that I had felt this same thing many times in the past year since I began using sesame oil (unrefined, cold-pressed, organic), especially when combined with protein. So I think, unfortunately, that I am sensitive to sesame oil and/or it has gone rancid (polyunsaturated oils do that easily) so I can't digest it well. Bummer, it's so delicious. But I still have ghee, olive oil, and coconut oil, which seem to do me no harm. I've got to test flaxseed oil alone to see what happens.
I also discovered that I am sensitive to almonds (alone) and almond butter. The almond butter is the biggest bummer, since it's so sweet and fatty and delicious. But it's ridiculously expensive, so maybe it's best I not indulge anyway. I've switched to tahini instead, but it doesn't have the same sweetness. But I like the astringent quality of it on tart green apples. It's curious, however, that when my osteopath tested my electric field to see if I was sensitive to the foods I brought in, my electric field got stopped up with the whole almonds, but was fine when I held a Larabar that had cherries and almond pieces in it. Those bars seem to do me fine, but I noticed that almond butter slows down my digestion and can give me cramps and a feeling of constipation.
In order to gain weight I bought a case of guar-gum free coconut milk, and after the first 5 cans I began to get sick of it. I never thought it could happen, but now I wonder if I can force myself to chug down yet another coconut smoothie (the only way to get 36 g of healthy fat in a glass!). One can has 72 grams of fat! And it's mostly made up of an easier to digest fat called medium-chain triglycerides, which is also highly antibacterial and antifungal. So I just need to suck it up and chug it, or get my damn appetite back.
Update (7/30/13): I have decided to eliminate rice from my diet altogether, so now I am completely grain-free. I decided to do this because although I can tolerate rice without G.I. symptoms, it could be causing inflammation that I cannot feel, as well as triggering my leaky gut and preventing my digestive system from fully healing and recovering. Plus, I've discovered a lot more recipes and ways to get in calories without rice, so I don't really need it anymore anyway.
Anyway, I've been on the SCD for over a month now and given that I need to gain weight, I am making some adjustments based on what my body says is okay or not okay. Therefore, I added white organic sushi rice this week. I saw an amazing acupuncturist last week who told me I have a yin deficiency and therefore should be drinking a lot more water and eating a lot more oils. So I have decided that adding sushi rice (a very simple and easy-to-digest grain, relative to other starches) may play an important role as a medium for lots of oil.
So I made a rice congee and added ghee and rice vinegar. It was delicious and I had no adverse symptoms from it. I had it again the next day with tamari with no adverse effects. Two days later I made sushi rice in the rice cooker and ate it for breakfast at work. But this time I added two tablespoons of flaxseed oil and one tablespoon of sesame oil, plus the regular rice vinegar and tamari. About an hour later I started to feel a familiar feeling in my intestines, which I can only describe as the sesame oil cramps. I realize now that I had felt this same thing many times in the past year since I began using sesame oil (unrefined, cold-pressed, organic), especially when combined with protein. So I think, unfortunately, that I am sensitive to sesame oil and/or it has gone rancid (polyunsaturated oils do that easily) so I can't digest it well. Bummer, it's so delicious. But I still have ghee, olive oil, and coconut oil, which seem to do me no harm. I've got to test flaxseed oil alone to see what happens.
I also discovered that I am sensitive to almonds (alone) and almond butter. The almond butter is the biggest bummer, since it's so sweet and fatty and delicious. But it's ridiculously expensive, so maybe it's best I not indulge anyway. I've switched to tahini instead, but it doesn't have the same sweetness. But I like the astringent quality of it on tart green apples. It's curious, however, that when my osteopath tested my electric field to see if I was sensitive to the foods I brought in, my electric field got stopped up with the whole almonds, but was fine when I held a Larabar that had cherries and almond pieces in it. Those bars seem to do me fine, but I noticed that almond butter slows down my digestion and can give me cramps and a feeling of constipation.
In order to gain weight I bought a case of guar-gum free coconut milk, and after the first 5 cans I began to get sick of it. I never thought it could happen, but now I wonder if I can force myself to chug down yet another coconut smoothie (the only way to get 36 g of healthy fat in a glass!). One can has 72 grams of fat! And it's mostly made up of an easier to digest fat called medium-chain triglycerides, which is also highly antibacterial and antifungal. So I just need to suck it up and chug it, or get my damn appetite back.
Update (7/30/13): I have decided to eliminate rice from my diet altogether, so now I am completely grain-free. I decided to do this because although I can tolerate rice without G.I. symptoms, it could be causing inflammation that I cannot feel, as well as triggering my leaky gut and preventing my digestive system from fully healing and recovering. Plus, I've discovered a lot more recipes and ways to get in calories without rice, so I don't really need it anymore anyway.
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