Dem Bones... (chicken bones)

I have to admit I've gotten REALLY lazy about making (and drinking) bone broth as of late.

It's probably been a month or more since I've made any and really, I've consumed so much broth in the last 6 months, it was starting to make me a bit queasy.

I usually use the remnants of a chicken I've either made or purchased (thank you Costco Bachelor Chickens for being so convenient).  Most of the time though, the broth won't gel.

Why is this important, you may wonder?  Well, it's a good sign that the collagen and gelatin have leached from your carcass and are readily available for your body to utilize.  It's actually a sign of a good broth. If you get it to gel, you've done a great job.

I've found the key to getting a good gel pretty much every time is using chicken feet.

I read about it in Nourishing Traditions.

 

I was a bit off put by the idea of putting a bunch of feet in my broth.

But I went to the market in Justin's neighborhood and purchased a package of feet (this was a few years back and chicken feet are remarkably hard to find - if you are looking, check your local Asian or Hispanic market. You'll be hard pressed to find them at Safeway or Raley's).

I threw those feet in with my carcass and veggies and let it simmer away.  It didn't seem any different until it cooled down.... Chicken Jello.

Since that time, chicken jello has become a staple of my diet.  When I started AIP back in January, I was consuming broth with every meal.  I had considered GAPS, which used broth based soups for every meal, but wasn't that willing to commit.

I can say with pretty good certainty that my joint health is markedly better when I am getting a good and continuous source of gelatin and collagen.  I don't sound like a bowl of rice crispies when I move.  Lay off the broth for a while and it's back to snap, crackle and pop.

It also is a great food to soothe your intestines and help improve digestion.

But when you are drinking that much broth, it gets old. Fast.

Enter gelatin.

It blends in pretty easily to whatever I'm drinking. I add it to cold beverages, hot beverages and the like. It seems to blend in pretty easily if you add it to a small amount of room temperature liquid before adding it to hot or cold liquids. 

I'm drinking it three times a day currently to see if it has similar effects.  I'll let you know how it goes. If my knees stop making a snapping noise, I'd say we're good.  (the snapping sounds far more painful that in actually is)

I found this list at my mom's house the other day. This was the list I went to my doctor with in 2011 outlining the pain I was in (and had been in for as long as I could remember). I'm glad to say that it's 2013 and aside from the occasional flare up (usually of my shoulder or hip), I'm free of most of those symptoms. 

Might I add that I'm not taking ANY NSAIDS or anti-inflammatory medications for probably the first time in my adult life.  Through diet and lifestyle changes, I've managed to turn all of this around (though it's still hard to straighten my hair - so I don't). 

Back to the Basics

After four months, I thought it was about time to start reintroducing foods. I had pretty successfully ended my runny nose, congestion and sneezing and it had been a while since those symptoms had been present. I also lost 30 pounds since the beginning of the year.  

Also, the wedding is rapidly approaching and I wanted to be able to have a few less restrictions on what I can eat by then.  (No eggs and no nuts makes it hard to make a good cupcake.)

A couple of weeks ago, we had some wonderful fresh eggs (from my aunt's chickens and from Ray and Rebecca's chickens). I didn't really notice any issues after eating those delicious eggs. (I'm not sure if you've ever done a side by side comparison of pastured hen eggs and grocery store eggs, but the difference in color is AMAZING.)

Last weekend, we went to dinner at a friend's house and they were gracious enough to try to accommodate my dietary restrictions (The whole meal was amazing). Rod and Judy bought an assortment of raw goat and cow milk cheeses and raw cream to make whipped cream for dessert.  

That was the first time I had dairy other than butter since November. OMG! It was divine. I did not have any noticeable reaction to the cheese or cream, which gives me hope!  

They also made an amazing hummus from zucchini (I'm still not eating legumes) and tahini.  It was AWESOME. I have some zucchini in the fridge now. I just need a bit of down time to make it! 

I wanted to do some baking to see if I could at least work out some combination of coconut flour/tapioca flour cupcakes since I haven't reintroduced nuts (I usually use almond flour for cupcakes), so I picked up some organic eggs at Costco the other day. 

I was excited at the prospect of bacon and eggs for breakfast.  That did not work out so well.  

I have been sneezy and runny nosed (and have had terrible sinus pressure) for several days now. The only difference in anything has been the eggs.  

Time to reset.  No eggs until my symptoms go away again and then try to get some eggs from Ray (or some other pastured eggs).  

Its amazing how much food effects us. It's also amazing how much food effects our food.  

It's also amazing how long it took for me to realize that the way I felt was not normal, even though it was normal for me (at least adult life normal for me).  I never had allergies as a kid.  I hit my 20's and fell apart.  I was discussing this with my chiropractor and a lot of it started after developing an allergy to latex as an EMT. It was an interesting correlation, but I also look back at several other factors that may have played a part. 

I was on low dose antibiotics for years as a teenager to try to clear up my acne.  It didn't help my acne very much, but that whole time it WAS killing off all of my good bacteria in my gut. Then I was switched to the pill to help with my acne. Again, messing with my gut.  I also have been on and off of NSAIDS and various anti-inflammatory medications since about the age of 20. 

All of those things can destroy your gut, resulting in permeability of the intestines, which allows microscopic food particles into the bloodstream.  Those microscopic particles are seen as invaders and your body tries to fight them off.  The end result - a variety of symptoms that include allergic reactions and inflammation.  

While my diet has been a pain in the ass, I can see marked differences in how I feel.  A big part of healing is to remove the "offending foods" (which may seem like EVERYTHING at first) and getting a good amount of bone broth (which soothes and heals the gut lining) and ferments (living food - kombucha, sauerkraut, fermented veggies) to rebuild.  

Some people say they've reversed their food allergies through these changes and can now enjoy most foods they thought they would never be able to again.  I haven't reached that point, but I have changed how I feel. 

Sovereign Silver Part II

Okay, after a ton of sleep (and Sabrina The Teenage Witch) yesterday afternoon and last night, I feel doubleplusgood.

I know sleep is an integral part of the body's healing process, but I also think the Sovereign Silver nasal spray had something to do with it as well.  I had been masking my symptoms with cold medicine all weekend, which did me no good and I kept feeling worse.

I used the nasal spray 5 times yesterday (7 times is the recommended for short term immune support - being sick).  By the time I went back to bed last night (I spent most of the day in bed), I was able to breathe through both nostrils and the crud was making its way out of my body.

I had been trying desperately to netti pot for days with no real luck getting anything through.  Well, it started moving yesterday evening after 2 doses of Sovereign Silver.  By the late evening the crud was no longer chartreuse, it was only a pale green.

This morning when I woke up, I could actually breathe.  Through both nostrils. I didn't wake up all night long due to congestion.  I felt well enough to go put some seeds in the ground (only some chard seeds this morning) while walking the dog.

Oh by the way, I did another round of Lavender essential oil/cotton in my ears when I went to bed.  My ears do NOT hurt at all today.

Seriously, I feel doubleplusgood today.

I'll keep track of how I feel for the rest of the week.  Sovereign Silver may be worth adding to my usual arsenal of immune builders that includes ferments, cod liver oil, coconut oil and honey.

For the love of sauerkraut

I ran out of sauerkraut last week.  I didn't plan ahead.  I haven't even started a new batch yet.

And do I miss it already.

I never thought I would love sauerkraut.  I remember trying it when I was a kid on hot dogs or with sausage. I thought it was gross and mushy.  You couldn't have paid me to eat it.

In 2010 I discovered a book (well, there were two actually) that changed the way I thought about food and my body.

Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions

One of the most important things I got from this book was the importance of fermented foods.  

I had already been making my own Kombucha tea for years.  But that was really the only source of "good" bacteria I was getting at that time.  (There was yogurt too, but I was eating low fat, pasteurized stuff that really isn't that beneficial)

There are ads everywhere for Probiotic supplements, beverages, even chocolates.  That's all good and fine, but what is the point of adding good bacteria to "dead" foods?

Enter SAUERKRAUT.  I spent a lot of time that fall fermenting.  It's addicting.  Seriously addicting.  I was making my own sourdough starter.  I made sourdough pancakes, bread, crackers.

I got up the nerve to buy a head of cabbage and make my first batch of kraut.  All I remember about it was that it seemed too salty to me.  I probably let it age about a week before trying it. I can't say I loved it right off the bat.  But it definitely wasn't the commercial kraut I remembered trying before.

What makes sauerkraut (and other fermented real foods) so great?  Lactic Acid Bacteria.  This bacteria helps aid digestion and create good gut health (the health of your gut can make or break your whole body health).  Lactofermentation (the use of lactic acid bacteria) has been used for thousands of years to preserve food.  Long before we had sterile factories producing our foods, our ancestors used bacteria to help preserve the fall harvest into winter.

Among the benefits are:
Adding Vitamin C to your diet (sauerkraut was once used to prevent scurvy)
Reduction in inflammatory bowel disorders
Increase healthy gut flora (which can help aleviate systemic symptoms)
Reduction in constipation
Reduction in allergies

And it tastes good!

According to most people, sauerkraut is good to go after 2 weeks of fermentation.  I have to say the best I've made had been sitting for about 4 months.  I say check it at 28 days.  It's usually pretty good to go.  Don't worry about eating it quickly.  The longer it sits, the better it tastes.

I didn't get my step by step photos done tonight (I'll post those tomorrow), but I've got some lovely purple cabbage upstairs calling my name.

Also, another thing to note about the wonders of sauerkraut is that it is recommended as a part of many healing diets, such as GAPS and AIP.  I'm currently doing AIP and I have to say one of my favorite meals is homemade pork sausage (no sugar, nitrates or nitrites and EASY TO MAKE) with sauerkraut.  In fact, I think that is where the entire half gallon of kraut went this month between Justin and I.