eatkamloops.org

Industrial Food Sickness

All disease begins in the gut.
Hippocrates

Since my family has been eating exclusively whole, unprocessed foods for over three years, I have noticed a strange occurrence. When my girls go to birthday parties or indulge in holiday festivities such as Halloween or Easter, they don’t feel very well afterward. After eating the processed foods out of the Industrial Food System, the girls become nauseous and complain about stomach pain within a few hours. My eldest daughter has vomited a number of times after these meals. My youngest daughter is very sensitive to something in these foods. More often than not, it causes behavioral problems for a day or two after eating the processed food. My husband occasionally eats out at restaurants and complains about not feeling well after most meals. Even our cat Tabs, who has been on a raw meat diet since we got her, has become sick from getting into a friend’s processed cat food. As I observe their sickness, I notice it is like a mild flu that includes stomach upset or vomiting.

Now my family has not eaten unprocessed foods our whole lives. We used to eat processed foods everyday without feeling sick. (Okay, my family wasn’t the picture of health, but we weren’t vomiting after a meal either.) One would hope that eating nourishing traditional foods regularly would strengthen a person’s constitution so an occasional meal of highly processed foods would have no effect. But the reverse appears to be true. The longer my family eats nourishing traditional foods, the more sensitive we become to these processed foods.

Why are they now having industrial food sickness? Why in the past did these same processed foods not cause sickness? What has changed? I have been thinking about this question for quite some time. It is hypothesized that the healing action of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet is that it changes the composition of gut flora or reverses gut dysbiosis. Gut dysbiosis is the lack of gut flora or an unhealthy gut flora imbalance which causes illness.

What if this progressive industrial food sickness is caused by changes in the gut flora community? Do the processed foods damage or kill healthy gut flora? Does the gut flora “communicate” this damage to the “gut brain” causing the feeling of sickness? The gut brain is an extensive grouping of neurons in the digestive system, which gut flora attaches to and chemically communicates with the nervous system. What if the gut flora community is causing the feeling of being sick after my family eats the processed foods?

This would explain the progressive nature of industrial food sickness and why it seems to worsen the longer my family eats nourishing traditional foods. The longer my family eat better, the stronger the population of healthy gut flora becomes. As the healthy gut flora population increases, it can send a very strong message to the nervous system that the processed food is making the gut flora’s environment poisonous to them. The reason why the processed food did not cause illness before eating nourishing traditional foods is because of gut dysbiosis. There was not enough healthy gut flora to send a strong message of dismay to the nervous system about our food choices.

One thing I notice is that it is getting easier to get my children to eat better. Every round of industrial food sickness reinforces good eating patterns. The sad part is thinking about all of the people walking around with very sick gut flora communities, too weak to send a danger warning. Most people are not aware that we are indeed “individuals” but our bodies are a vast and complex microcosm of interrelating organisms. We are in peril if we forget that we interface with the environment on a microscope level and our first line of defense is our symbiotic gut flora community.

For more information about gut dysbiosis please read Gut and Psychology Syndrome and GAPS In Our Medical Knowledge. For more information about the gut brain connection please read Breaking the Vicious Cycle.

Recipes for Nourishing Traditional Travel Foods

Beef Jerky
2 large lean beef roasts (about 6 pounds)
1tsp Himalayan salt per pound of meat (or to taste)
Let the pastured beef roasts thaw in the fridge for 3-4 days. This gives the roasts a bit more aging which improves the end flavor. Cut the roasts into 1/4 inch strips the width of the roast, if possible. Add Himalayan salt to the strips of meat and mix well. Let the meat sit for a few hours or overnight, if you have time. Himalayan salt is a “pink salt”. Traditional pink salts were used for curing meats. These pink salts have natural sodium nitrites and sodium nitrates. Himalayan salt is great for curing meat. Put the salted meat into the dehydrator at a low temperature for 12-24 hours. The best beef jerky is dried but chewy. For travel, store a day’s supply in paper bags with a plastic zip-lock outer bag.

Soaked and Dried Nut Granola
3c soaked and dried pecans
3c soaked and dried walnuts
6-12 pitted and soaked dates
1T vanilla extract
1T ground cinnamon
1/2tsp sea salt (optional)
1c soaked and dried pumpkin and sunflower seeds (optional)
Soak the pecans and walnuts in lightly salted water for 12 hours. Pour off salted water and dehydrate nuts of 12-24 hours at a low temperature. When the nuts are dried they can be stored in the freezer for later use. Grind the nuts into a course meal in a food processor and put aside in a large bowl. In a small bowl, cover the dates with very hot water. Soak the dates until soft. Grind up the dates in a food processor and add some of the date water to make a smooth paste. Add the vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and sea salt. Mix in nuts and add more date water, if needed. Add whole pumpkin and sunflower seeds, if desired. You can shape the mixture into granola bars or crumble into irregular shapes for a granola cereal. For travel, store a day’s supply in paper bags with a plastic zip-lock outer bag.

Dried Bananas
2-3 bunches of over ripe bananas
Peel the bananas and cut in half. Then cut down the mid-line of the banana. You will have four pieces for each banana. Place the cut bananas in the dehydrator with the curved side down, to avoid sticking. Dry at low temperature for 24-36 hours. My girls call these dried bananas candy.

Frozen Tomato Salsa
6 large frozen garden tomatoes
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 fresh red or green pepper, chopped
1 small fresh carrot, chopped
1 small onion, chopped (optional)
small amount of fresh hot pepper, minced (optional)
1tsp sea salt
Frozen tomatoes make wonderful salsa. Let the tomatoes unfreeze overnight and pour off extra liquid from the tomatoes. (This liquid is great for thinning out guacamole.) Chop or food process the fresh vegetables. Add unfrozen, drained and hand-crushed tomatoes. You can remove the tomato skins, if desired. Add sea salt to taste. For travel, store the salsa in a glass mason jar with a plastic lid.

Frozen Berry Sauce
2c frozen garden raspberries
2c frozen garden blueberries
small amount of local raw honey (optional)
Lightly simmer at very low temperature until the berries lose their shape. (You can use any frozen fruit you have leftover after the winter.) Do not over cook the sauce. When the sauce cools, add a small amount of local raw honey, if desired. For travel, store the berry sauce in a glass mason jar with a plastic lid.

Caesar Dressing Base
4 cloves garlic, finely grated or minced
1/2c olive oil
juice of one lemon
1/2tsp sea salt
Mix all the ingredients together and store in a small mason jar. When ready to make the salad, rip up most of a head of romaine lettuce. Soft boil two eggs for five minutes and add half of the Caesar dressing to the eggs and mix well. Pour over romaine lettuce and serve.

Spelt Sourdough Pancakes
10c whole spelt grains, soaked, sprouted and dehydrated
sourdough culture with Kefir culture
2c ground spelt flour
2-3 pastured eggs
1/2tsp baking soda
1tsp sea salt
Take the whole spelt grains and cover with filtered water. Soak the spelt for 2-3 days, changing the water 2 times each day. When the spelt has small sprouts, rinse and drain one more time. Dehydrate the grains for 12 hours or until dry and store in the freezer for later use. Grind the spelt into flour and add to sourdough culture. (I use a Vita-Mix for grinding grains.) Add raw milk Kefir to culture and stir. Return culture to fridge for the night. When ready to make pancakes in the morning, preheat two or three cast iron pans on the stove-top. Use a small amount of lard or schmaltz in the pan. The pans are at the right temperature when the grease is just below the smoking point. Fill a large bowl with about 2 cups ground spelt flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Mix well. Add eggs and about 3 cups of the sourdough culture. Add more culture to thin out the mixture. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter onto the hot grill. Turn pancakes when brown and bubbly. For travel, I cool the pancakes and layer with wax paper. I divide the pancakes into daily amounts and wrap the stack in wax paper bags.

Eating Nourishing Traditional Foods While Traveling

I have had a number of people ask me how I travel on a restrictive diet like the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Actually, it’s very easy and I do not suffer at all. For example, our family just spent five days canoeing Clearwater Lake in Wells Gray Park. Here are some tips for eating nourishing traditional meals while doing wilderness travel. These tips could easily be used for camping road trips, though we would do our cooking on a small gas barbecue or camp stove. Here are Recipes for Eating Nourishing Traditional Travel Foods.

1. Start preparing dried goods a week before leaving. These foods are for emergency rations and quick snacks. I soaked, sprouted and dehydrated whole spelt grains. I dehydrated two large lean roasts for beef jerky. I prepared some soaked and dried nuts and seeds. I made a few pounds of soaked and dried nut granola for snacks. I packed some raisins, dates and dried bananas. I have a L’Equip Food Dehydrator but, because of the amounts I was processing, I used my sister’s Excalibur Food Dehydrator and really liked it too. For travel, store a day’s supply of each item in paper bags with a plastic zip-lock outer bag. By processing my own dried snacks at home, I save money and produce a higher quality product.
2. Start preparing condiments two days before leaving. This trip I prepared three special condiments. I prepared salsa, berry sauce and Caesar dressing base. I stored the condiments in a glass mason jar with a Bernardin plastic lid. I find these plastic lids easier to use and clean and the plastic does not touch the food. Portion homemade fermented condiments for your trip in appropriately sized wide mouth mason jars. Examples of homemade condiments are: horseradish sauce, mustard, ketchups, and fermented vegetables. Recipes for these condiments can be found in Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions. I stored the condiments in the cooler. By processing my own homemade condiments, I save money and produce a much higher quality product.
3. Think about your cooking methods and organize appropriate equipment. Wells Gray Park has developed wilderness camps with fire pits and metal grills, so we planned on cooking over an open fire. (We brought along a MSR stove for emergency use, which we didn’t use during the trip.) We brought a normal camping set of stainless steal pots for boiling water, but these light pots tend to burn food very easily. We decided to try doing all our cooking with my Mother’s cast iron Dutch oven. We found the lid worked great for warming food or frying even with the ringed grooves in the lid. I would definitely bring the Dutch oven for cooking over open fires again. Early explorers used cast iron Dutch ovens for all their food preparation including baking bread. Here is an example of a camp Dutch oven with three legs on the pot and the lid.
4. Use your frozen foods as ice. Traveling by canoe allows the use of a hard shelled cooler for frozen foods. This trip I used two thermal bags, one inside the other, inside the hard shelled cooler to store our frozen foods. I brought along 3lbs of pastured ground beef, 1lb of pastured lamb, 2lbs pastured sirloin steaks, 1lb of pasteurized butter and 1lb of raw butter. After five days we brought home half the meat and butter which was partly frozen. The cooler didn’t fill with dirty icy water. It was an easy cleanup after the trip. I would definitely use the thermal bags again.
5. Organize your storage system and eat your fresh supplies first. With canoe travel, extra weight isn’t really an issue, but space is limited. We had one hard shelled cooler for frozen foods and one bin for dried and fresh foods. In the cooler was the layered thermal bags with the frozen meat and butter. On the other side of the cooler was 2L of raw milk, two precooked and sliced beef roasts, and the condiments. In the bin was all the dried stores, 2 dozen pastured eggs, 2lbs of raw gouda cheese, 3lbs of dried cured bacon, and 3lbs of cured sausage. On top of all this was 2 heads of romaine lettuce, 6 apples, 6 mangoes, 6 tomatoes, green onions and carrots. The morning of the trip, I made up about 30 sourdough pancakes, which I cooled, layered in wax paper and divided into daily amounts. The sourdough pancakes lasted very well throughout the trip. The girls enjoyed the pancakes cold with raw butter or warmed with bacon, butter and berry sauce. We had food for about eight days for four people.
6. Start travel days with a good breakfast and a prepared dinner. At home we cooked two chickens in the Dutch oven. One chicken would have been enough. We cooked some brown rice in bone broth. Both pots were placed in a traditional straw hot box. A simple hot box can be made with a cardboard box filled with straw or any insulating material. Five hours later we had a hot meal after loading the canoe.
7. Use a stainless steel thermos for hot drinks and bring raw cider vinegar for drinking water. Start the trip with a full thermos and keep the thermos full. The last thing I do in a day is fill the thermos so the family will have hot drinks first thing in the morning. This is a good safety practice during wilderness travel. Putting a teaspoon of cider vinegar in drinking water makes a very refreshing drink. It is also reputed to relieve muscle stiffness, which I have found to be true.
8. What about the bugs? I am not fond of putting poison on my skin so I do not use bug spray. I have noticed that if I do not eat anything sweet while out in the woods, the bugs do not feed on me. As soon as I eat even a piece of fruit, the bugs are biting within the hour. I remember complaining to an old hunter about being eaten alive by bugs. He say to me: “You have sweet blood. That’s why the bugs eat you.” Sweet blood. I have gone from being the person eaten alive, to the one in the group not bothered by bugs. It makes me wonder if others have had this experience too. So, if you are bothered by bugs in the woods, try going low carbohydrate a few days before and during the trip. If it works for you, please contact me.

Cholesterol: Foe or Friend

Our Society’s views about cholesterol are based on the work of Ancel Keys and the Lipid Hypothesis. The Lipid Hypothesis “proposes a connection between plasma cholesterol level and the development of coronary heart disease”.

In the last few years there has been increased questioning of the Lipid Hypothesis. What if the Lipid Hypothesis is wrong? This would mean there is a lot of misinformation in the general population. Our society has spent an enormous amount of resources to battle the evils of cholesterol. There is a whole industry developed to fight this scourge. This means there is a lot of resistance to change, because so many people’s livelihood depend on the battle continuing.

The Weston A. Price Foundation does not support the Lipid Hypothesis. This is part of an email correspondence with someone interested in the views of the Weston A. Price Foundation on saturated fat and its evil twin cholesterol:

I have written very little about cholesterol on eatkamloops.org. This is mainly because of embarrassment. I completely believed the Lipid Hypothesis. It was very hard for me to admit I could be so wrong. The only writing on this topic that I can find is The Grease Bucket - Something from Nothing.

The issue around fats is a very important area to get clear on. There is research that shows that people with cholesterol below 150mg/dL are at a high risk of cancer. Also, that women with the highest cholesterol levels live the longest. The research is very confusing and I am not going to tell you I know the answer because I don’t.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet radically improved my health but it was after going high fat with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet that my health problems finally resolved. I would have never gone high fat if it wasn’t for the Weston A. Price Foundation and their materials. I was brainwashed. I couldn’t see that what I thought was a “healthy diet” wasn’t working for me. I nearly crashed my endocrine system. I will say this: a low fat diet is a slow killer. If you stay on it long enough, you want to die, because you feel so crappy and are sick all the time.

The Weston A. Price Foundation’s website has a number of excellent essays on this topic. Do your own research. Check out the facts, and make your own informed decision:

Know Your Fats Introduction
The Skinny on Fats
Cholesterol and Heart Disease: A Phony Issue
The Oiling of America
Cholesterol: Friend or Foe?

And no, I do not think industrial vegetable oils are safe at all. Remove all new fangled foods from your diet. Eat butter, coconut oil and grease for cooking. Use organic extra virgin olive oil on salads. The other “healthy” cold pressed oils high in omega 6-9 can cause inflammation in some people. So anyone with asthma, allergies, joint pain, or other inflammation disorders should eliminate these oils for a few weeks and see if their condition improves.

If you are looking for a laugh, please watch the trailer for the movie Fat Head called Big Fat Lies. In the eternal words of the creator of Fat Head, Tom Naughton:
“You’ve been fed a load of bologna.”

Updated December 5, 2009: Here is a link to an interview with Utte Ravnskov called Does High Cholesterol Really Cause Heart Disease? Utte Ravaskov is the author of The Cholesterol Myth. If you would like further reading about cholesterol Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes will give a historical perspective on the issue. Both books are available at the Kamloops Public Library.

25 Steps to Eating Nourishing Traditional Foods

1. Purchase your food as whole ingredients and as close to the original natural state as possible. Avoid processed foods. Avoid all additives, coloring, stabilizers and fillers. Avoid Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). If you are wondering what is wrong with GMOs please listen to Dr. Mercola and Jeffery Smith on GMOs: Who Do You Want to Believe. Make it a point to understand the system used to process your food. If you cannot understand the process, do not eat the food.
2. Try to source your food locally. Get to know your farmers and ranchers. Show appreciation for all the work that goes into producing your food. Look for pastured raised or organic. Find the local suppliers for un-sprayed products. There are many local suppliers which are not certified organic but follow organic principles. Un-sprayed products are usually cheaper than certified organic. Use eatkamloops.org to find local farmers and ranchers. For some guidelines about assessing food quality read WAPF Shopping Guide for Canada.
3. Eat local foods seasonally. The food has better nutrition and is cheaper. If you would like to eat these foods out of season, find a suitable storage method. Get a large deep freezer and find an area in your home for dried stores. Consider building a root cellar or cold room. For more information read Winter Storage Part I and Winter Storage Part II.
4. When buying from non-local sources try to buy certified organic. When we can’t talk to the producers about their practices, having a third party certification is a good idea. If certified organic foods are not in the budget, read about The Dirty Dozen and avoid foods with the most contamination.
5. Consider growing your own food. Use container gardening on small properties or a big garden on larger lots. If labor is an issue, you might be able to trade garden space for labor. Depending on your zoning, you might be able to have laying hens for eggs or a miniature goat for raw milk.
6. Start a grease bucket. Save all your drippings and fat from roasted meat and fowl. Use the grease for any high heat frying or roasting. For more information read The Grease Bucket - Something from Nothing.
7. If you eat industrial vegetable oils or foods containing industrial vegetable oil, stop now. For cooking, replace these industrial vegetable oils with your grease bucket, butter, or coconut oil. Save your extra virgin olive oil for salads and uncooked foods. Other cold-pressed oils may be used occasionally in very small amounts. If you have any condition involving inflammation, removing even quality cold-pressed oils may improve your condition.
8. Make bone broth. Save all your bones from meals and store in the freezer until you have a pot full. Cover the bones with water and add 4T cider vinegar and simmer for 6-24 hours. For more information read Beautiful Bone Broth.
9. Eat some fermented foods each day or with each meal. Fermented foods improve our digestion. Fermentation can remove anti-nutrients from our food and increase nutrient availability. Fermented foods are not commonly available in the Industrial Food System and must be made at home. For more information read Wild Fermentation.
10. Start making some fermented foods at home. A good place to start is making yoghurt or kefir. If you do not consume dairy, try making lacto-fermented vegetables or use sourdough for breads and biscuits. Contact eatkamloops.org for free starter cultures. For more information about what starters we have read I Got Culture!
11. If you eat grains, beans, and legumes, soak them overnight in water, salt and fresh lemon juice before cooking. This soaking will remove the anti-nutrients from the food and make it easier to digest. Use bone broth when appropriate for the recipe in place of water. This will improve your digestion of these foods. If you are wondering why you need to soak grains read Be Kind to Your Grains.
12. Purchase all of your grains whole. If you are making flour, grind it yourself, and use it within four days. Flour is very perishable and will go rancid very quickly. Freshly ground flour can be stored in the freezer for later use.
13. If you eat nuts and seeds, soak them overnight in water and salt. Nuts and seeds can be then dried and consumed uncooked. These store well in the freezer for quick use.
14. Look for a local supply of grains, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds. There are many local varieties which will be fresher. Look for un-sprayed or organically grown.
15. If you eat rice, buy organic brown rice. Since this is not a local product, buy certified organic. Brown rice does not need to be soaked overnight but cooking in bone broth will help with digestion and improve flavor. If you would like to try fermenting rice to improve mineral availability read A New Way to Soak Brown Rice.
16. Buy your meat by the whole animal. This allows you to have a variety of cuts, offal, fat and bones. The butcher will package the meats in sizes that are best for your family. Get all the products from the animal even parts you do not know how to cook. They can always be used to make bone broth. For more information read Cooking with Grass-Fed Meat and Fowl and Visit to the Killing Floor at Kam Lake View Meat.
17. If you consume dairy, find a source of raw milk or raw milk products. This will involve having your own cow, goat or sheep or being a member of a herd share program. If you are wondering what is so great about pastured raw milk please read Let’s Talk about Raw Milk Safety. For more information about herd share programs in the province read Birdsong Farm - Cow Share Program.
18. If you are concerned that you have a deficiency in your diet and want to take a supplement, consider using whole foods, sometimes called superfoods. Examples of superfoods are: fermented cod liver oil, high vitamin butter, liver, spring and fall butter, raw milk products, bone broth and fermented foods. Other superfoods are related to the health problem of the person such as: various fresh or dried glands, kelp, assorted clays, probiotics, assorted high vitamin berries and herbs. For more information about superfoods read Supplement or Superfoods.
19. Look at your cosmetics and decide if you would eat them. If you would not like to eat them, consider stopping use. Our skin is far more porous than was once believed. The use of coconut oil can be a excellent moisturizer. Consider making your own soap or buying brands with very few ingredients. A good source of information about the safety of your cosmetics can be found on Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database.
20. Look through your medicine chest and decide if you can do without most of your medication. Many medications mask symptoms while the condition worsens. It is better to feel the pain and make fundamental changes in our lives, rather than masking symptoms while the condition gets worse. Think about the other drugs you take on a daily basis. Assess if these drugs might be adding to your health problems.
21. Think about food preparation in the home and how the task can be done efficiently. The job of running a traditional household is more work than eating convenience foods. This means someone must be willing to allot time for this important work. Some people use one day a week where they spend a morning in the kitchen producing meals for the whole week. Others cook larger meals and consume the leftovers.
22. Remove all plastics from your kitchen and replace with glass containers. Remove Teflon and aluminum from your kitchen and use stainless steel, glass, cast iron or enameled cast iron. Stop using a microwave for cooking or reheating foods.
23. If you are thinking about having a child, start thinking about what you eat before you conceive. All traditional populations had a special feeding schedule for mothers and fathers to be. For more information read Thinking about Motherhood.
24. If you continue to have health problems after changing over to a nourishing traditional diet, consider looking at the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. This diet is also known as Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS). This diet is for very sick people. For more information about SCD and GAPS please read Specific Carbohydrate Diet.
25. Continue getting educated about health. eatkamloops.org has donated a number of books to the Kamloops Public Library. For a list of donated books read Recommended Reading List.

Food Intolerance Test: What NOT to Do

As mentioned earlier, coffee substitutes are not allowed on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. In theory, over time the SCD heals a person’s system and allows the reintroduction of problem foods. I have done a number of food intolerance tests over the years. In the past, the only food I have reintroduced successfully has been raw dairy products. I have tried reintroducing spelt and rye without success. Some beans may be okay in very small amounts.

Food intolerance testing can be done with expensive lab testing, which will not be covered here. Some simple testing methods you can do at home are: The Elimination Diet, Food Intolerance Test and Coca Pulse Test. The Elimination Diet is a trial and error method to assess which foods can be consumed without negative reactions. The biggest problem with this diet is that it takes a long time to do. The Food Intolerance Test or Challenge Test requires the reintroduction of a food and then waiting for up to 72 hours for any old symptoms to come back. Sometimes, as a person becomes healthier, the person can safely eat a problem food up to a certain threshold. After that point is reached, the food will cause a massive reaction. The Coca Pulse Test is one method commonly used. If the person eats a food which will cause a reaction, there will be an increase of pulse rate after a few minutes. For more information about this test method please read The Pulse Test: The Secret of Building Your Basic Health by Dr Arthur Coca.

I decided to do a food intolerance test with the coffee substitutes. Normally, I would try one at a time but I was doing a taste test which requires trying a number at the same time! This was my first mistake. I normally do not use the Coca Pulse Test but after consuming the coffee substitute I noticed a warming of my body and a noticable increase in my pulse rate. Ignoring this body warming and increase of pulse rate was my second mistake.

After the taste test, I decided I liked both the Krakus and Nutrimax blends. I continued to compare the two over the next few days. What I thought was research on which was the better of the two substitutes, I think was actually compulsive consumption. Normally, food cravings are a sign that something is wrong. This was my third mistake.

By the afternoon of the third day I was very sick. I had a full blown migraine. I was nauseous and shaking. I slept for nearly 18 hours and woke up in the morning with a shadow of a headache and staggered to the bathroom. I was slightly nauseous and had a notable shaking in my hands. My hands were stiff but not numb.

I can safely say now that coffee substitutes are not on the menu. A normal protocol would be to try the food again in about six months. Hopefully, in six months I will be off coffee and I will not need to try this experiment again!

Coffee Substitute Taste Test

I have been trying to get off coffee for a few years now. I stop then start again, hoping I can just have a cup once or twice a week. This never happens for me. I start again, and I am up to 4-6 shots of espresso each day within a few weeks. There are a number of reasons why I want to get off coffee permanently. My biggest reason is the fear of complete adrenal exhaustion. If you would like to learn more about adrenal fatigue and adrenal exhaustion please read Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome by James L. Wilson.

This week I decided to stop coffee. I wanted to have a taste test of a number of coffee substitutes available in Kamloops. I found three brands at Nutter’s health food store. Just as a warning for people on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, these coffee substitutes are “illegal” and not allowed on the diet. The reason is because of reactions to chicory root which has large amounts of fructooligosaccharides. Please go to the Breaking the Vicious Cycle website for a Legal and Illegal Food List.

I taste tested with my children three coffee substitutes:
1. Krakus Instant Coffee Substitute: At $5.99 for 250g it was the cheapest substitute. One teaspoon of the product is added to hot water. My children liked this substitute the best. I found it very good too.
2. Nutrimax Instant Dandelion Blend: At $7.99 for 80g it was the second cheapest substitute. One half teaspoon of this product is added to hot water. I liked the taste of this substitute best, but only marginally more than the Krakus. For the extra cost, I was on the fence as to my preference.
3. Teeccino Herbal Coffee Alternative: At $12.99 for 240g it was the most expensive. It uses standard coffee preparation methods, so if the ritual of coffee making is part of your enjoyment, you might like this product more. It requires one half tablespoon of product to make a cup, which makes this product very expensive. My children and I both didn’t like the aftertaste of this product.

Specific Carbohydrate Diet: Common Problems

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) has a number of problems associated with the diet. Even though most people feel great on the diet, they have problems staying with the program long term. I hope this posting will help newcomers to the diet overcome these common pitfalls.

The SCD restricts all processed foods and food additives. This in itself can make a big change in a person’s health. The number of chemical additives put in processed foods has increased at an alarming rate in the last 50 years. There is a great amount of controversy about the safety of these additives. Nevertheless, these additives are everywhere. Avoiding additives means avoiding all processed food and any food produced in a standard restaurant. To the sensitive person even a minute amount of the problem substance can cause great damage.

The SCD is not necessarily a low carbohydrate diet but compared to the Standard American Diet (SAD) it will be lower in fiber and carbohydrates. Grains, legumes and beans are by far the greatest source of indigestible fiber and carbohydrates in a healthy person’s diet. By removing these foods and changing nothing else, your diet will become lower in fiber and carbohydrate.

1. The Crash Landing is constipation. A vast majority of the volume of a healthy bowel movement is bacteria, not indigestible fiber. Constipation that is caused by the reduction of dietary fiber is a symptom of gut dysbiosis. Gut dysbiosis is a lack of healthy intestinal bacteria. There are a number of ways to increase gut flora. Start by introducing lacto-fermented foods and drinks into your daily diet. This is a very inexpensive way to get probiotics and will solve the problem for most people. If whole, fermented foods does not work within a month or two consider trying therapeutic probiotics.

You might be wondering why I am not recommending eating supplemental fiber. Fiber is good for us, right? I would suggest reading Fiber Menace by Konstantin Monastyrsky and coming to your own decision on the safety of fiber. It is a funny book that will make you forever look at the contents of your toilet in a new way.

2. Carb Addiction is a common symptom that will appear from nowhere. When a person starts the SCD there will be a sudden reduction of the person’s normal carbohydrate load. This reduction of carbohydrates will induce an unbelievably strong force which will drive a craving to eat the very foods that are likely to be causing the problem. The person’s “gut flora” will be calling for their feeding of carbohydrate using the “gut brain”. The gut brain is very primitive part of our nervous system. It is completely nonverbal, causes action without higher thinking, and is the powerful force behind craving and addiction.

The gut brain cannot be controlled. The only way is to live through the “die-off” of the bacterial strains causing the addictive behavior. The die-off can take a week or a month. It is horrible to live through but there is a world on the other side without craving and addiction.

Carb addiction is a symptom of gut dysbiosis and gut flora imbalance. Carb addiction is the beginning of the long road to diabetes. If a person has a problem with yeast infections, hypoglycemia or diabetes, it would be wise to go low-carbohydrate with the SCD. Please see Life Without Bread for a low-carbohydrate protocol that works with over 90% of people.

3. Eating Out is very challenging. High end restaurants that make all the food in-house might be safe. I still have to be very careful and I never know if the waiter has transmitted the information to the kitchen. I have heard of people who do a lot of traveling making up a business card with their dietary restrictions. Generally, I do not eat out. When I am traveling I bring my own food in a cooler and have a bin full of dried food. I eat my dried stores and shop at local grocery stores for fresh foods.

The SCD will cause social and family problems. The people who love me are just happy to see me well again. They help make the diet easier by their acceptance. Not everyone will be as supportive. It is my responsibility to take care of myself and do what is necessary. What I put in my mouth is completely under my control. No amount of pressure from the outside can change that fact. Just watch out for the “gut brain”!

Recommended Reading List

Over the last few years, GO BOX Storage have donated a number of books about nourishing traditional foods and healing diets to the Kamloops Public Library. The Weston A. Price Foundation considers most of these books recommended reading.

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Dr. Weston A. Price
Pottenger’s Cats by Dr. Francis M. Pottenger
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall
Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride
Put Your Heart In Your Mouth by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride
Life Without Bread by Dr. Christian Allan and Dr. Wolfgang Lutz
The Fourfold Path to Healing by Dr. Tom Cowan
Know Your Fats by Dr. Mary G. Enig
The Cholesterol Myth by Dr. Utte Ravnskov
The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid
The Whole Soy Story by Dr. Kaayla Daniel
Performance Without Pain by Kathryn Pirtle
The Garden of Fertility by Katie Singer
Honoring Our Cycles by Katie Singer
The Yoga of Eating by Charles Eisenstein
Seeds of Deception by Jeffery M. Smith
Genetic Roulette by Jeffery M. Smith
The GMO Trilogy (DVD) by Jeffery M. Smith
The World According to Monsanto (DVD) by Jeffery M. Smith

Update May 12, 2009: If you would like more suggested reading please go to the WAPF Thumbs Up Book (and Other Media) Reviews.

Supplements or Superfoods: A Personal Story

Past:
I first started taking the standard synthetic multivitamins found in most drug and grocery stores. I took these standard preparations for most of my life. I felt that these vitamins were “insurance” against my less than ideal diet. As for my diet, I was a vegetarian for six years. But most of my life, I consumed the Standard American Diet (SAD) with a low fat focus.

In 2001, I fell sick after the birth of my first child. I tried all the normal medications recommended by the medical profession. These drugs helped with symptoms of my disorder but never seemed to treat the root cause. I started thinking about diet and nutrition. I upgraded my multivitamins to the kind found in health food stores.

In 2003, after the birth of my second child, I went on Weight Watchers. The diet is an eat anything you want but be low fat program. I lost over 40 pounds on Weight Watchers. I was still on all my medications. I frequently got sick and I was extremely tired all the time. I was taking a standard multivitamin found in health food stores.

In 2004, I decided to update my multivitamin supplements. I chose the “best supplements in the world” produced by Life Extension Foundation. They have an extensive program which focuses on longevity and using nutraceuticals for treatment of common chronic disorders. If you would like to see Life Extension’s program read: Top 10 Steps for Achieving Ultimate Health. I did most of this program which is not cheap. I was spending about $2500 a year or $6.85 a day on supplements. I used their program for about three years.

Continue reading Supplements or Superfoods: A Personal Story…