Bye bye nut butters..... and what else I have been up to

Yeah, I can't believe I am writing these words or that I posted it on social media, but I did.  Yes my blog name is in peanut butter.... and yet here I am giving up the one thing that I love so much.  Why am I doing it, you may ask.  Well, it was Thursday and customary brekkie for dinner night.  I made pancakes and had peanut butter and felt ill.  Now, mind you I had eaten bananas, more nut type things (maybe a bite) and felt fine up until that grand finally.  I just don't want to feel that way any longer.  

I went thought my cupboards for all the nut based things and packed in up in 2 boxes to send to my oldest sister and niece.  Even D is having a hard time with nuts.  He was eating nuts a few times a day - mixed nuts with chocolate and Lara bars.  His favorite was Peanut Butter Cookie.  So there it is.... bye bye nuts!  Also, banana are out as well, my throats feels off - not quite like a closing up feeling but almost.  I guess it's hard to describe.

Here are some other things that have been going on....

This is y walk to work.  The first one is actually very early morning.  The other I think I was walking to an appointment.  If I can walk there then I certainly will - unless I have to carry a ton of things, then I may drive.

Below are a few of the things I do at work (Birmingham Roast) - mainly cooking and baking.  LOVE the baking - even if it isn't gluten free I still love to do it.

Breakfast Bagel

Pumpkin donut muffin

Pastry case - looks a bit different now since more than half the things in there currently I am making.

Jack After Surgery

My big dawg had surgery recently - nothing major just some tumors removed but it was the day my mom came up from Florida for her birthday.

My mom - we were at my sisters getting ready to head up to Traverse City for the weekend to celebrate and go wine tasting.

We went to many wineries (can't even remember them all).  We stopped at the Jolly Pumpkin for lunch on Thursday when we first got to TC and had lunch.  It was wonderful and found out it was even haunted.  We had commented that no one looked particularly happy there, maybe that was why!  LOL.  Ciconne Vineyard & Winery was our last stop and OMG it was the worst wine ever!  No one was walking out there with a bottle.  YUK - and they kept getting worse!  My sister and I got a flight of 5 to try and only managed to get to 4 - we just couldn't do it.  One friend of mine mentioned that the wine there was good and another comment how bad it was.

My quest was for the perfect latte with coconut milk!  The above was a stop in Sutton's Bay after we had gone to Morsel's in TC and they changed up their alternative milk selection to oat and soy..... really?!?  Oat and soy!!  Most people I know that drink alt milks go with almond first.  They said the owners decided it was a better choice.  Well, not in my book!  I don't tolerate either of those.  Oh well!  Too bad for them because every time D and I went to TC we stopped there at least twice a week.

My favorite overall was Good Harbor coffee.  The best coconut milk latte!

Best latte in TC!

Our room in TC was right on the beach (Sugar Beach Waterfront Resort) but unfortunately it rained both Thursday and Friday.  The temp on Friday was 64!  There was no way we were going into the bay that day.  Of course wouldn't you know it, Saturday was sunny and 85.  The day we had to be in the car!  We had a few incidents that I won't mention but the hotel took care of us, so we really had no complaints.

Our room was decent, but the exercise room lacked.  But my sister made the best of it and we did a few youtube videos and walked/ran the TART trail.

TART Trail about 2 miles outside of downtown Traverse City

Of course, we had to go to the local sweet shop called Sweet Tartlette for a birthday treat.  I got a blueberry macaron and a gluten free peanut butter cookie.

Top is GF PB Cookie with sea salt and bottom is the Blueberry Macaron.

Sweet Tartlette

We then headed to Muskegon on Saturday so we could be at the Fine Arts Camp to pick up my nephew early morning on Sunday and hear his concert.  He plays violin and so well!  He also plays football, basketball, loves baseball right now.  His does archery, gymnastics and who knows what else but my sister and her husband makes sure the kids get to try anything and everything they want.

One thing everyone was so kind to do for me while we were there was go to a local restaurant called The Boar's Belly.  I was so excited.  Unfortunately it was just ok.

Front of the menu, didn't take one of the back!

PB&J Burger

The view from our room was excellent, as well as the exercise room.

The view from our room at the Shoreline Inn

It was a good trip - a lot of driving but great to spend time with family.  So that's what I have been up to for the last couple of weeks.  I am gearing up to start teaching mat pilates soon and classes through the NTP.  So between work and those things I feel I will be pretty busy and I'm trying to plan ahead and get my classes all mapped out so I don't have to think about what I am teaching a few hours before.  

I will be on Skype with my functional md soon.  Was suppose to be tomorrow but he hasn't received my lab results yet, so he wants to hold off.  I'm hoping my Candida is under control!  I will be posting after that visit.

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What did my protocol look like then and now

I can't give out too much information about my particular protocol but I can give you some kind of clue as to what my version of AIP looked like for a few months of starting my protocol.

First, my decision to seek out a functional medicine doctor was the best choice I made.  I had come to a point in my life that seemed to be hopeless (how I felt mentally and physically).  It also came at the loss of a job that I truly loved.  At the time I couldn't pin point what was happening.  I felt stupid.  I was reading but couldn't grasp anything that I had just read.  I would read a number thinking it was right but one little thing was off.  I was devastated.  I thought I was making great food choices because we were eating deli every day and I would eat paleo.  I mean how bad can lunch meat, mayo and vegetables be?!  Well, the deli meat is what destroyed my brain and my physical well being.  January was rough.  I was out of a job, I had horrible brain fog and felt ill daily.  I would start the day off feeling okay and would just progressively get worse as the day went.

Don't be sad though!  I look at everything in life as a place were I need to be at that particular moment.  Everything happens for a reason.  A series of events whether they are good or bad always lead us to where we are suppose to be.  Life is a journey and we need to pay attention at the series laid out before us.

So, I seemed out 2 functional medicine doctors.  I met with them both and chose Dr. Brett Allen.  Not only was he more reasonable, but I also didn't have to drive 45 minutes away to sit in a office.  My appointments were in the comfort of my own home via Skype.  How convenient and comforting that when your appointment was scheduled it was kept!

After my initial phone conversation with him, I scheduled the remaining blood tests I needed - which wasn't much for me since I had ordered a bunch of tests in January.  I also received a food allergy panel.  For this the phlebotomist came to my home.  The rest of the labs I went down the street from my house to Quest.  So convenient!  Are you seeing a pattern here?!  Great care and it was easy!

I should mention that while I was waiting for my results and speaking to him again I jumped into AIP - textbook style.  I eliminated everything except for coffee.

My results came back and I had a severe candida overgrowth, leaky gut etc.  The first four weeks of the protocol were of course strict, but then each week I was able to introduce new foods.  I have to mention the food intolerances since they are not true allergies.  Eggs, dairy, bananas are the top 3 I want to mention.  My scores were 1 & 2.  Since they still scored it is advised that I keep them in my rotation but only eat them a maximum of 3 times per week.  I have mentioned before that when I do go over board that my face breaks out.  I don't have a problem with nuts, BUT that being said that if I do eat them more than 3 times per week my face shows it.  It's the only thing that I try to do once per week and sometimes twice since I am baking and recipe testing and everything has almonds in them.

Now I am quite comfortable as to where my breaking points with certain foods are, so to speak.  Right now I'm staying clear of fruits - but mostly bananas.  I could eat them everyday!  Zero dairy now too.  Which reminds me, I came across cauliflower cheese and OMG what a life changer!  I have omitted the nutritional yeast and garlic from the recipe but it is awesome!  It shreds and melts. Awesome!!  

Here is a few meals I have put together recently.

I made mention to my friend Kari that my food is not very pretty, so I will be working on that.  But this was the cauliflower cheese on the side with ground turkey and a mix of cauliflower and spinach topped with a fried egg and hot sauce.  Not AIP for all, but my own reintroductions.

Tonight I made cassava flour tortilla's from Urban Poser.  I need to work on these more.  I ended up combining dough balls so I could make larger tortillas.  So I got 4 large and 2 small tortillas.  I ate one of the small ones plain to test it out - so good!  I would have hoped to get them thinner but they kept ripping on me.  A work in progress.  On this tortilla I had lime cauliflower rice, shredded purple cabbage and carrots and hiding under that is a piece of salmon.  I was so filled from this meal.  It was nice.  I ate better today then what I have been.  Usually at work I am doing so much I don't feel like it much so I typically will have a bar.  They usually have nuts so I try to avoid them, but they are easy when I am busy.  But when I get home I eat all night since I feel so hungry.

So there it is so far.  Always a work in progress and always try to define what works best for me.  Everyone is different and my AIP is not everyone else's AIP.

Protocol Check In!

How is my version of AIP going?!  What have I learned and what new steps have I taken or leeways I have done?!

I'm week 3 into my new job.  I drink an au lait with almond milk (unsweetened) 4 days out of the week I am there.  I drink water the rest of the time since it is very hot in the kitchen.  I think I get in close to 64 ounces while there.  On days I work I get up and do 30 minutes of yoga to myself warmed up for the day.  I'm standing for 9 hours and walking a mile there and back.  I was reflecting to when I worked at the bakery and would run 8 miles before even going to the gym or going to the gym after work.  That was less then a year ago and so much has changed with me physically and mentally.  I think it's all for the better!

The head chef/manager at Birmingham Roast (new job) makes a gluten free banana bread using a gluten free baking mix that I know has rice flour in in.  Everything that I have seen and read state that grains are just a no go when you have an autoimmune disease.   But, when this banana bread gets sliced I eat the small ends.

OMG!  It is so good!  

YES - that good!

 Two things to note here.  First is the extra bit of banana I am getting 4 days a week.  We go through so many loaves and I am addicted to it!  I seriously need to buy a slice that is in the middle cause if the ends are the shit then the middle has to be even better!  That brings me to the second part which is the rice flour.  Grain, arch nemesis of an autoimmune condition, which I just mentioned.  I can't say I have noticed any problems with the small amount of grain.  My protein powder has rice flour in it and my functional MD swears that it's ok.  I'm certainly not going to go out and eat a bunch of rice.  It just doesn't appeal to me at all.  When I did have more grain (gf oatmeal) I was super foggy, so I don't even want to go there.

I have been really tired on days that I work so I have been trying to take it easy when I get home.  No heavy lifting, maybe a little more yoga to wind down.  I'm leaving my heavy lifting to days that I'm off and doing all the other things and walking everywhere I can.

This past week they have let me put almond butter blondies on the menu and I bake up a storm there!  They are selling like crazy a good problem to have!

In less than a week I have baked 10 pans.  If you are in the area please stop by and pick one up.  So worth it since they are paleo, gluten free and vegan.

  The almond butter we use there is so incredibly good.

I have never seen it around here and heard it needs to be special ordered.  I know it would be spectacular on the banana bread!  I may have to splurge one day (eventually!).  Hahaha!  I do make sure not to have any dairy still.  I think it's working better, my skin is still clear.

As far as bloating is concerned - zero!  I got rid of brussel sprouts despite my epic love of them.  They turned out to be the cause since that was the only thing I cut out and bloating went away.

For the next 2 weeks (-ish) (when my mom comes up from Florida) I'm cutting out fruit, nut butters and milks.  Since I've been snacking on nut butters and milks daily as I mentioned I have noticed that my skin is breaking out.  My digestion seems to be the same though.  I've kept my egg consumption to 2 - 3 times per week, so I don't believe that is a problem.  I don't think coffee has caused me any issues, but will see since I am leaving that in and taking the rest out.  Oh, I almost forgot another symptom of me eating too much of something.  I get sores in my nose.  I have been off from the above and it is already healing up quickly.  It's odd, but I know what works and what doesn't work for me.  

I'm curious if the new candida protocol is working.  I am 30 days in today and have another 30 days to go.  I don't feel any different, at least I don't think I do.  Not sure when the next testing will be but my fingers will be crossed that I am back in a normal range!

I don't think there is anything I forgot but I will keep track of my progress with my skin and if it's healing quickly from not being so addicted to certain foods I know I can get carried away with.

What other issues can I talk about coming up?  The wheels will turn!