Day 9: The Microbiome Diet (Phase 1)

This morning I had a fuji apple, raw nuts and ginger tea with lemon juice for breakfast. For my morning snack, I decided to make beet chips. I found a recipe online for rosemary beet chips. I thought the recipe sounded good, especially because I have fresh rosemary growing on my patio. The recipe included only four ingredients: rosemary, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. I peeled three fresh beets, sliced them thinly on the mandolin and baked them for 20 minutes at 375 degrees fahrenheit. The flavor was good but I thought the rosemary flavor was a bit too strong, for my liking.

For lunch, I had leftover stir fry made with beef round. The seasonings on the meat were: garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper and sea salt. The veggies on the stir fry consisted of broccoili, bok choy, carrots, leeks, garlic and onion. I felt like something sweet and refreshing after the stir fry and had mixed berries, for my side dish. The contents of the berry mixture are mentioned in the post from Day 8. For my afternoon snack, I had homemade Kombucha, if that counts as a snack. For dinner, I had leftover baked chicken, the ingredients can be found in Day 7’s post. I barbecued asparagus with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to go with my chicken. I had a bit of a sweet-tooth after dinner (surprise, surprise) and ate a yellow nectarine.

I was happy to see nectarines in the grocery store still because I am sure stone fruit season is almost over. Well, I should say, that the stone fruit season seems like its coming to an end because nectarines are getting harder and harder to find in the  grocery store. I had to go to three grocery stores until I found them, but it was totally worth it to have some fruit besides the typical apple and/or orange. Nectarines are one of the few fruits that are allowed on the Microbiome Diet and if you know me, you probably know how much of a sucker I am for fresh fruit. I wish I could say that I am going to eat less fruit and more vegetables, but until I kick this cold thing going on, I will most likely eat a serving of fruit with each meal. I just want to make sure I get the proper amount of Vitamin C to fight this. Maybe the change in weather is just getting to me, not too sure. Anyway, as long as I fight it off, I’ll be okay with eating a little extra fruit for a few days.

Day 8: The Microbiome Diet (Phase 1)

I want to talk a little about the apple cider vinegar that I previously posted on Day 1’s post. I heard on John Tesh the other day, that diluting the apple cider vinegar is going to be a necessary to saving protecting our teeth from decaying. What happens, is the acidity of the apple cider vingear wears down the enamel on our teeth. Ever since I heard about diluting the apple cider vinegar on the radio, I started diluting my apple cider vinegar with water. I also decided to add cinnamon to the water and apple cider vingear mixture, for an opportunity to have more superspecies. These “superspices” are listed in The Microbiome Diet book, they include: cinnamon and tumeric. According to the book, “cinnamon balances blood sugar and therefore, insulin, helping to prevent insulin resistance and thereby curing your body to burn fat rather than store it. Tumeric, a natural anti-inflammatory that helps heal the gut, support the microbiome, and promote good brain function.” Science doesn’t lie, these quotes on cinnamon and tumeric have me sold.

At the top of this post, I’ve included a picture of the water, apple cider vinegar and cinnamon mixture that I started drinking at the end of each meal. I won’t add the apple cider vinegar drink to my daily food log, but I do drink it at the end of each meal (it is assumed). I am learning to like the mixture. One thing I don’t like about the new cider drink, is that the cinnamon doesn’t mix in completly. You can see that in the picture, the cinnamon stays on top of the water. The cinnamon sticks to the sides of my glasses, which isn’t fun to wash. It tastes good though and doesn’t burn like a shot of alcohol, like it would before I diluted it. The apple cider vinegar is very helpful with calming my stomach, after eating and helps with my acid reflux. Many people who have acid reflux don’t know it. If you burp or pass gas after eating a big meal, you probably have acid reflux, or a form of. If this sounds like something that happens to you, after consuming a big meal, you at least give it apple cider vinegar a try. At least rule it out as one of your issues. 

I woke up feeling better this morning. It helped that I had the chance to sleep in. Hopefully I kicked the cold, or whatever was going on. Today is going to be another day of drinking a lot of ginger tea and eating a lot, just to make sure this sickness doesn’t creep up on me.

I want to include the ingredients for the beef tongue recipe, in today’s post because I did not include it yesterday. The beef tongue recipe includes: peppercorns, bayleaf, cloves, onions, water and salt. All are placed in the pressure cooker for 45 minutes, to make a tender meal or snack. The beef tongue is what I ate for breakfast this morning. I ate the beef tongue with regular, French’s mustard. I also had mixed berries for breakfast, which included blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. Now that I typing this out, the two do not sound good together, at all.

For my snack, I had a navel orange. For lunch, I was on the go so I had my raw nut mixture and a fuji apple. For my afternoon snack I had fermented pickles, by Bubbies. My dinner consisted of leftover baked chicken (ingredients can be found in my post from Day 7). With the chicken, I had baked asparagus and a white nectarine. Before heading to bed, I was hungry again and had some baby carrots. Carrots and apples are one of these, that are limited on the Diet because the amount of natural sugar they both contain.

Day 7: The Microbiome Diet (Phase 1)

Today marks the first week of my Microbiome Diet lifestyle. I am happy with the results and feeling good, well besides the fact that I think I am getting sick. But this has nothing to do with the new Diet. I’m not going to lie, I typcially get a cold or sinus infection after a big event or exam. It is probably my immune system crashing after the stress of exam day. My weak immune system is one of the reasons that I was inspired to try The Microbiome Diet. I hope to boost my immune system and not take antibiotics again. I’ve been prone to getting sick and having infections since I was in college. According to the book, if someone has had prolonged stress in their lives for multiple years, they are more prone to infection. I hope to reverse that with eating the right foods, through this Diet.

Because I have been feeling under the weather, I made sure I ate alot today. Hopefully eating a lot will provide me with the proper nutrients to fight it.

To start off my food list for the day, I had a hamburger patty and a whole, fresh hass avocado for breakfast. My morning snack consisted of a fuji apple. For lunch, I had beef tongue that my Mom cooked in the pressure cooker. I hadn’t tried the beef tongue with regular mustard so I tried that for the first time and enjoyed it much more than eating the tongue by itself. My lunch side was: zucchini, sautéed in olive oil, onions, garlic and capers. I picked the garlic out because it is a natural antibiotic and has natural antimicrobial properties. In college, I used to roast a whole head of garlic and eat it when I felt like I was getting sick. It could have been in my head, but I typically felt better after consuming a whole head of roasted garlic.

I made ginger tea out of fresh ginger root and sipped on that in the afternoon. If you want to know how I make that, I am happy to share. I buy a fresh ginger root from the grocery store. Peel the ginger root with a potato peeper and chop into dime-sized pieces. With the side of the knife, or meat mallet, smash the ginger root to extract juices. Boil a pot of water, once the water is boiling rapidly, add the smashed ginger root and turn off the heat. Let tea seep for thirty minutes to an hour (depending on the size of the pot). I had a big cup of fresh ginger tea, once it was seeped and squeezed lemon juice in there, as well. When my old boyfriend’s Dad told me about the ginger tea and how to make it, he explained that when the tea is done, it will look like the color to urine. Haha. The picture I have posted at the top of this blog post is the finished ginger tea product; the color of the tea is how it should look when it is done seeping.

My afternoon snack was a berry mix (the contents of the berry mix and additional information on berries is mentioned in my day 6 post). For dinner, I ate a baked chicken thigh seasoned with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, fresh basil, salt and pepper, to taste. For dinner, my vegetable included, baked asparagus, seasoned with: olive oil, salt and pepper. I was hungry before going to bed and had a navel orange and a few fermented pickles.

Hopefully all the garlic, tea and vitamin C from the fruit I ate, will help me feel better tomorrow. Today was the first day I can say, I felt hungry since I started the Diet. My hunger lasted all day, but again that js okay as long we I stick to the foof list in thr book. I pay attention and listen to my body very carefully and I know me being hungry all day, was my body telling me I need extra calories in my diet. 

Not that I am doing this Diet to lose weight, but some people who read this might be trying it for just that. I wanted to share with you, that since I started the Microbiome Diet, I have lost a total of five pounds and I feel like I am close to my natural weight. I learned, when I was on Paleo, that our bodies get to a point where we stop losing weight and hit our natural weight. This is when our bodies are the healthiest and we aren’t carrying excessive weight around, putting strain on our joints.

I know, my joint pain in my hands, wrist and back won’t go away immediately but I hope it improves shortly. I am only 26 years old and I am getting pretty tired of feeling like my hands, wrist and back are always achy. I constantly feel like my fingers and wrist could pop and my Grandma (yes, Grandma) tells me that, that’s how her arthritis pain feels.

There was one point where my Doctor told me I “most likely” have pre-arthritis. According to the book, this pain could be reversed with healing the gut and creating a healthy environment for nutrients to be absorbed. I get the idea that my Doctor was right about the arthritis pain because it feels worse when the weather is cold or it is windy. Increased pain, due to weather, is a common symptom of arthritis or pre-arthritis. There have been people who have told me that I am making up the pain or that I am a hypochondriac, but I refuse to let them get to me. I refuse to be okay with being in pain and will try to experiment with whatever I have to or need to, just to feel better.

Plus, I want to resolve the health issues that I am suffering from, while I am still young. The book explains that some of the pain could be a tell tell sign that something bad could go wrong in the future – such as Crohn’s disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, autism, diabetes, cancer, lupus, or another type of autoimmune disorder. I chose to nip the issue in the bud and try my best to cure my leaky gut, through adjusting my diet with The Microbiome Diet. If you want to try the same or have any questions in regards to the Diet, feel free to comment below this post.

Day 6: The Microbiome Diet (Phase 1)

I started my day with a trilogy Kombucha, by Synergy. My stomach was super nervous before I left my house this morning, for my exam. I planned on eating a big breakfast and woke up early to do so, but could not fathom eating anything because I was so nervous; I let my test anxiety got the best of me.

The good news is, I made it to the testing site and survived the exam. I snacked on my raw nut mixture, while waiting to go into the exam and the proctor made sure to mention I couldn’t eat anything during the test. Of course, she had to mention no eating, as if the two people next to me weren’t chomping on Starbursts the entire time. Well anyway, after the test, I had an apple and oh, did I need that fructose after sitting there for three and a half hours after taking the test.

Once I made it home, I had sauerkraut (Bubbies) for my morning snack. I was hungry for lunch soon after my snack and decided I needed some beef and avocado (that is my go-to). I typically buy 80/20 pre-formed hamburger patties and either saute or barbecue them. Today, I had a whole, fresh hass avocado on top of my hamburger patty and was pretty full afterwords.

For my afternoon snack I had a berry mixture, which contained blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. I couldn’t belive my eyes when I saw berries on the Microbiome food list. The berries were located in the vegetable section of the food list and it is still a mystery as to berries are not in the fruit section. Nonetheless, I’m pretty happy I can have berries; they are a great super food and excellent source of antioxidants. If you don’t know what antioxidants are, I’ll explain; it is a molecule that inhibits oxidation. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that involves the loss of electrons or an increase in oxidation state, according to Wikipedia. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which are predited to fight off cancer cells.

For dinner, I had a salmon fillet, sautéed in an iron skillet with coconut oil. The flavor of the salmon was divine, probably because I bought a fillet with the skin on and got made sure I purchased wild caught salmon. I didn’t eat the skin but I do know that it is a good source of Omega-3’s. I saved the skin for the dogs; such spoiled little guys!

Day 5: The Microbiome Diet (Phase 1)

Today, I shared a picture of the Kombucha that I buy. There are many different flavors and although, I make my own Kombucha at home, I like to try the different flavors that are available in the grocery store. Like mentioned yesterday, the brand that I have learned to love is Synergy. So far, my favorite Kombucha flavors by Synergy are: multigreen, trilogy, and gingerade. These three flavors by Synergy aren’t super sweet and or tangy-they are the perfect combination of flavors for me.

I am going to keep my post short today because I have an exam early in the morning and need to get some rest. I tired to load up on protein today so that my brain works well for tomorrow. For breakfast, I had the usual raw nut mixture and an apple. I had Armenian cucumber with lemon juice and salt for my morning snack. Lunch consisted of an Italian sausage, caramelized onions and mustard. My afternoon snack consisted of a fermented pickle: Bubbies brand and trilogy flavored Kombucha. For dinner, I ate a hamburger patty sautéed with olive oil and a whole, fresh avocado with salt.

Sorry to cut it short, but I need to get some rest as I am pretty anxious and nervous for my exam. Goodnite, I am off to bed now; wish me luck!

Day 4: The Microbiome Diet (Phase 1)

I wanted to share a picture of the chickpea snack that I mentioned in yesterday’s post (Day 3). Chickpeas are a type of legume. According to the book, “legumes are a good source of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, but while you have a leaky gut they are hard for your intestinal tract to handle.” Legumes contain lectins, which interfere with mineral absorption; chickpeas and legumes are easier to digest because they are considered a prebiotic, which are highly beneficial to the microbiome. I really enjoy eating the chickpea snack because it satisfies my craving for chips and other crunchy foods.

Today, the chickpea snack held me over until I had lunch. For breakfast, I ate my nut mixture (mentioned in Day 1’s post) and an apple. After the chickpea snack wore off, I had one and a half Italian sausages with caramelized onions and regular mustard, that were leftover from dinner yesterday. For my afternoon snack, I had my fermented food/drink, which consisted of a multigreen Kombucha (again, by Synergy). For dinner, I ate stir fry with beef round, seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper and sea salt. The veggies included: broccoli, bok choy, carrots, leeks, garlic and onion. Before going to bed, I got hungry again and had a kiwi.

Day 3: The Microbiome Diet (Phase 1)

  
For todays’s post I am also going to talk a little about the benefits of fermented foods. I have been trying to consume a serving of a fermented food, or drink daily. According to the book, fermented foods and drinks will be very beneficial to healing the microbiome in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Fermented foods contain their own living cultures of bacteria, which supplement the microbiome in the intestine. The process of fermentation creates probiotics naturally, which is important to supporting our health.

I have included a picture of the fermented pickles, fermented cabbage (sauerkraut), and fermented green tomatoes in today’s post. I am very happy with the Bubbies products that I bought; I purchased all three of these products at Smart & Final and will mention them daily in my food log.

Today marks Day 3, of my Microbiome Diet lifestyle. I woke up hungry this morning; which is probably because the carbohydrates and sugar that I consumed before I started the diet, are starting to wear off. Therefore, I decided to have a bigger breakfast this morning to “Break the Fast,” which in fact, is the purpose of eating breakfast in the morning. I ate an apple and a raw nut mixture (contents were mentioned in my Day 1 post, feel free to refer back to previous post). I also had a bottle of mystic mango kombucha, by Synergy. For lunch, I had a roast, seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper and sea salt. I had a 1/2 of a hass avocado and steamed broccoli with the roast. A navel orange was my snack. My dinner consisted of, two BBQd Italian sausages with caramelized onions and regular mustard. I didn’t get to snack in between breakfast and lunch because I was out studying. I was hungry before I went to bed so I snacked on spiced, roasted chickpeas. The recipe for the chickpeas is located in the Microbiome Diet book. I will share the contents of the chickpea snack which contained: canned, rinsed chickpeas, cumin, cayenne pepper, curry powder, turmeric, allspice, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, ground coriander, chili powder, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. I thoroughly enjoyed the “crunch” of the chickpea snack and would recommend it to anyone wanting to try a recipe from the book.

Day 2: The Microbiome Diet (Phase 1)

I woke up this morning not feeling hungry. I figure that not being hungry has to do with my glycemic index (sugar) not spiking because I am not consuming simple carbohydrates or sugar. It’s a good thing not to feel hungry all the time, which is how I typically felt before The Diet. Fortunately, The Microbiome Diet encourages three meals a day and a two snacks: one snack in between breakfast and lunch and the second, is in between lunch and dinner. Eating when hungry is important. Also, listening to our bodies and not overeating or eating when not hungry is also important. There are little to no restrictions on the amount of food eaten on the Diet, there are a few exceptions to limiting one apple a day, etc. but other than that, Kellman encourages readers to focus on the phase 1 list. The quality of food eaten is the most valuable tool, as opposed to the quantity because the food consumed on this Diet will not make anyone fat or gain weight; instead, the Diet allows weight loss and immune health.

For Day 2, I focused on making sure I get in my two snacks for the day. I started off my day with my raw nut mixture, which I mentioned the contents of in my Day 1 post. I also had an avocado and orange salad. I made the salad with a whole navel orange, a whole hass avocado, less than a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper, to taste. For lunch, I had leftover chicken (the recipe was mentioned in my Day 1 post), along with some steamed broccoli. I snacked on an apple in the afternoon. For dinner, I had Carne Asada (see day 1 post for recipe) for my protein and a cucumber, tomato salad for my side. The salad contained: peeled, seeded and chopped Armenian cucumber, sliced homegrown cherry tomatoes, raw red onion, extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper, to taste. I snacked on 2 Bubbies, fermented pickles before I went to bed because I was feeling a little hungry and missed my snack in between breakfast and lunch.

I am pleasantly surprised at how good I have felt the last two days; I do not feel super hungry and I do not feel like eating is an emergency. I do not feel like I have to stop what I am going and run home to eat, which is how I often felt-pre Microbiome Diet.

Day 1: The Microbiome Diet (Phase 1)

  

Today marks the first day of my Microbiome Diet lifestyle. I am very excited to share this experience with you all: my friends, family and others who have had health problems similar to mine, or even just those wanting to prevent any bad health issues in the future. First off, I want to start off by sharing my diagnosis, to give my audience an understanding of why I decided to try this diet and start a blog.

I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), about a year ago. My childhood Dr. assured me that the “syndrome” part in the name is just something that Doctors make up as a collection of ideas complied together, basically stating that they do NOT know much about it. Well, first off, a Dr saying they do not know much about my diagnosis is pretty annoying, in general.  After stating, I did not want to be out on any pills, he sent me home with some pills and told me to give them a try. After having experimented with the pills to see if they would “help” my IBS, they didn’t. I tried several different medications to see if they would help my issues but in actuality, it ended up making my symptoms worse. It got to the point of me having to stay close to home because my bowels were completely unpredictable.

At this point, I took matters into my own hands and decided to try elimination diets. I tried the Paleo-AIP Diet for quite some time. I felt better after being on Paleo-AIP, but I never fully healed. After adding certain foods back into my diet, I realized that I was working so hard and diligently to stick to the diet and not feeling much better or seeing the results that I was hoping for. I was still having to run to the bathroom at times and then there were other times, when I couldn’t go for days. It is a horrible feeling having unpredictable bowels and it started to put a damper on my social life. I didn’t want to leave the house and I felt that nobody understood me. There were times where I felt so hopeless and down, that I started to believe some of the negative things the conventional Drs were saying about me being fine or making up the pain.

Now, I would like to start off my sharing a few stipulations on the Microbiome Diet and the reason that I will continue to refer to this experience, as a lifestyle. I am never to eat certain foods again, some of these include: processed or packaged foods, high fructose corn syrup, trans or hydrogenated fats, canned fruits, fruit juices, soy (including soy milk, soy sauce, tofu, tempeh, and ay forms of soy isolate protein, in the form of protein bars, protein shakes and protein powders) and canola or cotton seed oil.

Today starts phase 1 of the diet and I won’t share the entire list but some food groups have limitations. There are certain proteins, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts, oils and legumes that are not allowed on phase 1.

Now, to tell you briefly about what I ate on my first day and some of the struggles and joys that I encountered on the first day of The Microbiome Diet. Breakfast included an apple and raw nuts (these included: cashews, brazil nuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts and almonds). Lunch included some top round beef, or in Spanish: Carne Asada seasoned with olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, orange juice, sliced oranges, garlic, white pepper, salt, ground cumin, Mexican oregano, ground cloves, and chopped cilantro topped with a half, fresh hass avocado on top. Dinner included a chicken dish and stemmed broccoli. The chicken dish recipe is located in the dinner section of the Microbiome book and consists of: chicken thighs, onions, sliced apples, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, tarragon, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. I felt pretty good today and was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t super hungry and my satiation was well-maintained throughout the day. Not sure I ate enough, but I wasn’t too hungry today either.

Something that I will be doing for the entirety of the Microbiome Diet, is that I will be taking a 1 oz. shot of Braggs, apple cider vinegar after every meal to produce the proper amount of stomach acid. This will also help with my acid reflux issue. I was diagnosed with acid reflux the same time as my IBS. It is a possibility that both, my IBS and acid reflux could be caused by the same or similar problem. Fortunately, both diagnosis’s could also be cured by the Microbiome Diet. Once my micorbiome in my stomach is healthy, the symptoms of belching after I eat each meal, could improve, or eventually diminish. Fingers are crossed.

Introduction: The Microbiome Diet

After years of feeling hopeless and frustrated with my Medical Doctors, I decided to drive nearly 200 miles to see a non-conventional Doctor. I paid a visit to Rev. Dr. Damir De Balkany, located in Ventura, California; he is a Radiestetist. I’d never heard of a Radiestetist before, but decided I had nothing to lose. Dr Damir De Balkany’s program represents the power of the energy field, in our bodies.

At first I was a little taken back because once I sat in the chair, in Dr Damir De Balkany’s office, he pin-pointed my health diagnosis’s right off the bat. I had multiple Doctors tell me that I am making up my pain, it is all in my head and that I am okay. I wasn’t going to settle for that sort of answer because I am very in tune with my body and my feelings and thank goodness I didn’t because Dr. Damir helped me and believed in me. Not only did Dr. help me with the use of herbal formulas, vitamins and minerals, but the biggest thing for me, was that he believed me and my pain. Other Doctors did not listen when I expressed how I felt and the fact that I didn’t want to cover the issue with Medication. My regular Doctor in my hometown, as well as Doctors at Sansum Clinic, in Santa Barbara, California also did multiple tests, MRI’s, CT scans. etc. and just prescribed me pills, on the trial and error process. Taking the pills, in fact, made my health symptoms and pain worse.

This is when Dr. suggested that I try altering my diet, to restore my health and heal my gut naturally and homeopathically.  Dr. sent me home with no pills, but rather education; he told me to go home and order The Microbiome Diet book, by Raphael Kellman, MD on Amazon. At the time, the book wasn’t released yet so I went ahead and pre-ordered it. I was so excited that Dr. was willing to help and had a solution for me. Dr Damir reassured me that he was more than 100% confident that The Microbiome Diet could heal all of my health issues. I am here to share my new lifestyle with you.