Eat, sleep, move!

There's not a lot of new things to share right now.  Life is moving along!  Actually, I'm feeling pretty good, now that I stop and think about it.  This would likely be due to:

1) Eating better (with the goal to lose weight)
2) Getting enough sleep
3) Starting an exercise program
4) Re-starting antibiotics at the beginning of January

I sure had developed some BAD habits in the fall, and now I'm trying to break them.  I think I've FINALLY gotten it through my head that I need a multi-pronged approach to keeping this Lyme in check.  Honestly, if you think you can just stop the antibiotics when you feel well, but slip into your old habits of eating refined sugar and Cheetos, and staying up until 1:00 a.m., then you are likely to have a rude awakening......like I did.

Exercise has been good, but I'm sore!  I'm trying to pace myself, and listen to my body so that I give it ample time to recover from a workout before going to the gym again.  I aim to work out 3 times per week.  I have to keep reminding myself of ALL of the benefits of exercise, besides weight loss.  It boosts the immune system, helps with lymph drainage, gets those antibiotics pumping through the body better, improves sleep, and boosts the mood.  I'm also so amazed and grateful every time I work out, when I think back to how terribly weak I was in early 2011.  As I've stated before, when I was really ill with Lyme, washing and drying my hair was exhausting!  Now, I can do the treadmill for 30 minutes followed by 20 minutes of strength training.  Quite the miracle!

In the food department, my naturopath says that it takes 21 days to break the sugar habit.  OK, I'm on Day 4, and I've already blown it.  But I'm learning that healthy eating is not just a day to day goal, but sometimes an hour to hour goal.  If I blow it one hour, I need to get right back on that wagon and carry on.  Sugar is SO bad for Lyme disease.  It suppresses the immune system, which is the exact opposite to what you're hoping to do.  It also feeds yeast, and the last thing you need in addition to your Lyme is a systemic yeast infection.  I'm trying to use stevia and xylitol in place of sugar.  I can't say that I'm thrilled with stevia in my coffee, but I'll put up with it, or maybe learn to drink it with cream only.  I've also got some recipes for treats made with xylitol, so when I allow myself to indulge, at least I won't be feeding the yeast in my intestines.

I recently purchased the book Wheat Belly Cookbook.  If you haven't read Wheat Belly, I really encourage you to.  And if you feel like jumping on board (and frankly, I don't know how anyone wouldn't want to after reading that) then the Wheat Belly Cookbook is a fantastic companion to the original.  Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist, explains why the genetically modified wheat we grow today is so bad for our bodies, how it elevates the blood sugar, and produces fat storage from the resulting insulin spike.  And in addition to that, inflammation occurs all over the body and manifests itself in various ways, depending on the person.  All I can say is....it is a very, very convicting book!  And it will scare the living daylights out of you if you LOVE your pastas and breads!

I have decided to greatly reduce my grain consumption, and to try to eliminate wheat, although I don't think I'm going to go to the extent of reading every label on every canned good I buy.  If it is an obvious source of wheat, then I'll eliminate it, e.g., bread, crackers, pasta.  The key is to find suitable and tasty substitutes for those things.  Instead of wheat crackers, I've bought brown rice crackers or Mary's Crackers (which Costco sells big boxes of).  Instead of wheat pasta, I found pasta at Costco made from amaranth + quinoa + brown rice.  As my "starch" at diner, I'll eat 1/2 cup of brown rice or barley or quinoa, and sometimes a 1/2 potato, though sweet potato would be better.  The bread is the hard part!  I will occasionally allow myself some sprouted grain bread such as Ezekiel or Silver Hills, though Dr. Davis would say that this is like putting "lipstick on a pig"!  They're still wheat.

I have no idea how a cardiologist has the time to come up with so many lovely looking recipes!  But honestly, if you really do want to embark on a wheat-free diet, or if you need to be gluten-free, Dr. Davis has many recipes for making "bread-like" creations that should satisfy you.  They involve the use of almond flour for the most part:  muffins, biscuits, pizza dough, etc.  I haven't tried any of them yet.  For one thing, I would only be able to eat them at home, as my workplace is "nut free" due to allergies. 

I'd still be interested in knowing what Dr. Davis would think of the spelt flour that I wrote about recently.  It's not made from the same type of wheat we regularly consume, so perhaps it would not have the same effect on the blood sugar.(?)

I'll leave you with an amazing fact from Dr. Davis' book:  Two slices of whole wheat bread have a higher glycemic index than a Snickers Bar!  No....that doesn't mean we should run out and grab a Snickers bar guilt-free, but perhaps we need to re-think our morning toast.

Spelt - a healthier flour

I'm beginning to wonder why I don't have a food blog, instead of a Lyme blog!  In my search to find healthy recipies for my family and me, I keep coming across some good dishes that I must share.  And you know that somehow I'll manage to tie it into Lyme disease.  Here goes...

My first LLMD insisted on a yeast-free sugar-free diet for her patients.  Eating this way helps to prevent yeast overgrowth which is so prevalent with antibiotic use.  The sugar-free part is to help to stop feeding the Lyme bacteria, which loves sugar.

In some cases, people might even have to go gluten-free to feel OK.  As many of you will know by now, Lyme disease can wreak havoc on the digestive system, so it's important not to introduce foods into the intestines that will aggravate the already-inflamed tissues.

Over the years, I have learned about spelt flour, which is a cousin to wheat flour.  It is apparently more easily digested than regular flour, and has more protein and nutrients.  Therefore, it might be wise to switch to this type of flour for your baking, if you have Lyme disease.  A word of caution:  It still has gluten, so those on a gluten-free diet may need to stay away from spelt, too. 

The gluten in spelt has some different properties than the gluten in regular flour, so a few changes need to be made to your recipe if you choose to substitute spelt for regular flour.  Firstly, use 1/4 less liquid in your recipe.  The spelt gluten cannot absorb as much liquid as regular gluten.  Secondly, don't overwork your dough!  If you do, you may end up with an end product that is too flat, too dense, or hard.  So be careful!  I encourage you to do a little research online about spelt.  There are many bakers out there with much more experience than me in dealing with spelt.  I mainly use it in muffins or quick breads (e.g. banana bread).  I've never tried it in cookies or regular bread.

Tonight I was serving up a homemade soup, and I wanted some "bready" thing to accompany it.  I opened my cookbook called Babycakes, and there was a recipe for spelt biscuits staring me in the face.  By the way, BabyCakes NYC is a bakery in New York City that caters to those who need gluten-free products.  If you MUST eat gluten-free, then you MUST get a hold of this cookbook!  There are recipes for all sorts of breads, cakes, cookies, you name it.  And they look wonderful. 

Now to tell you the truth, I bought the cookbook long ago, when I thought I might need to go gluten-free.  But I never ended up pursuing that, and honestly, I don't really think I have a gluten intolerance.  So this cookbook, beautiful as it is, was just collecting dust on my shelf.  Until tonight.

Now let me reiterate that these biscuits are NOT gluten-free.  Most of the recipes in the book ARE gluten-free, but not the biscuit section.  They are a healthier choice, however, not only because of the spelt flour, but because of the coconut oil used in them.  They taste really rich, even without slathering them with butter.  And I love the salt sprinkled on top to give them a bit of extra flavour.
My batch didn't rise as well as I thought they would, but they were still delicious with the soup.

Spelt Biscuits

2 cups white spelt flour, plus more for dusting
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/3 cup coconut oil, plus more for brushing
3/4 cup hot water

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Pour the oil and hot water into the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula until fully combined and a dough is formed.  If the batter is dry, add more hot water, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the dough is sticky.
3. Dust the counter with spelt flour.  Place the dough on the prepared surface and drag it through the flour.  Pat the dough gently until it is 1 inch thick.  Using a 3-inch round cookie cutter, cut out biscuits and arrange them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving 1 inch between the biscuits so they can spread.  Brush each with oil and sprinkle with salt.
4. Bake the biscuits on the center rack for 8 minutes, rotating the sheet 180 degrees after 4 minutes.  The finished biscuits will have a golden, flaky crust.
5. Let the biscuits stand on the sheet for 5 minutes before serving.  Cool completely and store in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Source:  Babycakes, by Erin McKenna

Eating well

It's important to eat well when you are suffering from a chronic illness.  Eliminating certain foods, like yeast and sugar, can help to minimize yeast overgrowth and inflammation in the body.  Not that I've been the perfect example to follow.  It really is hard to give up foods you love, because they are so comforting when you're feeling so awful.  I really do sympathize with you.

What you can do is try to find substitute recipes for the things you love.  Can you switch from sugar to xylitol or stevia?  If you need to avoid gluten, can you find a gluten-free bakery or make bread-like recipes with almond meal instead of flour?  The internet provides some great resources at our fingertips.  Here are a few blogs you can check out:

Good Food
Elana's Pantry
Healing Cuisine

It is most important to try to get toxic food out of our lives.  Easier said than done, I know!  The more we prepare our own food, rather than relying on pre-prepared, boxed, or processed foods, the easier it will be to avoid toxic chemicals, such as MSG. 

Here is a recipe for a taco filling using spices from your kitchen, rather than relying on the taco seasoning packets you can purchase at the grocery store.  They have a ton of sodium and MSG, and should be avoided.  You can use this taco filling for tacos, burritos, or in a taco salad like I did.

This was our dinner tonight!

Taco Salad

On a plate, layer the following:

chopped romaine lettuce
fresh diced tomatoes
shredded cheddar cheese
ground beef cooked with homemade taco seasoning (recipe to follow)
crushed nacho chips
sour cream
salsa (optional)

Ground Beef Taco Filling (Adapted from Maximized Living Nutrition Plans)

First, make the taco seasoning mix by combining the following ingredients in a small bowl or zip lock bag:
2 tbsp. chili powder
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cumin (I use 1 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. oregano (I use dried basil instead)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (I use 1/4 tsp.)

Add the taco seasoning mix to browned ground beef (1 - 1 1/2 lbs.) along with 1/2 - 3/4 cup water and cook until reduced to desired consistency.  If desired, you can add 1/2 cup salsa to the pan while heating.

Enjoy!

Thank you, Lord, that I can exercise

OK, I can hardly believe that those words went through my head earlier today!  I must be fevered or something!  I am not a person who loves exercise......never have, likely never will.  But I was truly thankful that today, I was able to take a 25 minute walk!  Wow!  I haven't done that in about 20 months.

Before I became ill with Lyme disease, I used to walk about 3 times a week, mainly to maintain my weight or lose weight when necessary.  Once Lyme got a hold of me, exercise, even mild exercise, was absolutely impossible.  I was too weak.  I remember taking a light, slow stroll around the block with my husband and kids after I had been ill for about 4 months, and my head started to pulsate and I was so fatigued.  I had to make my way back to the house to lay down.  It was just awful.  This was before I received my diagnosis, and I wondered what could be causing such bizarre symptoms.

I've been avoiding exercise these past few months, because I'm still suffering from some fatigue.  But I realize now that exercise and healthy eating will be necessary to get me into the home stretch of my recovery.  Exercise gets everything moving inside and helps the antibiotics to better circulate through the body.  It helps with lymphatic drainage, and with boosting immunity.

I'm also going to re-commit to a YF SF diet (yeast-free, sugar-free).  And I'm going to do my best to get those 'whites' out of my diet, too:  white flour, white pasta, white rice, white potatoes.  They're all so bad for you, as they convert quickly to sugar in the body.  Sugar feeds Lyme (and cancer, by the way), so it's best to eliminate those foods for optimal health - even if you're not sick.  If you're going to mow down on a baguette, you might as well just have a Mars bar!  Very little difference in the effect they have on your body.

I'm hoping that my commitment to exercise and healthy eating will help me shed these unwanted pounds I've gained.  When I first got sick, I lost 13 pounds very quickly which brought me to my desired weight.  Once I started on meds, I started to put weight on rapidy, and gained 23 pounds.  Yikes!  I've never been heavier in my life, except for pregnancy.  It's time to get serious about this.  It's going to be very hard to shed the pounds, I think, because the meds are working against me.  So, we'll see how it goes. 

I decided to try another supplement to help in the weight loss department.  I can't believe that I'm voluntarily adding ANOTHER supplement to the regimen.  Here it is - raspberry ketones.

Maybe you heard about these on Dr. Oz.  I figured that he really does his research before recommending something to his viewers, so I'm going to give them a try.  They are totally natural, extracted from raspberries.  They apparently help immensely with weight loss and appetite control.  Do your research before purchasing, as you want ones produced in Canada or the U.S. to ensure purity.  Here are a couple of links to check out to learn more about raspberry ketones.

Dr. Oz video

Advice from a dietitian on raspberry ketones

The dietitian in the second link recommends a particular brand.  I decided not to order that brand because there are other ingredients included in the capsules, such as grapefruit powder, which might interfere with my medications.  I wanted one that was 100% raspberry ketones.

I'll let you know how it goes!