Category: Food and drink

(Not so) fun times with Endometriosis. (Part Three – the first few days post op.)

Here is the next instalment of my series on Endometriosis. In Part One, I discussed my recent surgery, and in Part Two, I wrote about some things I did pre-surgery that helped things go as well as they could. This one is about the initial post operative experience.

As I briefly mentioned in Part One, I woke up from my anaesthetic in a fair bit of pain. The staff were lovely, and were quite determined to get me down to no pain. Now this is something most FibroWarriors are unfamiliar with.

I am fairly lucky as far as my Fibromyalgia pain goes. If I’m good with my diet, supplements and self care, I generally function at a constant 2 or 3 out of 10. I know there are a lot of FibroWarriors that are having to deal with constant pain levels much higher than that. But the idea of getting my pain to zero, is kind of laughable. I am not good at lying to people at the best of times, but coming out of an anaesthetic meant that it was virtually impossible. So when they are asking me what level my pain was, I responded honestly. The difference is, that while I would have been happy for them to just get my pain down to a 2 or 3, they wanted it at one or zero.

I’ll be honest, they did not succeed, but the anaesthetic wore off enough for me to convince them that my pain was low enough to stop giving me drugs.

Tips for while you are still at the hospital

I don’t really have a lot of tips for post operative stuff while still at the hospital. Of course there are the things that should be common sense and basic human decency. Follow the nurses’ instructions, be polite even if you are in pain. Use your manners, and remember that ALL of the hospital staff are people doing their jobs. There is never an excuse to be rude or abusive, especially towards the very people who are trying to help you.

They will expect you to eat and drink (and keep it down), dress yourself (at least to the level that you normally can) and go to the toilet before they will discharge you. This isn’t them being difficult, it helps them to assess if you are okay to be discharged. If you can’t do any of those things, it might indicate that you need to be monitored for longer than normal. It might just mean you need a few more hours, or it could be an indicator of something more serious. Don’t kick up a stink if they want to keep you, they are recommending the best thing for your health.

Don’t be afraid to ask the nurses for help. If you need an ice-pack or a heat-pack , or your pain levels have gone up, or you feel nauseated, talk to them. They would much prefer to get you a vomit bag and you end up not needing it, versus you trying to fight through it and vomiting on the bed/chair/floor. Just be polite and make requests rather than demands.

Being discharged

Check that you understand the discharge instructions, ask questions if you need to.

Check if you need to collect any medications from the pharmacy. I was lucky that it was pretty quiet when I was being discharged, and one of the lovely nurses took my prescription down to the hospital pharmacy to be filled, so that it would be ready for the Knight to collect once he arrived.

If it is not already recorded on your discharge information, ask the nurses to write down what medication/s you have had and at what time/s. This will help you take your next dose at the appropriate time.

If you have a long drive home, use the bathroom – a full bladder is not a fun thing to have so soon after surgery.

Travelling home

I strongly recommend a cushion or a piece of foam for the car seat. Also a small soft pillow that you can place between the seat-belt and your abdomen. Make sure it is small enough to not interfere with safety, but enough to provide a bit of cushioning.

If you are prone to travel sickness, make sure you have a bucket or a bag just in case. If you do vomit – call the hospital for guidance.

At home

Check what time you are able to take the next pain relief medication. Write it down and set an alarm. Does it need to be with food? If so, have something ready like a piece of fruit or some yogurt or one of those tasty high fibre treats you made when following my pre-op advice!

For the next 48 hours (at the very least!) take your pain relief when the next scheduled dose is due. Don’t muck about with post surgical pain. There is a valid reason why your body is giving you pain signals, it’s to make you be still so you can heal. But we, as intelligent humans are able to make the decision to be still without having pain, so take the medication!

Post surgical pain is much easier to keep down if you take the doses as prescribed, rather than waiting for it to completely wear off then trying to get it back under control. If you wait until the pain is high again, you will often need to take more medications and at a higher dose than you would have otherwise.

Avoiding constipation

You will likely be prescribed some sort of opioid medication. One very common side-effect of opioids is constipation.

Trust me, constipation post pelvic surgery is something you want to avoid.

Here are some tips for helping reduce the chance of developing constipation:

  • Eat high fibre foods. Lots of vegetables, whole grains (if you tolerate them) and fruit.
  • Stay hydrated. Drink lots of water or herbal tea, and keep caffeine to a minimum.
  • Add supplements that draw water into your stools – things like chia seeds and psyillum husks. See below for a recipe for a chia seed pudding that the knight has nicknamed “Pooping porridge”. It’s really quite tasty despite it’s name!
  • Use a foot stool or “squatty potty” to place your feet on when you sit on the toilet – raising your knees above your pelvis helps to put everything in the right position so you can pass stool with minimal straining.
  • Gentle massage of your abdomen and pelvic area – do this very gently and always in a clockwise motion to encourage things to move in the right direction. Not only will this help the movement of your bowels, it will help your body to get rid of the excess gas from the surgery that will have been left behind.
  • If these things don’t work, talk to your pharmacist or doctor about stool softeners and laxatives or consider using a microlax enema. They aren’t much fun, but the longer the stool sits in your lower bowel, the more water will be drawn out of it, and the harder it will be to pass – so don’t leave it too long!
Pooping Porridge
  • 1 apple
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup coconut cream
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds (Australian metric tbsp = 20ml)
  • 1 tsp psyillum husks
  • spices to taste – I like cinnamon and cloves or vanilla
  1. Chop apple into small pieces and stew for 15 mins in a small saucepan in the water (you could also use pre-made stewed apple).
  2. Add coconut cream and gently warm
  3. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Allow it to sit for a while for the chia seeds and psyillum husks to absorb the water. Adjust to your preference – add more water if it is too thick, more chia seeds if too thin.
  4. Serve with some nuts or extra fruit, or just eat it as is – enjoy!

Try it with different fruits such as mango, pear or berries.

In my next post, I’ll talk about movement, exercise, referred pains and trying to get back to normal.

Go back to Part 1, or Part 2, or forward to Part 4 and my recently added addendum.

Seven tips for holidaying with Fibromyalgia

At the start of this month, the Knight and I went away for a few days. We had tickets to see Tim Minchin – a hilariously funny, intelligent, gifted musician, who plays piano, does a lot of political and religious satire, and swears a lot. The Knight and I are both big fans.

We missed out on tickets for his Brisbane show, so when Gold Coast tickets were released, I jumped straight at them, and decided I would figure out the logistics of travelling and hour and a half later. It worked out well, because it’s the Knight’s birthday this month, and he was very happy to have a weekend away and tickets to one of his favourite comedians as an early birthday present!

Functions and events are hard when you have Fibromyalgia. There’s the noise and lights and seats and lots of people and massive amounts of sensory input that drains your energy very quickly. Add to that, evenings are my worst time of day, and I have to make sure I plan to do nothing the next day, to try and avoid a flare.

But you cannot live your life in a bubble. It’s boring and makes your depression worse. So here are my tips for weekend getaways or travelling for functions:

1. Book a self contained apartment

I found a lovely little one-bedroom apartment, with a small but fully equipped kitchen, some comfy couches, a dining table and 2 small balconies over looking the water.
There was a place to play board games, and separate places to eat, so we didn’t have to pack up mid-game. It also meant I could go and nap, and the knight had some comfy couches to relax on without having to sneak around to avoid waking me.

2. Bring your own food

Catering for yourself, not only saves money, but keeps the IBS under control. If you do go out to eat, do your research in advance. If you have dietary intolerances, it is unfair to expect a restaurant to cater for you without any advance warning.

3. Take some extra days

We headed down on the Thursday afternoon before the show on Saturday. This gave me a full day to recover from travelling and to relax and enjoy the time away. We stayed until Monday, so that Sunday could be spent doing as little as possible to hopefully avoid the dreaded DOPEM (Delayed-Onset Post-Exertional Malaise).

4. Bring low energy entertainment

We brought a few board and card games with us, our favourite at the moment is Hero Realms. We also brought Carcassonne and Ticket To Ride (India/Switzerland) as they are both good with only 2 players. This allows us to do something we both enjoy together, and interact. So much better for our relationship than just watching hours of movies sitting on separate couches! (No judgement for those who do this, we do it too sometimes, it’s just not our favourite thing to do together.)

5. Bring your Yoga mat

View of the ocean and surf and a park with green grass and pine trees. Blue sky and fluffy white clouds.
View from one of the balconies.

Unfortunately the FibroTroll doesn’t take holidays. I find yoga and stretching to be very helpful for reducing the overall pain I have each day. The exercises might hurt a bit sometimes, but generally not as much as I hurt when I haven’t done any of them for a few days.

On the plus side, this is the view I had each day as I was doing my exercises.

I also meditated on the balcony each morning. Having the sun come up over the water and shine straight in your face is a wonderful way to wake up!

6. Pace Yourself!

As much as I get frustrated with pacing, it really is extra important to do it when you are on holidays too. Taking the time to relax and not push yourself to do “All The Things!” means that you will enjoy your break and not come home more exhausted than before you left.

7. Do a load of washing

I know this sounds boring and not at all like it belongs in a what to do on holidays list. However, if you are going away for more than just a weekend, there is going to be a lot of washing to do when you get home. If you can, do a small load of washing on your second last day. This means when you get home, you can just put all the clothes back in the cupboard. It will save a surprising amount of energy when you get home.

So those are my tips. They worked fairly well and I didn’t have too much of a flare afterwards. Unfortunately, other health issues have flared up instead, (the FibroTroll has many friends) but at least I managed to keep the FibroTroll mostly under his bridge.

Sunrise over the ocean, with pine trees in the foreground.
Sunrise from the other balcony.

The last morning, when I couldn’t sleep, the picture to the right was my view as I sipped my coffee and the Knight had a little bit of a sleep-in. Not too much of a hardship!

In the end, I can say for certain that it was worth all the effort. I laughed so hard I cried, and the Knight and I have been singing random bits of Tim’s songs to each other for a week!

Food for health

A common theme in many of my support groups, is people asking about diet. Which diet is best for Fibromyalgia? Has anyone tried keto, vegan, gluten and/or dairy free, this diet, that diet, the only breathe air diet? Okay, maybe not the last one, but it feels like it sometimes!

And the answers people give to those sort of questions is always varied. Some people swear by vegetarian/vegan diets, LCHF (Low Carb, Healthy Fat), low fat diets, carnivore diets, low salicylate diets, low FODMAPs, GAPs, Wahls – there are as many answers as there are questions.

I’ve tried a lot of them. Some made me worse, (like vegan and low salicylate diets), some made no appreciable difference (like FODMAPs and the blood type diet) and some helped me – Like GAPs, the Wahls protocol and metabolic balance.

I often write about diet, and I do this because I honestly feel it is a super important part of managing the FibroTroll. But I want to make one very important point:

There is no one-size-fits-all diet for Fibromyalgia.

What works for me, might be okay for someone else. But in all likelihood, they will need to tweak some foods to suit them.

It has been a long experiment, and it’s not over yet. I did many elimination diets, blood tests and stool tests. The GAPs diet made a huge difference to my IBS issues and helped resolve a few (unfortunately not all) of my food intolerances. The Wahls protocol helped a little with pain, but I gained weight, when I was already carrying a few extra kilos and that didn’t help the fatigue. Metabolic balance got me back to my ideal weight and helped me isolate some more foods that were causing issues.

Right now, I find I do best on a low carb, but not quite ketogenic diet. I don’t eat cow dairy (except for ghee) or grains. I avoid added sugar – I do have a little 85% chocolate as a treat from time to time, but as a general rule I avoid sugar. I have recently worked out that nightshades are not my friend, and I avoid the random foods that don’t fit into a category but that cause me problems – like pork and almonds and most, but not all legumes. I continue to mostly follow my metabolic balance plan, using principles from both Wahls and GAPs.

Most of my food is organic, with a few foods from the Environmental Working Group’s clean fifteen list included if the organic version is super expensive. The EWG is based in the USA, but its Clean 15 and dirty dozen lists are a good guide if you can’t afford all organic food. I also try as much as I can to stick to foods that are in season. I get most of my fruit and vegetables from Food Connect in Brisbane. Luckily, I can usually find a box that only has a couple of things that I can’t eat – which my wonderful Knight then consumes!

Due to this, I mostly bring my own food to functions. While I love to have people at my home and to feed them, bringing my own food to everything gets a little tiresome. While it is significantly better than having an IBS attack or migraine from the wrong food, it wears you down after a while.

I recently caught up with a friend for lunch for her birthday. I made an almost compliant (a bit higher in sugar than I would normally eat) chocolate tart in lieu of cake and she insisted on feeding me lunch. It was such a wonderful feeling, to leave the house not having to bring my own food. We had roast chicken and vegetables and it was delicious!

I had significantly underestimated the mental benefits of someone offering to feed me and taking my dietary needs seriously and making a meal that included me.

So to that end I have given myself a new challenge. Let people feed me. If they ask, give them a simpler version of what I can’t eat, let things be non-organic, and so long as it’s gluten free, don’t worry too much about contamination. I’ll always let them know that it’s okay to back out and say it’s too hard.

It’s a bit outside my comfort zone, but I think (and hope) it will be good for me. It touches a little on the mental health care that is the other thing I write a lot about.

Wish me luck!

Metabolic Balance – Phase two (Plus bonus recipe!)

A couple of weeks ago I started my latest dietary program called Metabolic Balance. I was a little apprehensive about it as I mentioned in my first post about it here.

I successfully navigated Phase One without dying. Although by the third morning I did think that was a possibility. If anyone doesn’t believe that food can affect mood, then I challenge you to just eat vegetables and ZERO fat or protein (yes I know that many vegetables contain protein, but I mean eggs, dairy, meat, legumes, nuts, seeds, etc.) See how you feel by day 3. Then have some protein.

For me, it was like night and day. Within 30 mins I was feeling brighter, my headache had receded to a manageable level and I no longer felt nauseated. By the end of that day, I was even feeling happy.

The next two weeks I settled into Phase Two – the strict conversion phase. Phase Two is where the Metabolic Balance Rules come in. There’s eight of them but they aren’t too difficult to follow most of the time.

I also had my personalised meal plan. My plan includes a lot of things I very much like, and a few that I don’t. There’s a fair amount of variety, which allows me to be creative.

One of the things I am grateful for – something I became more conscious of after starting my gratitude practice – is my ability to cook. My parents encouraged me when I was young to bake and cook. By the time I was 7, I could make a chocolate cake from my kids cookbook (Mum or Dad would put it in the oven and take it out) and by the time I was 11 or 12, I could do simple dinners. I made a god awful mess when I did it, but it’s a skill I am grateful to have. (I do make less mess now, not that the Knight thinks so!)

That skill has allowed me to be quite confident in coming up with creative ways to prepare the ingredients in my plan.

One of the meals I am particularly proud of (and have made more than once!) is a butternut pumpkin (squash if you’re American) and blackberry tart. Sounds a bit weird – but it’s super tasty! You could add a bit of maple syrup or honey if you wanted it sweeter, but I’m not allowed them, and I found it sweet enough as is. I’m sure you could substitute other berries, but I would go for sweet ones like blueberries or strawberries.

I hadn’t actually planned on this becoming  a recipe post, but sometimes you get unexpected bonuses in life!

Butternut Pumpkin and Blackberry Tart

Ingredients:

  • 40g nuts and/or seeds
  • 2 tsp coconut oil (I omitted this in the first 2 weeks, but it’s better with it)
  • cinnamon to taste
  • 80g butternut pumpkin
  • 100g frozen blackberries (can use fresh, but reduce cooking time)
  • 1/2 tsp spice mix (I recommend my turmeric drink mix)

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Grind the nuts and seeds in a coffee/spice grinder. You could also use commercial nut meal if you don’t have a way to grind nuts.
  3. Add 1 tsp of the  coconut oil and cinnamon and enough water to make a soft sticky dough.
  4. Line a small flan or pie dish with baking paper and press the dough into the bottom and up the sides. This is not a dough that will roll out – you’ll have to get your hands dirty.
  5. Bake in the oven for 8 mins. I didn’t bother with weights as the ‘pastry’ won’t rise.
  6. While the base is in the oven, boil the pumpkin until it can be easily mashed with a fork (if you cut it very small, this will take less time). Drain the water, but reserve some in case your pumpkin mash is too thick.
  7. Mash the pumpkin with the spice mix and the rest of the coconut oil, add some of the reserved liquid if required to make the mash quite runny. You don’t want soup, but it needs to be sloppy.
  8. Place blackberries in the tart base, spoon pumpkin mash over the top and give it a gentle squashing. Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon.
  9. Bake for another 10 mins.

Tip: You can pre-boil the pumpkin use it cold, just add a few minutes to the cooking time.

Serve on its own, or with a blob of cream or yogurt.

Enjoy!

Metabolic Balance – Phase one

I mentioned in my previous post I am embarking on a new treatment protocol in my journey to kick the FibroTroll’s butt. It’s called Metabolic Balance.

The blood tests required ended up being a little more involved than really necessary because the lab missed a couple of crucial tests. Partly because they aren’t covered by medicare, except in situations which don’t apply to me (even though I signed a form saying I’d pay for them anyway!) But finally we got what we needed.

I got a bit impatient and convinced Juanita (my wonderful naturopath) that I could start phase one without the plan. I have a welcome back to the country & family birthday dinner coming up this week and I either wanted phase one out of the way before then or I wouldn’t be starting until after that.

Phase one is a cleansing phase. It’s enough to give you the shits. LITERALLY. It goes for two days. There’s a few options – fruit only, potato only, vegetable only or rice only. Now I know too much sugar attracts the FibroTroll, so fruit only was out. I LOVE potato, but without being allowed any form of fat, it was less appealing, I haven’t eaten rice in about 18 months, so I didn’t think my intestinal flora would be very happy if I chose that. So vegetables it was to be.  Together with the veggies, I also needed to take high doses of magnesium.

Day one: It really wasn’t too bad. Only a little daunted by the prospect of eating 1.5 kg vegetables over 3 meals, I set to making it work.

I started with a sweet potato and carrot soup – which was rather nice, and I wish I’d written down the recipe. I just sort of threw 500g of different vegetables into my Cuisine Companion with some water and herbs and pressed ‘go’ on the soup function. Here it is together with a black tea and my double dose of magnesium.

 

Lunch was a big bowl of steamed veggies with some herbs and salt sprinkled on for flavour. It was a little boring without any fat, but I got through about 450 g of veg easily enough. Throughout the afternoon the high dose of magnesium was beginning to make itself known. I’m glad I was alone at home, as it’s possible that I might have gassed someone to death.

Dinner was pumpkin soup – not as nice as my usual one that I make with chicken or turkey stock, but it was good enough. I didn’t bother with a picture, because frankly – it looked much the same as my breakfast soup. I couldn’t manage 500 g, I got through about 300 g before I called it quits.  So I managed to get through about 1.25kg of vegetables. Plus another double dose of magnesium.

Day two: Today was a lot less fun.

Sometime around midnight, those four doses of magnesium became a whole lot more insistent. So I was up and off to the toilet. Then again at around 5am, then just before 7am. For the next hour or so, I hovered close to the toilet. I struggled to get through my breakfast of pumpkin soup – not because it was hard to eat, but I had to keep getting up to rush to the loo! One more dose of magnesium – which I drank with some trepidation.

Things settled down after around 8 am. I pottered around the house, doing a few odd jobs in little bursts (I have a post about pacing housework here.)

 

For lunch I had some baked sweet potato and zucchini (again, not quite as nice when made without fat) and some raw veggies and salad. Again, I managed around 450 g or so. There really is a limit to how much vegetable matter you can squash into your stomach in one sitting!

 

Throughout the afternoon I got progressively more miserable and cranky. I had a headache, my guts were grumbling. My wonderful Knight In Tarnished Armour came home and we played a card game (Star Realms this time – incidentally I kicked his butt for a change!) and that helped my mood a little, but not the headache.

Things weren’t helped by having to contact the Doctor’s surgery multiple times over the last two days chasing up the last missing blood test results.

Pretty soon I was hungry again. But as I needed to wait 5 hours between meals, my Knight suggested I head off to my HBO2 chamber. (I think there’s a chance he just wanted my cranky, miserable face hidden away for an hour or two!) But it did me a world of good as it usually does.

More pumpkin soup for dinner, with a chaser of cucumber as I really wanted something crunchy. Thankfully, no more magnesium with dinner. Especially as the morning dose was making itself known again with several more trips to the loo!

We finally had everything we needed for the lovely Juanita to send my details off for analysis. Which I was grateful for, as the prospect of another day of just vegetables was not making me happy. My headache was not responding to pain relief, so I headed off to bed.

Day 3: I’ve decided I might live. It was touch and go this morning.

Another midnight dash to the loo, then hanging around the loo from 5:30 am until about 7 am. I had a pounding headache every time I woke up and I felt awful!

One of the recommendations of metabolic balance is to eat within 30 mins of rising. Now I wasn’t going to hassle Juanita at 5:30am to see if my plan had come back and given that what was coming out of me looked much the same as the pumpkin soup, (sorry TMI!) I just couldn’t handle pumpkin soup for breakfast again. So I tried some steamed veggies. This did not go well. I got about 200 g in before I wanted to vomit – but I was still hungry! My head was still pounding and all I could manage was some black tea.

So at about 7 am I sent an sms to Juanita. She rang me back within 15 mins which is an impressive feat when she has a little one at home! She really is an amazing woman. My plan was back, and although it wasn’t quite the way she likes to do things, she emailed it through to me so that I could eat something!

So I had some nuts and seeds and an apple. You wouldn’t believe the difference. My headache has receded and I’m feeling a whole lot brighter. Now I’m still a bit hungry, but not so terribly nauseated. I’m looking forward to lunch (still 3 hours away as I write this) but no longer feel the need to curl up in a ball and cry.

This afternoon the Knight will take me up to see Juanita, so we can go through the plan properly. And, being the awesome husband he is, he’ll also go shopping to buy any of the things from the plan that we don’t already have.

If you are about to embark on a Metabolic Balance journey, I strongly recommend waiting until you get your plan – and ensuring you have the right foods ready and waiting for breakfast on day 3. I’m sure things would have been a lot smoother for me if I had done so!

 

 

 

More on food and Fibromyalgia.

I’ve talked about food a few times. Obviously it’s an essential part of life, but there is no single diet that is perfect for every person. There are many arguments about the ‘best’ diet for FibroWarriors and I’ve done a lot of them.

As I’ve mentioned before, I was doing GAPS. I did it for a little over a year and while it helped me A LOT, I feel like it’s not quite right. I played around with The Wahl’s Protocol and it resonated with me a lot, but I quickly got distracted by the ketogenic diet. At first I was a little disheartened with the attitude of some people in the keto community. Many people are so focused on their macros, that they fail to look at the quality of the food they are eating. I refuse to believe that a food-like substance full of artificial sweeteners and flavours is better for you than a banana. But there are options for whole-food keto. People like Dr Wahls, Leanne Vogel  from healthful pursuit , and Dr Will Cole  all promote whole food keto diets (Dr Cole even does 100% plant-based versions, if that is important to you). So I gave it a go.

At first I was doing well on keto, but I found it wasn’t fantastic for my mental health. Not being able to simply eat a piece of fruit was driving me a little batty. Also, monk fruit and stevia both taste disgusting in my opinion. I can definitely see how it could be very good if done correctly for some people and maybe in the future it will work for me. So I went back to a combination of Wahls (but only on level 2 rather than the keto version) and GAPS. By this, I mean I follow Dr Wahls’ guidelines, while still having my bone broth and fermented foods that are recommended on GAPS. I finally cut the dairy back out (which was tough, because I LOVE cheese) and eat sweet potato regularly (and occasionally potato – OMNOMNOM!).

While I’m relatively happy doing this, and it seems slightly better than straight GAPS for me, I still feel like I’m missing something. So I’ve decided to try something new.

It’s called Metabolic Balance. From what I know so far, it starts with a comprehensive blood test and then a tailor-made food program is designed for you. I’m a little apprehensive about it, I’m worried it will be too restrictive and difficult. I’m concerned that there is a pantry and freezer full of food that I won’t be able to eat and I hate waste. It’s expensive and I’m scared it won’t work. That I’ll do all of this weighing and restriction (having flashbacks to keto) and at the end of it I won’t be any better.

But on the other side of this, is my naturopath. Juanita from Red Suva is an amazing woman. She really wants to help me get well. I’ve been seeing her for years and she has helped me with my PCOS and dysmenorrhoea, and the haemorrhagic cysts I got from the Mirena IUD. She put me onto GAPS, which has significantly improved my digestion and IBS and my skin has never been clearer. I trust her. And one of the reasons that I do trust her, is her willingness to say, “OK, that isn’t working, let’s stop and try something else.” She knows that there isn’t a cure (yet!) for Fibromyalgia and doesn’t claim to have all the answers. What she does, and does well, is care. She supports and encourages, sympathises when things aren’t going well, and on occasion kicks my arse (gently).

So because she thinks that this Metabolic Balance thing might help me, I’m going to give it a go. This morning my fantastic, long-suffering Knight in Tarnished Armour got up early and drove me to have my fasted blood test. Then he drove me home and made me breakfast. The blood test results will be back in a day or two, then the lovely Juanita will send them to Metabolic Balance for analysis, and then she will help me with the next stage.

Wish me luck!

Easy, Tasty, Apple Crumble (GAPS, Paleo, Gluten Free)

I’ve been on the GAPS diet for about a year now. And there’s been a few things that I have been missing. I don’t eat dessert very often, but I do like a little sweet treat every now and then. So now that I can have fruit again, I came up with this tasty offering.

It’s everything a good dessert should be – warm, sweet, tasty, a little bit soft and a little bit crunchy. Best of all it’s simple to make and virtually impossible to screw up!

Apple Crumble

Ingredients:

  • 4 apples – granny smith if you want them to hold their shape, any other variety if you don’t care
  • 1/4 cup sultanas (optional)
  • Juice of one small lemon
  • 1 tsp mixed spices – I like cinnamon, cloves and cardamom
  • 1/2 cup nuts – I like a combination of hazelnuts, pecans, and walnuts
  • 1/4 cup coconut flakes (shredded or desiccated will do)
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil (melted if its cold)

Method:

  1. Core and chop apples. Peel them if you want to (I don’t).
  2. Mix apples, sultanas, lemon juice and spices directly in a casserole dish and spread it out fairly evenly.
  3.  Roughly chop the nuts  I use a mortar and pestle, but you could just chop them or pop them in a clean tea towel and bash them with a rolling-pin. Add coconut flakes and coconut oil and mix well. Add some more cinnamon if you like.
  4. Sprinkle the coconut mixture over the top of the apples
  5. Bake in a 180 °C (350°F) oven for 40 mins.

Serve with yogurt, ice cream or coconut cream(if you can have them) or just enjoy as is!

Tip: if you are making this ahead of time, stew the apple mixture in a saucepan first, then you can bake it at a higher temperature for less time!

Mango & Coconut Pudding (GAPS friendly, Gluten free, Dairy free)

I’m going to be honest here. I’m not having a great fortnight (for anyone from the USA – a fortnight is 2 weeks). I’m more sore than normal, I’ve had more headaches than normal and I’m tired. The thing is, when a FibroWarrior (or anyone with a chronic illness) says they are tired, it’s more than just needing a nap or a cup of coffee.

“I’m tired” really means I’m exhausted. Just the effort of holding my head up in order to watch TV or crochet is draining. I’ve got to decide if drinking that delicious cup of Crio Bru is really worth the fact that I’m going to have to get up in order to go to the toilet later. Getting in and out of the bath is a massive effort and going downstairs and back up again? think rock climbing with a hangover. The FibroTroll is really having fun at the moment.

I had to make my knight work from home one day this week as I was really struggling to do anything. I needed help getting food, having a bath, getting in and out of my hyperbaric oxygen chamber – almost everything really.

What makes it worse is due to my current dietary restrictions, I can’t even  have a pity party and eat a packet of chips and a bar of chocolate. So imagine how pleased I was to discover that there was still some GAPS friendly mango pudding in the freezer!

I mentioned this pudding in my last post and promised the recipe, so I had to make it again (just to test of course!) and luckily there was still some in the freezer when I needed a treat to cheer me up.

Here is the promised recipe:

Mango and coconut pudding. (Makes 4 large or 8 small servings)
  • 2 ripe mangoes – about 400-450g of mango flesh
  • 1 (400g) tin coconut cream
  • 2 tbsp honey (or to taste)
  • 3 egg yolks – beaten lightly
  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tbsp grass-fed gelatine

Now, I’m lucky enough to have a Tefal Cuisine Companion, so for me it is super easy to make this (I’m sure it will work in a thermomix too, but I haven’t tried), but I will include directions for those who don’t have any sort of thermal blender.

  1. Peel mangoes and remove skin, blend until smooth (if you don’t have a blender, then chop it really finely, you might get some chunks of mango in your dessert, but it won’t affect the flavour). (CC- ultrablade, speed 10, 20 sec, scrape down half way through if needed). Skip this step if you want there to be chunky bits of mango in your pudding.
  2. Blend a small amount of the coconut cream with the gelatine – this will help avoid clumps, then place all ingredients into a saucepan. Mix well and cook over a low heat for 8 mins stirring regularly. Make sure the gelatine is completely dissolved. (CC – add remaining ingredients to mango in the bowl,  dessert setting, speed 6, 8 mins, stopper out.)
  3. Transfer mixture into ramekins or pretty dessert bowls or whatever you like. Allow to set in the fridge.
  4. Serve with extra slices of mango and toasted coconut, or just eat as is. It freezes and defrosts perfectly, so you can save some for later if you manage not to eat it all at once!

Mango & Coconut pudding – Tasty golden deliciousness!

This recipe also works beautifully with peaches and cinnamon – double the amount of peaches, as they are usually much smaller than mangoes. I imagine that it will work well with other fruits like berries – if you try it please let me know!

Turmeric drinks for fibromyalgia

Turmeric lattes, Golden Lattes, Turmeric tea. Whatever you want to call them, turmeric drinks are all the rage right now. When we first discovered turmeric root in a community supported agriculture box, (thanks Food Connect), my darling Knight decided that turmeric was some kind of magical umami spice and tried to add it to everything he cooked. While I don’t mind turmeric in curry, I baulk a little when it’s added to bolognese  sauce. However, it does have some fantastic anti-inflammatory properties and can reduce pain. So I decided to try turmeric drinks.

I found that while it won’t touch a headache that’s already settled in, having a turmeric drink 1-3 times daily has significantly reduced the amount of pain relief tablets I need to take. This equates to pre-paying the FibroTroll’s toll somewhat, so I count it as a win!

The active component to turmeric that has all of these wonderful benefits is called curcumin. If you combine it with black pepper, some heat and some fat, it improves the bio-availability (which means your body absorbs it better). I personally think that combination on it’s own is not amazing in flavour, so I add in some other spices.

  • Black pepper – as well as improving bio-availability of other compounds, black pepper has anti-inflammatory properties of its own.
  • Cinnamon – because it tastes amazing and is anti-inflammatory, and may give relief to suffers of arthritis. Make sure it’s the Ceylon variety as it is the one with the most benefits.
  • Cloves – possibly my favourite spice, I just love the taste and smell! It also has anti-inflammatory properties and has been reported to assist in bone preservation and may have aphrodisiac properties – winning!
  • Cardamom – Also has anti-inflammatory properties and is reportedly antispasmodic and may have antimicrobial effects.
  • Ginger – Good for nausea, reducing inflammation and boosting the immune system.

Now because I’m having these every day, it gets very tiresome to mix up a little of every spice into a cup each time. So I make up a mix and it lives in the cupboard with our coffee and tea. Here’s the recipe for my FibroTroll fighting Turmeric Drink blend. Please note I use Australian metric standard measuring spoons – this means 1 tablespoon = 4 teaspoons. If using American tablespoons which = 3 teaspoons, then use 4 tablespoons of turmeric powder and leave the rest the same.

Recipe for my FibroTroll fighting Turmeric Drink

(makes approx. ½ cup)

Ingredients:
  • 3 TABLESPOONS Ground turmeric
  • 3 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
  • 3 teaspoons Ground Cloves
  • 3 teaspoons Ground Cardamom
  • 2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
  • 1 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper (As fine as you can)
Method:

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly with a dry spoon. Transfer to an airtight container and store in a cool dark place away from direct sunlight.

Then, simply take a teaspoon of this mix, pop it in a cup, add boiling water, some honey, and a generous blob of coconut cream and give it a good stir. It will leave sediment at the bottom, and this is full of awesomeness, so if you can handle it, swirl up the last bit of drink with the sediment and drink it all up!

If you are new to it, start with a ¼ teaspoon per cup and slowly increase. You could also add some to a cup of your milk of choice and gently simmer. The honey is completely optional, I just think it tastes amazing.
If you suffer from chronic pain, then it’s probably worth a try, if nothing else it gives you a tasty warm drink that is an awesome alternative to coffee if you are trying to cut down on caffeine. Be careful though – it will stain if you spill it on light fabrics!

If you don’t like or don’t have one or more of the extra spices, swap them out for something else. Use more of the spices you do like, or substitute in some powdered vanilla, nutmeg or allspice or just leave them out.

If you are on any medication, check with your health care professional regarding possible interactions. I shouldn’t have to say this but – if you are allergic to any of the ingredients – DON’T CONSUME THEM!

UPDATE: 24 Jan 2019

If you would like to read more about the benefits of turmeric and cucurmin, I found this article very informative. Lyfe botanicals has quite a few articles on the benefits of turmeric and curcumin including this one on the benefits of turmeric for Fibromyalgia. Cognitune also have turmeric in capsules, so if you can’t quite stomach a turmeric drink, then it might be worth having a look at their supplements. I haven’t tried them, but in this heat we are having in Australia at the moment, I am tempted!

Cheers!

Diet, Energy and Fibromyalgia

Food is such an important part of life. I know that sounds a bit trite, but hear me out.

Not only does it sustain life, but it forms so many social functions. What happens at a wedding? Two people pledge their lives to one another, then everyone shares a meal of some form. A birthday – that might be at a restaurant, it might be a BBQ or it might be afternoon tea in the park. A date with a potential lover? Dinner. Someone is sick or has a family member in hospital? Make them food. Funeral or wake? – again, there is food.

I love to feed people. I am a compulsive feeder. Turn up at my house and I will try my hardest to make sure you eat something before you leave. Feeding people was one of the best bits of our recent family holiday. I really think it should be a love language all of its own.

Somehow in today’s society food has decreased in importance. Convenience is valued over quality. Even a lot of medical practitioners fail to see the connection between food and health. Many of my fellow fibro-warriors are quite sure that the food and drink they consume has no baring whatsoever on their symptoms. Maybe for them this is true. But I doubt it.

Every function of the body requires energy to work. Even breathing requires the movement of your diaphragm and intercostal muscles. The energy required for this is manufactured by the body generally in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). That ATP doesn’t just appear in your body, it has to be made. It is produced from fats, carbohydrates or proteins via different methods which essentially all end up in the Krebs cycle. If you want to know more about this, I recommend getting a hold of a good physiology textbook.

But the short version is, the body needs fuel. Hormones like insulin, glucagon, thyroxine and others help your body to convert food to fuel. Those hormones also have to be made by many organs in the body and they also use the food you eat to do this. 

Plenty of people say detoxing is crap. That your body does this naturally. That alkaline foods are useless, because your kidneys and your lungs will compensate for any changes in body pH. This is true. But again, this needs energy. Your kidneys and lungs will use up your precious reserves of ATP in regulating your bicarbonate stores and altering your respiratory rate.

People with Fibromyalgia and other chronic illnesses like Myalgic Encephalitis (ME/CFS) and related illnesses are usually running on low ATP. For reasons that are so far unknown, we Fibro sufferers simply don’t produce enough of it. We only have so much in reserve, and when it is gone, it can take days to build it back up. Most of the time, we cannot simply lie down and wait for the ATP levels to build up, so we keep going, using up every single molecule as soon as it is produced. Because even walking to the toilet needs ATP.

The more processed, chemical laden, sugary, transfatty food you put into your body the harder it is for your body to use that food. The more alcohol and caffeine and other stimulants that your liver has to process, then more energy it uses to do this.

If you feed your body good food. A variety of good fats, healthy carbohydrates in the form of lots of vegetables and fruit – and whole grains if your body can cope with them, and healthy proteins then it will make it easier for your body to produce ATP. You also will not be wasting as much ATP on regulatory functions.

Whether you believe in evolution or intelligent design – the result is that our bodies have a relatively small stomach, that produces hydrochloric acid and pepsin – these are things designed to breakdown animal products. My personal opinion is that meat and animal products can form a part of a healthy balanced diet. Out gut microbiome (the bacteria in our gut) digests our carbohydrates – so we need to be looking at this too.

Now, this is just my opinion. I’m not a medical researcher – I have a scientific background in the form of a Veterinary Degree, not human medicine. I am continually reading anything I can find that might relate to my fibro. I have experimented on myself and I KNOW that diet has a direct effect on MY symptoms. I stick to an organic or pesticide free diet, make everything from scratch and consume lots of bone broths and fermented vegetables. If I deviate from this too much, my symptoms are worse, so I stick with it. The FibroTroll wants his organic hippy food, so I have to comply.

I am not saying that diet alone will cure Fibromyalgia. But I do think that it can help, if you find the right one for YOUR body. I have tried many different diets, some helped a little – helped me to identify certain triggers. Some made me worse, like the low salicylate diet. Some made no appreciable difference. So far the one that has helped me the most has been GAPS. This is an intensive gut healing diet and it has allowed me to introduce foods back into my diet that I haven’t been able to eat for years.

There are many teams of researchers around the world who are researching the cause and potential treatments for Fibromyalgia and many other chronic illnesses. Some of these are looking at the intestinal microbiome and my gut feeling (pun intended) is that the answers will stem from here.