My 2017 Health Protocol, Part 2

My 2017 Health Protocol, Part 2

by | Mar 4, 2017 | Wellness

**This post was written in 2017 (I used to write posts about my health protocols as I went through them, so those posts are more time-dependent), and since writing this, these health issues have been resolved. I am grateful for these experiences as they inspired me to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and health coach myself. Please remember that this post is not current – it was just a documentation of my experiences at the time.**

In Part 1 of this post, I explained a little bit about my health history, the symptoms I’ve been having recently, and the main problems I’m planning on addressing with the protocol I’m going to follow over the next six months. If you haven’t read Part 1, please do so by going here. It’ll get ya up to speed. And like I said in that post, it’s extremely important to me that you understand why I’m doing what I’m doing. The why is greater than the what.

Anyways, let’s get into the details of the protocol. Not all of it is new. A lot of it is a continuation of things I’ve already been doing for the past two years to heal my leaky gut and other related issues, but still gotta keep doin’ it.

I’m not going to list every single supplement that I currently take in this post. A lot of you have asked what supplements I take, so I will do a full post later on with all of those deets. I want to focus mainly on the food component because that’s the most complicated, and I’ll mention some of the newer, more relevant supplements I’m taking. However, I really don’t want someone to read this, go online to Amazon, and just blindly buy the same supplements I’m taking. My protocol was created for my body. Everyone is so unique. The probiotics I take could be detrimental to your gut flora, because I can guarantee we have very different gut flora. The same thing applies with other supplements.

First of all, I’m going to continue to support my overall digestive function with a number of supplements. I have switched brands of Hydrochloric Acid pills and will continue to take those with all of my meals, as well as a new brand of digestive enzymes. I take 7 HCL pills and 2 digestive enzymes with each meal. I’m hoping to get that HCL pill number lowered within the next few months. To support my liver and gallbladder, I’m taking a supplement called Beta Plus, which will be switched to another type of gallbladder support in a few weeks. I’m also taking something called Liver/G.I. Detox from my doctor. Additionally, I’ll be taking something called Spanish Black Radish as a drainage/elimination support, and something called Gymnema to increase my insulin receptor site sensitivity.

I’m also going to be working on healing my gut lining with a combination of different healing agents and building the microbiome with a few different types of probiotics. I’m starting off with Klaire Labs Therbiotic complete, and then slowly I’ll be adding in Megasporebiotic. Adding in the probiotics will be a very slow process, and by the end of the six months my NTP is hoping I will be able to take four of each type of probiotic every day. Right now, I’m just starting with one pill at a time to see how I react, and planning on adding one more pill in each week.

Now let’s get to the big ones – the yeast and the food sensitivities. Let’s start with the yeast, because that’s less complicated. I’m going on a standard Candida protocol, but every practitioner has a slightly different Candida protocol. They’re all based on the same idea, though. You take an anti-fungal, or a few, to get rid of the yeast, and you also follow a no-sugar diet. When I say a no-sugar diet, that includes fruits, starchy veggies, vinegars, and every other variation of sugar. This protocol is slightly different than the one I did previously, but similar overall, so I know what I’m in for. This time I’m taking a caprylic acid anti-fungal to get rid of the yeast.

In terms of diet for the Candida protocol, I have to eliminate all kinds of sugars, like I said. Thankfully, a lot of the things I can’t have on the Candida diet are things I don’t eat anyways. Foods that need to be avoided during this time are all refined and simple sugars, including maple syrup and chocolate (stevia and xylitol are allowed, though), milk, dairy, alcohol, foods high in yeast (peanuts, mushrooms, corn, cheese, dried fruit, etc.), vinegar-ferments (vinegar, soy sauce, vanilla extract, etc.), fruit, baked goods with yeast, processed meat and processed foods with artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives, condiments (ketchup, etc.), and grains, beans, and legumes.

Allowed foods include all animal proteins that are unprocessed, soaked nuts and seeds (except pistachios, peanuts, and cashews), non-starchy vegetables, raw cultured vegetables, raw apple cider vinegar, herbs, ghee and coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, tomatoes, and avocados.

For me, that’s not too bad. It’s not too far off from how I eat on a regular basis. I will have to give up my weekly dessert adventures with friends, but it will be well worth it if I start to feel better. I will be following the Candida diet for 3 months.

Next, I’ll be eliminating the inflammatory foods that were identified in the MRT food sensitivity test. The MRT test is a food sensitivity test that can be done through your doctor or NTP. It’s not like the Pinner test where you can just order it online and do it yourself. Sorry. You get your blood drawn, the samples are sent to the lab, and the results are sent to the doc. The MRT tests for chemicals, fruits, vegetables, dairy, grains, seafood, flavor enhancers, meats & poultry, beans/nuts/legumes, and other miscellaneous foods.

When the results come back, there are three categories – green, yellow, and red. Green foods are non-reactive foods, yellow foods are moderately reactive, and red foods are the most reactive. Basically the foods that are yellow and red are the ones you have sensitivities to. The test also shows the level of each sensitivity. So instead of just saying reactive, moderately reactive, or non-reactive, it shows which foods were barely non-reactive or barely moderately reactive, so you can gauge even when you’re about to become sensitive to a food. I’m going to insert screenshots of parts of my MRT in a sec so you can visually see what I’m saying.

All practitioners have different guidelines for how to handle the MRT results. My NTP is aggressive, so these are her rules:

  1. I will eliminate all red foods (reactive) from my diet for 6 months.
  2. I will eliminate all yellow foods (moderately reactive) from my diet for at least four months. At four months, we will re-test and see if I need to conintue to keep these out of my diet.
  3. All “high greens” need to be rotated. A “high green” is a food that is green, but 3/4 of the way over to the yellow line. That means I eat them only twice a week. If it’s extremely close to the yellow line, I need to try to keep it out of my diet as much as I can.
  4. Green foods are fine to eat.
  5. If a food isn’t on the list, then I treat it like a “high green” and only eat it twice a week.

Let me be clear – the point of this is not to get rid of these foods forever! I would literally die if I had to do that (not literally, but you catch my drift). My body is reacting to these foods right now, so the idea is that I should be able to add most of them, if not all, back into my diet after eliminating them for a long enough amount of time. Basically, I need to give my body a break from these foods so my gut can heal and my body will stop engaging in an immune response because of them, and then I should be able to bring them back in. Foods that are still on my food sensitivity test after 6 months even after removing them are probably foods that I will react to longterm and will most likely not ever add back into my diet completely.

Let’s start with fruits – the least problematic. Nothing big here. Every test I take shows that I’m intolerant to watermelon and honeydew melon, so I’m pretty sure I’m actually longterm intolerant to those. I never eat them anyways, though, because I’ve hated the taste since I was a kid. No biggie. The only fruits I really like are strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, but I won’t be having those during the Candida diet, anyways. The only thing that is slightly problematic is the avocados. I just have to try to stop eating them every single day so that I don’t become intolerant to them, because they are 3/4 of the way over on the list. I’m going to try to only eat them every other day during this time, but I’m not too concerned about it.

In terms of proteins, this is very do-able. I think it’s very interesting to me that these results are basically the opposite of my food sensitivity results last time, which makes total sense. Last time, the foods that I was intolerant to were salmon, tuna, chicken, and eggs. After that, I started eating a ton of turkey and beef since I had to take the others out of my diet for a few months, and I never went back to eating them as much as I did before. This time, it makes sense that the proteins I eat most often – turkey and beef – have shown up again. Beef includes ground beef, veal, bison, and buffalo. I’m sad, but this is extremely do-able. Thank god I’m still good with salmon. Cod and sole also always show up on my tests as reactive foods, so those are probably real intolerances, too. I don’t really care about those, either, though. I’ll probably be eating more eggs in the next few months, so I’m excited to get back to some of my favorite scrambles.

Okay, baker’s yeast… couldn’t care less about it. I never eat anything with baker’s yeast in it. The flavor enhancers made me sad, I won’t lie. Black pepper?! Ugh. Black pepper is in everything. Ginger made me really sad as well, because I love to put it on so many things, and I adore ginger tea. Sesame was like a huge stab in my heart – I FREAKIN’ LOVE TAHINI. Ugh. The garlic I was not surprised about at all, but I was still unhappy about it. I love the taste of garlic, but it literally rips my stomach to shreds.

But then we have the high greens. Basically cayenne pepper, parsley, mustard, cane sugar, dill, turmeric, cumin, and cocoa can only be consumed twice a week. However, I will probably just not include these in my diet purposefully at all unless I need to for some reason, just to be safe. Cocoa and cumin were BARELY not reactive, so I consider them to be yellow. I was pretty sad about the cocoa and turmeric. I’m a huge chocoholic, but I also always notice that it gives me symptoms. Also, with no black pepper, ginger, or turmeric, I can say goodbye to golden milk and turmeric lattes in the next few months.

The thing is, all of these make sense to me. A lot of these are supposed to be healing foods and digestive aids, so I try to include them in my diet because I think they’ll help me. However, I always feel like crap when I consume them. I try to just ignore it because I tell myself, “Oh, this is supposed to help digestion! Maybe you just need to adjust.” But no. I have actually mentioned every single one of those spices specifically as something I thought was giving me symptoms in the past few months. I made my therapist and friends guess which spices I was reacting to, and they literally guessed the exact list based on my previous complaints.

The good news is, there’s only one thing to take out of my diet from this section. Who cares about lima beans?! The bad news is, it’s CASHEWS. Ummm. Cashews are a very important nut. Probably the most versatile. I live for cashew butter. I like to make cashew milk, cashew sour cream, cashew cheese, and use cashews as the base for a ton of other recipes. Anyone who does GF/dairy-free cooking knows how important cashews are!  Also, most of the restaurants I like to eat at in L.A. happen to be vegan, and almost every vegan dish I like involves cashews in some way. I don’t even want to think about the fact that Yoga-urt’s froyo is made from an almond-cashew base. I realize I would have to take them out of my diet anyways for the Candida protocol, but since they’re red-zoned, I have to take them out for six months. I’m freaking out a little bit over the potential that they might need to be permanently removed since they are one of my highest reactivities, but let’s just think positively. Cashews are the nut I eat the most, so these results make sense.

The only high-green I eat is hazelnuts, but I only eat those on rare occasions since I don’t usually buy them myself, so no inconvenience there. Luckily, my favorite nuts are totally safe – pecans and walnuts!

Lastly, and most upsetting to me, are the vegetables. Okay, this could be worse, but this takes a lot of explanation. First of all, you have to understand that I eat a lot of vegetables every day. A LOT. It’s the bulk of my meals. I don’t care about string beans – I never eat them. Also don’t care about white potato – they’ve bothered me for as long as I can remember so I don’t eat those either. All of the other yellows, I’m pretty sad about. Carrots and sweet potatoes won’t be that difficult for me to remove because I’ve gone long amounts of time without them before, but they are two of my favorite foods. Anyone who knows me knows how obsessed I am with sweet taters. However, this makes me feel like less of a crazy person for feeling like I want to die from the pain after almost every time I eat one.

The most upsetting things to me are the lettuce and the spinach. Lettuce includes romaine, butter, leaf, red, and iceberg. Honestly, I could kind of feel the spinach coming. I get stabbing pains in my stomach whenever I eat it, and I eat a lot of it every day. Like, I go through at least one bin every single day. I eat a lot of salads, so this is going to be inconvenient for me. I was planning on leaning on salads as a way for me to eat out at restaurants during this time, but that’s pretty much a no-go now. Almost every restaurant uses a lettuce or spinach as the base of their salads. If a guy asks me on a date, I’m screwed!

Now, let’s talk about how many high-greens there are. Yellow squash and celery are basically yellow. I eat celery every day. Ugh. Beets, broccoli, zucchini, and cauliflower need to be rotated – so I can have them twice a week. Unfortunately, those last three are things I also eat every day, so limiting them to twice a week is going to be a major adjustment for me.

The vegetables I can eat freely during this time are eggplant, cucumber, green pepper, asparagus, and tomato. Does anyone else think it’s funny that three of those are nightshades? I tend to avoid nightshades because they are such big triggers for people with autoimmune diseases, but I guess I’m not avoiding them anymore! I can’t have mushrooms during the Candida diet, but I will gladly add them in after these first 3 months. Onions give me horrible stomach pains, so I doubt I’ll be eating those.

This might not seem like a nightmare to most people, but for me…it led to a total panic attack. The number of vegetables I can eat just drastically reduced, and most of my favorites have to be limited in some way. It’s now turned into a numbers game, and I have to figure out how to fit everything into my diet most effectively.

Because of my low thyroid numbers, both my NTP and my doctor want me to limit the amount of cruciferous vegetables I eat. That’s going to be quite a task for me, because I’m kind of addicted to cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, etc. They initially told me I could have no more than one cup of cruciferous veggies at a meal. Then I had a major freakout and they said I can have two cups at a meal if I absolutely need to, but that I might have to go on more supplements for my thyroid if I do that and that I might have to take the cruciferous veggies out more strictly after the whole protocol is done. Weighing my options.

Also, in case you don’t know much about me or need some more context, I eat a paleo diet, so obviously I will be continuing that. That means I don’t eat grains, legumes, dairy, soy, etc. in general, anyways, which is why diet is mainly meat, veggies, and healthy fats.

After hearing all of these limitations, I started to freak out. How am I going to build a plate? I’m going to have to eat way less veggies. How will I only eat my favorite foods twice a week? How will I bulk up my green smoothies?! Is that even enough vegetables for a week? I can never eat a salad!

Wow. Salads and green smoothies. Major #girlproblems.

In terms of greens, I can still have chard, collard greens, kale, arugula, parsley, bok choy, watercress, dandelion greens, mustard greens, and endives. However, the majority of those are cruciferous. Collard greens, kale, arugula, and bok choy, for example, are all cruciferous veggies, so I can only have one cup at a meal. I’m bitter about the other ones because they’re harder to find and they don’t come pre-chopped, and I’m lazy. I admit it.

The other problem is that I apparently am eating way too many vegetables in general. That is a very uncommon thing so please don’t freak out and think this applies to you. I eat a ridiculous amount of vegetables, and it’s actually causing me problems. Vegetables are hard to digest. Also, because I eat so many vegetables every day, I’m eating all vegetables too often without rotation, causing my body to basically react to everything. My NTP has limited me to no more than 3 cups of vegetables at every meal, which is a very low amount for me. I am literally always so hungry due to my malabsorption that I eat pounds of veggies every day (amongst other things, obviously). Can’t do that anymore…

The problem here is that if I can only have 3 cups of veggies a day, and only one can be cruciferous, but the greens I can eat are cruciferous, I can’t really make a salad. Also, for my smoothies, I don’t want to use up my cauliflower or zucchini or avocado for the week blended into something! If I can only have each of those twice a week, I’m eating them as real food.

It might seem dramatic to others, but receiving all of this information and these limitations in one day made me very very depressed, because I realized how much my life will have to shift in the next six months.

Food is a big part of my life. I love it. And I don’t like to overthink it or think about it like a puzzle. I feel like that’s not good for me, or for anyone. I do have to puzzle it out though, to make sure I keep in line with all of my limits.

How am I handling this? By being very organized. I have a list on my phone of potential meal ideas, a new grocery shopping list, and a list of what I can and can’t eat. I have a vegetable tally where I mark off how many times I eat a veggie each week. I emailed some restaurants to see if there was anything on the menu I’d be able to eat if I had to eat out, and that was a no-go, unfortunately. My first week in has already been confusing. I bough too many of my “need to be rotated” foods, and not enough of the safe greens. Habit.

Over the next few months, I’m going to eat more protein than I’m used to, and I’ll also increase my fat intake even more. I eat a very high fat diet already, but I’ll probably need even more during this time. Since my body has a hard time digesting fats, I can definitely afford all of the healthy fats I can get. Thankfully, coconut isn’t problematic for me. Coconut meat, coconut butter, and coconut milk are going to save me.

Honestly, all of these food restrictions have been very emotionally challenging for me, on a number of levels. First of all, I’ve had to give up a few things I was really looking forward to, and I’m bitter about it. I can’t really participate in any Expo West events, I cancelled my trip to New York, and I cancelled my graduation trip. Just in general, this is going to be hard for me socially. People go out to eat and to socialize. My friends and I love to grab dinner, dessert, etc. For work, grabbing lunch or dinner is a common thing. I can’t really eat out for the next six months, which honestly sucks. My birthday and graduation are coming up, which are both things I want to celebrate… with food.

I hate that this is going to inconvenience the people around me. I feel like I am disappointing my friends because I’m always the person everyone goes out to eat with. It’s my thing. I also feel like I’m disappointing all of my friends who are visiting for Expo West. I feel like I let down the people I was planning to visit after I graduate, but it’s not worth the money for me to go on a trip but not be able to eat out anywhere. I know my family is upset with me because I’ll have these limitations during graduation. Honestly, I’m really sad I can’t have spinach for at least 4 months, and it doesn’t make me feel any better when people tell me they can’t do anything fun now that I can’t eat dessert. That’s the flip side. It’s honestly ridiculous for people to say that. I’m already very stressed about this, and I don’t need anyone else trying to make me feel worse. I would not choose to do this unless my stomach was literally in shambles and I saw no other way.

The thing is, this isn’t something you just kind of half-ass. I have to do this and be consistent and strict, or it won’t work. This is my third time doing a protocol like this, and I’m honestly so tired of it. I don’t want to do it again. So I’d rather do it full out and never have to take so many foods out of my diet for so many months ever again. The key to that will be that when I add foods back into my diet, I have to actually continue to rotate them. No more eating the same thing every single day, even though that’s what’s easiest for me.

Am I ever going to cheat? Yes. I am. I’m going to cheat at dinner on my birthday. Other than that, I don’t plan on cheating. If something comes up and I have to eat something I’m supposed to remove, then fine. But that can’t be a pattern, and I’m not going to plan on that happening. In case of emergencies. I’m hoping it doesn’t have to happen at all. I really want to give this my all.

What does this mean for the blog? I will post some recipes that involve ingredients I can’t eat during this time, because they are recipes I already created and photographed and had lined up for future content. But, as always, these are recipes I would usually eat, if I wasn’t on the protocol. And I’ll eat them when I get off of it!

I’ll also probably have some more protocol-friendly recipes, which could be helpful for anyone who has to do something similar! In general, I’m going to try to share as much of this journey as possible. I can use all of the support I can get!

I wish I could say I took this like a champ, but I didn’t. I cried and felt sorry for myself. I complained nonstop to my friends and have probably been super annoying, but I’m still trying to process everything and figure out how I’m going to handle the next six months without feeling like eating is overly complicated, and without feeling like I’m a burden to everyone around me. I feel like I have a much better handle on everything now, though, and I have a ton of recipes that I’m looking forward to making. So I’m in a relatively good place now, and I’m ready to tackle this. Bring it. To all of my friends who listened to me bitch and complain –  I’m sorry, thank you, and I love you.

Please let me know if there is anything specific you would like more details about, and I will happily write a post. I’m thinking of doing update posts of how things are going, so let me know if those are of interest to you. Thank you again to everybody who has already been so kind and supportive – it truly means the world to me.

My 2017 Health Protocol, Part 1

My 2017 Health Protocol, Part 1

by | Mar 3, 2017 | Wellness

Photography by Danika Miller

**This post was written in 2017 (I used to write posts about my health protocols as I went through them, so those posts are more time-dependent), and since writing this, these health issues have been resolved. I am grateful for these experiences as they inspired me to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and health coach myself. Please remember that this post is not current – it was just a documentation of my experiences at the time.**

As many of you know, the past week has been very stressful for me in terms of my health. So much went on that I don’t even know what to cover first. I think a little background information is where I’ll start, though.

Also, if you’re not comfortable talking about digestion or with me being totally blunt and candid, this post is probably not for you. (Honestly, I’m probably not for you…)

Almost exactly a year ago, I went through treatment for SIBO, a number of food intolerances, and a number of bacterial overgrowths in my gut. Long story short, it was a rough road, but about a month after my treatment, I felt amazing for the first time…ever. I wasn’t bloated, my bowel movements were regular, I had amazing energy, I didn’t have stabbing pains in my stomach, I wasn’t fainting from carbohydrates, and so on. I thought, WOW. Is this what regular people feel like?!

There I was, feeling fabulous and happy as a clam for a few months. Slowly, though, problems started to arise again.

Let me start off by explaining that I’m very aware of my body. I know when my body is telling me that something is off. For those of us with gut issues, a passion for healthy living, or who are highly sensitive people in general, it’s pretty common to have this hyper-awareness when it comes to the way our bodies should be working.

Let’s talk symptoms. First of all, my bloating came back. This really bothered me because it made me so physically uncomfortable, and it was the main thing that tipped me off. And it’s not regular bloating. It’s beyond pregnant bloating, with pain attached. Jeans are a torture device to me. Then, my digestion got screwed up. I basically stopped having bowel movements unless I had a reaction to something. IBS-C, I do not like you. I also started to have strong reactions to carbs again. Whenever I ate fruit, I would get stabbing pains in my stomach and intense cramps that literally made me cry sometimes. A similar thing would happen to me with starchy carbs. I would curl up in a ball after eating a sweet potato because it felt like a knife was inside of my intestines. There were times when I ate carbohydrates and became dizzy and nauseous, which scared the crap out of me. I used to faint anytime I ate carbs, and I was so afraid that was going to start happening to me again. When it came to sugar… don’t even get me started. It was a shit show. Literally.

Then, my sugar cravings came back. This was a huge sign for me. When I crave sugar that intensely, I know something is wrong. It’s not a normal craving. It’s an obsession and a ravenous, out-of-control, fake hunger. I started to feel sluggish, and my skin started to break out. The skin breaking out is another big sign that something is wrong with my gut – I’m talking about those deep, painful cysts. Not regular old zits that go away in a day or two. I also started getting rashes on my body whenever I ate anything that wasn’t plain protein or a non-starchy veggie. I would get nauseous and break out whenever I added spices to my food.

Something else that I have struggled with for about a year is that I’m generally in a constant state of hunger. My friends and I joke that my stomach is a bottomless pit, but it’s really true. I’ve always had a big appetite, but recently it’s been getting worse and worse, and my doctor agreed with my thought that it was probably because I’m not absorbing/digesting my food properly. This is what we call.. MALABSORPTION. My hunger/fullness signals are practically nonexistent. When I say I’m starving all the time, I really mean it. I have never met someone who can eat more than I can, truly. I honestly can’t keep up with how much food it takes to somewhat satiate me, and even then, I’m still hungry. I am a poor college student and I can’t afford to go through a jar of coconut butter a day. Sorry.

Additionally, eating the obscene amount of food I need to eat every day in order to be remotely satisfied is really not easy on my gut, and it just makes my digestive issues worse. I cannot function if I feel hungry, so I tend to just eat a ton of food and grimace through the digestive pain.

I have also been having other health issues that are concerning me. Mainly, I haven’t gotten my period back since going off of the birth control pill. I have a lot to say about the pill and how strongly I am against it, but I’ll save that for another post. While my doctor isn’t too concerned about my period, I am very concerned and want to get to the root of the problem.

That being said, recently my gut issues have honestly felt completely unbearable to me, and I started to feel really desperate. Because I now know what it feels like to feel “normal” after those few glorious months last summer, I’m very motivated to get back to that place. I know that nutrition is a key factor in all of this, and unfortunately my doctor doesn’t fully understand that aspect of it. He recommended I reach out to someone who had “healed” one of his patients with carbohydrate intolerance, which I apparently have, even after my doctor tried everything he could think of.

Fast forward, and I found a new NTP (Nutritional Therapy Practitioner) with an amazing track record. I heard stories about her helping people heal when no one else could, and I also agree with all of her nutritional philosophies and am very much on the same page as her. There are not many people who I trust when it comes to nutrition advice, but I feel like if anyone can help me, she can. Actually, I kind of feel like she’s the only person who can help me.

The past few months I underwent a whole other “round of testing,” as I like to call it. I’ve done this many times before, but I don’t always do it all at once. That usually only happens about once a year. But I did the whole shebang again, and I really suspected that my SIBO was back or that I had Candida again. I also was worried about my hormones – my thyroid, my cortisol, etc.

I also took another food sensitivity test, the MRT. My doctor doesn’t use the MRT. My NTP, however, is a big believer in the MRT, and she only uses the results in the context of the results from other lab tests. I had mixed feelings about the MRT based on my own reading about it, but I fully trust in my NTP, so I decided to just do whatever she said and trust in the process. What I did last time obviously didn’t work longterm. After having taken the MRT test now and after having done a lot more research, I am now a believer in it. Obviously I will need to wait until the end of this whole process to really say that, but I realized that most of what was written about the MRT isn’t very true, and the success stories I’ve heard with it have really impressed me. (However, every food sensitivity test needs to be taken with a grain of salt! There is no test that is 100% accurate.)

Okay, let’s talk about the plan. Basically the plan was to get all of the test results back and then put me on a strict “protocol” to get my health back in check. I’ve done “protocols” before, so I felt like I could handle it. When I say protocol, it means that my doctors tell me exactly what to do for X amount of time, and I have to be very diligent about it. No cheating, no half-assing. We hit the issues hard and intensely.

A few things showed up on my labs that need to be addressed, but overall they weren’t that bad. They were much better than any labs I’ve ever had before, which is good news. There were definitely issues in the gut department, though.

Basically, we are focusing on healing my gut, and then hoping that some of the other things will fall back into balance. My NTP thinks that healing my gut could bring my period back naturally and might naturally balance out my thyroid as well. Plus, healing my gut will hopefully get rid of the main symptoms that are really physically bothering me right now.

Touching on the thyroid, I’ve had low thyroid numbers for as long as I can remember. I was once diagnosed with hypothyroidism and put on thyroid medication that I should not have been on, and it completely destroyed my health. Long story. Anyways, every time I get bloodwork done, I’m told that something is weird with my thyroid, but that they need to “keep an eye on it” to figure out exactly what’s going on. Basically, wondering if I actually do have hypothyroidism? I don’t think I do, but still need to keep an eye on that.

They’re also wondering if I have PCOS, which is polycystic ovarian syndrome. Even if I have it, though, I already do everything I would need to do to manage it. Sooooo that’s also at the bottom of the list of things to worry about.

There are also some relatively uninteresting, random things that I’m addressing – carnitine deficiency, amino acid balance, DHEA levels, MTHFR defect, etc. Well, they’re interesting to me, but probably not to most people reading this. Sometimes I feel like these tests tell me too much about my body. Moving on.

Another big issue, of course, is my cortisol. My cortisol levels are pretty damn high, as usual. Honestly, though, my stomach issues are a big player in that, and so is being in school. I’m hoping that graduating and working on my gut issues will lower those cortisol levels. However, high cortisol levels also cause gut issues. It’s a chicken and egg type situation. I really have too much to deal with right now, though, so I’m just trying to focus on one thing at a time. Right now, that’s my gut. In the meantime, I’m taking a few supplements that my doctor thinks will “calm me down,” since I have refused his suggestion of medical marijuana.

What exactly is wrong with my gut? Here are the important takeaways…

First, my liver and gallbladder need support, because I’m not digesting my fats properly. I eat a lot of fat, but my body isn’t using it properly or efficiently. This is also at the root of my malabsorption issues, and therefore my constant state of hunger. We need to get my body to digest and use those healthy fats in the right way, so I’ll be taking a number of supplements to do so.

Second, I have extremely low stomach acid. I have battled with this for a very long time, and I’m a little worried because my supplements should have had an effect awhile ago. I take 7 hydrochloric acid pills with every meal to give my stomach the acid it needs to digest foods properly, and I’ve been doing so for over a year and a half. My body should be making its own stomach acid by now. I recently switched HCL brands and I’m hoping that in a few months, my stomach acid levels will start to increase.

Third, my microbiome is very unbalanced. There’s a lot of bad bacteria, and low to no growth of key beneficial bacteria. I have stayed away from probiotics for a long time because of my SIBO, but now that it’s definitely gone, I can safely add probiotics into my routine. I have to do this very systematically because I have such extreme reactions to probiotics – slow and steady wins the race. And with the RIGHT strains.

As I mentioned, my SIBO is NOT back, thankfully. However, the labs do show that I have an overgrowth of yeast. We aren’t sure exactly what strain of yeast, but it doesn’t really matter. My NTP is putting me on a Candida protocol to address this. I’ve been on a Candida protocol before, so I’m not worried about it at all, really. If you don’t know what a Candida protocol typically looks like, I will explain it in my next post. The worst part about treating Candida is usually the detox reaction, but since I’ve had it before and don’t eat a diet high in sugar now, I don’t think I’ll get that strong of a reaction this time.

Lastly, my gut immunity is elevated. This shows that it’s actively engaged in something, but doesn’t tell us exactly what. My doctor and NTP explained that it’s most likely all of my food sensitivities combined with the yeast. My body thinks it’s under attack. Not good.

So, yes, the MRT came back with quite a few food intolerances… to foods I eat a lot of every single day. Honestly, it all makes sense to me now. I’m going to explain exactly what I’m sensitive to and how I’m going to address it, as well as everything else mentioned above, in my next post. THE PROTOCOL, as I’ve come to call it, definitely requires a full post of its own.

I know most of you just want to know what the protocol is, but I want to make sure you understand why I’m doing what I’m doing for the next six months. I explain in passing what’s going on with my health all the time, but I’ve never laid it out quite so clearly and bluntly as I am right now, and as I will continue to do moving forward. This isn’t meant for you to start freaking out and feeling like you need to diagnose yourself or be paranoid that things are wrong with you. I have been struggling for some time, and I need to get to the root of it so that I can start living my life a bit more normally. Gotta do what’s right for ME, no one else. 🙂 Hopefully, if you have similar struggles, this can help you in some way.

For Part 2, click here!

Eating All the Food in Portland, 2017

Eating All the Food in Portland, 2017

by | Mar 2, 2017 | Wellness

I cannot believe it’s already been a over week since my trip to Portland! Time flies when you have 8 million things to do. When people found out I was going to Portland, they just kept saying… “Why are you going there?,” with a quizzical look. “Just for fun!” Is it that weird to go on a trip just for fun? If I told you I was going to Vegas, pretty sure no one would confusedly ask me, “Why are you going there?”

Anyways, I went to Portland with my friend Alison and her sister Kelly, and we went for a number of reasons. 1. We needed a vacation. 2. It was a three-day weekend. 3. Portland is super close and an easy flight. 4. We love to eat.

Let me repeat.

We love to eat.

Sometimes trips and even regular meals out are frustrating for me because most of my friends can’t keep up with my stomach. I have a big appetite! Thankfully, Alison, Kelly, and I are always on the same page. #TrueFriendship

My friends gotta like to EAT.

We literally planned our trip around food, which is how I plan most trips. Most people who follow my blog are also foodies, so I’m sure you feel me on that. There is nothing that brings me greater joy than spending endless hours on Yelp looking at restaurants and food photos, or passing an obscene amount of time falling into the Instagram hole while stalking delicious eats.

I honestly had no idea that Portland was such a great foodie spot until Alison and Kelly explained it to me, and then I started doing research. Portland is foodie heaven. Part of me thinks it might have better options than L.A. Like…whoa. Anyways, we actually made a Google Excel sheet with each of our desired restaurants, then we prioritized the list according to what overlapped, and then we came up with a final itinerary of where we would eat for each meal of our 3 day excursion. Organization, people.

Thank god they’re as serious about food as I am. When we weren’t eating, we planned on just walking around and exploring. Doing whatever. Very relaxing and chill.

I never really go on vacation, but doing so is really good for me. I feel like a different person when I’m away from work. I obviously still use my phone, check emails, and try to get a few things done, but I definitely feel much less attached and less obligated to be on top of everything. It’s freeing. Plus, Alison is really good at cracking backs. That combined with the food and escaping L.A. was everything I needed, especially with how overwhelming things have been lately.

It definitely was a complete escape from L.A. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Portland, but I quickly fell in love with the city. I had no idea how cute it was, and obviously I was extra impressed with the food. I love how Portland feels so homey and welcoming. People are actually nice, which can be rare in a big city. It’s a totally different culture, and I literally felt like I was on the set of a movie.

In Portland, no one cares about what you’re wearing or if you haven’t washed your hair in 7 days (whoops). People are just friendly to you if you’re friendly to them. Simple as that.

Beyond that, I was super into the architecture and the overall look of the city. I felt like it was a mix of Boston and Seattle, but much calmer. Also, there are so many twinkly lights, which makes my heart skip a beat. You know how I am with the twinkly lights…

The fairy lights, light rain, gray skies, and endless coffee shops made me feel like I was in a winter wonderland. It was so calming and seriously made me SO HAPPY. Weird as it sounds, after that weekend, I felt like I could see myself living there one day. I love L.A., but it can be a bit much. Sometimes I want to just get away from everybody, you know? I’m an introvert, and I recharge with my alone time. Sometimes I feel like I just can’t get alone time here, no matter how hard I try.

Speaking of that, though, I was genuinely confused about where all of the people were in Portland. We got up, got breakfast, walked around, and it felt like a ghost town. Is it just way less populated than L.A. or does everyone sleep all day?! We were surprised to hear from our Uber driver that Portland is a huge drinking city. Makes sense, though, because no one seemed to wake up before 11 A.M.

I was also really excited because I got to meet so many of my “Instagram” friends IN REAL LIFE. I can’t tell you how many of my closest friends I found through Instagram. Even when you haven’t met in person, it still feels like you have, so when you do finally meet, it doesn’t even feel like you’re meeting. Does that make sense?  More on that later.

Like I said, Portland was all about the food. They have a ton of gluten-free options. A ton of Paleo options. A ton of vegan options. You get the idea. The thing is, we didn’t have a bad meal. That’s the beauty of planning everything out ahead of time – you won’t accidentally eat bad food. I would highly recommend every restaurant we went to! The good news is, there are still plenty of places we didn’t get to go, so now I have a reason to go back!

Basically, I’m just going to take you through each restaurant we went to, tell you what we got, and let you look at the 5 million photos I took. I mean, you’re probably just here for the photos, anyways.

Our first stop was Bamboo Sushi. One thing we noticed about Portland is that the best restaurants have a ton of locations, and none of them are very far from each other. I WISH that was the case in L.A.

We all love sushi, so thankfully this was a no-brainer. Bamboo is amazing because it’s the first certified sustainable sushi restaurant in the world. Everything is incredibly fresh, and they have a huge selection of sushi and sashimi to choose from. Plus, it tells you the “status” of every fish on the list, which I really appreciate.

Since I don’t eat rolls, I went with a salad and sashimi, featuring a few different types of salmon. I was drooling over all of the different salmons they had – very overwhelming. The waiter gave me a 10 minute spiel about each of them… which did not make it any easier for an indecisive girl like me.

What I was looking forward to most were some QUAIL EGGS, because I saw them while stalking Bamboo on Yelp. Pictured above ^^ is the most amazing thing ever. Best combo of flavor and textures. Don’t be afraid of quail eggs! They’re so good for you.

Alison and Kelly got a bunch of rolls, and their eyes were literally rolling to the back of their heads in pleasure. Bamboo has a ton of really unique, delicious sushi rolls, and they had a hard time picking just a few. If we weren’t in the restaurant they would’ve licked their plates to get the leftover sauce. The standout roll seemed to be the Green Machine, which can be made gluten-free! Look at that sauce…

After Bamboo we went to Eb & Bean, which I think we were all most excited about. Eb & Bean is a frozen yogurt shop with both dairy and non-dairy flavors, and gluten-free options, as well. The froyo is organic and filled with probiotics! YAAAS.

We became frequent flyers at Eb & Bean, to say the least. I’m embarrassed to tell you how many times we got froyo there during our 3 days in Portland. They rotate their flavors every few weeks, and the 3 non-dairy flavors were Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding, Palm Sugar Peanut, and Marionberry Pomegranate Som. Oddly enough, I feel like these flavors looked way better than the dairy flavors, anyways. We’re all dairy-free, so we rotated through those choices.

First of all, I love the texture of this froyo. It’s light and fluffy, smooth and rich, and doesn’t make you feel gross. All of the flavors were insanely delicious.

The first one I got was the Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding, and I topped it with the Newtella hard shell, caramel sauce, roasted hazelnuts, and cacao nibs. No joke, this tasted like a giant Ferrero Rocher. It was insane.

That brings me to the other very important thing about Eb & Bean — it has an INSANE toppings bar. Especially if you don’t eat gluten or dairy. First of all, they have both chocolate hard shell and NEWTELLA hard shell – the Newtella really does taste like nutella. They also have a GF/DF caramel sauce, honey, coconut whipped cream, and marionberry compote. One location even has Honey Mama’s… I die. They have all the classics – toasted coconut, cacao nibs, chocolate chips, almonds, pecans, etc., but they also have some delicious, less common suspects – almond toffee crumble, GF/DF cookie dough, cookie pieces, oat streusel, roasted hazelnuts…the works.

We didn’t leave without buying a pint, though. You know… just in case we needed a snack in the room. We went with the Roasted Banana Caramel.. I think it was called that? It was banana something, for sure. And it was heavenly.

We kicked off our Saturday with a trip to Canteen, which is an adorable breakfast/lunch spot that was very L.A. -esque. They had a ton of delicious looking bowls, juices, and seasonal cheesecakes. The entire menu was gluten-free and vegan… familiar.

There wasn’t a lot on the menu for me, because being grain-free tends to be tricky at most vegan restaurants. Luckily, the one thing I wanted fit the bill perfectly! I went Christina-style and had lunch for breakfast. I got the walnut taco salad, and it was everything I could have hoped for. Super refreshing, filling, and very flavorful.

Alison and Kelly both got the oatmeal, and that bowl was LOADED UP. You can’t get oatmeal at a restaurant unless it’s really freakin’ dolled up, ya know? They both said this was the best oatmeal they’ve ever had. It had goji berries, walnuts, hazelnuts, cacao nibs, fruit, coconut milk, maple syrup… I mean.. could you say no?

After breakfast, we walked around a bit, got our nails done, and went into a few really cute shops. I bought some candles that smell DELICIOUS, because I can’t turn down candles. We also really lucked out with the weather. It was storming in L.A. but magically dry in Portland.

I’m not a coffee person, but Kelly and Alison are big-time coffee lovers, so visiting coffee shops was a must. Plus, it’s Portland. You can’t go to Portland and not visit the coffee shops!

For lunch, we went to Kure Juice Bar. If you want the bowls (which I did), then you have to go to the one on 12th Street for the full menu! Their smoothies look amazing and delicious, but I wanted a MEAL. They have salads, smoothies, soups, warm drinks, acai bowls, juices, tonic shots, and more.

I got a seriously amazing bowl with greens, cauliflower, carrots, beets, hemp seeds, almonds, and an epic garlic tahini sauce. Anything with tahini, I’m game. I also got the BEST latte I have ever had in my life – I kid you not. It’s called the Golden Mushroom Elixir, and it has almond milk, reishi, turmeric, coconut manna, and ashwagandha in it. It warmed my body and soul.

Alison and Kelly each got a taco-style bowl – very similar to what I had for breakfast. They both agreed it was bomb. The sauce looked VERY promising.

After lunch we stopped by a shop called Cacao, and it was every chocolate lover’s dream. They had every type of chocolate you could imagine, and they let you sample any bar you wanted. You could go for a classic, like 100% pure cacao, or something unique, like PB&J. Some of it literally looked too perfect to eat. I mean, they hid half of it behind a glass window!

I got my roommates some organic, clean-ingredient fancy drinking chocolate that came in a bunch of different flavors, and I also bought myself a nice bar of 100% pure cacao. That stuff is hard to find. It was so delicious, and completely clean ingredients! We didn’t order any, but Cacao also served different types of chocolate shots, as well as a number of other chocolate drinks. I definitely want to go back next time and get some 100% dark drinking chocolate on a chilly winter day.

I walked around for a bit and finally met up with my friend Valerie from LetsRegale.com. It was our first time meeting in person, but I felt like I had had already met her a million times before. That’s the beauty of Instagram stories!

Funny enough, we’re actually from the same part of the Bay Area, and it’s very rare for me to meet someone from my part of the Bay. She went to high school down the street and around the corner from me, so it was fate for us to connect on IG!

Valerie is like a giant ray of sunshine, and she is so incredibly sweet. Her positivity and happiness light up a room. If you haven’t checked out her site, please do! She posts incredible, quick, healthy recipes that anyone will love. She’s one of the few people on the Internet who posts recipes and meals that I will actually make – delicious, easy, realistic, and very allergy-friendly!

I always see her visit Tea Bar in her Instagram stories, and it makes me insanely jealous, so I asked if we could meet up there so I could try it out! It’s such a cute place – very modern and white and blogger-esque. We both got hot matcha lattes, because I die for a good matcha. Definitely one of the best matcha lattes I’ve had. They also have a ton of other options, including a Golden Milk Latte that I had my eye on. Most of the people in there were drinking boba, and they also had some really good-looking baked goods.

The entire place was bursting with the aroma of freshly baked donuts because there was a Bigwig popup inside. They were literally making donut holes on the spot, and they were gluten-free, vegan, and organic. Ummm… L.A. doesn’t even have that.

For dinner we went to Harlow, which was one of the places I was most excited about. Can we just talk about this drink list, for a moment? Pay special attention to the Harlow Chai, Harlow Latte, Moondrop Mocha, Red Velvet Cocoa, and Turmeric Toddy. I’m really into the hazelnut milk.

Harlow is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant with lots of healthy, organic options. They have a ton of gluten-free, vegan baked goods, kombucha on tap, and a whole section of healthy snacks. The menu is huge, and everything looks incredible. Their bowls are just… yes. I started off with the Turmeric Toddy, and Alison got a Turmeric latte.

For dinner, I got the Bhakti Pasta, which is a zucchini noodle pasta with a sun dried tomato and basil pesto with carrots and spinach, topped with hazelnut ricotta. You guys know how I feel about zoodles. I feel like this dish was invented for me personally.

Alison got the Chipotle Chili Bowl, which we late heard from our Uber driver is one of the best things on the menu.

Kelly got the Hawthorne Mac. Is there anything more comforting than Mac & Cheese?

After din, we headed off to Petunia’s Pies and Pastries. Petunia’s is an entirely gluten-free, vegan bakery, which we were all very excited about. It’s all pink and white – very old school, classic bakery style. Loved it. Want it to be my Instagram theme.

Even though this place is gluten-free and vegan, it’s definitely not healthy, though. Just warning you. Everything was delicious, but we had massive stomachaches after.

If you’re familiar with Salt & Straw, then you’re probably more familiar with Petunia’s than you realize! You know how Salt & Straw always has that one vegan/gluten-free flavor?! It’s a collab with Petunia’s! THIS PETUNIA. For example, right now they have Petunia’s Cookies & Cream with Raspberry Swirl at Salt & Straw, and they’re also serving it at Petunia’s Bakery.

Petunia’s was really really really overwhelming. When I’m out at vegan/gluten-free dessert shops, I always want to get something that I couldn’t usually get anywhere else. That was everything on Petunia’s menu. They had a Bruleed Banana Split that literally looked insane, but I wanted to get a baked good since I can get ice cream lots of other places.

Petunia’s has an amazing selection of cupcakes, pies, cakes, cheesecakes, breads, and cookies. The only problem was, by the time we got there at night, they were basically sold out of almost everything. In the end, that was a good thing, because I had a hard enough time deciding between what was there. In the end I went with the Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake. Kelly started off with a birthday cake cupcake.

Alison went with a scoop of the seasonal ice cream and a slice of the berry pie. I was really impressed with Petunia’s pies, because it’s very difficult to find real vegan, gluten-free pie anywhere. And this was BIG PIE. Everything was very rich, dense, and perfectly plated.

After my cheesecake, I got a Millionaire’s bar because I had my eye on it and couldn’t stop thinking about it. I liked this way better than the cheesecake, which was a little too chocolate-y for me. The Millionaire’s bar had a bunch of nuts, coconut, and I don’t even know what else in it. But it was damn good. And I paired it with my Eb & Bean Banana froyo we got the night before – unreal combo.

Kelly also got a scoop of Petunia’s ice cream with a side of the cookie dough for all of us to try. The one thing we agreed on was that no one would know that Petunia’s was gluten-free or vegan unless they looked at the website or asked. It tastes exactly like plain old dairy-filled, gluten-filled baked goods. Very dense, thick, and sweet. It was delicious, butttt we all felt like crap afterward.

The next morning, we could barely get out of bed from our sugar coma, but I was highly motivated by the fact that I was going to meet up with Nat from Blonde Gone Clean. (If you haven’t read my interview with Nat, you can read it here!)

We met up at Harlow for breakfast, which I was very excited about because I couldn’t get enough of that place. Yup, it’s that good. (Plus, with that drink menu, how could I not go twice?) Nat and I both got the Arcadian Scramble, which makes sense considering we are practically the same person. It was delicious – I highly recommend. The Farmers Vegetable Scramble and Pesto Garden Scramble also looked amazing!

Again, even though it was our first time actually meeting in person, it felt like I had known Nat forever. When you Snapchat someone and watch their stories, it’s easy to forget you haven’t met in person. Plus, Nat is someone who I vent to on the reg, so we are way past any casual small talk. Catching up with her and talking nutrition, workouts, stress, school, college life, work, and everything in between totally rejuvenated me and reminded me how lucky I am to have such amazing people in my life.

After basically crying because I didn’t want to leave Nat, I met up with my friends at another coffee shop. Then I was off to Townshend’s Tea Company to meet up with another one of my favorite humans, Nicole Christensen!

Nicole is my Beautycounter mentor, and it was so exciting to finally meet her in person. Again, I honestly forgot I hadn’t. Beyond being an amazing mentor for Beautycounter, she is an incredible support for me in all aspects of my life, and I can talk to her about anything. She is truly one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and she always makes me feel better about everything. I feel like she’s the more mature, wiser version of me. So she’s amazing.

Townshend’s is a tea lover’s dream. If you love tea, you will die over their BOOKLET of a menu. The shop itself is adorable. Old-school, Harry Potter library-esque. I bought a few of the loose leaf teas to bring home, because I had such a hard time choosing off of the menu. They have about twenty different types of chai lattes, which all looked incredible, and that’s what Nicole got. I got a mix of peppermint tea and vanilla black tea — insane combo. Highly recommend! They can make it as a latte, as well.

I also ran into Dana from Minimalist Baker while I was there, and it was a major fangirl moment. She is so sweet!

After Townshend’s, I met up with Alison and Kelly again at Broth Bar. OH. MY. GOD. This might have been my favorite place we went. I am dying for them to open one in L.A. As I’ve talked about before, I’m obsessed with bone broth. I’ve used it for about two years to help heal my gut, but I personally think everyone should make bone broth a part of their diet because of all of its amazing benefits.

The only problem with bone broth is that it takes forever to make, so I practically keel over in joy when I find a high-quality bone broth that I can buy. Broth bar has basically every type of bone broth you could ever want. You can choose one of their suggested combos (see above), or you can come up with a combo yourself. I went with the turmeric, scallions, smoked salt, and chili oil beef bone broth and added the braised beef tongue and kelp noodles. I was deciding between that and the rosemary salt, juiced ginger, and scallions bone broth with the chicken hearts. Next time.

Alison and Kelly both got the black cumin seed oil, turmeric, ghee and coconut butter bomb, and black garlic salt bone broth with an added kimchi pickled egg. (I love how they always order the same thing.) At first I think they thought I was a weirdo for how obsessed I was with this place, but after tasting it, they were sold. I was honestly dying over how delicious my bone broth combo was, and it was perfect for the cold weather outside!

They also sell a ton of bone broth that you can buy there and take home – pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, bison, alpaca, and more. If I lived in Portland, I would def be stocking up.

For dinner we headed off to Dick’s Kitchen, which was one of the places I was most excited for. My NTP actually recommended it to me, and it was the most “Christina” style restaurant we went to. Grass-fed beef, paleo-style meals…the works. I had a very hard time deciding what I wanted, per usual.

They have a ton of different burgers to pick from – the classic (100% grass-fed beef), turkey burger, buffalo burger, veggie berger, salmon burger, etc., and everything can be made “naked” – a.k.a wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun! They have fries that are actually on the healthy side – sweet potato or regular potato fries that are air-baked with no added sugar.

I was seriously torn over what to get. I wanted the Caesar Turkey Bowl, the Paleo Plate, and the Naked Buffalo Burger with some veggie sides, so I kind of cheated and got everything I wanted on one plate. I got the Paleo Plate and subbed out the classic patty for the buffalo burger, and then I got their vegan caesar dressing on my side salad. The Paleo Plate came with their special greens, which was braised kale and cabbage. So. Delicious. That burger gave me life.

Kelly got a naked salmon burger with the regular potato fries, and Alison got a naked classic burger with potato fries, too! Dick’s also had a very tempting selection of desserts, including a flourless chocolate torte, paleo carrot cake, and vegan milkshakes. We passed, though, because we had big dessert plans for later that night.

After walking around Alphabet District for a bit, we also stopped by the OG Salt & Straw. Alison is Salt & Straw obsessed, so she was dying to see the original. We didn’t get anything, but we had to look. This place was poppin’. Even moreso than in L.A., which is to be expected, since it is the original. I also think the food always tests better at original locations. Maybe it’s just me.

Then we ventured off to the bakery I was most excited about – Back to Eden Bakery! Back to Eden is a 100% plant-based, vegan, gluten-free bakery!

It was overwhelming, in a good way. Cookies, brownies, a number of cupcakes, pies, donuts, and more! I was especially impressed with the pies. I’ve never seen a GF/vegan cherry pie, ANYWHERE! I have a lot of fond memories that relate to cherry pies, so it got me all sentimental. They also seem to be famous for their chocolate cream pie, which isn’t my thing, but I can appreciate its uniqueness.

They usually have cinnamon rolls, which was honestly the #1 reason I wanted to go, but they were out when we went. They also had some amaaaazing sundaes and milkshakes. A milkshake sounded SO good, but I can get that at a lot of places, so I had to go with some baked goods. Also, their soft serve is made from a soy-base, so I wouldn’t recommend it. You can pay extra for them to use Coconut Bliss ice cream instead for the sundaes and milkshakes, and I would definitely go with that option if I were to order it.

We got a few things to try, including this divine Rosewater Chai Cupcake! I loved how unique that combo was, and the flavors paired together perfectly. I also usually hate frosting, but this was the perfect amount of sweetness and the perfect texture! Didn’t make me feel gross like most frosting does.

We also got a snickerdoodle and a toasted almond cookie. Both were delicious, but I especially loved the Snickerdoodle! I’d definitely go for that one again.

We had to end the trip with a bang, so we headed back to Eb & Bean.  I discovered the Palm Sugar Peanut/Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding SWIRL… and my life changed. I usually hate peanut-flavored things, but I was really into this combination. I topped it with some caramel sauce, toffee, and crumbled Snickerdoodle. Game changer.

Yes, we went back for multiple rounds. We even went to a different location for our third round so the workers wouldn’t judge us. Go big or go home, right? For my last round, I got the Marionberry Pomegranate Som with the marionberry compote, coconut flakes, and Honey Mama’s. Alison and Kelly got the Marionberry Pomegranate Som with Newtella and chocolate every single time. Creatures of habit. Honestly, I don’t even know what marionberry is. It was the perfect way to end the trip, though.

I truly fell in love with Portland and I cannot wait to go back! I have more places on my list that we didn’t get to, so if you need any more recommendations, send me a message and I will happily share my full list!

Goin’ WILD for Wild Living Foods

Goin’ WILD for Wild Living Foods

by | Feb 24, 2017 | Wellness

Here I am again, torn between telling you about my latest obsession and keeping it my little secret. I don’t want this place to become popular because I selfishly want it all to myself, but I do want more people to know about it because amazing restaurants like Wild Living Foods deserve major recognition. And a lot of business.

With so many incredible restaurants in Los Angeles, I never thought I would say what I’m about to say, but… I have officially found my favorite restaurant in L.A. HANDS DOWN.

Whoa.

Wild Living Foods is everything I could ever want. When I first stumbled across the photos on Yelp, I was instantly intrigued. And very confused. The food looked incredible, so how had I never heard of it before?! Turns out, WLF just opened a few months ago, so it’s still a baby! Thank god, because if Wild Living Foods had existed for a long time and I didn’t know about it for my past 4 years in L.A., I would be seriously depressed about how much I missed out until now.

Wild Living Foods is an organic, plant-based restaurant in downtown L.A. Trust me, it’s very worth the drive downtown. All of their dishes are prepared under 118* to keep all of the nutrients in tact. The food is fresh, delicious, beautiful, and unique. It’s extremely allergy-friendly, of course, but it’s not your typical gluten-free place.

The number one thing I look for in a restaurant is high-quality ingredients. Whenever I eat out, I expect to get a stomachache or feel gross after eating…even when I’m eating at “clean” places. Wild Living Foods will actually leave you feeling better than before you came in, though. You can taste the difference in their ingredients.

Another thing I love about WLF is the overall vibe. It’s a place of community. Everyone who works there is extremely kind and welcoming. They’re the kinda people who ask you how you’re doing (and actually want to know the answer) and give you free samples just because they have some leftover smoothie in the blender. When you go in, you’ll make friends with everyone there. I also got a chance to chat with one of the owners, and she literally lit up the room. So sweet.

Besides that, the decor is on point. There is a stunning, bright, colorful mural on the wall, and the floor is covered with unique, vivid tiles that light up the entire space. It’s a place for creativity, individuality, and acceptance. And it makes the eating experience that much more divine.

Let’s get to the food! OMG. With all of my food allergies/restrictions/preferences, I’m accustomed to only being able to order a few things off of any menu. At most, 3 or 4. This is literally the first place I’ve ever eaten at where I could literally order anything. I cannot tell you how exciting that is for me, but it’s also really overwhelming because everything looks beyond delicious. To start, they have an amazing selection of warm soups and small appetizers – broccoli lime, sea vegetable, garden tomato soups…spring rolls and avocado toast and chips and guac. You can’t go wrong.

Let’s get on to the really fun part. All of the things that I can’t usually eat when I’m out, but that I totally can here. BURGERS AND SANDWICHES. They have really creative burgers and sandwiches that are served on onion or flax bread (all gluten-free). There’s a portobello burger, a tuna sandwich, a guacamole burger, and more. I didn’t get a chance to try it, but the Pablo Burger looks especially amazing – it’s their twist on a classic burger with cashew cheese, ketchup, and mustard.

Next up, SUSHI. Gluten-free, vegan sushi. I love regular sushi, but I actually think this is much better. They have a few rolls to pick from, and it’s IMPOSSIBLE to choose one off the menu. We got the Dynamite Roll, which has cashew cheese, red cabbage, tomato, avo, ginger, onion, coconut jerky, ranch, hemp, and flax oil. ARE YOU DROOLING?! I think the coconut jerky and ranch were what really made this roll divine. Next time, I have my eye on the Spicy Tuna Roll – it has barbecue kale chips inside…

Their main entrees are honestly insane. Everything is not only delicious and healthy, but it’s plated like a piece of artwork. You can really tell the time and care they put into each dish. The Rainbow Wrap is one of my all time favorite things EVER. I don’t usually get to order “wraps” off of menus, so it was very exciting that I could do so here. This has almond and sunflower seed pate with cabbage, avo, tomato, and red bell pepper, and it’s wrapped in a sun-dried tomato coconut wrap topped with chipotle dressing. My favorite part is the home made ranch dressing it’s served with, though. I’m a sucker for ranch, and it’s really hard to find an allergy-friendly, healthy one anywhere. This combination is a serious flavor explosion, in the best way possible.

Another thing we loved was the Flat Earth Pizza, which comes with walnut pesto, onions, olives, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, marinara, and cashew cheese. It has a sprouted almond crust and is served with a side salad. I never get to order pizza when I’m out, so obviously this was a dream come true. This is way better than traditional pizza – trust me. It is so flavorful, and all of the different flavor combinations meld perfectly together.

I also love that they have so many warm pasta dishes. That’s another thing that I never get to order off of a menu. I don’t eat regular gluten-free pasta, but I can eat THIS gluten-free “pasta”! Their warm pasta dishes are created with kelp noodles, so literally anyone can have them. I have an obsession with kelp noodles, if you didn’t already know, but WLF makes the best kelp noodle dishes in the game. We got the Earth Pasta and the Pasta Supreme. Both were absolutely delicious. I need to talk more about the Pasta Supreme for a second, though. The “meat balls” are literally the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten in my life. They taste like real meatballs… I’m not sure how. And the marinara sauce is by far the best marinara I’ve ever had. I want this as my last meal on Earth.

There are so many things on the menu that I need to try next. The Chile Relleno, Pueblo Wrap, and the Lettuce Eat Tacos are next on my list.

Now onto my favorite section…dessert! WLF blows it out of the water in this category as well. First of all, they have different raw desserts available each night, and every thing I’ve tried has been beyond amazing. They have a raw cinnamon roll, which I seriously died over. I also tried the almond coconut slices (almond joys), the almond butter cups, and the wild jungle peanut squares. They’re all rich without being overly sweet, and they just taste like real food. You know? It’s seriously the perfect way to end your meal. If you’re a chocolate lover, you’ll melt over these!

Beyond that, the star of the show is definitely the ice cream/gelato. I think Wild Living Foods has the best ice cream in Los Angeles, and it’s HEALTHY. Gluten-free, vegan, soy-free… everything. It’s made from a coconut base and sweetened with coconut nectar – super clean.

The flavors are seriously amazing, and they’re all thick and creamy like classic ice cream. They have chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mint chocolate chip, salted caramel, cookies and cream, almond butter cup, and coffee crunch. Their chocolate and strawberry flavors are the best choc and strawb you’ll find anywhere, but my all-time favorite flavors are the almond butter cup, salted caramel, and cookies and cream. The almond butter cup ice cream is definitely my FAVORITE ice cream on this planet, no joke. I mean, it has almond butter cups in it…come on! COMING HERE FOR MY BIRTHDAY.

They also have a ton of delicious smoothies, dessert smoothies, and milkshakes. For milkshakes, you can pick any flavor ice cream and have it blended with almond milk. We tried the Molly Berry Smoothie,which has cashew almond milk, sweet cream, blueberries, honey, trail mix, and vanilla, as well as the strawberry bliss – cashew almond milk, sweet cream, strawberries, honey, trail mix. If you love strawberry, YOU NEED THE STRAWBERRY BLISS. All of their smoothies look amazing, but I have my eye on the Cacao Ceremony. It has cream, almond butter, coconut meat, cacao, maca, honey, vanilla, and pink salt! NOM.

They also have a wide selection of warm healing elixirs and medicinal shots. If you ask one of the employees about the health benefits of any elixir, prepare to be amazed. The Twelve Tribes is insane – it has chai, turmeric, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, black pepper, ginger, and honey – ultra healing.

They also sell a ton of delicious cold-pressed juices and drinks. These are real deal, high quality ingredients. To make a long story short, a lot of juices aren’t pressed the right way. These ARE, though. I am not generally a fan of juices and drinks, but I’m down for anything from WLF.

They also have an amazing salad bar where you can build the salad of your dreams. And they also recently opened up a breakfast bar! I haven’t been yet, but you can get chia pudding, coconut yogurt, apple spice cereal, a chocolate mousse crepe, a cinnamon roll… I know you want it. Heading back ASAP.

There is honestly nothing that could make me love Wild Living Foods more. Anyone who is gluten-free and dairy-free will really appreciate this restaurant for all of the high quality, delectable dishes it provides. Dishes that we can’t usually have, but here? No problem. Even if you don’t have food restrictions, it’s impossible to not love this place. Like I said before… currently the best spot to eat in L.A.

If you head out to Wild Living Foods, tell ’em I sent ya! And DEFINITELY let me know what you order!

The Low-Down on the Pinner Test, Cyrex Labs, and other Food Intolerance Testing

The Low-Down on the Pinner Test, Cyrex Labs, and other Food Intolerance Testing

by | Feb 17, 2017 | Wellness

 

**Please read my most recent post on food sensitivity testing for my updated opinions on food sensitivity testing! You can find that post here.**

**Update on THIS post is at the bottom***

This post has been long awaited, I know. BUT IT’S FINALLY HERE! In case you didn’t know, a food intolerance test called the Pinner Test exploded all over the Internet a few months ago. It seemed like every blogger was taking the test, discovering shocking food intolerances, and sadly removing things from her diet.

What’s so exciting about the Pinner Test? The Pinner Test is a test that you can order online, have mailed to you, and perform at home by yourself in order to discover what foods you’re intolerant to. The fact that this test is so accessible and so easy is what made everyone do a backflip over it.

Let’s go back to food intolerances for a sec. Who cares about food intolerances?! Well, everyone should. As I’ve said time and time again, a healthy gut is the key to overall health. Our gut affects our digestion, yes, but also our brain and the general functioning of our bodies. Food intolerances are not the same as food allergies, and they can be much more difficult to notice on your own. Food allergies are immune system responses to certain foods. Food intolerances, however, do not require a full-on immune system response. Usually people have no idea that they’re intolerant to certain foods because those foods are sneakily wreaking havoc inside their bodies and showing no external symptoms. Symptoms from food intolerances can take hours or days to pop up, so it’s hard to find a correlation between why you feel a certain way and what you ate. There are so many symptoms of food intolerances that it can be really hard to tell what’s happening – bloating, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, join pain, tiredness, rashes, brain fog…the list goes on. The symptoms are generally related to digestion, but not always.

When it comes to the accuracy of food intolerance testing, there are a lot of mixed opinions in the scientific community. When I was first trying to get to the root of my gut issues, I wanted to take a food intolerance test to see if I was eating something I was intolerant to. The test that my doctor uses is from Cyrex labs, which tests for both IgG and IgA food intolerance responses. Because the test is very expensive, I obviously did a lot of research before going through with it. From my own research, I agreed that if I was going to trust any test (at all…will get to that later…), it would be the Cyrex tests. The people who’s opinions I trust most in the health world, like Chris Kesser, all seemed to agree that Cyrex had the best technology when it came to food intolerance testing.

I spit out the money, got a lot of blood drawn, received my test results, and was pretty sad about what I found. Foods that I ate every single day showed up – chicken, eggs, almonds, salmon, tuna, trout. Other foods that I don’t eat as often also showed up  – whitefish, melon, and gums, like locust bean gum, in processed foods. I took all of those foods out of my diet for six months, and I later added them back in. More on that in a second.

Anyways, I’ve always been kind of curious about what my results would be if I took another test. I didn’t take another Cyrex test because of the cost, and also because I was feeling much better. When the Pinner Test exploded on the Internet, I was obviously intrigued. It was cheaper than my Cyrex test, and it was something I could mail in and do from home. It seemed too good to be true. Honestly, I’m very wary of anything overly hyped by bloggers. What blogger would turn down a free food intolerance test that’s that easy to take? When it went on sale over Thanksgiving, I ordered a test just to compare my results. (Yes, I actually paid for it.)

Taking the test is extremely simple and painless. You just prick your finger and let the blood drop onto a little packet, then you mail in the kit. Boom, done. When I got my test results back a few weeks later, I was pretty disappointed. I don’t really know what I was expecting or hoping. I guess I was hoping that something would be the same as on my previous test…especially when it came to the foods I don’t eat very often. However, nothing overlapped. My Pinner Test showed that I’m intolerant to chives, garlic, and coffee. Coffee and garlic have always upset my stomach, so that wasn’t really surprising. Chives…whatever. Don’t really eat them. However, I wanted something to overlap, like the melon or fish, so I could be more confident in the Pinner Test’s accuracy. But then I realized those foods aren’t even on the Pinner Test.

I think there are a lot of misconceptions about food intolerances and food intolerance testing that I would like to clear up. First of all, just because you are intolerant to a certain food right now does not mean that you can never eat that food again. For example, the reason my first Cyrex test showed that I was intolerant to so many foods that I ate every day – salmon, eggs, chicken, almonds, etc. – was because a) I had a very leaky gut, and b) I ate them so often. Sometimes when you eat too much of a certain food too often, your body can start to build up an intolerance to it. When this is the case, you just have to remove the food from your diet for a few weeks or a few months and then slowly reintroduce it, and making sure not to overdo it again. (Unless you notice your body has a big reaction to it – then don’t add it back in.) This is exactly what I did with chicken, eggs, salmon, and almonds. Now, I have no problem when I eat them. Also, when you have a leaky gut, your body can start having responses to regular foods that aren’t really a problem because of the food itself – it’s just because your gut is leaky! The food particles are going through your gut lining and your body recognizes them as invaders – it makes sense that the foods you eat most often would mount a response. Oftentimes if you heal your leaky gut, those “food intolerances” will go away.

Second, even the tests that are considered to be the most accurate are known to still be inaccurate at times. It is not uncommon for false positives to come up, and it is also not uncommon for things that are causing problems to not show up either. Basically, take everything with a grain of salt. This is why it is very difficult for me when I see people take a test that is not shown to be very accurate, like the Pinner Test, and then remove random foods from their diets. Could you use it as a guide? Sure. But at the end of the day, you have to realize that the test could be totally wrong. At the end of the day, how your body feels might tell you more than a test.

Third, a food might not show up if you haven’t eaten it recently. For example, I’ve never had gluten or dairy show up on any of my food intolerance tests, and that’s because I haven’t eaten those foods in two years. However, I am definitely intolerant to them. This is an example of how you can’t take these test results as total truth.

There are other food sensitivity tests besides the Cyrex arrays and the Pinner Test, but I am only focusing on those since those are the two I have taken and gotten results from. I recently took an MRT food sensitivity test but have not gotten the results back yet, and I will happily discuss that when I do. To compare the Pinner Test and the Cyrex test — the Cyrex test is much more thorough. It tests for both the cooked and raw versions of foods, and overall it tests for more foods than the Pinner test does (if you get all of the arrays, like I did). There are different arrays you can buy. Less arrays mean less foods tested, but less money spent. The Cyrex tests are more expensive and must be taken through your doctor. The Pinner Test is cheaper and can be taken at home by anyone who is willing to buy it. The Pinner Test tests for IgG reactions, whereas Cyrex tests for both IgG and IgA responses. In other words, you could be missing a lot of information with the Pinner Test. The accuracy of the Cyrex test has been studied much more than the Pinner Test has, and while the Cyrex test is not 100% accurate (no food intolerance test is, at this point), it is much more accurate than the Pinner Test.

My doctor explained the problem with the Pinner Test very scientifically when I talked to him about it in person a few months ago, and I honestly forget exactly what he said. Typical. However, I remember the regular person English version, which is really all that you probably care about. Basically, you get your blood drawn when you take the Cyrex tests, which allows the lab to centrifuge the blood and separate the blood serum from the rest of the stuff in there, allowing for a more accurate reading. The Pinner Test uses a drop of blood to test the response, and the particles in the blood aren’t separated out. That means that the test can pick up things it shouldn’t and miss things it shouldn’t because it’s already dealing with a “muddy” test, so to speak. Make sense? It’s like trying to find a shirt in Forever 21 vs Nordstrom.

If you want my personal opinion, this is it: I think that food intolerance testing is very powerful and a great option for those of us struggling with gut issues, especially if you can afford it. Unfortunately, though, it is not completely accurate, so the results of all tests need to be taken with a grain of salt. I regret spending money on the Pinner Test. I think if you’re serious about it, I would save enough money for the Cyrex test and get that done through your doctor. I just don’t think the results of the Pinner Test are that trustworthy or valuable, and it’s smarter to go for something that has been shown to be more accurate. That being said, all test results should be interpreted in the context of your body, and it’s important to realize that these foods do not need to be avoided forever. Just temporarily. I don’t think everyone needs to take a food intolerance test. If you’re in a position where you’re having a lot of symptoms, have taken other tests without answers, and don’t know where to turn, then I think that food intolerance testing is a great option.

I got a quote from my doctor, Apostolos Lekkos, just so you have a real medical opinion on the Pinner Test. (Because we all know I am definitely NOT a doctor!)

“I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this new technology developed by  Arrayit corporation, but I do like the fact that they do triple testing on each sample to make sure the sample is stable.  I also like that they test the allergens and controls at the same time to ensure accuracy. The problem is the technology they use has yet to be validated and studies need to be done to get a better assessment of its clinical utility.

Food sensitivity testing can be questionable.  I have seen it pick up foods, and when the patient stopped eating them, it made a world of difference. And I have seen it come back negative to a food, when the patient clearly cannot tolerate that particular food.

I feel it’s worth testing because sometimes you’d be surprised at what food comes back highly positive, and avoiding that food can make a big difference.  I use it as a guide, per se, and combine the testing and how a patient says they react to eating certain foods to make a plan.

I like Cyrex labs testing best because they test for IgG and IgA antibodies to foods.  You get two antibodies, when most other companies only test for IgG.  I have seen patients have testing with other companies and get a negative IgG to a food, then do Cyrex testing and, bam, a strong positive IgA shows up and they need to get off that food.

I also like how they test for raw and cooked foods.  For example, they test for raw and cooked broccoli.  When you cook a food the protein structure of it changes, so you may be able to tolerate cooked broccoli, but not raw.  No other company I know of does this.  You are getting a lot of information for your buck.

Cyrex has very good quality control and does multiple checks on the same sample to ensure the results are as accurate as possible.”

There you have it! I know this was a long one, but I think it’s worth the read. If you have any other questions about food intolerance testing and my experience with it, please let me know!

 

 

***Update*** Since writing this post, I have a few more years of experience with food intolerance testing, and my opinion has slightly changed. My current professional opinion is that the MRT is the food intolerance test that has gotten me and my clients the best results. If the MRT is unavailable, I go with Cyrex, and if neither is available, I skip food intolerance testing altogether. There are many food intolerance tests out on the market that are highly inaccurate, so be aware.