Fructose Malabsorption

A new development I have stumbled across... well, new for me, since there's lots of good research out there about the topic. A bummer to be sure, but at least I have a name now and something I can try.

So two weeks ago, I started realizing that this whole bloating and icky (farty!) thing was getting out of control. It was non stop. Just ridiculous. I was eating NO STEVIA, nothing strange, no added nothing... and just disgusting, painful, horrible. Well, the difference is that it's spring/summer and the fruits are out! Yay! Favorite time of year for a sugar junkie like me, natural sweetened goodness... I was eating cherries by the handful and suffering horribly as a result. WTF? My favorite things are smoothies (mango, pineapple, carrot and spinach); fruits (cherries and apples); with dehydrated "raw" oat cookies with dates and raisins. I pretty much lived off this stuff all last summer, and just farted away, thinking the culprit maybe flax seeds, or sunflower, or whatever, with my raw experiment.

Well this time it was absolutely clear that the culprit was the cherries. It was so hot last week that I barely wanted to eat in the truck as I drove around; when I did, I often went for the cherries first as they were simple and small. Within an hour I was bloated up, farting away and embarassed. Not to mention pissed. I love fruit! I love living off fruit in the summer! Unfair! First sugar alcohols, then my beloved Stevia, now this? What the hell is wrong with me?

I stopped eating fruits for a few days to see what would happen. I felt better, looked better, and sounded better (heh). This made me pretty curious so I started hunting online to see what the hell my problem was. In a long and roundabout way I found dietary fructose intolerance (DFI) which is now called fructose malabsorption. I read all about it and it made so much sense to me, I can't deny either that it exists or that this may be the root of my problem.

I will save explaination of it here, since others have done such a fabulous job. You can check out what they say in these websites:
http://fructmal.googlepages.com/
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/digestive-health/nutrition/BarrettArticle.pdf

And of course there are more, but if you think you are having issues I urge you to do some research yourself. The first website gives a lot of good and interesting links.

Well it certainly explains a lot. My steadily increasing intolerance for things over the years. Problems I had as a kid. It's even linked to depression, PMS and mental fogginess... problems I abhor and deal with constantly. I'll do anything to feel better, anything. If it means eating a boring bland diet for 6 weeks, so be it. This sucks. This is the worst thing you can do to a sugar addict, to a major sweetaholic... the WORST. Then again, it may just be the very thing that saves my life and sanity, who knows?

How interesting that I have a strong addiction to the very thing that makes me feel the most horrible. It has psychological implications I am just going to have to avoid like the plague, I have enough on my plate these days. It certainly does bear thought though, as to why people become addicted to the very poisons most likely to kill them. Or at the very least harm them. In love with the toxins that take you down.

I'm going to plan this boring horrible "ancestral diet" very carefully, and I'll check in and report how it's going now and then. I know a lot of this has to do with bacterial overgrowth in the large intestines... I wonder is there a way to reset the buggers? Some people have given their experience that the symptoms started after a bout of sickness that was treated with antibiotics. Yet some people report that probiotics make it worse... more bacteria to feed on the fructose you're not absorbing. How frustrating! It's likely there's damage to the intestinal lining or crypts that make absorption of fructose/ fructans no longer possible. Is there a way to heal that, restart things (the lining regrows every 7 days or so), reboot the bacterial flora in the gut, and start over? Lots of that wierd hippie colonic cleansing shit I guess. Ugh. Doesn't sound that pleasant, but hey... if it helped me I'd do it. First I will experiment and see if I'm barking up the right tree; I already feel better, so I guess so.

Cheers.

Off the wagon and on again.

I'm beginning to realize that quitting sugar is a lot like quitting cigarettes (based on my friends and family's experience) or heroin (which I've read about). It's tough, so tough! When I started this quest I had this quaint notion that I would quit sugar, walk away, and feel so awesome I'd never go back. Feel so healthy, self-righteous, elated, alive... why would I want to touch that stuff again?

Well! That is just not the case. It became a battle somewhere, involving a whole lot of guilt and weird back-and-forth arguments in my head. Never a dull moment to be human, I guess. The trick with quitting anything is to just pick yourself up and get back on the wagon as soon as you can, like the next day. I just lost the will somewhere, caught up in the misery and stress of schooling and then my internship. It just didn't seem to matter anymore to take care of myself in the way I know best. Maybe the psyche likes misery? Hey I know! We're miserable and stressed, let's compound that by altering things drastically with that sugar drug! Whee, isn't this fun?

Plus, the fact that there is sugar around constantly in the place I work (and the place I went to school) means I can never escape. I used to dream when I was a child that someday I'd have a big glass jar, as tall as me, that was an eternal fount of candy. No matter how much you took from it, how much you ate, it was never empty! In that world, you could eat chocolate for all your meals, and boy was that fabulous! Well, it's nearly a reality with the way we live today, and with the endlessly filled candy dish at work (not to mention cookie Thursdays, plus thank you gifts from clients, do-gooders bringing in donuts, etc, etc... endless...) It makes is so challenging to live up to the highest ideal I have given myself.

It makes quite an interesting vortex or whirlwind, too; eat that crap, feel guilty/ bad that I'm off the wagon, compound with stress from work, eat more of the crap to try and feel better (the mind likes arguments like- well, I deserve some pleasure, don't I?); feel worse, crash, eat more. Next thing you know I'm buying it instead of just eating it at work, and voila! Not only am I off the wagon, I'm sitting in the dirt watching it pull away. Oof!

I never wanted it to be a battle where I could beat myself up for making mistakes. In fact I am always telling others to be gentle with themselves if they slip and eat pie at a family dinner. It's ok to be human! However, I need to remind myself it's for my health and it really doesn't make me feel good to crash and burn in that endless cycle. Or worse, hurtle towards diabetes. Goddess forbid!

After being "off the wagon" for quite a long time, I've jumped back on, cold turkey. I cannot allow myself even a little bit because it's a gateway. Depression and stress are no excuse because frankly, they are worsened by sugar. I know this! Instead of leaving it as an indefinite thing, I have decided to be a bit more gentle and go month by month. I am simply doing a sugar fast this month. None. No sugar. That's easy, I know I can do that, that is an attainable goal! It is a perfect way to detox, and trick myself into compliance. It's easy to go around the candy bowl at work when I can say to myself- not this month! I'm not eating sugar right now.

Then, next month, I can do it again. And again. Until I am back in the swing and can write on here how amazing I feel not eating crap.

I was prompted to jump back on due to the fact that I got sick again. When I am not eating sugar, I never get ill. Now I've been battling a lingering cold/ crud for weeks and I'm disappointed. Not only that but I gained some weight, feel terrible, achy, and so on. How shameful, since I know the prevention and the cure! Old habits truly die hard, and people where I live are very unforgiving of those living an alternative lifestyle... very suspicious of those who do not eat the All American Diet. Many of the people around me are overweight. It's an epidemic in this country, as we all know! I want no part of the modern diseases our diet has caused us. Time once again to stop.

Fasting for the New Year

I'm sure many of you have been battling the endless battle of Holiday Crap. Aunt Sally's Death by Chocolate... Granny P's devastating peanut brittle... the list goes on and on. The candy jar at work. The endless thank you presents from clients- cookies, chocolates, you name it. Ugh. You gain weight, crash and get cranky just by looking at the stuff.

It's a tough battle to say no all the time, especially to well-meaning family members who get such joy out of feeding others. Or with co-workers who secretly get pleasure out of sabotaging your diet... you know who I mean. It's cruel! Just cruel!

Anyway take a deep breath, the new year is here and there isn't another stuff your face holiday for a while.

I am fasting to celebrate the new year, as a way to re-start my body and mind back into the health I adore so much. Cleansing is good practice, and not a bad idea to do a few times a year, or more if you stress a lot. Giving your body a break from all the things you put into it makes good sense.

The fast I am doing does not involve complete food deprivation. I cannot do that, I've tried. It makes me crazy. Instead, I am doing a fruit fast for two days (today is day two) and then an Ayurvedic type fast for another two days. (I got it from the "Eat, Taste and Heal" book, look it up, it's rad). Basically, I figured out what would work best for my body- deprivation not being the answer- and I'm sticking to it.

Two days of raw fruits (and some dried), pretty much whatever is appealing and fresh. I have been enjoying pineapple, pears, apples, mangoes, kiwi, pomegranates, bananas, dates and figs. Even dried papaya. It's been wonderful. I feel calm and clean right now, brighter. Out of respect for my body I am not doing the strenuous workouts I normally do, but am taking it easy with yoga only.

The next two days will be eating only rice and mung beans, called Kitchari. I am not cooking the beans as it is called for however; I sprouted them to get the most nutrition out of the beans. Sprouted beans are incredible. So much energy and enzymes! I mean, when a bean is sprouting you are getting all that vigorous "life! life!" energy out of them, fantastic. I was mostly raw all summer and lived on sprouted beans and grains. (This practice is tougher in winter when I want desperately to be warm, and eat warm, all the time.)

The purpose of the cleansing and the fast is to abstain completely from caffeine, additives, preservatives, toxins, white sugar, flour, etc. Just simple foods that are easy for the body to digest and process. Yes, fruit is high in sugar, and not ideal for long term fasts. I seem to be doing ok on this front though, luckily.

On day 5 when regular food is to be introduced, it is done slowly; adding simple soups, steamed veggies, and whole grains, a little at a time with each meal. I may even do some raw fish on day 6 I think.

I encourage everyone to cleanse every now and then. You have to pick the one that is right for you, and if you have physical issues make sure your doctor knows. There is nothing worse than causing damage when you only mean good!

Good luck in the sugar battle, and happy new year!

Allergies and processed foods

This topic is a can of worms... or worse, Pandora's Box. I have a few things to address on this issue.

The first is a commentary on my own new allergies. I have never been allergic to anything, that I know of. Now, it is apparent that I cannot eat any fake-chemical sugars, and I have a sad, sad feeling that Stevia is becoming something of an issue as well.

A few years ago, when I began my effort to kick sugar, I found some "sugar free" candy by Hershey's. It was a small bag of Peppermint Patties... and I ate them all! Oh, how I paid and paid. My belly swelled up as big and tight as could be. I suffered the most terrible colic pains... horrible, horrible belly ache that made me feel so awful. I lay on the bed in agony until I started tooting it out, and it took hours to get real relief.

After that, I slowly tried other "fakes" and discovered, one by one, that I have the same disasterous symptoms. I didn't really want to be eating them anyway since I don't believe we truly know their effect on our bodies (or water systems, when we pee them out) long term... rumors of cancer and so forth make me hesitate. Still, I hated how I felt when I crashed from sugar so from time to time I tried some things. And now I know I cannot ever eat fake sugars. In any form.

Even now, after using Stevia for a few years, I am starting to discover that it too makes me a little gassy. Not nearly as colicky as the others, but that is how it starts; a little reaction, and then, boom! On to full blown allergy. Damn. I have also noticed how terrible I feel when eating super processed foods too... after eating raw all summer (easy due to so many farmer's markets!) I can see the difference, eating a winter diet of cooked foods. I don't feel well, and gained a little weight... isn't it sad! My body only wants the best of the best to be completely happy. So sensitive!

Which brings me to another point. Allergies. I feel people are suffering from these more now than ever before. Is it because of environmental causes, pollution and lawn chemicals and too many other types of crap in our air and water? Or is it because children aren't playing outside and eating dirt, rolling around with dogs, like they used to? Another favorite theory of mine is diet. Too much sugar weakens your immune system, and processed foods as well... how would we all feel if it just wasn't available, if all you had to eat was good whole foods?

Sometimes I wish that junk food wasn't so readily available. My life would certainly be better, without the endless battle of sugar and all that. Especially now that I am learning that my body simply does not like anything that isn't straight from this earth, direct.

Raw and Sugar Free

Ahh, the neglect! I have neglected this poor old blog as my life has become very full and busy. What's new? Well, I have this very summer become inspired to further enhance my nutrition by experimenting with eating more raw/ vegan, and especially local foods. This has been a fantastic experiement, and easy to do with the summer being so abundant with fruits and veggies. I've found that I have more energy, feel even better than before!

What has been modified, then? I don't cook. I have a few wonderful Raw transition books and have been experimenting with a dehydrator to make sprouted "bread" and "cookies". In fact, I have been sprouting quite a lot which is becoming my favorite way to eat legumes and grains. It's amazing! All the while I am still eating things that make me happy, such as ice cream, but I am using recipes from a book called Vice Creams, which are based on almond milks or coconut meat.

It hasn't been easy. It's never easy to change your mindset. The main reason I am doing this is to consume less packaging, waste less resources. Eating raw means less processing, which is better for your body and the environment- eating foods with intact enzymes means more is available nutritionally for your body. Less packaging means less petroleum used, and we all know that this idea can only be for the good of our planet (and our society!)

You have to be careful when eating this way to be balanced and to eat a well rounded diet, lots of sprouted beans and grains for complete proteins. Adult humans do not need nearly the protein we advocate for ourselves (via the beef council); in fact only 10% for a normal adult or MAYBE 20-30% for a body builder. The rest should be balanced... none of this crazy "carb fear" or any of that bunk. Keep the sugar out, eat your grains and veggies, fruits and legumes and relax! I look great and feel even better.

I'm back!

I'm back in town, just got a new apartment... looking forward to refurnishing my kitchen. My dear friend Anna is getting me a new ice cream maker; last summer when we shared a place doing research together, I made lots and lots of Stevia ice cream that she enjoyed greatly. So now when I make ice cream I can think fondly of her (and invite her over to eat as much as she likes!)

Things are looking up. It was tough, traveling and living out of my car, finding things to eat that worked well with me to keep my energy up. I even had to stoop to using a microwave to make nut butter cups while I was on my various externships. Hey, whatever works. What a giant relief to have a home base, a place to work from again.

The challenge now is restoring my kitchen. I am not going to have nearly what I did before, but that's ok. I bake less since giving up sugar, so some of it I don't need. Good thing! There's no oven where I live now, just a stove top. I know I eat a lot of flour, so it isn't a bad thing to adjust to. I baked maybe 4 times a year anyway- mostly in the fall and winter; and I have friends with ovens...

So. I'm back, and cookbook-less, and so I will become more creative in my endeavors. I hope you will continue to be inspired, there's more to come!

Changes

Dear friends,
My life has taken some sad crazy changes lately and I have been working pretty hard to maintain an even keel. The house I was living in burned down 3 weeks ago, taking all I owned (except for a few pieces of jewelry) with it. It has been a surreal and pretty unimaginable few weeks, full of changes and challenges. The amount of support and outpouring of love and help has been incredible, and I can stand before you now saying yes, I'm ok, I'm surviving. My kitties did not. None of what I have worked my whole life to build has survived. When you come from nothing and build from nothing, it hurts to lose it all.

So three weeks later, I am traveling on my externships in my last year of veterinary school and am faced with a spectacular set of issues. Not only am I adjusting to living with an entirely new wardrobe and set of belongings (only, by choice and design, the bare minimum of what I require to get by!) but I am also meeting a lot of new people and traveling to unfamiliar places AND trying to maintain the lifestyle I have crafted for myself. Including eating well despite stress, strife and unfamiliar environments.

The first three weeks after the fire were pretty easy. I simply did not want to eat. For the first time in my life I experienced grief anorexia. I have never ever had a problem eating before. Never. When stress rolls along, I would usually seek comfort and be in danger of relapsing to my old sugar habits. Well, folks, surprise surprise... three weeks in unfamiliar digs, totally displaced, out of sorts, sleep deprived... I was barely getting what calories I needed and not even noticing.

That has come to ease of late but I am faced with the new challenge of living in a hotel that has fridges, just not one in my room. So I am adjusting to eating in a whole new way, still sticking to my guns of not eating sugar- tempted though I may be by the ease of prepared foods. And free hotel breakfast (I allow you to guess what that might entail). Not to mention life on the road with busy horse vets. Yeah- recipe for disaster, but I'm doing ok. My appetite is returning, and I am starting to wonder what the hell I'm going to eat for the next 10 weeks, while surviving in the way I know best.

I'm sleep deprived. I'm not getting enough veggies. I have no place to put them! I don't have the money to eat out all the time... so peanut butter and fruit spread are my options. Now, fruit spread is not ideal, I know- it's pretty much sugar, but I do get the 100% fruit kind and use very little. I am at a loss. No way to cook, nothing to really cook in. Bought a camp stove and fancy camp pot (and this neato swiss army fork/spoon thingie, wowie!) I am making do with having nothing except my car and the kindness of strangers.

So. Traveling... no sugar... this is not so much a challenge here, but I imagine the deeper south I go the more interesting it will get. We shall see, that's what I know.