My Secret Garden.....A Healthy Gut

I have been fasting this week…so not much in the way of cooking right now (except making loads of sourdough breads!) however I have been doing lots of thinking about food (what else is new?) and pondering some revamped recipes for our upcoming Mid Summer feast.

In case you have not been checking the calendar this Friday at 5:04am in Ireland is the summer solstice…the longest day of summer and a great reason to have a feast! It is also the full moon within a couple of days and is quite a magical time for us all.

We have been planning our menu over this past week or so….but this time it keeps wavering. No one is really set on exactly what they would like to have – just food and lots of it! LOL

Perhaps it’s because we have not done any really long fasts this time around – just many little ones for less then 5 days or so. Or maybe there is something else at work here….

Remember how I have been mentioning that our guts have reset, changed, altered and the internal landscape is now a completely different place? (Since our mother of all cleanses in March) Well…just maybe this has everything to do with what is taking place on the table right now, so to speak.

Our menu is changing because the gut bacteria and other internal intestinal organisms have done a complete shift – they are growing and in place now. I think of it in terms of my ‘new’ internal mother culture – only this one works with me, loves me, heals and uplifts me.

Whereas before (like for the rest of my entire life) these organisms were either not present or not in significant numbers to influence me in entirely positive, healthful ways. And most importantly – what was in place was not working with me and certainly not for my benefit.

I finally feel as if I have my gut sorted – the ground-work has been laid and my inner garden is growing. Now….the most difficult task ahead of me is to decide what to have on each of these feast days!

April

Healing Candida - Get Your Life Back in Your Gut

Over these past few weeks I have been fasting off and on – but on my food days I am eating a lot of fresh greens and produce from my garden.  It has been more then 2 months now since I decided to eat mostly wild harvested vegetables….

And for the most part we have succeeded in doing just that. Actually, last week I got a few vegetables for our upcoming Summer Solstice celebrations and this was the first sweet potato I have bought in months.

I then spent the weekend preparing some foods ahead of time for later this week – I have goat meat marinating in a lemon/thyme/brine sauce and have made the mustards, sweet breads and some cheese.

This week I want to finish up with everything so I can just sit back and enjoy my day when it comes. Hopefully we will get a bit of that sunshine back as well- we sure need it after all this rain!

One thing I wanted to mention here is how much my diet has changed over these past nearly 3 months since I did the mother of all cleanses (30 days on water and herbal teas). I knew then, when we finished it that something big had shifted and it has…

Since that time I am eating a wider range of foods including many things I haven’t had in well over a decade and longer. Because I had ‘candida’ or some type of IBS – my gut had become overly sensitized to nearly everything.

For those of you who have been through this over a long period of time….we make changes to our diets, cutting out certain foods and then entire food groups….but in the long term – the gut doesn’t heal.

It just becomes more sensitive to the new diet changes – and then we need to change it again. It was a never ending cycle for me and I wanted off. So what I did, as many of you know is start incorporating fasting into my lifestyle….

And the rest is now history. Over these past 3 years I have taken my gut back to zero and hit some sort of a reset button. The 'candida' (and all that went along with it) is no longer an issue – I am feeling better and digesting my food properly, I am drawn to new foods and have expanded my diet considerably.

I am eating many of the things I never thought I would eat again – mushrooms, cows cheese (organic), wheat and rye flours, yeasted breads (wild fermentation), muscadavo cane sugar, apple cider…..

It’s as if my mind, body and soul have released the ‘fear’ along with the toxins – cleared out the old lining of my gut (that clearly did not work, like, ever!), some of the old nasty bacteria, viruses and candida died off – and I started over.

It has been quite a journey….but, I feel I am only now starting to really discover what it means to live. Perhaps because for the first time I have ‘life’ deep inside of my gut – and I know it wasn’t there before!

I am living proof you can overcome candida, IBS, chronic fatigue, cancer - healing, shifting and taking your life back....and all without drugs, supplements, treatments - just clean water and real food for me please!

April

Gosling with extra security!!

Fasting Has Changed My Life...I Now Have One!

Today is a fast day for me, tomorrow will be a normal food day….in a few days (Summer Solstice) there will be a couple days of feasting. Each week and every day brings something different to the table….

Because I am eating this way, I look forward to my food like never before. Even a bowl of porridge takes on a new meaning when you are truly hungry – and I fill up faster. I am satisfied after eating less.

My stomach empties out on the fast days (I usually just drink water and herbal teas), providing extra energy for detox, repair and rebuilding reserves. I work out as usual – feeling better and more myself –perhaps because I can actually ‘feel’….

My digestive system isn’t stuffed with food (all the time) – it’s a cycle of eating that has brought me back to myself in so many ways; old and new. I have discovered there is a spiritual element to eating that I never even knew existed….

Oh and the feast days! When following the Celtic or Pagan Calendar there are many feasts throughout the year. When you add in birthdays and a couple of other celebrations…there is something to plan for every few weeks.

Right now we are gearing up for the Summer Solstice or Midsummer as we know it here. This is a BIG deal for us and we have been planning our menu for weeks. Of course everyone wants a BBQ – so we are hoping the weather will cooperate too!

Fasting before a feast is not an issue at all…in fact – I think I have moved beyond my food ‘issues’ because I have permission to eat what I want, when I want it and as much as I want, during our feasts.

Of course, I’m not going to eat rubbish on my feast days either; my cleaned out digestive system enjoys organic, natural, wholesome, homemade, unprocessed and wild harvested food.

Anything I can raise, grow, make from scratch or dig up – is on the menu!

It’s hard to hang onto thoughts of deprivation when you have 3 or 4 days of non-stop cooking, baking and eating to look forward to. Once the feast is winding down I am more then happy to return to a fast day and normal eating, mostly because I am tired of all that food. LOL

Fasting has become an easy ‘out’ for me. On these days I get a breather…time to think, do some things I keep putting off – be creative and savour the feeling of a day off from eating and watch (feel) my body get stronger.

Since I started eating this way (food, fast and feast) I sleep more soundly, I wake earlier, I am less obsessed with food or eating. I think about food all the time (it’s what I do) however, those thoughts are on a far healthier level.

I am slimmer now and find it far easier to maintain a normal body weight. I work out nearly every day in some capacity (free weights, walking, Yoga etc.) – short term, intermittent fasting even enhances physical activity.

On my food days, I am the one ‘in control’ of how much I eat and when to stop. I find eating earlier in the day might be nice one day…or a big meal after a fasted workout is great too.

Everywhere I go people mention to me how healthy I look. I don’t feel tired, I have more then enough energy to do what I want to do and I feel younger then my years.

Actually…it’s far easier to take care of myself because I am eating this way then ever before. Life has found a gentle rhythm bringing my body into balance is, and I have found all this, by following a natural cycle of eating.

April

The Pagan Diet

Best Probiotic Ever - Homemade Goat's Yogurt

So you think you are in control? Have you always felt like this or is this something new? Perhaps….just maybe – this control can be taken back (in your life, in your gut, in your mind) and it’s easier then you might think.

I happen to know – we are far less in control of our lives then we previously thought (ask me how I know). There are bacteria, viruses, yeasts, fungi and whatever, deep within our guts – some of which wield great power.

It’s a bit like a continuous battle in there. Everyone is fighting for the top spot, so there are winners and there are losers. However, much of the time, for most of us – this is a complete waste of energy, because those who are doing the fighting are not worth keeping around.

When our guts are full of non-beneficial bacteria (those who feed themselves, but really don’t care for you), we are on the losing end and the bottom of the food chain. I mean, all it takes is a small number of ‘bullies’ to set up a factory farm for themselves….

What we need to do is tip that balance back in our favour…fill our digestive tract with the good guys (bacteria, yeasts and organisms who work with you) in order to create a state of health.

Personally I don’t believe supplements or probiotics help the situation. They are not a food group for me (I only want real food) so, I leave them out of my diet. The best way to bring back the gut is to clean it out, detox and then re-populate….

For the vast majority of us, our internal gut flora was never set up from birth. Our guts were not populated with sufficient numbers of healthy and beneficial organisms. But, even if they were – one round of antibiotics and you might be back at square one.

Fasting changed all of that for me (yep! Reset, repopulated and rebuilt the lining of my gut) and now for the first time ever, I am aware of the inner workings of my gut and ‘who’ is in charge.

Central command has completely shifted to the good guys (how do I know? Things have started moving ahead again in my life, I am ‘living’ again) – one thing I am eating lots of to help this process along is my own special (well, I think it’s special) goat’s yogurt.

Over these past few weeks I have been growing and developing my own bacterial culture for my goat’s yogurt and have been enjoying it in nearly everything from a sweet dessert to my latest warm weather treat of tzatziki.

To make this dish, I strain the yogurt for a couple of hours to take some of the whey off. Then with the thicker yogurt, I add in 1 full grated and strained cucumber (the key here is to strain some of the liquid off).

Next I crush 3 cloves of garlic into the yogurt mixture and add salt and pepper to taste. If this gets a chance to sit for an hour or two (I like it cold) it tastes even better.

Tzatziki is nice with served with roasted lamb (or BBQ), on fresh herbed bread or as a dip for your crisp summer vegetables. And any yogurt based dish tastes so much better when you make it yourself!

April

Homemade tzatziki

Nature - An Endless Buffet is Summer

These last couple of days were spent fasting….after all the rich food on the weekend, I needed the break and a little breather from eating! Not to say that food has been far from my mind however.

I have carried on with my yogurt making (after so many years of not eating it!) I now have a jar in the house each week. And I am loving it. Perhaps I am just very late getting into the many health benefits of eating yogurt but…

Some of which are - it's easier to digest, it is know to promote energy production, is a natural anti-inflammatory, contains selenium, helps in the absorption of minerals....and it tastes good. 

The one thing I do know is that nothing compares to making your own yogurt and especially the stuff made from raw goat’s milk. This is seriously good food. I can sense it ‘changing’ my internal workings (gut health) after I eat it.

And, I must say, I love experimenting with it even more. In a way it’s a bit like the cheese making – only with yogurt there is less to do. However, today I did let some of my yogurt thicken into curds and whey and then I strained out the whey…

Of course I ended up with the nicest creamed goat’s cheese I have ever eaten, which was even nicer after I stirred in some fresh thyme from the garden and a little sea salt. It was a nice way to break my fast.

Besides my new adventures into making yogurt, I have also been playing around with my Butterfly Juice – adding in different flavours to see what we like and to create some new and different tastes.

Over the weekend I made my juices using the same basic ingredients of nettles and dandelions but also leftover juice from cooked mixed berries, some juice from carmelised apples and cinnamon and banana.

It was the most delicious juice weekend we have had so far – everyone loved it and there was still the same energy buzz from the concentrated nettles that we get with my regular Butterfly Juice.

Ah…nature – an endless buffet is summer! 

April

Goats in the field

So….you want to lose weight? Well…you’ve got to change your mind first!

Over these years (and years) of thinking about weight issues, studying nutrition, food, body image and diets….I have met many people who are unhappy with their weight. And I was often amongst them.

Then, I changed my lifestyle and my diet…a few years later I started incorporating fasting into my regimen as well and the rest is history. Or is it?

Since then I have found my biggest struggle is still with these patterns, habits and tendencies – that all exist in my mind! Our minds really are the majority when it comes to overcoming any negative patterns in an effort to create new ones.

Of course, as a Clinical Nutritionist, I also know that each cell in my body contributes to my overall mind (mood, emotions, intuition, thoughts etc.). Everything works together inside and outside – with each system and function forwarding something towards the whole being….

My gut is as much involved with creating my thoughts as my brain is. And this includes what I think about my body, my food – and especially 'what I am thinking (about my body/food) when I am eating it'.

Fasting has allowed me to explore my mind (through my body) in a new and realistic way. By going into these new places and spaces, I have found and made the deeper connections to weight, body image, eating and food.

If I have found out anything over these past few years….it’s this; to lose weight permanently, you have to re-build your mind from the inside out. This entails diet changes (food, fast and feast), exercise, emotional work (getting at the patterns) and for me, making the important spiritual connections with the food I eat.

Not one part of this is complicated, in fact having food days, fasting days and feast days has made my life so much simpler and easy to manage. It also allows me to have control over my mind (approach to food) in a new way.

Changing your mind about food involves eating the foods that assist in this process as well….we need to choose (and make) food that not only nourish our bodies, but also help to reset our body metabolism.

I have found many of these to be fermented foods as well as quality proteins…and for me, my diet consists of homemade, home grown, free range, wild harvested and organic produce as much as possible.

You are so much more then what you eat….you are the energy of the food you eat. Change that energy to something better (raise the vibration) and you do the same with your body and your mind.

April

 

A Heavenly Treat....Homemade Apple & Cinnamon Goats Yogurt

I tried my hand at making my own yogurt this past week and it turned out fairly well….of course it’s goats yogurt, which I think is superior in both taste and nutrition – and it’s so easy to work with.

To be honest with you, we spent so many years as vegans and vegetarians, that even now with our own goats I often forget about milk and we almost never eat yogurt…

I make a little cheese each week with our milk and the rest is used for dandelion coffee at the weekends. That’s about it for the milk – of course the children have about a tablespoon in their porridge in the morning.

However, whenever I read up on the fine art of cheese making I always came across advice and recipes for yogurt….

So, I thought I might as well learn how to do this as well! What I did though to make the first batch easier and to try to learn how our milk would respond to a yogurt culture – is buy a goats yogurt and use this to ‘seed’ another batch using our own milk.

First of all, I am using raw milk which has it’s own bacteria and life process taking place. I have found I am learning more about how our milk responds to being processed into cheese every time I make it….(the cultures and rennet).

And I only have small amounts of milk to play with each day, so I have to pay careful attention to what I am doing if I want to learn anything here. LOL

I used about a litre of milk, which I warmed to room temperature. Then taking 1 generous tablespoon of the purchased yogurt, I stirred a little into some of my milk. This was then poured into entire jar and shaken very well.

I didn’t want to sit around and stir, heat or otherwise stand over a pot ‘cooking’ something that, to me, should be a natural process. Yet, I knew the milk now needed heat in order to curdle into yogurt (grow the mesophilic bacteria).

So, to provide a relatively steady supply of gentle heat, I placed the jar into a small bowl and filled the bowl with hot water. This was replaced every few hours and the jar contents were swirled around or gently agitated.

It was starting to thicken after a few hours…then it was left overnight (in the oven to act as an insulator) while the next morning another bowl of hot water was filled.

Pretty soon I had yogurt. No real fuss. Nothing fancy and virtually no equipment was needed. When I think about it….this is gentle food at it’s finest. Homemade yogurt is a little thinner then the shop bought stuff….but the taste is very nice!

For our yogurt treat, I stewed apples and cinnamon and mixed this into the yogurt….heavenly!

April

Apple & Cinnamon Goats Yogurt