Italian sausage soup

Italian Sausage Braising in Beer by wickenden, on Flickr

I've not been posting here for two reasons; first, I'm no longer on GAPS, except in the sense that transitioning off GAPS is a move towards regular Traditional Food. And second, I've just been busy and distracted.

However, I made up a batch of Italian sausage soup today, and thought it was worth sharing the recipe since it is legal on full GAPS, assuming you use a legal Italian sausage.

Alternatively, you can mix up a legal sausage yourself. Sweet or mild Italian sausage is ground pork, fennel and salt and pepper. If your pork is lean, you could fry this up in lard or coconut oil. If you prefer hot Italian sausage, it's the same ingredients with some crushed red pepper added.

The soup itself is adapted from a recipe I originally got off the alt.support.diet.low-carb Usenet group many years ago. Basically, it is cooking several pounds of vegetables in such a manner that it all is flavored yummily with Italian sausage. It's been one of my absolute favorites for years.

thoughts on diabetes prevention

Diabetes: Protect our Future,
by International Diabetes Foundation

November 14 is World Diabetes Day.

The overall theme for the years 2009-2013 is "Diabetes Education and Prevention" with this year's slogan being "Diabetes: Protect our Future."

diabetes education

I see no point in educating directly, as I know of two outstanding sources.

Jennifer's advice to the newly diagnosed

If you only read one page about blood glucose control, this should be it, even if you are not yet diabetic. Jennifer discusses how to use a blood glucose meter to learn about managing your bG.

Blood Sugar 101

If you want to learn about diabetes and controlling blood glucose, but don't want to get a biochemistry degree, Jenny Ruhl's site is for you as she translates what is known for laymen very comprehensively.

diabetes prevention

stage 3/4/5 update: crash & burn

Crash by Images by John 'K', on Flickr

This is a bit of a long story; the summary is I had a major adrenal crash, likely due to too much detoxing, and thus temporarily ceased GAPS. Up until the crash, I was enjoying the food just fine, and my deterioration was gradual and didn't seem extreme, so I just puttered my way through stages 3, 4 and 5 until BOOM!

stage 3 food

Stage 3 adds avocados, pancakes made from nut butter, eggs & squash, scrambled eggs and fermented vegetables.

I added avocado with enthusiasm, as it's a favorite.

I will write another post about prepping nut butters and meals later, but I wasn't crazy about the pancakes overall and only did them a few times.

I was quite pleased to add the fermented veggies as opposed to just the juice.

I didn't care about scrambled eggs. I was so incredibly enthusiastic about soft-boiled eggs! I haven't had them since childhood, and was just loving the heck out of them. I have my method perfected, so the white is cooked entirely through, just the outside of the yolk is slightly cooked, and the rest is completely yummy. So I wasn't very interested in scrambled eggs, nor the GAPS-pancakes as I just wanted soft-boiled eggs.

My other fond childhood food that came back was yogurt & honey. As an adult, I mix plain yogurt with fruit and usually a bit of sugar-free DaVinci syrup of one flavor or another. The DaVinci syrups, being entirely chemical and having no food value whatsoever are completely illegal on GAPS. And at this stage, fruit remains illegal too. But just a cup of plain yogurt, mixed with a tablespoon of raw honey, is utterly scrumptious. Maybe a lot of this is due to the whole childhood memory thing, but this became my go-to snack in stage 3.

I enjoyed a pumpkin custard a great deal during this stage also.

Stage 3 recipes will be posted shortly.

my adrenal history

Vertical section of kidney,
from Grey's Anatomy,
on Wikimedia

This is an image from Grey's Anatomy showing a sliced kidney; the adrenal glands sit on top of each kidney. So if you've ever had a kidney infection, that spot in your mid-lower back where you felt pain is pretty close to where your adrenals are located.

When I had adrenal issues, I drove the moderators of the Adrenals Yahoo! group half nuts with my demands for explanations for every recommendation they made. Val was pretty patient about providing me references when she had time, but one thing it never occurred to me to ask was why she said people should not try to do any sort of detox while healing their adrenals; she just said detox was hard on adrenals. Since I had absolutely no plans to do any detoxing at that time, I never asked, and don't have references. I will likely look them up at some later time, but for the purpose of this post, I am just accepting this as a very true statement.

This will be a very long post as I need to cover my previous health history, which is a bit of a long story.

But before I begin with that, I need to point out that I am not a doctor of any sort. The labcoat on my avatar is because I used to be a biochemist. Furthermore, you ought not take avatars seriously anyways, even if I add a stethoscope! ;)

crockpot carnitas

uruapan carnitas by goodiesfirst, on Flickr

During stage 4, I had carnitas, sliced avocado and sauerkraut for dinner.

This recipe does most of the cooking in the crockpot, but you do have to broil a bit at the end to get that characteristic crunchiness.

crockpot pulled pork and turmeric green beans

Pulled pork by beardenb, on Flickr

This was my dinner for stage 2. I had a 10 lb pork shoulder in the freezer, and since GAPS is all about fatty meats, it seemed like the thing to do. However, stage 2 only allows stewed meats, so I saved the other half to make carnitas for stage 4.

This recipe is time-consuming since you both brine and then crockpot the pork, but requires very little hands-on time.

egg drop chicken soup

Stracciatella alla romana by Sifu Renka, on Flickr

Of course, eggs and soup being stage 2 foods, my mind immediately went to egg drop soup. But this is NOT your takeout type egg drop soup! It's thick and full of meat.

stage 2 was foggy

Fog by Rickydavid, on Flickr

detox

brain fog

As I write this, I am currently in stage 4. I had a lot of brain fog throughout stage 2 & 3, so while I kept a few notes to remember what was going on, I really wasn't up to writing updates, or doing much of anything.

To my mind, the big question is... what is the difference between a detox reaction and a food intolerance and how do I know which I'm experiencing.

I've always been a bit suspicious about detox reactions. On the one hand, I completely understand that the Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction actually exists and is real and documented.

On the other hand, it seems like every type of snake oil out there claims all the good effects are due to the snake oil and the bad effects to Herxheimer reactions. This strikes me as very convenient for those who sell snake oil.

In the GAPS book, Dr. Campbell-McBride makes it clear that both detox reactions and new food intolerances can occur, and in either case, she feels you should back off on the changes that brought on the reaction and go slower. She believes detox should be done slowly and gradually so as to minimize symptoms.

Cara, author of the What Can I Eat Now? 30 Days on GAPS Intro Handbook, has an article on her blog What is a Healing Crisis? in which she discusses the difference between a healing crisis (detox) and a reaction (food intolerance).

ginger squash soup

Butternut Squash Soup! by prideandvegudice, on Flickr

Technically, this is a stage 1 food, but I decided this soup, along with a couple soft-boiled eggs, would be my breakfast for stage 2.

One of the advantages of posting to blog carnivals as I've been doing lately is that I am exposed to so many new blogs. And I've screened them all for you to bring you the best of the best! This month, many of them are science-oriented, but I also found a few awesome recipes & other tidbits.

Crockpot Pumpkin Custard for Fall (GAPS Legal)

Cara, author of the 30 Days on GAPS Intro ebook, What Can I Eat Now?, has an utterly scrumptious and easy pumpkin custard recipe for the crockpot. Given that I am currently drowning in neck pumpkins, I need great pumpkin recipes. Thanks Cara!

Stage 1 meatball soup

Meatballs for Soup by Helga's Lobster Stew, on Flickr

Unlike the other stage 1 recipes, I expect this one may have to be shared with my non-GAPs hubby.

This one is a bit lower-carb than I'd like, but hits the calorie mark well.

I survived stage 1

Green Eggs and Ham
book cover, from Wikipedia

I like ginger. I use piles of fresh ginger in stir fries and other dishes; I like dried ginger in gingerbread, I like ginger ale, I like candied ginger. So I thought I'd love ginger tea. I tried it hot, I tried it cold, I tried it diluted. I do not like ginger tea.

I do not like it, Dee-I-be.
I do not like this ginger tea.

I could not, would not, on a boat.
I will not, will not, with a goat.
I will not drink it in the rain.
I will not drink it on a train.
Not in the dark! Not in a tree!
Not in a car! You let me be!
I do not like it in a box.
I do not like it with a fox.
I will not drink it in a house.
I do not like it with a mouse.
I do not like it here or there.
I do not like it ANYWHERE!

<Forrest Gump voice> That's all I have to say about that. </Forrest Gump voice>

Stage 1 Chicken Soup

slow food: slow roast chicken dinner
by ebbandflo_pomomama, on Flickr

I've decided that since I have been successful at "hiding" organ meats in the broth I use to make my turkey stuffing for years, that I'd try to "hide" some liver in this soup.

Thus I begin by making chicken liver cubes before starting the soup.

vintage post: boeuf bourguignon

The point of "vintage" posts is to highlight older posts than in my monthly favorite post feature.

I don't want to ignore really kewl stuff just cause it was posted before I began blogging!

But this is REALLY vintage, in that it is from a time before blogging... before the Internet... before BBSs... before home PCs... before even electronic calculators...

It's ALMOST before me, as I was a year old when the show started, from a time when food shows were live with mistakes and all and actually intended to teach the viewer to cook. Before there were any foodies, there was Julia Child.

status as I start GAPS

Insulin by Sprogz, on Flickr

I didn't realize it was this close and I hadn't yet gotten my current status up here. IME, this is the sort of thing that is VERY easy to lose track of if you don't write it down at the time.

I am currently controlling my bG with metformin, a MDI regimen of Lantus and Novolog, controlling the side effects of the insulin with K-dur, supporting my liver with silymarin, taking FiveLac as my probiotic, and treating my heart disease with Niaspan, CoEnzymeQ10 and fish oil.

patronizing scientists - part 2

Right 2Know March (GMO Labeling) by Daquella manera, on Flickr

These people aren't clever enough to know what kind of food they want to eat.

This is the "scientific" reason why we don't want to label GMOs, because these people don't know what's best for them. We don't want to start a consumer panic, where people decide not to eat GMOs by mistake!

Funny, it looks to me like they have an opinion!

In patronizing scientists - part 1, I covered how those of us who do completely understand the pros and cons of recombinant DNA can still be opposed to GMOs.

In this part, I'm just going to explain how lazy these scientists are.

Stage 1 Chuck Roast

Slow-Cooker Pot Roast: 3lb Beef Chuck
Roast by I Believe I Can Fry, on Flickr

Stage 1 is pretty much broth, boiled meat and boiled vegetables.

While I don't know how long I'll need to be on stage 1, my meal plans are done a week at a time, as I need the assistance of my HHA to shop and cook. So I'm committed to at least a week.

So I have several large recipes planned for stage 1 and this 6-serving pot roast is the first.

ginger tea & lemonade

Ginger Tea and Honey by dj345, on Flickr

Stage 1 GAPS requires both ginger tea and water with lemon (what the rest of us call lemonade!)

The only allowed sweeteners are raw honey and unrefined green stevia powder (Dr. Campbell-McBride is suspicious of the white refined powder).

As it happens, I have lots of dehydrated stevia from my garden, so that's covered, though it's available to buy when I run out. I have both raw honey (from my farmer's market) and a big pile of lemons (from a grocery sale) on hand. I will be picking up and pregrinding a bunch of fresh ginger root next week, though might move to dehydrated depending on how annoying this chore becomes.

And I have tea balls, though I originally got them for making bouquet garni in recipes calling for whole herbs.

All the recipes following are for 2 quarts, which I am considering 2 servings as I fill up my water bottle as few times as possible.

planning for stage 1

I have set my start date for stage 1 at September 17, 2012.

some concerns

I have several concerns about GAPS stage 1.

First is that in my wanderings around the web and specifically the blogosphere, I have seen a few folks who didn't do well on GAPS. The thing they seem to have in common is going too low-carb, which is something difficult to avoid.

I consider 100 g carbohydrate daily a decent amount, my ideal diabetic diet is 20 g at breakfast and 40 g at lunch and dinner. However, until stage 5 when fruit is added, attaining that much carbohydrate daily will be difficult.

I've planned my recipes to use the carbiest vegetables: all the alliums, English peas, carrots, rutabagas and of course, that GAPS mainstay, winter squash and pumpkin.

patronizing scientists - part 1

Recombinant DNA, by Tinastella, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the things that pisses me off about all this opposition to proposition 37 is the notion that real scientists are opposed to GMO labeling because regular people don't understand about genetically-modified organisms. Basically, we shouldn't label because people are too stupid to judge for themselves whether they want to eat GMO foods.

I took a course in recombinant DNA in graduate school, so I have actually made GMOs. I understand it just fine.