Sugar is such a “no no” for SIBO and post-infectious IBS (and just my gut in general), so I was desperate to figure out where I could buy chocolate without sugar, soy lecithin, sugar alcohols, etc. It was tough and I only found one website that sold chocolate made with stevia and natural oils for flavor. I love what they are trying to do but it is super expensive for what you get and it is a bit too bitter to enjoy fully.

So like many of my creations, I came to the conclusion that I would have to figure out how to make it myself. And after many trials, I have perfected a recipe that more than satisfies my chocolate cravings and doesn’t hurt my tummy. AND it even boosts my mood. Magical.

Presenting the Almond Butter Cups…

The post I’m Bringing Chocolate Back first appeared on SIBO Buzzzz.

Unlike the frothy beer I’ve had fresh from the brewery in Ireland, having this green drink can only make you drunk on life. With my stomach issues, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to ever enjoy smoothies again. But, through my experimenting with a Vitamix I now have a range of green drink concoctions that not only aid my digestion but the drinks make me look and feel better.

This is my current fave – I call it the “Choco-dile Smile”:

Hope you enjoy! And the results give you a green grin from ear to ear.

Cheers!

The post GLOWING GREEN MACHINE first appeared on SIBO Buzzzz.

You may have heard the health focused crowd talking about how good bone broth is for healing and maintaining a healthy gut. Maybe even preventing leaky gut and other maladies of the intestines. As a SIBO survivor and someone who is determined to maintain the healthiest gut possible to keep IBS and other issues at bay, I definitely tried it. Well, if you can stomach it, bone broth is just fine in the winter and sometimes it was my first food of the day, but it is way too hot for bone broth in the summer and early fall!

I only recently discovered bone broth protein powder. It is supposed to have the amino acids and a lot of the nutrients of real bone broth. Think of the possibilities – smoothies, pancakes, protein bars! The only processed foods I still crave are protein bars. I really like having something to take with me on the go with a protein boost because I do like to work out and want to maintain a good amount of muscle mass. So bone broth protein powder might be an amazing solution for a lot of things.

Please note that is processed and has some “gums” in it, unlike the vegan protein powder I bake with that doesn’t have any additives, so those with the ultra sensitive guts might not be able to tolerate it. But the vegan protein powder has pea protein and hemp protein and some people are sensitive to those, so it is really another trial and error game. But so far I love the bone bone protein powder.

My favorite recipe thus far are Banana Carrot Bars (below) that are transportable in containers and taste pretty awesome (more like cake than a solid bar).  But I am still waiting for a company to make protein bars without dairy or gluten or soy or additives or grains or sugar or pre-biotic fibers or artificial sweeteners or dates. I’ll be first in line to buy.

Banana Carrot Bone Broth Protein Bars

http://wp.me/P6bJpX-51

The post What’s new? Bone Broth Protein Powder first appeared on SIBO Buzzzz.

About a year after my diagnosis, I was doing much better because of my diet and use of supplements, yet I was still a little off. I think my slow gut motility made it easy to become constipated. I got back on the research wagon and went back to trusted sources. There are some prescription prokinetic drugs that we really powerful. You can look those up easily or ask your doctor.

I wanted to try the natural route, which is what I believe I will do with all of my SIBO treatment going forward since the harsh prescription antibiotics didn’t make for a miracle cure. And some of the prescription prokinetics have horrible side effects. No, thanks!

Instead, Iberogast popped up a few times from trusted sources. It is a European, natural prokinetic and it is supposed to help with IBS, gas and even nausea.

Well, I think it helped me! I did the four week dosage and now use it only once and awhile if I need some assistance. It is not harsh in any way. I mixed it with a small amount of water before most meals and it went down fine.

Amazon has it and so do some other online health stores. There are a few other natural remedies, but I am liking this one. Ginger is a natural prokinetic and ginger tea is something that I like to drink before eating.

May your guts be motile!

The post Prokinetics – Get Your Gut Out of the Slow-Mo Rut first appeared on SIBO Buzzzz.

In order to see if there were any clues to what was happening in the darkness of my little gut I looked at stool charts, which is totally gross. Well, at least if you are a girl. My husband probably would have loved it. I could see that I still had an bacterial imbalance and likely killed off my good bacteria.

But after going through a bacterial overgrowth and reading all of the divergent arguments out there on probiotics I was terrified to take any.  So I tried Kombucha for the first time in my life. I actually liked it a lot but I kept it to a minimum and didn’t drink it a lot. I did feel pretty good but my gut wasn’t perfect. There is a lot of contradictory stuff out there on Kombucha, too, so I am going to use it very rarely.

So what could I do to heal myself? After searching the SIBO sites early on after my diagnosis, I decided to buy some Digestive Enzymes and L-Glutamine. I’ll get into why I choose these two…

Like many people with SIBO, or what I likely now have – PI (Post-Infectious)-IBS, I have read many blogs, watched many vlogs and listened to many podcasts that have mentioned digestive enzymes. Some are selling their own brand but there really aren’t any people who have nothing to profit on saying which ones would work best during or after a SIBO.

Some even say you should eat clay (or dirt), but there are a lot of people who say that is wrong. Well, I never saw anyone who said that taking digestive enzymes for a limited time. So I looked for a long time until I found one I like and it was all natural. It even said it would help your small intestine digest foods and better absorb nutrients! It’s not cheap but what truly is when it comes to the best stuff to ingest?

I chose S.I. Assist from Body Ecology, and because I didn’t want to have a depence on them I only use digestive enzymes once daily (usually before bed) or only a few times a week when I feel like I need them. They are derived from foods and I really like them.

Then there is L-Glutamine, which I have read heals muscles, tissues and can help heal the lining of the gut. The only caution I had read was to get the daily dosing right or you could wind up constipated. Nobody wants that! I chose a brand that was free of all additives and stuff you should not eat on the SIBO specific diet.

It defintely hasn’t hurt me, so I am going to finish the bottle and see where I go from there. I will probably do the same with the digestive enzymes. Again, this is my two cents (or tweny two cents – sorry it is a bit long) on these “healers.” Make sure you do what is right for YOU!

Best of luck and digestion to all!

The post Healing the gut: Digestive Enzymes and L-Glutamine??? first appeared on SIBO Buzzzz.

I waited until my son was almost one year old and I stopped breastfeeding so that he would not get the Neomycin through my milk. My spirits were high because I thought the drugs would help me immediately feel better. I was very optimistic but I stuck to my “normal” SIBO specific diet for the most part.  A few times my stomach hurt after taking the anitbiotics, which I always took with food, but otherwise I felt the same as I had before the drugs. Actually, I felt a bit worse because I was engorged from weaning and sad that we no longer had that long, sweet time together first thing and last thing for his day.

My expectations about seeing my inflated belly bloat diminished to reveal chiseled abs were definitely not met. It felt like the bloated patch high on my stomach (small intestine) had moved south more towards the lower belly where normal water bloat would occur.  I have read that antibiotics can increase bloating because the bad bacteria as well as good bacteria are gone, so your gut is still a bit inflamed. More post infectious IBS…

Some propose probiotics to add good flora back in to the gut but I am going to proceed very, very cautiously with that. I think I may try some Kombucha that doesn’t have any sugar or additives to see if it helps the bloat. Once again, I’d rather go the natural, food route versus try probiotic pills and risk getting too many bacteria in the small intestine again.

Now a few days after finishing the course of antibiotics, I do think my brain is less foggy and I am feeling pretty strong, ready to increase my exercise regime that has been scaled way down. I think if I can rid myself of the bloat I will be A LOT happier. I will also adhere to the diet and slowly introduce some complex, gluten free carbs if I am feeling much better. It seems the next step beyond banishing the bloat is preventing SIBO from striking back. Prevention is key, so that I can avoid having a relapse!

The post Antibiotics – Round 1 first appeared on SIBO Buzzzz.

It was harder than I thought. I had been using flax milk in my tea, smoothies and in oatmeal before SIBO and never even realized it had some of the additives that you should avoid on the SIBO specific diet, especially gums and tapioca starch. Almond milk is the low FODMAP nut milk of choice for SIBO if you tolerate nuts, but most store bought almond milks – even some that are “pure” – have carrageenan and gellan gum added in low percentages. Those additives are illegal on the diet.

I found the only way to get truly pure almond milk is to go to a juicery and get cold pressed almond milk. Sometimes it is sweetened with date paste and dates are high FODMAP but that didn’t seems to bother me. Some health food stores I have visited in the UK sell milk that is just pure almonds, water and vanilla. I did find one company who sold plain unsweetened almond milk to major stores, but only in the Washington DC area. Anyone else out there who has found some in major retailers? Please let me know!

Cheers to being additive free!

The post Going Nuts Over Nut Milks first appeared on SIBO Buzzzz.

Cooking sprays are so easy to use for baking, pan roasting and grilling, and until I looked carefully at the labels, I didn’t even realize the sprays had some pretty gross additives. Soy lecithin (a big SIBO “no no”) is almost always included along with a propellant (sounds like jet fuel to me). And the cans often say “no chlorofluorocarbons,” which is nice for the ozone layer but means nothing to the inflamed lining of my intesines.

With the hope of being able to us the easy pan coating sprays dwindling, I gave one last search at Whole Foods. And to my delight found that for a slightly heftier price tag you CAN get non-stick cooking sprays without additives, propellants or chemicals. Funny how things that are better for you have to cost more…

I now love using my avocado oil spray for high heat cooking and even for salad dressings by spraying the lettuce and adding a little vinegar. And my olive oil spray works great to coat the barbecue before grilling meat or veggies.

Just wanted to pass along my latest additive free find!

The post SIBO Friendly Cooking Sprays first appeared on SIBO Buzzzz.

While I’ve always liked to cook, going out to eat pre-SIBO used to be such a pleasurable, social experience. I liked to mix it up! Alas, restaurant dining is now a scary gauntlet and it completely puts your life in someone else’s hands. I have had my dairy intolerance for so long and had always been very diligent about asking for “no butter, no cream, no milk, no cheese” but now with so many restricted foods on the SIBO diet and knowing how sick I can get, I feel like a terrible pest every time I order.

This week I had to eat at restaurants a lot due to work meetings and some social gatherings, and I had my food served wrong with the foods I asked to be removed or exchanged 4 out of 6 times. Once, the sauce that had mango and soy (both high FODMAP) was served on top of the fish and when I sent it back it was returned to me with the sauce wiped off so that you could still see the traces of it. Gross. Another time, I asked for my salad to be served with oil and red wine vinegar on the side and the top of the lettuce was dry so I thought it was safe, but then there was a lot of salad dressing at the bottom of the bowl. Ugh.

What do you do when your detailed order comes to you all wrong? You send it back and feel like the server and chef hate you. And you feel self conscious about holding up the rest of your dining party. Even if the server is sweet, you don’t often get to see the chef’s reaction and possible annoyance. I do want to note that I have talked to owners, managers and even chefs at some restaurants recently and some go out of their way to treat you and your food with the respect you deserve. Some people seemed to care less unfortunately and they have forever lost my business.

So eating out is always a roll of the dice… and a gamble we all must take or live and dine in isolation, which would suck for me. I worked to observe myself this week and how I handled everything. I was often self-depricating, overly appreciative and trying to be patient when things went wrong. So, I can offer the following tips that have helped me.

Tips to survive:

– Memorize your diet avoidance list or keep it on your phone if in doubt.

– Get the table on your side and assemble a support team! Hopefully you are dining with friends and family who might know your issues so they will be supportive of you getting your order just right. But if you have a table of co-workers or acquaintances, just try to be lighthearted and let them know that you have many food allergies and intolerances that are quite serious. I find I always make a joke of some kind before we order.

– Order first or last so that you have the server’s full attention and ask them to come closer to you if they are on the other side of the table.

– Nicely explain you have severe and complicated food allergies that can make you very sick if you eat the wrong thing. I find I always end up saying “Sorry for being a pain…”

– Make sure salads don’t have dressings on them, don’t have croutons, don’t have sugar coated nuts or dried fruit, and don’t have cheese (unless you are sure you can eat it). Most other things can be picked off easily (like onions), but the aforementioned items often leave remnants.

– Make sure to ask how meat and veggies are prepared and what if anything they are marinated or cooked in if it does not specify on the menu. There are lots of hidden sugars and starches.

– Always ask for no garlic if things are sauteed in olive oil. Minced garlic usually goes hand in hand with olive oil.

– Don’t be afraid to ask for substitutions and things that are listed as sides for other dishes.

– Order legal veggies steamed with a side of oil and red wine vinegar if you have ANY doubts that they could come back smothered in butter or garlic.

– You made it to the end of the meal! A small serving of berries without any added sugar or cream is a safe bet for dessert if everyone else is indulging so you don’t have to be left out.

Hope this information can help you stay strong and enjoy a meal out every once in a while.

The post Dining Out first appeared on SIBO Buzzzz.

Good morning! I figured the best place to start my blog is at the beginning – with my breakfast. Finding something with enough protein, fat and carbs to sustain me all morning was very important since I am working full-time and still breastfeeding. I also wanted to get some micro-nutrients in there with the macro-nutrients even if they are not being properly absorbed, so they will get passed on to my baby through breastmilk.

What is it?

– 3 whole, large egg omelette or frittata with organic baby spinach made with organic coconut oil

– 1 banana with 2-3 TBSP of organic, no salt peanut butter

– 1 cup organic Rooibos tea* with cold pressed almond milk

People might think this is an extremely boring breakfast to have everyday but I always look forward to it because it is yummy, filling and I DO NOT GET SICK from it.  Pre-SIBO me would have spaced this meal out a bit, but now I eat it all at once to allow for a digestion wave before lunch. Also, the old me would have had oatmeal with banana and not peanut butter for breakfast with my eggs.

Sometimes I mix up the veggies that go in the eggs and I might have fresh ginger tea with lemon instead of Rooibos when I have time to do that. Also, if I am in a hurry on my way to work I will eat the eggs in the car and make a protein smoothie to go with me. Then I’ll have the banana and peanut butter as an afternoon snack.

*Hot tip – I love Rooibos chai tea if you can find it. It has ginger and cardamon in it so it feels like a chai latte treat with a dash of almond milk. It is also  supposedly good for digestion. I find it is best to drink the tea before eating and not during eating to aid digestion.

My Breakfast

UPDATE: After I stopped breast feeding and my SIBO symptoms were lessened by diet and antibiotics, I found I could eat every 3-4 hours. So, I now drink some fresh ginger tea before breakfast and then eat the eggs. The banana (now with 2 tbsp almond butter) goes down the hatch about 3 1/2 hours later.

The post My Breakfast first appeared on SIBO Buzzzz.