I realized this week that this journey isnโt an easy one.
But, the wealth of information I recalled in week 2, and the amount of information I read since then, gave me a spring in my step by week 4. Simply put, my perspectives changed. I realized that I have the power to change my health and thus my life and I am going to do it!
By the end of week three, I had gone to the library and checked out 14 books, made my homemade jello, was taking a bath every other day, had cut everything out except meat, fish, shrimp, peas and soup (cow feet and goat meat), and had ordered the supplements that I used last time in addition to a few new ones.
…And I was starting to feel the difference! (with some minor setbacks here and there)
Personal experience:
To fully heal my damaged gut and recover my health, I decided to take a few things from last yearโs healing regimen, and add some new healing tools supported by research and known to heal the gut.
I realized through reading that even though I had good results from last year’s plan, the plan was not as efficient as it could have been. Therefore, I decided to come up with a new plan and tweak it as needed.
Items added to the new gut healing regimen:
1.Changed mindset:
Last year:
The biggest difference between last year and this year is my perspective.
In comparison to this year, last year seems like I was in a daze. Just moving from moment to moment trying to find something, anything that will make the pain stop and make everything go away. I was also much more impatient and did not have a bigger vision for my health.
I was struggling with the concept of being ill for the rest of my life. Basically, I was struggling with the idea that I will never be โnormalโ, I will never be like everyone else, eat whatever I want, when I want, how I want.
I will never be able to use what others use without caution, or do what others do without caution. Basically, I was feeling robbed of choices.
I have always had to be careful about everything. Things I see and hear affect my brain and mood, things I eat affect my health, things I use on my skin affect my general wellbeing etc etc. So I have always had to proceed with caution, and this fact was very difficult for me to grasp.
This year:
This year is different!
I am going for a lot more than surviving, I want to thrive!
I want to heal, and accept the definition of my healing to mean that I will have to do things differently, make my own beauty, hygiene, and cleaning products, come up with home-made recipes that are both delicious and kind to my delicate system etc. Basically, I am simply making a choice to make my life a journey of healing and to foster meaning through intentional living.
This is incredible! I love that I have come to this realization.
My body and mind have always pulled me to be better because of the limitations they set for me and rather than fighting it, I am now embracing it. This is a profound gift.
2.Soup
Last year I did not put too much focus on soup, I vaguely knew of bone broth benefits but it never occurred to me to add it into the regimen. This year I am adding two types of soup:
1.Makanyagio (Cow feet soup):
Ahhhhh yum, cow feet soup. This is a delicacy in Kenya and my mom has the best recipe. Every year on Eid days(days of celebration in the Islamic tradition), my momโs soup is heartily anticipated by everyone. Never have we had the problem of having makanyagio leftovers.
Makanyagio, literally means, “that which steps”.
So basically, we are making soup from the bones and cartilage of the feet of the cow.
The soup is extremely nutritious as it is a form of bone broth, only in addition to the bone and marrow benefits, it is also extremely gelatinous and has the full benefits of gelatin which has peptides, proteins and L-glutamine that help heal the gut.
2.Goat meat soup
Technically this can be categorized as bone broth as I make the soup from goat meat that have bones in them, remove the meat and only consume the broth.
Before starting the gluten challenge, my diet consisted of goat meat soup and rice, along with various proteins on the side (organs, fish, shrimp) as I was slowly introducing fruits and vegetables into my system. My health was not 100%, but I was getting there.
So I decided to keep this soup in my healing regimen, even though I have to cut out a lot of the ingredients I used to make the soup. (I cut out potatoes, spinach, carrots, kale, bellpeppers).
3.L-Glutamine:
L-glutamin is an amino acid that works wonders in the body and specifically in repairing a damaged gut. In leaky gut, it helps to repair the damaged mucosal membrane, and aids in the re-tightening of the open junctions that cause leaky gut.
L-glutamine naturally exists in gelatin, therefore I have plenty from makanyagio soup and the home made jello, but on days when I make goat meat broth, I add two scoops of l-glutamine powder to the soup.
4.A Good Probiotic:
When I took anti-microbials for a month to eliminate SIBO, along with my other unwelcome gut guests, taking a probiotic every night was part of the protocol. Although when things got worse instead of better after the treatment, I stopped taking probiotics and haven’t taken any since then.
With extensive reading and research, I discovered that a good probiotic with the right strains will make a very big difference in healing my gut. My damaged gut has an imbalance of good/bad bacteria, otherwise known as gut dysbiosis. Therefore, an introduction of good bacteria that focus on repairing and recolonizing the gut will make a significant difference in my healing.
I spent some time researching the types of bacteria beneficial for healing the gut and came up with a hearty list that I will share in a post soon (stay tuned =) ).
I also found a probiotic, Floratrex, that has a good number of those probiotics. It has 23 strains in 50 billion CFU, is made out of vegetable capsules and is gluten free. I decided to go for it and see how it works for me.
5.Aloe Vera Gel:
Aloe vera gel has excellent beauty and health benefits. In regards to healing the gut, it binds to receptor sites in the mucosal lining that form a barrier and bind the gut, therefore helping repair leaky gut.
Last year I used aloe vera juice and it occasionally gave me heart burn, so this year I decided to switch to the gel as it is more cooling and my body reacts better to it.
6.Black seed oil:
Like many of the things in this list, black seed oil also has many health and beauty benefits. It is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer , anti-diuretic, anti-cancer, gastroprotective, and an antioxidant among other things.
I started using black seed oil half way through my healing journey last year, and decided to add it back to my regimen this year.
7.Teas:
Last year I put a lot of focus on turmeric, ginger and fennel seed tea. This year, I decided to branch out a little bit and add other teas that can assist in healing my gut. I added licorice root tea, peppermint tea, and dandelion tea.
8. Vitamins:
Iron, Calcium, B-12, Vitamin-D, Magnesium and Potassium
These are all essential vitamins that get depleted and deficient due to gut dysbiosis and leaky gut. The various vitamins are ingested by opportunistic organisms, used for other purposes by the immune system rather than replenish the body, and in some cases, such as in vitamin D, their deficiency actually contribute to leaky gut.
I know that I have a deficiency in these vitamins, but I never attributed them to gut health, or the lack thereof. When I found out that their presence would help heal my gut lining, maintain a healthy balance of my intestinal microbiome, assist my mood, fatigue and mind health, among many other health benefits, I added them to my healing regimen.
***
I realize now that itโs all trial and error and that is what it has been for doctors through my life. With that realization and the mentality that knowledge is power, I have a new outlook to healing and recovering from a lifetime of chronic health issues.
This time, I want to heal rather than medicate my gut, and to do that I needed to consider my past healing routines, read and understand my illnesses and find natural solutions that offer true, genuine healing as opposed to numbing my symptoms.
So I spent the last two weeks with my head in books and articles, my nose in my laptop screen and my creative hat on in the kitchen making homemade bone broths, jello and healing recipes. Along with seeking knowledge and making recipes comes taking supplements, hydrating, detoxifying and giving my body time and space to heal.
I have to say that this year, I am truly excited for my healing journey!
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