During my whole SIBO journey I did two stool tests to see what the heck was going on in my colon and I know all of you are curious about that too. The tests I did so far were the Genova GI Effects Stool Profiles which are not cheap but were useful since the one in Sept 2014 identified the fact that I had a blastocystis homins infection, a moderate imbalance with too many pathogenic bacteria, too few beneficial bacteria and too low of levels of butyrate and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). I had almost no Lactobacillus or Bifido species and way too much m.smithii, e.coli, and a few other nasty critters.
Category Archives: Health
67 miles in 6 days and weight went up!
I just got back from a week of vacation in sunny Southern California where I took advantage of the perfect weather and did a LOT of walking and running. I managed to run three mornings in El Moro Canyon for a total of 15.5 miles, Catherine and I did several long beach walks at Crystal Cove clocking in 22 miles and then just normal life and playing with the niece and nephews on the beach or at the resort got us another 5 miles per day for a total of about 67 miles for the week. I figured that I was probably going to come home down 3-4 lbs after my experience in OR and the North Cascades but I got home and weighed in at 161, up 2 lbs from when I had left. It’s not like I pigged out while in SoCal either and I really didn’t have lunch the day we traveled home so to me this is a good sign that my weight issues are behind me and that I can just continue eating a good Paleo diet and probably keep slowly gaining until I hit my real weight somewhere around 165. On top of that I made it through the week w/o any symptoms and even dined out at restaurants a few times during the trip and ate onions every morning with the breakfast hash I made.
Weight came back to new high
I managed to drop quite a bit of weight during my two weeks of outdoor vacation steelhead fishing on the Deschutes and hiking all over near Mazama but it rebounded very quickly this time around and this week I hit a new high of 159!!!! This is the most I’ve weighed in several years. I hope that the 160 mark isn’t too far away, I’d like to get there and really I’d like to be back around 165 which was my best shape weight.
Meatless Mornings
After 20 months of meat at every meal I’m finally to the point where I don’t need it at every meal so I’ve been instituting Meatless Mornings quite a bit this last week. Eggs are what saved me, once I could eat them daily it opened up my possibilities for breakfast meals that didn’t have to include a sausage patty or bacon. I was in a total run on the basic AIP Scramble which had been my staple breakfast item for about a year. This week I’ve gone meatless about half the days and here are a few of my breakfasts from the week:
Scramble with chanterelles and asparagus with sweet potato hash browns, a banana and a coconut milk latte. It is so nice to be able to eat mushrooms again, just in time for chanterelle season in the NW since they are one of my favorite mushrooms. A few days before this I had a scramble with asparagus, zucchini and button mushrooms.
Another good SIBO post
This must be the week of good SIBO posts because here is another that was going around on various Facebook pages – Why Diet Alone Is Not Enough to Treat SIBO. This is another post that I wish I’d read two years ago since I spent a LOT of time on the low FODMAP diet while taking herbals when I probably should have been pigging out on FODMAPs at that time and saving the low FODMAP for after I eradicated the little buggers. Instead the 18 months on low FODMAP caused the current imbalances I’m dealing with in my colon.
On that front, I have added in more good food for bacteria this week. I made nomato sauce yesterday with the full dose of onions and garlic for the first time and seemed fine with it. This morning I made banana flour pancakes, green banana flour is a great source of resistant starch and so far so good on that front. Hopefully between the addition of more FODMAPs in my food, the probiotics with potato starch and the fermented foods I’ll build back up my colon flora and get my butyrate and SCFA levels back to normal in the next 6-12 months.
Good reading for those with SIBO
Here is a great post by Riley Wimminger entitled Words of Wisdom for SIBO Newbies that I really wish I’d been able to read two years ago when this whole SIBO journey started, it has some great advice on how to hang in there for the long haul.
On the point about restricting your diet only as much as needed, I was talking with Dr. Keller yesterday and this point came up in our conversation. She recommended no one stay on the super restrictive low FODMAP diet longer than six months since it does mess with your microbiome. Of course I was low FODMAP for almost 18 months so it is no wonder that my butyrate, short chain fatty acids and microbial diversity are all a bit out of whack. It is a challenge for those whose SIBO won’t clear within six months though, what to do to keep the microbes happy yet also keep the symptoms down, a balancing act for sure.
Paleo now, no longer low FODMAP AIP
In the last few months my diet has expanded quite a bit to where I no longer consider myself eating AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) but instead am eating a pretty full Paleo diet. I added in eggs first about six months ago and have been slowly expanding with some nuts and seeds. I’ve also stopped the low FODMAP portion of my diet and have added in many fairly high FODMAP foods. This week I even went a little crazy and had a bunch of garlic and mushrooms with several meals with no real effects, I was kind of surprised. I’m finally able to eat apples and stone fruit which are my favorites. I also ate a lot of raw food on my trip to the Deschutes with no issues so salads are back. I eat a TON of sweet potato these days which are pretty hard to handle for most SIBO sufferers but I eat several a day now.
No more Blasto!
I re-did my stool test a year later in hopes that I had wiped out the blastocystis hominis infection as well as fixed up my colon flora a bit and the results are in – no more blasto! This is huge, I am finally parasite free. That means my various treatments have killed off blasto and entamoeba histolytica (Montezuma’s Revenge) over the last 18 months. I’m pretty sure the Mullen protocol at the end did in the blasto, that was a huge mix of anti-microbials and anti-parasitics.
No autoimmune SIBO for me
I decided to take the IBSChek test to see if I had the antibodies to vinculin so that I’d know if I was going to be prone to relapse for the next several years. I figured that with my history of travel and food poisoning that I had these antibodies and would be dealing with relapses in a few months until the antibodies cleared out after 6-7 more years. Results are in and the test was NEGATIVE! That was a huge relief.
I’m feeling really good these days even after a week long trip I took where I was dependent on someone else doing my cooking and several restaurants. I ate a lot of salad and raw veggies which I usually don’t do but had no issues with theml. I did carry along my cooler with some kraut, kombucha, Epic products, muffins and cookies to make sure I was going to be fine but really didn’t need it though ate it for extra calories. Zero gut issues and no recurring constipation on the entire trip so I really think the SIBO is completely gone at this point. I did drop 3 lbs but that was to be somewhat expected. I’m still awaiting the Comprehensive Stool Test to see if I still have the blasto and if I have balanced my colon flora out a bit. Should have that back in a few weeks and then I’ll meet with Dr. Bowen to discuss and decide whether or not to continue probiotics and to start tapering off the prokinetics.
Weight up again, new podcast
My weight had been stalling a bit but this morning is back on the upward trend. I just weighed in at 158.6, this is the most I’ve weighed since January 2014 when the big downslide in weight began. This is huge, it has taken me nearly two years to climb back up to this point. My interim goal of 160 seems to be getting within reach. Let’s see how this trip goes and if I can maintain weight while on it.