In my recent post I went over my actual treatment protocols that I used for SIBO and briefly mentioned the other things that probably helped my treatment. I decided to do another post on just these aspects of dealing with SIBO since I think they are almost as important as the actual anti-microbial treatment. In the classes I have done for Health Coach training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, IIN, these aspects are called Primary Foods in contrast to the actual foods that one puts in ones mouth. The Primary Foods are – Relationships, Spirituality, Exercise and Career. How do these apply to my SIBO healing? Read on.
Tag Archives: SIBO
My SIBO Treatment Re-Cap
Lately I’ve been asked by several people about what treatment I did to get rid of SIBO so I decided it was a good time to summarize so I have it in one place. Now keep in mind, what worked for me may not work for you since it seems that everyone is different when it comes to SIBO. I also had methane (CH4) dominant SIBO and didn’t show any hydrogen (H2) until my CH4 numbers were way down but having CH4 means you have H2 underneath since the m.smithii methanogens eat the hydrogen gas created by the other bacteria to create CH4.
Going a bit outside Paleo
Ever since I started my serious attempt to gain weight I had added back in some white jasmine rice as a carb source to try and put on some pounds, especially as my running mileage is increasing. I really hated the thought of eating white rice but jasmine has the lowest fermentation potential and gets absorbed quickly in the upper part of the small intestine. Still, it never sat well with me since I always felt brown rice was much healthier option. There are plusses and minuses on both sides of this and many Paleo followers won’t even go there at all just totally avoiding grains. The argument for white jasmine rice is that it has no anti-nutrients at all since the bran has been stripped away but what you are left with is a pretty high glycemic carb source. The best case for white rice in Paleo I’ve found is at Paleo Leap. They argue for white jasmine rice and against brown rice since it does contain anti-nutrients.
Weight gains continue
Less than a month ago I finally topped the 160 mark and have been on a slow, steady rise since then. This morning I came in at 162.2 and my body fat is now up at 16% from a low of around 12%. It looks like the weight thing is really behind me and that I’m holding my own now in that department. I’m trying to make sure any new gain is in the muscle department so I’m trying to get in the gym and lift regularly during the winter. The good news is that I’m still fast, I just had my second fastest 5-mile time this last week and overall my running is getting back to a more normal schedule though still lower miles than what I used to run but that is on purpose. Zero SIBO symptoms the last month too which is great even eating a much more varied diet and it has now been over 7 months since I stopped actively treating!
A lot to be thankful for
First turkey, Thanksgiving 2014
Two year ago Catherine and I ate Thanksgiving dinner at our favorite restaurant, Cafe Flora, and I felt like hell. I’d been dealing with gut issues ever since August when I took some antibiotics for a prostate infection. After doctors were no help I self diagnosed it as a candida problem so we celebrated Thanksgiving and then went on a hard-core candida cleanse the next day so I had a month from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It helped but I ended up really sick after Christmas which began my whole journey into the world of SIBO. Last year at Thanksgiving I was still not too well and had just suffered another relapse. Still, compared to 2013 I was doing a bit better after finally getting a diagnosis, totally changing my life and treating SIBO for about 4 months with herbals.
First weight goal met!
Back when I started Operation Bradley Cooper in August I had set an interim weight goal of 160. Today I finally crossed that goal for real, my first morning weigh-in above 160! This is huge, I dropped below 160 way back in January of 2014 and never got above it until today. It is good to see a steady climb since July in my weight. Now I just need to keep eating well, working out and things should settle out in the next few months to where my new normal weight is. Hoping I can get enough muscle to get it back up to around 165, just want to avoid putting it all on my belly.
Tracking my microbiome
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.
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.