Fast forward a few weeks, and I did a stool-test. It’s very easy and I did it in the comfort of my own home. Basically the lab, in which Katherine had booked in my stool test at, sent me a home-kit and it all goes through the mail (don’t worry, it’s not that gross) – 3 weeks later you have your test-results back.<\/p>\n
Now, I’m not at the liberty to be able to do extended blood-tests and more tests purely because I just can’t afford the money-aspect of it. The stool-test itself was already $390AUD,\u00a0however<\/strong>, truly all the money worth (and more!).<\/p>\n
I received a comprehensive analysis from the stool-test that showed a multitude of things like; whether I had parasites, candida or yeast (negative), overgrowth of certain bacterias (positive), remnants of food in my stool (positive), poor digestion (positive), not producing stomach-acid (positive), re-cycling of hormones (massively positive!) and much more.<\/p>\n
By looking at these results, we could now actually target the problems within my gut and body.<\/p>\n
For the first time in 14 years, I felt relieved. Relieved that it wasn’t only on my head that I was “sick”. Relieved that someone believed in me (Katherine), relieved that I potentially could be pain-free and live a free life. I balled my eyes out most of that day. It was tears of happiness though.<\/p>\n
\n
So, how do I heal my body?<\/h3>\nWell, I’m glad you asked.<\/p>\n
Katherine and myself both wholeheartedly believe in ‘<\/strong>Food is Medicine’\u00a0<\/strong>and want to treat my body that way. Antibiotics, and conventional medicine played a large role as to why I’m even like this in the first place, so the thought of having to go back to that isn’t appealing to me what.so.ever.<\/p>\n
Because of the different overgrowth of bacteria in my gut and how they literally\u00a0feed of<\/strong> certain types of foods – even healthy foods – I’m having to be on a bit of a restricted diet for the next 6-8 weeks.<\/p>\n
The restricted diet means:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n- No Starchy Vegetables (carrot, sweet potato, potato, peas, corn, beetroot, pumpkin, parsnip etc.)<\/li>\n
- No Grains (bread, rice, barley, oatmeal, millet, pasta, crackers etc.)<\/li>\n
- No Fructose (basically\u00a0all\u00a0<\/strong>fruits, honey, cane sugar, pastries, lollies etc.)<\/li>\n
- No Dairy<\/a><\/li>\n
- No Gluten<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What CAN I eat:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n- Loads of vegetables, especially those that are bitter as they’ll help produce more stomach acid for me (radish, endive, rocket, watercress, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale etc.)<\/li>\n
- Protein (fish, seafood, lamb, chicken, red meat, eggs – although I’ll mainly keep it at fish, seafood & eggs as I’m not a fan of red meat & chicken much)<\/li>\n
- Extremely limited Fruits (I can have a handful of berries here and there but very limited – blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)<\/li>\n
- Sweets (chia seed pudding with nut-milks)<\/li>\n
- Extremely limited grains (I can have about 1\/2 cup of quinoa every 2nd day if I really need to)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Supplements I’m on:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n- Probiotics<\/li>\n
- Glutagenics (heal, seal & repair the gut)<\/li>\n
- Enzymes (tablet after every meal to help with digestion)<\/li>\n
- Calcium-D-Glucarate (to decrease the enzyme beta glucaronidase from my gut that re-activates oestrogen.)<\/li>\n
- Collagen, Ashwagandha & Mucuna Pruriens (I’ve added these myself)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I’ve slowly eased into this diet last week, and I had my 1st day yesterday on this diet\u00a0fully & wholeheartedly committed\u00a0<\/strong>and last night; well, I had so much energy I couldn’t sleep (mindblown)<\/p>\n
Katherine has mentioned that my tummy might get really bloated or it might not, but it’s a potential as the good and bad bacteria have a bit of a fight in my stomach whilst we basically starve out the bad bacteria that was previously being fed by the starch, grains, fructose etc.<\/p>\n
***DISCLAIMER:\u00a0<\/strong>I wan’t to reassure you that there is nothing wrong with grains, fructose and starchy vegetables if\u00a0your\u00a0<\/strong>body is thriving on them. I would like to re-introduce some of these items once my gut is hopefully healed and back to normal. That is my hope and wish for myself, to live a life fully free from being ruled by food, but I also want to feel the very best me and heal, hence why this diet is currently necessary for me.<\/p>\n
Thank you for following my journey. I’ll continue to share my learnings & how I’m feeling,
\nwhat progress or set-backs I might have, as I go along the way.<\/p>\n
Also, you can see more about\u00a0Katherine here<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n
Love your GUTS, Anna xx\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
What CAN I eat:<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Loads of vegetables, especially those that are bitter as they’ll help produce more stomach acid for me (radish, endive, rocket, watercress, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale etc.)<\/li>\n
- Protein (fish, seafood, lamb, chicken, red meat, eggs – although I’ll mainly keep it at fish, seafood & eggs as I’m not a fan of red meat & chicken much)<\/li>\n
- Extremely limited Fruits (I can have a handful of berries here and there but very limited – blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)<\/li>\n
- Sweets (chia seed pudding with nut-milks)<\/li>\n
- Extremely limited grains (I can have about 1\/2 cup of quinoa every 2nd day if I really need to)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Supplements I’m on:<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Probiotics<\/li>\n
- Glutagenics (heal, seal & repair the gut)<\/li>\n
- Enzymes (tablet after every meal to help with digestion)<\/li>\n
- Calcium-D-Glucarate (to decrease the enzyme beta glucaronidase from my gut that re-activates oestrogen.)<\/li>\n
- Collagen, Ashwagandha & Mucuna Pruriens (I’ve added these myself)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I’ve slowly eased into this diet last week, and I had my 1st day yesterday on this diet\u00a0fully & wholeheartedly committed\u00a0<\/strong>and last night; well, I had so much energy I couldn’t sleep (mindblown)<\/p>\n
Katherine has mentioned that my tummy might get really bloated or it might not, but it’s a potential as the good and bad bacteria have a bit of a fight in my stomach whilst we basically starve out the bad bacteria that was previously being fed by the starch, grains, fructose etc.<\/p>\n
***DISCLAIMER:\u00a0<\/strong>I wan’t to reassure you that there is nothing wrong with grains, fructose and starchy vegetables if\u00a0your\u00a0<\/strong>body is thriving on them. I would like to re-introduce some of these items once my gut is hopefully healed and back to normal. That is my hope and wish for myself, to live a life fully free from being ruled by food, but I also want to feel the very best me and heal, hence why this diet is currently necessary for me.<\/p>\n
Thank you for following my journey. I’ll continue to share my learnings & how I’m feeling,
\nwhat progress or set-backs I might have, as I go along the way.<\/p>\nAlso, you can see more about\u00a0Katherine here<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n
Love your GUTS, Anna xx\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
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