Saturdays are when I usually light up my kitchen with the preparation of weekly meals. Today I made some medium-boiled eggs, Rosemary and Apple Salmon Salad (recipe will be posted soon!), Coconut Green Curry Soup, grilled sausages, romesco sauce, steamed butternut squash, and salsa beef.

I also (finally) made a Facebook page for my blog. Yippee!

Considering Day 4’s exceptional amount of training, I took Day 5 as an active recovery day. I find that moving my sore muscles around feels better, and helps more, than not doing anything. Some light walking and kettlebell work helped perk me up after a morning of sitting on my bum at the computer. Finally, I rounded out the evening by watching a little Modern Family on the giant beanbag with my man.

Clean Eats

Breakfast: Yam and parsnip pancakes, Romesco Sauce, eggs, and a cara cara orange (they’re pink inside!)

Lunch: Veggie Juice (broccoli, celery, carrot, ginger, lemon, romaine, green apple), 1/2 chicken thigh, 1 hard-boiled egg, handful almonds, banana (most random meal on earth…)

Snack: Berry and Spinach smoothie (berry mix, glutamine, hemp milk, spinach, wheat grass)

Dinner: 1 c. chili with some butternut squash

other beverages: sparkling water, peppermint tea

Today’s little anecdote/wellness encouragement involves biohacking. If you’ve never heard the term, here’s a little definition from Dave Asprey, Bulletproof Executive;

Biohacking:

(v) To use systems thinking, science, biology, and self-experimentation to take control of and upgrade your body, your mind, and your life.
(n) The art and science of becoming superhuman.

The Problem:

Unfortunately, I’ve been experiencing some bloating in the afternoon/evening pretty regularly. If any of you readers are familiar with the perils of gluten reactivity, you will know what this means. I wake up with a flat tummy and by the end of the day…. I’m 4 months pregnant (so to speak).

Here comes the Biohacking…

After the holidays, it is possible that increased dairy, sugar, and alcohol consumption may have compromised gut integrity OR thrown my gut biome outta whack. Too many bad guys (candida overgrowth) or too many good guys in the wrong place (SIBO).

Another possible explanation is the introduction or increase of IBS triggering foods (seeds like berry seeds, hemp seeds, almonds, almond butter, grass-fed butter etc.)

Or fructose malabsorbtion due too much fruit due to increased juice (apple in the juice) and smoothie (mostly berries and bananas, some citrus)

A new food intolerance (eggs, carageenan in nut milks, FODMAPS like onions, garlic, avocado, etc.)

There are multiple ways to tackle a gut problem. Sometimes the answer is obvious. For example, “I eat cheese, I get gassy”. I’ve found that it’s typically a bit more complicated, especially if you are introducing or removing a lot of things at the same time. This is why I like to start simple when approaching a solution.

Before attempting to treat a gut problem like SIBO or Candida, I will first see if the removal of gut irritating foods will solve the problem. If it doesn’t then I know that the solution lies elsewhere.

Where to go from here? Well, I will remove fruit (excluding limes and lemons) and nuts/seeds for the day and see if I bloat. If I bloat, I will exclude them for 3 more days and see if there is an improvement.

All this to say, get to know your body. Pay attention to how it reacts to foods, smells, beverages, dehydration, activity, stress, etc. When you learn about your own individual biology, you are much better equipped to help solve the little issues before they become larger ones.