Remember this is our plan to heal our gut. Consult your doctor before beginning any program. Adjust to your own body and needs. We have done our own research and have come to these steps to help us in our journey to heal our stomach issues. Please do your own research before starting anything new. We are not really sure how long we plan to do this program. And over time we might be changing things depending on how our bodies are doing. We plan to share just about everything as we heal, so we apologize now if some things are TMI. We want to be honest as we are using our blog as our journal.
Happy Friday!!!
Did our 12 minute interval full body plank workout! Oh boy, forgot what a killer that workout is.
Seriously love this workout! Always a good challenge both physically and mentally. Ended the workout with 5 sets of 20 lower leg raises.
Lori day 28 re-cap:
I took my morning probiotic, 1 tsp fermented cod liver oil, and l-glutamine and ate my marshmallows for my gelatin.
Having our juice now in the mornings is something we are trying. Yesterday I enjoyed a whole beet in my juice and the green tops. Lately I have been enjoying just the beet bottoms but realize the green tops are healing too.
A very simple juice. Added 1/2 tbsp coconut oil to my juice.
In addition to trying juices first thing in the mornings we (michelle and I ) are trying to have it with some coconut oil as well. More on that later.
Snacked on a new marshmallow.
Little bit later came back to enjoy some sautéed kale in 1 tsp ghee with my 2 whole eggs with turmeric. Added another 1 tsp ghee on top when it was all done. Loving this ghee.
Enjoyed some dandy blend tea with my egg meal.
Late lunch was some sautéed green cabbage and shredded brussel sprouts, a few slices of turnips, half can salmon and half can of sardines. All mixed with 1 tbsp coconut oil. So good. I am really enjoying my sautéed cabbage.
Mid-afternoon snack was more soaked cashews. As we wanted to experiment having them plain one more day. Still no changes in my body so I am thinking I am ok with cashews 🙂
Also enjoyed 1 1/2 cups bone broth with 1 tbsp coconut oil in it.
Before dinner I took my pre-dinner pills of digestive enzyme, l-glutamine, quercetin and licorice.
Dinner was about 5oz mahi mahi, 1 cup steamed cauliflower, handful of parsnips fries and some sautéed spinach. All topped with olive oil. A very simple meal but the olive oil really brings the whole dish together.
Dessert was a simple one egg to one tablespoon coconut flour with one teaspoon gelatin. Cooked in coconut oil on the skillet. Brillant. Loved it. It was soft and almost bread like.
Took probiotic before bed and did put magnesium oil on body.
Lori: Day 28 recap –
Bathroom: yes not huge
Energy: good energy throughout whole day, no complaints
Gas: none
Skin: still dealing with a few pimples on my chin that are slowly getting smaller. Besides that nothing new, my back is starting to get better too.
Water intake –about 8 cups (does not include juice)
Overall my day 28 was a great day. Plus I got my haircut though forgot to take a picture haha. I had no major complaints yesterday, I feel my body is slowly getting stronger in all areas of life. I have been having a lot less gas issues and usually a good bowel movement in the mornings. I have had no major cravings for anything besides chocolate every once in a awhile. My mood swings are getting better, though did get a little frustrated and upset last night for a little bit. Besides that I feel great. My skin is getting better on my back which is good. And my pimples on my chin are less inflamed looking and starting to get smaller.
Michelle Day 28 recap:
I took my morning probiotic, 1/2 tsp fermented cod liver oil/butter blend, l-glutamine, and enjoyed 4 sugar free marshmallows
After my workout I enjoyed a vegetable juice as my post workout meal. I was not too hungry and I want to do a little experiment with having my juice in the morning instead of in the afternoon. I added 1/2 tbsp coconut oil too!
A little bit later I enjoyed my egg meal – 2 eggs, cooked swiss chard, turmeric, and 2 tsp ghee. I finally got my ghee!
Next meal was the same as yesterday – cooked cabbage and turnips with lamb meatballs sprinkled with dulse flakes and 1 tbsp coconut oil
Cup of bone broth with 1 tsp ghee and 1/2 tbsp coconut oil and a little sea salt
A little later I felt like trying out cashews again…to make sure my body is okay with them 😉
Enjoyed 1/4 cup soaked cashews.
I feel like my body handles cashews. My goal is not to have cashews everyday, I just want to make sure I have no major reaction to them. Seems all good, so excited to enjoy cashews from time to time making raw desserts!!
I took my pre-dinner pills of digestive enzyme, l-glutamine, quercetin, and licorice.
Dinner was cooked mixed greens and kale with 1/2 can salmon, 1 sardine, 3 shrimp, and 1 tbsp coconut oil. (the reason I enjoy one sardine at a time is money reasons, I try to spread them out, it is a personal choice)
Nothing like a single serving coconut pancake for dessert! Same recipe Lori did above, and I topped mine with ghee!
Michelle: Day 28 recap –
Bathroom: very little
Energy: good
Gas: nothing
Skin: legs did itch some, but not bad
Water intake –about 8 cups (does not include juice)
Overall felt good, nothing too major to report on. I did want to follow up with what I said yesterday about my carb intake. Lori and I did quickly calculate our macro over these past few days to see where our calories -fat – carbs – protein stand. And ever since we took out avocados our fat intake dropped below 100. In general these past few days everything has been pretty equal. One day we had more carbs than fat and both of us felt off that day. So who knows maybe we are more fat girls than carbs. Although we do believe in the importance of carbs!
Now onto why we are trying juice in the mornings and adding a fat to it.
One reason why we are trying a juice in the morning is that we feel (from past experience) that we tend to have better bowel movements when we don’t eat that much food right away in the morning. So we feel having a juice to replenish our bodies from our workouts is a good idea to start the day. Now we might not always have a juice first thing in the morning, it just might be something we do from time to time. We are really trying to listen to our bodies in the morning, and wait till we are really hungry before eating in hopes it helps with our bowel movements.
And why we are eating our juice with some fat like coconut oil, is because… well we like our fats. haha Seriously though we just thought having a little bit of healthy fat with our juice would sit in our bodies better. Not sure if that really makes sense or not, just something we are trying. Again it is all about trying new things and finding what your body likes. We are not really sure if there is any true health benefits for adding a fat with juice, we are just trying it out to see how we do. To see if we notice anything.
We are working on another video of just our general thoughts and feelings about our journey. And answering a few more questions. That video will be up later today!
Thanks again for the continued love and support! xoxo
Twins Questions: Anyone else like having their juices first thing in the morning? Anyone else ever try adding a healthy fat to your juice? Would you ever try it to see how your body does? What is your favorite thing to juice or have as a smoothie?
And happy February 1st friends!!
till next time,
xoxo
29 comments
I have been drinking my juice in the mornings for about a year now and love it. My mornings just aren’t the same without it. And it keeps me full for several hours. After having some health issues early last year, i have drastically changed my eating habits and started juicing. I drink around 45-60 ounces of juice everyday (what can I say, I’m addicted!). In the morning I have a simple Carrot-Cucumber-romaine-apple juice , and in the afternoon I make sure I have enough greens in my diet by drinking 3 hearts of romaine, 1 large cucumber, and an apple. I do try variations once a week or so, but these will always be my favorites!
Joy, mind if I ask what the rest of ur diet is like? Also, what health issues u arehealing ? Thanks 🙂
Hi kyra 🙂
My diet is all over the place really (but in a “clean eating” way. I’m not dealing with serious issues right now, but a few things I struggle with: skinny fat (was overweight as a child – deal with anxiety and working out), getting enough protein, finding the right balance, depression, etc. Like Lori & Michelle have mentioned, there is so much information out there that it is hard to know what is best for your body. I am vegetarian/mostly vegan right now. Although I still love my annie’s mac & cheese on occasion. I have never cared for meat, and although I want to like eggs, I absolutely hate them. I don’t like to think of myself as a picky eater, but there are so many things that I cannot handle the taste/texture of that it makes it difficult to find things to eat. While I never eat on the horrible side of the food spectrum (NO fast food – grew up on it – hence overweight kid), I sometimes fall into a habit of eating too many “healthy” junk foods (chips, pasta, etc), and not enough fresh fruits & veggies. Then once I get back on track, I have almost no cravings whatsoever, and I find it hard to eat anything because no food sounds good. It’s really a difficult cycle. My main source of protein right now is all natural peanutbutter, as bad as that sounds. But like I said, pretty much every other protein I hate. And I can only handle beans once in awhile. I drink so much juice because I rarely eat greens (hate almost every salad dressing & hummus etc. in existence). I also eat a lot of fresh fruit & fruit smoothies. The juice has helped clear out my digestive system I think, and it is the one thing that I crave. That probably didn’t help you, but basically, I’m just (like everyone else) trying to figure out what to eat and what my body can handle.
Thanks Joy!!!
I think I need to start juicing again. its really great for those of us who malabsorb. What juicer do u (and the twins) recommend? I have an old Breville, but it leaks and doesnt seem to extract much juice out of the pulp. The juice is also gritty. I dont have much money (correction: ANY money) for a new one, but my bday is coming up, so I needz some idears, lol. Isnt the masticating one the best for greens?
Joy, I hope u are able to figure out what works best for u…it still amazes me how different we all are, despite being the same type of animal, ya know?
I really love this blog…the positive energy that is exuded thru the posts and the comments is like a support group! 🙂
Hugs to u all
xo
awesome Joy!! 🙂
Adding fat to ur juice is a great idea and I was actually going to suggest it, but u beat me to it! Not only will it help with blood sugar, but the fat will help u absorb the fat soluble vitamins from the juice. U could als . Have nuts afterwards or mix chia into the juice once u get to that point in ur food testing. Also, do u think it might help to take a digestive enzyme with each solid meal, as opposed to just at dinner?
The eats look great!
A few questions, if u don’t mind 🙂
1. For ur meat/fish portions, do u weigh it pre cooking or post cooking?
2. What mag oil do u use and how much do u rub on? I’ve heard it’s the bet way to absorb mag . Any brands u recommend d?
3 What times do u wake up, eat, and go to bed? How much time general lapses between meals?
4. What were ur cals and macronutrients that u calculated and what ranges/days made u feel best and worst exactly?
thanks Stacy, we want to take a digestive enzyme with our lunch meal but keep forgetting haha
And for your questions:
1) usually weigh it once it is cooked, sometimes we have weigh it raw than cooked it. so we do both but usually onces it cooked
2) this is the mag oil we use http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AD0HL8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001AD0HL8&linkCode=as2&tag=herbkati-20
3) generally wake up between 6-6:30am, and go to bed anyway between 10-11:30ish, it really varies, but try to get to bed by 10:30 sometimes it does happen and other times it does not.
4) we are still figuring out the macros part, but we tend to have more carbs over fat, we don’t always feel the best compared to when our fats are higher than our carbs, like we said still figuring it all out 🙂
I have some follow up questions too (trying to get as much info as possible before making this huge change, so sorry if I sound inept lol)
1 do u precook ur food in advance, like cook all ur fish, meats and veggies a couple days a week and then head up the portion for that meal or do u cook it fresh?
2 how long after waking do u eat breakfast and how late do u eat ur last meal before bed?
3 how much mag oil do u use? I know mag can help with BMs, does the body oil do the same?
4 I think I saw a comment someone left about requesting a post on ur grocery lists, grocery bills, and how often and where u shop. That would be such a helpful post to someone like me and Marie who are only used to buying cases of bananas lol. 🙂 would this be possible?
Thanks ladies 🙂
No worries kyra, we love the questions and love being able to help you in some way!
1) We do a little bit of both. Usually the fish we cook fresh (well we have frozen fish, that we defrost in fridge for a day, then cook it), depending on how much fish there might be some leftover for the next day. For the veggies we usually cook ahead of time, so they are ready for a few days before we have to cook up more.
2) our mornings eats vary we usually eat around 8-8:30am, we wake up usually between 6:15-6:30. Our desserts lately have been enjoyed usually around 8:30pm but again varies, but that is about average.
3) Mag oil we do a few sprays on our legs and arms. To be honest, we have not seen HUGE improvements from doing the Mag Oil, but we are still keeping up with it as we believe in it.
4) we will work on a post like that! 🙂
xoxo
Keep it up ladies…. I’m so glad things r going well for u. I hope to go on a similar journey soon, I’m just nervous bc I’ve been on the 811 diet for over a year so my digestion is horrendous. I’ve also gotten really “skinny fat” and have no muscle anymore. It’s maddening. I also fear how my body will respond to high fat and my mind is still stuck on the fat phobic mindset of the 811 dogma. Any advice for transition off 811and onto a healing diet?
Lastly, what macronutrients and cals range is your goal and that makes u feel best?
Thanks for being an inspiration
oh yes adding fat can be hard for some we know, but for us it was kinda easy, as we just love the way fats feel in our bodies and the energy it provides us. weird we know, but it works for us. we suggest adding in just a little fat with each meal, maybe start 1-2 tsp of some healthy fat and go from there. take it slow and listen to your body, but promise you will start to love the addition of healthy fats!!! 🙂 we are still figuring out our level of macros, but have noticed with higher fat over carbs seems to be better for us. we will keep expanding on our macros once we learn more.
Thanks for the advice. What’s hard is that the 811 crowd demonized fats, saying they cause candida, fat gain, and basically everything short of growing a second head lol. So, I’ve been basically fruitarian for over a year. At first it helped my gi issues but now it’s bad and my adrenal fatigue is horrendous, as is my insomnia, and poor energy. I used to be athletic like u gals, but now I’m a slug. 🙁 I hate this and Idk how to get off this fruitarian thing be my digestion is really bad. And I’m scared to put on more weight. I get so jealous of people who never have to worry about their health…. I’ve been dealing with this stuff since I was a kid. Not fun.
We hear ya Kyra, we have been dealing with health issues our whole life. always making us ‘different’ than our friends. We feel adding in a quality fats and taking some of the pills we mentioned in our first healing the gut plan will really help with your gi issues. we know it is hard to get over eating a certain way, as it was difficult for us not to eat much raw foods anymore, as that is what we believed in and still do in a way. But realize our gut really need to heal and rebuild itself with the tools and the eats we have been doing. Just take it slow! You will get there!! Promise fats will be your friend!! You will get your strength back 🙂
Dear Kyra,
it seems like you and I are at the same level on our health journey.. I’ve been back and forth the past 8 month on the high fat or 80/10/10 (raw vegan) diet trying to figure out what works for me. I used to have some muscle definition, abs, GREAT butt! 😉 and arms, but now I litterally have no arms or but and my stomach is just “flubbing around”, though I workout every day doing pilates, yoga, some TIU and LOTS of plank-workouts. And do get some cardio also.
Well.. Please, if you want to talk about the “fears” I’m all ears, it sounds like they are the same as mine!
And to you, Lori and Michelle: Thanks for everything!
XOXO Marie
Ps. A big green juice is a MORNING-MUST-HAVE for me… My breakfast almost every single day since april 2012. Usually plain green with cucumber, celery, ginger, sometimes garlic, lemon with peel and spinach/leafy greens with spirulina and a dash of cinnamon, once in a while a kiwi or an apple.
Or fennel, cabbage and beets. I’m literally juicing everything. I just take what’s in the fridge, no vegetable or combo to weird for me.. Onion with grapefruits, red chili and garlic gloves. I know it sounds very weird, but it’s a gut cleanser for the win! 🙂
Thanks Marie!! xoxo
wish we could try your juice combos but can’t handle those foods at the moment, maybe in the future 🙂 as we love trying new flavor combos!
and yes you and Kyra sound very similar and having those fears is completely normal. But just like we said to Kyra, don’t fear the fats – promise they can do great things for the body in so many ways. Now you don’t have to eat as much as we do, but just try incorporating more fats into each meal (small amounts) and see how your body does. We notice the more fat we eat the stronger (leaner) and more energy we feel. Just have fun with food again, and play around with different things. Don’t puy pressure on yourself – just have fun 🙂 we are here to help support you along your health journey! You will get there! xoxo
Hey Marie!!!!
.
I’m so sorry u are in the same boat as me… I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. It’s pure hell, isn’t it? It was bad enough being underweight and dealing with these issues, but now my body is holding on to everything I put into my mouth and the cravings for sugary fruits, thanks to this darn fruitarian diet, is insane. Idk how people Excell on 811…but now, it’s so hard to get off it bc my body only knows how to digest fruit and not much else. I think this diet totally sent my adrenalffatigue in the opposite direction and cause way more cortisol issues. Ugh, I hate this
I’m here for u, Marie. It’s so tough to go at this alone. I wishwe all llived near each other, cuz I could see All of us having a blast grabbing tea and brainstorming ideas and talking about the crazy things we’ve tried to get healthy. 🙂
It’s reassuring to see that Lori and Michelle haven’t had negative effects from eating more fat and less carbs. However, for me, in haven’t had ANY overt fats since November 2011, so I’m sure my body will hold on to any fat I put past my lips. I’ve already gained so much fat from 811 (in still underweight, but have suddenly gained like 10# in one month, which is a lot for a shorty), so I’m scared how my body will respond act bc I tend to react way differently than most people.
I’m also upset by the raw food and 811 gurus… Everything they say is alie (eat over 3000cals a dday, u won’t get fat fruit, fruit cures candida, u won’t get deficiencies, ull have better energy and sleep and skin and digestion etc) none of those promises happened with me
Ugh sorry for the rant. Just know u aren’t alone
Are u currently still 811and Do u think u will eat meat? It’s such a hard moral decision….how do i decide the fine line between the selfless sacrifice of animals vs the self sacrifice I’m doing to myself?
OMG, Kyra – we are SO much allike, Twins – you’re totalt spot on with that on 😉
It would be hard to describe my situation and struggles the past years in other words then you just did Kyra.
Each day my thoughts are going back and forth on whether or not I should try to incorporate eggs into my diet to get more protein. I’ve been told from my health doctor to be vegan though because of all the inflammation I have in the colons. But I can’t eat that much fruit or vegetables right now which is recruited as a low fat raw vegan (and can’t consume any legumes or quinoa or beens, oatmeal or anything from the grasfamily due to celiac disease, beside that I’m also intolerant to the casein in dairy!) because I’m struggeling with a fear to 1) eating to hugh amounts of food, im scared to gain weight since I been very obeese from the age of 6-18… And 2) almost every time I eat I get stomach pain… Well, just some words on my conditions. 🙁
I’m actually very thankful and happy finally to find others who are dealing with the same things as myself.. And oh yes indeed, it would be totally awesome to be able to meet one day!
Unfortunately I’m from Denmark in Europe, so right now we have like 7000 km between us… Baaah! BUT I’m planing to go to the states for 6-12.month or so(my biggest wish is to settle down over there!) as soon as possible. Just have to finish at law school, hopefully by this summer 🙂
In the meantime, pleeeease find my at Facebook or write me an email
marie_k_nielsen@hotmail.com <3 Let's get connected so we can support each other 🙂
– Lori and Michelle: I'm trying my best to eat some healthy fats, doing better – but I have to watch out – or else I'll find myself with an empty glass in one hand and a spoon in the other. My mom actually has to hide our nuts and sets, butters and coconut oil to make sure I don't eat to much at one time – I can't control it when I have it in front of me..
. thanks for your great support and kind words. I've said it before, you are so inspirering!!
Love to ya'll 🙂
Thumbs-up on adding fat to your juice! On these last several juice cleanses I’ve done, I’ve taken a teaspoon of coconut oil before each juice, and I think it’s really helped me stay satisfied, and probably helped me absorb the vitamins from the juice, too.
That coconut bread looks banging! I just made some coconut flour biscuits, you can find the recipe here: http://lifenbites.com/?p=561
I’m deff going to give your recipe a try…looks like I have a wild weekend ahead!
Also- im interested about your mission to repairing your gut. I’m in the process of doing it as well. Just curious, are you following any sort of low-fodmap protocol?
I forget who, maybe Lori, but one of u was going to see if taking the non-buttered fish oil made a difference…. Did it? I’m thinking about getting the fclo but Idk if I should get the butter one…. I haven’t reacted well to dairy in the past
Thanks
Hi Kyra, yes it is Lori who is not taking the oil-butter blend just the plain fermented cod liver oil and loving it. so if you do not do well with dairy we would suggest using plain cod liver oil not the butter blend 🙂
Thanks! How does the FLCO taste and which flavor do u recommend?
Lastly, I noticed that Lori is able to do ghee but she reacts to butter. Why do u think that is? Im glad u were able to discover another culprit!
I got the cinnamon tingle flavor, which I like. The flavor is doable 🙂
Well we still are not sure yet if we can handle ghee, at the moment we have not noticed any HUGE changes in body to make us think we are not handling it. but we are still going to keep an close eye on our bodies and skin to see if ghee is still good or not. we think ghee so far has been ok with us eating is because it is both casein and lactose free.
Did you completely eliminate fruits from your diet? Did you have any issues with that? Was it difficult?
yes it was difficult and still is, as we love our fruits. but realizing our bodies can’t handle a lot of them, so enjoying other foods to help 🙂
most of the vitamins in the vegetables we juice are fat-soluble – so we won’t assimilate them without adequate fat intake. incorporating fat into juices is a great idea!
thanks Zosia
How do you add the coconut oil to your juice? Do you just melt it and mix it in after? I love the idea of adding it to my morning juice, so smart!
we just scoop coconut oil (sometimes it is semi-solid and other times it’s liquid) into juice and stir. note it does make clumps in juice since the juice is cold and makes the coconut oil solid, but we still love it!