Focus:
Moving the body gently and in new ways.
Repetition:
I am connected to all life around me, I am a part of earth, I am made of soil, the creatures and plants are sharing this journey with me, I am connected to the heavenly beings.
I belong to community. I am never alone.
I feel the life and love all around me.
Weight and Body Wisdom
We can get really thin on this journey and that is ok. Our bodies release extra weight because the extra weight was an indicator we were holding onto toxins. If we have not been well for quite a while, we do not have muscle tone and the extra weight was hiding that! So if you appear gaunt or really thin, remember your body’s wisdom and that all will be well. When you have sufficient energy, you will have a desire to rebuild your muscle. You do not want to try to rebuild muscle until you have the energy and stamina to do so, your body needs its energy to heal your cells right now. Continue whatever level of gentle movement you are at and it will naturally increase as your healing journey goes on.
End of the Soup-Only Phase
You have made it to the end of the soup only phase! If you feel as though you would like to continue soups only, listen to your intuition. Ideally we continue with 6 cups of stock but have at least three per day.
You are still in the intensive gut healing phase so we want to introduce “harder” foods slowly. You can eat pan fried and oven baked meats now, still sticking to ground meats, fatty cuts of meat and meat on the bone. We want to avoid lean, muscle meats. You can bake meats so that they are not hard on the outside though chicken skin can be baked crispy. You can add in vegetables that are sauteed in animal fats and browned.
You want to have a bite of your new foods and see how your body responds, you can eat a little more the next day if all is well. We are not looking for allergies but you have a brand new gut lining and it can be sensitive. You can fry whole eggs at this point as well. If you do not want to eat whole eggs, you can stick with the yolks, this next part of the gut healing phase is truly intuitive.
We have had enough microbial families die off so that we can begin to trust what our bodies are asking for now. If you do not react well to any new food we bring in, just wait a couple of weeks and try it again. Always regulate the nervous system before bringing in a new food, make sure you believe it is safe before you introduce it. Remember that reactions to any of these foods does not mean you are not healing or having a set back. Everyone’s body is different! My family stayed on the intensive gut healing phase for a long time, over a year, including removing plants for a while. Your body will lead you where it wants to go.
The Original Meal Plan Returns
You may now use our original meal plan, incorporate anything on the “On the Menu” List and add the new foods in below! Your first meal must still be a warm meal with fat and protein, unless you are having the few bites of raw carrot for sleep, you may continue that. If OMAD, just make sure to have your warm, fat and protein first and any carbs at the end of the meal. Please make sure your carbs are not kicking you out of ketosis. You may bring raw A2 cheese back in as well.
Cooked Berries
Add 1/2 cup of ghee or butter to 1 cup strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or blackberries and simmer with lid on for 30 minutes. May have them as is with a little whipped, cultured cream on top or use as a topping for coconut cake. Please note berries and apricots can be high in oxalates so eat in moderation. You may alternatively have a couple of dried apricots as a dessert after food. We do not want to eat “naked carbs” without protein or fat, we do not want to overeat fruit or let it kick us out of ketosis. If you begin to overeat fruit, you can always take another break and wait until you have experienced more healing. Ideally, we eat fruit in season and local and on special occasions. We are eating no other fruit than those listed.
Coconut Cake/Muffins or Bread
Preheat oven to 400. Place 2 cups of coconut flour into a bowl. Mix in coconut milk or coconut cream for cake until liquid is incorporated and dough holds its form. Mix in cultured cream, kefir or yoghurt for bread until the liquid is incorporated and dough holds its form. Add dough, 4 eggs and 1 stick of room temp butter or 1 cup of ghee to mixer and incorporate well. Add stevia or monkfruit extract now for cake, omit if a more savoury flavour is desired. You may also add pure flavoured extract or baking oils at this time. Mix well and pour into pan coated with ghee. Bake until middle is firm. Allow to cool.
For bread, use ghee or butter mixed with fresh garlic and herbs as a dip. For cake, top with whipped, sweetened (stevia or monkfruit extract) ghee, cultured cream or butter and top with a pinch of cinnamon or add in extracts or baking oils. You can use cooked berries with cultured cream as an “icing” for cake or muffins.
Fruit Kvass
See Fruit Kvass. Use berries or apricots only.
A Holiday/Birthday Menu Plan
Appetizers
Meatballs stuffed with herbs and cheese.
Smoked salmon stuffed with strained yoghurt, minced garlic and fresh dill.
Tapenade and crackers — Black, green and kalamata olives, fresh garlic in food processor until tiny chunks but not pureed, buy or make crackers with parmesan cheese only.
Meats
Overnight Roast.
Turkey.
Roasted Chicken with Rosemary for autumn/winter or Cilantro/lime or lemon for spring and summer.
Stuffed salmon (garlic, leek, shallots) on a bed of juniper or pine needles, baked.
Sides
Whipped Thyme Carrots — boil carrots and thyme bundle until carrots are very soft, add to mixer and blend with cultured cream, salt, pepper and ghee.
Roasted Brussels sprouts — cover in ghee, salt and pepper and roast until as brown as you like.
Pan seared cauliflower with salt, garlic, tarragon, cook in pan with animal fat until seared.
Beet Kvass Stuffed Eggs — Slice into small chunks 1 pack of sugar free, dextrose free bacon and cook in a pan to desired crispness. Save bacon bits for end of recipe. Soft boil 12 eggs for 6 minutes. Put immediately into filtered ice water. Peel and halve eggs lengthwise, scooping out yolks into a separate bowl. Place whites into a jar of beet kvass for 24 hours. Mix 2 TBS cultured cream, 2 TBS liquid bacon fat, clean Dijon or fermented mustard, salt, pepper, capers and chives until smooth, adding more cream or fat if mixture is too dry. Wrap and put in fridge. To assemble, remove whites from kvass and stuff with previously made yolk filling, top with bacon bits.
Desserts
Coconut cake with cooked berries.
Butternut squash pie (only a few times a year) — Preheat oven to 350. Crust: 2 cups activated macadamia nuts (soaked 24 hours in filtered water to cover and a teaspoon of mineral salt, rinsed with filtered/spring water and dried in oven on low heat), mixed in food processor until finely ground, or use 2 cups of purchased, sprouted macadamia nut butter. Add in 1 egg, 3 TBS ghee, 1/4 cup coconut flour. Incorporate ingredients and press into pan that is greased with animal fat. Filling: 2 cups of prebaked butternut squash, skinned and seeded, 1/2 cup cultured cream, 4 TBS ghee, 4 yolks, 2 whole eggs, 15 drops stevia or monkfruit extract, 2 tsp vanilla extract. Blend ingredients until smooth and pour into pan with crust, sprinkle top with small amount of cinnamon, bake for one hour or until top is springy to the touch.
Ice Cream with whipped cultured cream — Mince the fresh herb chocolate mint and add in decaf espresso, cooked berries, baking oils or extracts.
Mocktails
(may add vodka or gin for a cocktail) — Gerolsteiner or Mountain Valley Waters are used for sparkling water. Each drink should include 6 oz liquid in a rocks glass, martini glass, wine glass, etc.
Mint Julep — muddle mint, add stevia or monkfruit extract, and sparkling water.
Raspberry Fizz — Muddle raspberry, add a touch of clove, stevia or monkfruit extract, and sparkling water.
Juniper Fern — muddle fresh chocolate mint, 3 fresh juniper cones/berries, sweeten with stevia or monkfruit extract and place one dried or fresh fiddlehead fern for garnish in drink.
Blackberry Winter — Muddle blackberries, a pinch of nutmeg, 2 leaves peppermint, rosemary, sweeten with stevia or monkfruit extract, and pour room temperature rooibos tea over.
Strawberry Summer — muddle lemon zest, 1 strawberry, 2 TBS fresh cream, sweeten with stevia or monkfruit extract, room temperature chamomile tea.
Orange Autumn — muddle 1 orange zest, pinch of clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and grate pinch fresh ginger, 1 TBS fresh cream, sweeten with stevia or monkfruit extract, room temperature English breakfast tea (only have one).
Sparkling Spring — muddle lime zest and fresh or dried hibiscus, add stevia or monkfruit extract and sparkling water.
If you drink alcohol, have 2 TBS of beet kvass after your cocktail.
A Georgia Summer Note
Since we are in Georgia and it is summertime, I wanted to share that Lugol’s iodine is great for drying out poison ivy and applying after bug/tick bites!
Congratulations on your journey thus far! Keep going and growing! I am so proud of you!