Get Cultured!

"Born of necessity and waste-not-want not attitude, probiotic foods have nourished the human race for thousands of years and appear in one form or another in traditional cuisines cross-globally.  Fermented foods are rich in probiotics - those beneficial bacteria that keep our immune systems and digestive tracts running smoothly and healthfully."

Get Cultured: Probiotic Foods from a Nourished Kitchen, the first of many e-books detailing tried-and-true nourishing recipes, Get Cultured details thirteen recipes from classics like pickled jalapeños and real sauerkraut to the exotic like Vietnamese preserved limes, green salsa and cortido.

Each recipe in Get Cultured focuses on nourishing pro-biotic, naturally fermented vegetables and all the recipes are dairy-free.

>>> Check it out at nourishedkitchen.com/get-cultured/

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Healing Beef Stock

Broth, made from the bones of animals, has been consumed as a source of nourishment for humankind throughout the ages. It is a traditional remedy across cultures for the sick and weak. A classic folk treatment for colds and flu, it has also been used historically for ailments that affect connective tissues such as the gastrointestinal tract, the joints, the skin, the lungs, the muscles and the blood. Broth has fallen out of favor in most households today, probably due to the increased pace of life that has reduced home cooking in general. Far from being old-fashioned, broth (or stock) continues to be a staple in professional and gourmet cuisine, due to its unsurpassed flavor and body. It serves as the base for many recipes including soup, sauces and gravy. Broth is a valuable food and a valuable medicine, much too valuable to be forgotten or discounted in our modern times with our busy ways and jaded attitudes.  - Allison Siebecker

Throughout my healing journey broth and stock have played starring roles for everything from Fibromyalgia to the most severe stomach flu.  It is humble, unassuming, and so easily dismissed, but it is a true healer.  It took me a while not just to give credit to the benefits of broth, but to implement it as a mainstay in my daily life, but the process has been well worth it.  Not only does it help to heal the body, but it soothes the rough patches of the healing process like die-off, stomach irritation, fatigue and inflammation.  While chicken stock is considered the cream of the stock crop, it is beef stock that we prefer around here because it is easier for us to acquire great bones.  We have made stock from everything from Yak (yes, yak!) to fish and even combined poultry and beef bones.  Each family member has their favorite, but all stock can be wonderfully beautiful in flavor while it does it's healing work.

From ediblearia.com..

"...if there's one preparation that separates a great home cook's from a good home cook's food, it's stock.  Stock is the ingredient that most distinguishes restaurant cooking from home cooking."  -Michael Ruhlman

Here, then, is a proper yet relatively easy way to make a rich, delicious, and (most importantly) healing beef stock at home..

Beef Stock (makes about 1 quart) (informed by recipes by Ruhlman and Darina Allen)

6 cups (more-or-less) cold, filtered water, divided
2 pounds meaty beef bones (shin bones with meat attached are ideal) from a clean, non-industrial source
1/3 pound unpeeled yellow onions, roughly chopped
1/3 pound carrots, roughly chopped
1/3 pound celery, roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 large fresh, ripe tomato, cut into wedges
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2-3 whole cloves
1 bouquet garni of parsley stalks & leaves, fresh bay leaves and fresh thyme

Arrange the beef bones on a roasting pan or in a large cast iron skillet, allowing plenty of space between each (as you can see, I wasn't able to find any bones with meat attached, so I rummaged around in the freezer and found an old tri-tip to add to the pan).  Place the pan in a 400 degree oven and roast until nicely browned, about 45 minutes.  Take care not to let the bones burn, or the stock will be bitter.

Remove the pan from the oven and scatter the chopped vegetables, garlic and peppercorns over and around the bones.  Return the pan to the oven and roast until the vegetables are browned around the edges, about 20 minutes.

Transfer the roasted bones, vegetables, garlic and peppercorns to a clean stockpot or Dutch oven.

Pour the grease off from the roasting pan and deglaze with 1 cup of the water.  Bring the water to a boil, then use a wood utensil to scrape up the fond (the brown bits) from the bottom of the pan.  Pour the liquid over the bones and vegetables in the stock pot.

Add enough of the remaining water to cover the bones, then add the cloves and bouquet garni.

Bring the pot to a rapid boil, then lower the heat to a bare simmer.  Skim and discard any foam that may be present on the surface.

Partially cover the pot and allow to simmer for 6-8 hours, skimming and adding water as necessary to keep the bone submerged.

Turn off the heat and allow the stock to cool in the pot for 30 minutes.  Strain the stock through a cheesecloth-lined fine mesh strainer to ensure a clear and clean-tasting stock.

Store stock in the refrigerator and use with 3-4 days, or freeze for up to 6 months.

Update - Two Difficult Weeks

After the last post I was feeling dramatically better; expecting that if the improvements continued at that speed that I would be Fibro free again in no time.  Unfortunately, the improvements didn't continue as such.  I have not gone back on "the rules", but quite suddenly I started to get symptoms flaring up; pain, serious fatigue, itching, etc.

Looking at what I was doing, fearfully because of the rise in pain, I noticed a few important things.

One: the fear that rises up when I feel the beginning of the pain, if someone asks me how I feel, or if I accidentally leave home without anything for a pain flare up, the fear causes the minor beginnings to flare like blowing on a fire.  Fear/stress = pain when at this delicate stage.  When I am stronger and more sound this is not the case, but at this level of weakness and sensitivity to all triggers, it is a real problem.  It was actually my 8 year old son that helped me work through this.  Taught him well, I did :-)  He just said, "Well, mama, sometimes I feel afraid and then I get all of those 'afraid feelings' like sweating, and tummy ache, but then you tell me that there isn't anything to be afraid about and you help me feel okay about whatever is happening and all of those things go away so that being afraid isn't bad anymore. Then it isn't even there anymore. That's what you have to do."

He was right.  I closed my eyes, and forcibly relaxed my whole body starting from my scalp and working my way down and up again.  Then I made sure that I was breathing deeply and slowly, and starting visualizing things that made me feel happy or excited like a walk on a tropical beach (so different from the high desert where we live), a picnic by the lake with cake (it's a dream, there can be cake!), warm coffee - cup hot on my palms, etc.  After about 5 minutes I realized that the flare had subsided back to a minor sensation that couldn't really qualify as pain.  Without the fearful response to what this feeling means, it would likely have stayed there.  It made me wonder how much of my suffering is skyrocketed to severe pain because of the fear that it will progress to that.  I've been keeping a close eye on this and am finding a lot of truth in it.  In more stressful situations, it can be hard for me to keep a handle on how deep and firey the pain gets.  I have been working to tell myself, It's OKAY.  This is what it feels like.  You know this feeling.  Maybe it will get worse, maybe it will disappear... either way, the only thing to do is relax as deeply as possible.  Accept.  Know that it will pass.  Breathe, and don't tense up!  It's been helping a lot.

Two: Water.  Water is the next key point.  I have come to understand that it is at least as important as staying away from gluten and preservatives.  Any degree of low hydration will  result in pain for me.  And it will result in the most stubborn, deep, widespread variety.  For me this means a gallon of water every single day.  One day of poor intake, say a quart or two, will result in pain before the day is out (usually around dinner time) and if I don't remedy the situation I will wake up achy and at a difficult deficit in the morning.  Sadly I do this at least twice per week.  Living in the high desert I have to consider that missing some of the water I need is only going to add to the battle that I deal with everyday with the high, gusting winds, 8,200 ft elevation, desert arid air, sun exposure, and year round wood-stove heating (mountain temperatures).  I think of it like this:  I pretend that I am trying to keep a garden alive in the desert.  This requires constant watering, and reduction of anything that will dehydrate me, such as excess sodium, and certain foods.  When I'm dealing with a real dehydration situation, I help myself out and add some coconut water to the mix.  This increases the rate at which I can rehydrate without increasing the inevitable trips to the bathroom.

Sleep.  Oh, my, sleep!  It is so very important.  Quality, undisturbed, delta-wave sleep is necessary.  Without it I might feel okay for a few days or weeks, but I will be tired, and I will be ever so much more susceptible to all environmental triggers.   A thing to understand:  nearly every single sleep drug, antideppressant, anti-anxiety drug, and alcohol will dramatically reduce ability to achieve delta wave sleep or completion of a full sleep cycle.  Most will prevent it entirely.  Sleep is such a deeply, widely complicated issue I'm going to have to cover it over a series of posts.  I spent years and years battling this issue.  I first became aware that I did not sleep easily or deeply when I was about 5 years old.  I struggled with it until I was 27 and it rises up again and again when I don't stick to the "sleep rules".  I will have to cover those in another post.  The last five years have been overlapping issues of pregnancy, breastfeeding and nightwaking/teething babies.  It is possible to overcome a block as big as a waking baby to get the kind of sleep necessary, but it takes real dedication and a sacrifice or two.  It's worth it though.  Nothing will change your outlook on life and your strength against pain like quality sleep.

I'd like to touch quickly on detoxing/die-off symptoms before leaving you.  I realized about a week into the rising of symptoms that I was dealing with detox/die-off symptoms.  After making dramatic changes in my diet, like cold-turkey removal of all grains and sugar, I should have expected it, but somehow didn't.  Depending upon how long I have been abusing my body with things like gluten, sugar, carageenan, etc. I will experience a whole slew of symptoms ranging from mildly irritating to two days of feeling like I may be dying of cancer, unable to move, hardly speak, etc.  I had been abusing it pretty badly for a long time, so I got two days of the latter.  The pain was too severe to mask, even with pharmaceutical opiates and herbs combined, my stomach ached, the fatigue was deep enough to make it difficult to speak and remember to keep my eyes open.  My heart palpitated, my skin itched, my bones burned and I suffered breakouts all over my face and a few other enjoyable issues.  The thing to know:  given the opportunity, your body  will heal itself.   This will include a forceful removal of toxins through every avenue possible: kidneys, liver, skin, bladder, bowels...  It usually doesn't feel great, but proper support of your systems while it is happening can reduce the length of severe suffering to a day or two.   Watering your body like you have the flu, REST, vitamins, probiotics and essential fatty acids like those found in fish, (freshly ground) flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds and especially fermentd cod liver oil will go a looong way to helping you recover more quickly.   Gently scrubbing your skin in a warm bath at least once per day and then oiling your skin with a quality, unscented oil like olive oil or coconut oil will help prevent rashes, breakouts, dry or rough patches, redness, itching and swelling.  Your skin is the largest organ of detoxification and your body's preferred first route.

I'll leave it there for now, and follow up with more detailed posts on all of these topics.

To our health, Rebels.  We can level this thing.