Dr. Deb's EnterolLab Results

[Leah]

Sounds like you are a good cook, so I'm confident that you will figure this out. I know there are brands of hummus that don't have soy ( I buy them), but be aware that chick peas themselves CAN be an issue since they are a cousin to soy. Legumes are all related to soy, but for me ( through experimenting), I have found that I can eat a little bit of hummus with no reaction and can also eat white and black beans, but can not tolerate lentils, split peas, or peanuts. Weird.

Have you tried Chex cereals with almond milk? Sometimes I go for a quick bowl of cereal and at times, I add nuts for some substance. Can you eat canned Tuna? That is a handy lunch item. I buy a soy free Mayo that has been a life saver for me ( Hain safflower mayo).

I hope that these diet changes make all the difference for you
Leah

[Lesley]

Hey Tex. Again apologies for being AWOL. I am so immersed in the ME that I don't do much else other than walking Licorice and relieving my back in the pool. My typing ablity is deteriorating since my hands are not behaving at all. I must get going with Dragon again.
I have been working with Gabes, increasing mag and vit C intake to try to get motility going to help the C. Tiny success this week. BMs all day 2 days ago without Dr. S.
Right now I am UTI free, so a little better on that score.

But I digress:
I have not been baking at all. I have given up on all grain flours other than oats, which I know are OK re: enterolab AND MRT, so I have not tried any egg substitutes for a long time.
None of the grain flours tasted good to me since I can't have rice or corn, and almonds are also out, so I had to substitute so much that nothing really worked. It was a lot of effort for very little.
I was making apple crumbles using oats, oat flour, palm shortening, and nuts for the topping, but haven't done it for a while.
And it's too hot.

I have been eating Yehuda Matzo Style Squares, which contain egg yolk, working from the hypothesis (put forward by Z that we are generally sensitive to the protein in eggs, rather than the yolks). The cheapest place, surprise, to get these is Whole Foods. I got the last box, and was told they are "seasonal". Why? Beats me because these are not kosher for Passover, and nor is it anywhere near Passover now. Still, they special ordered a case for me, with 10% off.
They are delicious and a real treat, though very fragile.
They seem don't do anything bad, but then I still don't know what really does other than gluten, rice, poultry and dairy for sure. I cut everything on the MRT and enterolab, but I have only actually seen reactions to the above.

Under this assumption I have made the most delicious ice cream so far using an egg yolk and coconut milk custard. Very low sugar since I substituted liquid stevia (found a good one on Amazon) for 1/2 of the sugar. I like to mix it in the bowl, or swirl it with a low sugar fruit sorbet. It's totally convincing.
If anyone wants the recipe I will post it. I am a little worried about the cholesterol in the yolks, but since I long ago decided not to worry about cholesterol this is just a niggling in the back of my consciousness.

I have to go to bed because it is getting late, and Friday mornings I have to be up early to mentor my little girl in S. Africa in the Infinite Family program, one of the greatest programs ever! Going from strength to strength since CNN Heroes. Wow, was that ever fun!

Edited to add - my favorite salt nowadays is celtic salt - it's a grey salt, a bit more expensive, but a little goes a long way. It seems to brighten the flavor of the food. Quite amazing.
And then, of course, the ultimate flavor adder, truffle salt.

[drdebc]

I have to force myself to eat breakfast. I am never hungry. That is a great idea to eat rice Chex and almond milk. I will pick some up. Girlfriends are visiting this weekend. I made the "cheese" dip, corn bread, and guacamole. They taste wonderful.

The most frustrating aspect of this is that EVERYTHING includes soy! I threw out 3/4 of the seasonings in my refrigerator. I gave away the 15 servings of Hummus I had just purchased at Costco. I returned 3 containers of Daisy low fat cottage cheese to the grocery store along with 2 jars of Vegaise with grape seed oil. I did discover that Vegaise offers a soy free version in a smaller jar only. However, hooray for that for the sweet potato and coleslaw salads I am serving this weekend.

I do love to cook. I will post some of my recipes on here soon.

Thanks again,
Deb

[tex]

Hi Lesley,

It's good to hear that you're making progress with some things at least. I may be all wet, but I have a hunch that cholesterol and fatty acids have a lot to do with manual dexterity, because of an affect on the lubricity of sinews and their sheaths. It's known that they help to preserve the myelin sheathes that protect nerves in the brain (to help prevent dementia), so I see no reason why they wouldn't also help to preserve the mechanical sheaths in which sinews operate. And don't sweat the cholesterol. As I've posted before, at our age, higher cholesterol levels are associated with a lower all-cause risk of mortality.

And it wouldn't make me mad if you were to post that ice cream recipe. It sounds interesting.

Thanks for the update.

Tex

[lisaw]

Deb, there is an egg free, soy free mayo that I get from Whole Foods, called Earth Balance Mindful Mayo. It is made from pea protein, so you have to be ok with that. And yes, soy lurks everywhere! That is the hardest one to eliminate. You sound like you are a creative cook!

[dfpowell]

Lesley,

It is good to hear from you! Would you post the ice cream recipe?

Thanks,

[drdebc]

Thanks so much for the mayo source,
Unfortunately there are no Whole Foods within a 3 hour drive. However, Ingle's is big up here. I was able to locate Veganaise without soy. It works great. However, it is pricey. Eight dollars for a small container. When I am in Atlanta, I will visit Whole Foods and purchase the Earth Balance Mindful Mayo.
Thanks so much,
Deb

[Lesley]

OK guys - here goes.
I use coconut milk. The full fat one I like is golden star because it is pure. No additives. I get it at Ralph's.
The low fat one I use is from TJ's.
I guess you can use any other milk - rice, almond etc.

So I use about 3-4 cups (2 cans or slightly less) of coconut milk.
1/2 cup sugar, added liquid stevia to taste. I add it later when I have made the custard. If you want to use all sugar - about 3/4 - 1 cup.
1-2 tsps vanilla
pinch salt
5 large egg yolks.
Adam loves to eat egg whites, so I give them to him. Next time I will make him some coconut macaroons, or meringues.

Heat milk a little of the sugar, vanilla, salt just to boil.
While it is heating whisk the rest of the sugar with the egg yolks until thick and pale.

Carefully add 1/3 of the milk mixture to the egg mix, stir well, and then add the 2nd 3rd.
Return the egg and milk mix to the pan and heat, stirring all the time. DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL. If you do the egg yolks will overcook. Let the mixture thicken until it sort of coats the back of a wooden spoon.
This is the point where I taste for sweetness and add stevia to taste.

Chill well, and put in ice cream machine until a soft serve consistency is obtained. Even if you freeze in a container it will not go hard.
Eat and enjoy. Wonderful with fruit, or combined with a fruit sorbet. Challenge anyone to tell you that this is not a great custard based vanilla ice cream.

I am going to try this with chocolate. I should think it will be great.

Tex, if cholesterol helps manual dexterity bring on the egg yolks! My hands are terrible.

[Leah]

Sounds great. If you do try chocolate, using unsweetened cocoa powder will work better then melted chocolate ( it will get too hard). Adding some alcohol will also help keep it soft in the freezer.

Leah

[Lesley]

Yeah I planned on coco powder. Pure cooking chocolate is not easy to handle. And yes, I use a tblsp of grain free vodka in my ice cream. However, the custard ice cream does not get hard if you get the custard right.

[Grahm]

Thank you so much for introducing me to Trocomare. I picked it up at Whole Foods last weekend and I am really enjoying it. Our Costco did not have it.

Connie

[drdebc]

I just LOVE it!