Eating for Gut Health & Autoimmunity + a ‘Brothy’ Recipe!
Last year I found myself facing a Graves’ Disease flare after a couple of years in remission, symptom and medication-free. I had unintentionally fallen into full-time high school English teaching again, a position that contains a planning, marking and reporting workload which I predicted would not be good for managing my disease – one that was originally triggered by stress and zero down time. However, I took it anyway, wanting both a full career and my health, thinking things would be different this time. Inevitably, my symptoms started returning and I was feeling as though I had the flu/glandular fever almost every week! It was horrid to deal with while teaching classes of 30 teenagers at a time, every day, and working nights and weekends to stay on top of it all. My insomnia returned and left me wide awake at 3am every morning, a state that I would lay in until 6am, willing my body to just get some of the rest it so desperately needed in order to heal. This was also adding to the strain.
I got to a point where I knew I needed something more than my healthy gluten-free and mostly vegetarian diet. It had helped me tremendously when I implemented it alongside part-time casual work the first time. However, this time, it just wasn’t enough. No matter how many herbal tonics I tried from naturopaths, how many vitamins or baths I took, or how many beautiful essential oils I rubbed on my body, I just couldn’t seem to get on top of things. Eventually, I asked my boss if we could somehow find a way for me to cut back to four days per week. This definitely helped. However, it wasn’t until I discovered Dr. Amy Myers’ book ‘The Autoimmune Solution’ that things really started to change. I started reading the book from front to back, intrigued by all of the all of the information I had touched on through my research over the years, but never gone this in-depth with. As I had discovered, Dr. Myers explained that stress, diet, leaky gut, toxins and infections all contribute to one’s development of an autoimmune disease. Similarly to me, Myers had been diagnosed with Graves’ Disease after a very stressful time in her life. She had been vegetarian her whole life (I had only been mostly vegetarian for a couple of years). However, she pointed out that this seemingly healthy diet full of grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, was actually doing more harm than good for those of us with autoimmune diseases. She explained that legumes and grains (even gluten-free ones) contain lectins, particularly a type called a ‘prolamin’. For those of us with an already stressed immune system (most of which lives in the gut), these lectins irritate our gut lining, causing it to become even more leaky and unable to heal. Myers also explained that seeds basically do not want to be digested. “Their whole goal is to survive intact within your digestive tract, so when you eliminate them, they still have a chance to find some fertile soil, produce another plant, and perpetuate their genes. (Obviously, they had a better chance of achieving this objective throughout the millions of years when humans didn’t have indoor plumbing). So evolution has equipped seeds with lots of protection mechanisms to keep your gut from breaking them down.” She explains all of this in much, much greater detail, but the long and short of it all is that she recommended avoiding all grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, nightshades and eggs (the white contains ‘lysozyme’, intended to protect the yolk, just as lectins are intended to protect grains, legumes and seeds).
This approach is actually called the ‘Autoimmune Paleo’ (AIP) diet. As well as avoiding all of the usual suspects like gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol, caffeine, processed meat, refined oils and processed food, it also recommends avoiding the above foods for at least 30 days, allowing your gut some time without any irritating foods in order for it to heal. This, along with some immune boosting vitamins and gut healing supplements (including my homemade bone broth), is what completely changed my year. I followed the protocol, which encouraged all of the things I was already aware of in terms of avoiding toxins in skincare & cleaning products and on my food (non-organic) for almost 60 days. I started drinking a cup of bone broth each morning a few weeks in (my morning ‘brothy’ instead of coffee) and when I went to my doctor, she was shocked at just how quickly my autoimmune markers had dropped!! I had also begun having less frequent episodes of the fluey symptoms (more on this soon, as my doctor thinks this is one of the underlying infections Myers writes about that has burrowed into my system and flares up every time I am run down. Such infections have a clear link to autoimmune disease).
The medication I had had to start taking before I started the protocol had then sent my thyroid into an underactive state as my doctor explained that my body had begun regulating itself and had put itself back in range, so the medication was just decreasing my thyroid function even further, making my thyroid underactive. We reduced my medication as much as possible without going off it (you can’t do a course of it for less than 12 months – unfortunately)! I am now back in the completely normal range and taking just one tablet a week!! I have done the reintroduction phase of Dr. Myers’ AIP diet, where I trialled nightshades, then eggs, then nuts and seeds and am now eating eggs each day and nightshades, nuts and seeds weekly. I have had very minimal and occasional grains and legumes, but only when eating out. I am considering including them occasionally at home, but only if I have properly prepared them by soaking them first for easier digestion. Dr. Myers says that occasionally they are fine, but not as part of a daily diet. This has taken some adjustment as I originally had them every day, making delicious lentil and rice salads, and including tempeh and hummus at every chance I got. It has taken some adjustment to include some meat in my diet again. I really had needed to while not being able to have other protein sources, such as legumes, grains, eggs, nuts & seeds. I always make sure I have protein in every meal as it balances hormones and regulates the appetite – so without the vegetarian sources, some meat has been essential. However, we still mostly eat vegetables, including fish, local, free-range chicken and very occasionally, pasture-raised red meat. I always halve the amount of meat recommended in a recipe as I would prefer to consume more plants, with just some protein and also because I find that I value quality over quantity when it comes to animal protein. It is better for us if it’s not filled with hormones and been fed an unnatural diet with minimal room to move, but it is also better for the animals and the planet. I have had to reintroduce a small amount of meat, but I am very conscious of our consumption.
I believe the inclusion of a daily ‘brothy’ has been instrumental in my recovery as it is filled with gut-healing goodness. Bone broth is one of the best foods to consume for those of us suffering digestive issues, as it is rich in gelatin. Gelatin is essential for connective tissue function – it literally acts to heal and seal the gut, making this broth essential for those suffering chronic inflammation or leaky gut syndrome. Vital minerals including calcium, phosphorus and magnesium in bone broth are important to help create and maintain strong and healthy bones. This is particularly important for me with Graves’ Disease as it often causes osteoporosis in later years. Bone broth contains high amounts of collagen that form the structural building blocks of strong skin, hair and nails. The long cooking time for bone broth breaks down cartilage and tendons releasing anti-inflammatory compounds, chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, that are found in expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain. These compounds keep your joints young and flexible and inflammation down in the gut.
Below is my recipe that I use. My butcher convinced me to add chicken feet as they contain lots of collagen and make a really gelatinous broth. Initially, I found this terrifying. However, now I am so used to it and I figure that it is best to use the entire animal if its life has been taken. Our ancestors ate all parts of all animals they hunted. It has only been in recent years that we’ve decided to just stick to the muscle. Anyway… enjoy this easy recipe below. I hope it helps you to improve your gut health, and therefore, overall wellbeing and quality of life. I sure know that the AIP diet and this ‘brothy’ recipe has done exactly that for me, and I am so thankful.
Ingredients
1.5 kg chicken bones (I use necks and feet, but a whole carcass also works well)
1 onion, unpeeled, quartered
1 large carrot, unpeeled, quartered
1 celery stick, quartered
1 garlic clove, unpeeled
5 parsley stalks
5 thyme sprigs
5 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3L filtered water
Method
Place all ingredients in a large, heavy-based saucepan.
Pour in the water and bring to the boil over high heat. Skim the surface if any fat or impurities rise.
Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer for 2 hours.
Strain the broth through a sieve and pour into clean glass jars or containers and discard the bones and vegetables.
Allow to cool and then cover and refrigerate overnight.
Remove the layer of fat that settles and hardens on top and then use as required.
I like to keep one large jar out to last me a few days. I freeze the rest, defrosting them as I need them. It will last in the fridge for about 5 days. If freezing in jars, ensure you leave some space at the top – do not fill all the way, as it will expand slightly as it freezes. Enjoy!