Apricot Chicken (AIP, Paleo) + Reflections on Thrombocytopenia

Let's Eat!! If you don't like this recipe, well, I'm not sure we can be friends (unless you like chocolate, and wine, then it's probably ok).

Paleo Apricot Chicken

Click Here for Printable Recipe

This is a recipe borrowed from my friend Beatrix. It's the one she sweated over to make AIP compliant when we ate together recently. I swear, it is delicious.

Ingredients:

(makes 5 servings)

* 6 chicken breasts, skin off
* 3 tablespoons coconut oil
* 3 chopped onions
* 1 can coconut milk. I used AYAMS - net weight 270g
* 1 can of apricots in juice (this was 400g net)
* 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
* salt to taste
* fresh or dried herbs - I used a large handful of fresh thyme, savory and oregano, finely chopped

Method:

* Melt the coconut oil in a frypan and sear the chicken on both sides, sprinkle salt on each side.

* Transfer the chicken to an oven pan and put in the oven to cook at 180C. It is ready when cooked right through.

* In the same pan from which you just removed the chicken, sautee the onions until softened, then add the apricots (including juice), vinegar and herbs. You can add a little more salt if required.

* Let the apricot concoction simmer for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to low and stir in the coconut milk.

* Return the chicken breasts to the frypan and swoosh them around until they are covered with the sauce.

* Serve.

Just for you, I did crunch the stats. This is per breast, with about 1/5 of the sauce.

Musing... I was reflecting today on the way that positive things so often emerge from what seem like negative situations or conditions. 

Obviously, at the moment I'm reflecting on my immune thrombocytopenia, reading my way through a pile of research and becoming immersed in the process of discovery. Like other autoimmune problems, the studies can't agree on the causes, but there is an 'shrugged consensus' that there is 'probably' genetic susceptibility + something that starts the process (e.g. a viral infection) + an ongoing environmental trigger. The last point is hotly debated. However, conditions like celiac disease support the 'trigger' theory - removing gluten and related proteins usually results in celiac disease remission.  There may be environmental triggers for other autoimmune conditions, but discovering them is time-consuming and not attractive research (no big drug money to be made).

"Environmental" could be anything, including, but not limited to foods.  Kek suggested that I might be triggered by housework and I've really taken that on board.  No more housework; it's almost certainly bad for me.  If that works, instant scientific renoun. ;)

Come to think of it, have truer words ever been spoken?

Sorry, where was I? Thrombocytopenia.

In terms of treatments that work, there are steroid drugs, which I hope to never need, and surgery (spleen removal), which seems pretty damn radical, and doesn't always work. There are a few random studies (mostly case studies, although there are a few mouse studies) suggesting that Chinese or Ayurvedic herbs and/or high-dose vitamin D may help - I'll be trying these.  I'm very grateful to Seth Roberts (PhD, author of the Shangri-La Diet), who posted my plea for help on his blog. The information I've received from his readers has saved me months of research and given me a much needed boost of confidence. 

My plan is to intelligently try those research-based ideas in an organised manner until something works, or I feel I've exhausted all options.  It's not in my nature to sit back and accept that nothing can be done, and in any case, it really is about the journey, isn't it?  When I think of some things I have deliberately 'lost': eating disorders, excess weight, arthritis, acne, what I feel most is a sense of gain through the process: knowledge, friends, confidence, skills, understanding and many adventures. And that's just the health related stuff.  I think the principle stands for other challenging life experiences too.

I think that's enough philosophising for a Thursday.  Let's make that apricot chicken recipe and get some eating underway!

Autoimmune Paleo (AIP) Diet - Personal

It's been a while since I did anything crazy with my personal nutrition but... I'm about to. You'll probably love it more than I will.. 

Back in February, during a routine blood test, I found that my platelet count is abnormally low. Further testing showed that, for god-knows-what reason, my body is making antibodies against its own platelets. My immune systems eats my platelets.  Nice. Good one, macrophages.

The symptoms aren't really bad, just annoying. Slow wound healing, and my arms and legs always have bruises that I can't contribute to anything. I'm lucky. It could be much worse.

After the test that confirmed antiplatelet antibodies, I did a bit of research and concluded that this probably is a side effect of my 2009 glandular fever episode because the glycoprotein coating ('sheath') on the virus is quite similar to the sheath on platelets. Specifically it contains similar carbohydrates. So the antibody for the Epstein Barr virus can mistakenly identify platelets as a target. The other possibility is that the virus damaged my gut (leaky gut), allowing proteins into my bloodstrem that shouldn't be there. How that works is, these proteins tend to attach themselves to internal structures, making those parts of 'self' look 'foreign' in the eyes of the immune system - the immune system is entirely xenophobic; if it's not self, it must die. I put together a few ideas around those theories and made a half-arsed attempt at an autoimmune protocol. Mostly this involved giving up alcohol, cutting back on dietary lectins, reducing coffee, taking glyconutrients and making some lifestyle changes to de-stress.  I wasn't very dedicated.

After a few months, my platelets went up by 7,000. That's not much but it lulled me into complacency and I got lazy.  Alcohol consumption resumed, I got slap-happy with grains, nuts and seeds and the daily espresso became .. "more". *looks sideways*  

And, now my platelets are only 75,000 (noooooo), which is the level where I could be referred to a haematologist.  But, you know, I'm all about self-healing, and tend to argue with doctors, so let's give self-platelet raising a decent bash.  I'm going to do 30 days on an auto-immune paleo diet (AIP), plus add a few supplements that I'll detail later as I haven't quite nailed that yet.

If you are unfamiliar with what a paleolithic diet involves, it really is a case of being complicated because it is so simple.  Based around what humans ate in the pre-agricultural era, 'paleo' is shorthand for avoidance of:

• Processed Food
• Grains, beans, pulses
• Dairy (although some people do eat it, usually in fermented form: yogurt, kefir)
• Sugar
• Industrial Oils (e.g. all oils except olive oil, coconut oil, natural animal fat and grass-fed butter)

and inclusion of:

**Mostly**

• Grass-Fed Meats
• Fish
• Eggs
• Veges, lots of veges, especially non-starchy ones.

**And Also**

• Fruit (1-2 pieces a day)
• Healthy Fats
• Nuts and Seeds (preferably sprouted)

It is a lower, but not low carbohydrate diet, depending of course, on individual food choice.

You can get quite tricky with it, for example, some people do eat grains if they are soaked, sprouted and fermented (I do this sometimes). There are personal variations: some people drink coffee and alcohol, some don't. Some use sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, dried fruit, xylitol, stevia and erythritol.

Don't even get me started on 'paleo' people that seem to live on nut, dried fruit and coconut-based treat foods, pancakes and muffins.  These things are ok sometimes, but meat, fish, eggs, veges, fruit, nuts and healthy fats in recognisable form should be the focus.

The Autoimmune protocol takes the regular paleo diet one step further, eliminating all nuts and seeds (including seed-derived spices like cumin and mustard),  nightshades (which I almost never eat anyway), eggs, as well as coffee and alcohol.  The idea is to eliminate anything that might stimulate an inflammatory response or irritate the gut. The Whole9 has a good shopping list for the AIP here. It's very short.

I have had to give up coffee (*insert apocalyptic music here*). I'm not going to lie: the thought depressed me to near-death. I'm 3 days coffee-free now and it's dire, but not quite deathly. I'm still drinking green tea, so that's evening out the caffeine detox symptoms. Sacrifices aside, I've read enough positive anecdotes of autoimmune success on this protocol that I think it's really worth a try. I don't know anyone that's improved their platelet count on such a regime, but someone has to be the first, right? I'd never heard of anyone curing their osteoarthritis either, but that worked.

And if it's a big, fat fail, well .. hello espresso. ;)  

What this means for the blog is that once I get through my backlog of recipes and ramblings to post (and there are many), you'll be getting a few weird AIP recipes. I've already recruited Pinterest as my new best friend in this mission (the link is to my Autoimmune Paleo Diet board), begged a kombucha scoby from a friend, and got my coconut yogurt yogging.

I'm ready. Let's go!

PS. Pls send vibes for platelets.  I'm not adverse to a little supernatural intervention here. ;) Vibes gratefully accepted.

Links

Sarah Ballantyne PhD (The Paleo Mom) - Cliff Notes for her upcoming book - which I will be buying, Ms Ballantyne knows her stuff. The entire protocol is outlined on that link, it's very useful.

20 Page Preview of Mickey Trescott's Autoimmune Paleo Book.   I've already bought this for inspiration and will review it once I've worked my way through.