The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Hummingbird vegetables

Vegetable broth

My doctor was vague about how long I should stay on my hummingbird diet ("not forever"), but the internet suggests I need to be prepared for 4 to 6 more weeks of low-fiber and daily imodium. So where are all of my vitamins and minerals going to come from when the only fruits and vegetables in my diet are bananas and applesauce? (Yes, I'm taking multivitamins, but I don't really trust them to do the trick.)

After some experimentation, I discovered that homemade juice had too much fiber and homemade chicken stock (even with the fat skimmed off) had too much fat. Both went on my no list.

Luckily, storebought juice suits my stomach better...but even the non-tomato-based "vegetable" juice is mostly fruit sugars. However, I discovered that I could stew up certain vegetables --- notably leafy greens and shiitakes --- then drain off the water and mix it with storebought juice for a tasty and nutritious treat. I guess I'll be drinking my vegetables this month after all.



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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Hi Anna. It's good to hear you're making progress on recovery. Where to get my vitamins and minerals without a supplement has always been a challenge. But I recently found an herbalist that I can relate to. Her herbal infusion concept is very enlightening and I like the fact that I could grow much of my own herbs. But I also like that I can get many of them on-line. Here's a link to one of her instructions. I'm currently trying to work the protocol into my life style. And preliminary results are encouraging but inconclusive. Maybe they could work for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPMLRZCGPjU

Comment by Ellie Lightfoot Thu Oct 6 13:36:36 2016

few years ago, i had similar problem i eliminated 1 thing at a time, trying to find cause. turned out to be the multivitman i was taking. when i stopped all supplimental vitamins, problem corrected itsself. my body was trying to get rid of overdose of some of the vitamins i was taking

i also found that metamucil. or store brand of that, help thicken up what comes out, better than fiber pills

good luck

Comment by ralph Thu Oct 6 18:32:23 2016





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