GAPS Intro Week 5

Read why we're doing GAPS here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 1 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 2 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 3 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 4 here.

I still struggled with eating enough, but since I didn't realize what was going on till the end of week 4/beginning of week 5 this wasn't surprising.

We added homemade applesauce (so yummy!), cucumbers, Boston lettuce, raw apples, and honey.

We did more juicing, adding beets, apples, pears, and celery to our carrot juice. I only add small amounts of beet though. I learned my lesson when we were newlyweds years ago and I was doing some juicing. I don't remember what else I put in, but I do know there was an entire beet in the mix. I drank the juice then got in my car to go to class. A few blocks later, I had to pull over and I puked all over the fence surrounding the soccer fields. Needless to say, I was scarred for life by that experience. I think I may have stopped juicing after that? Can't quite remember, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I've been roasting an organic pastured chicken each week, and it's so easy. Rinse the chicken, then sprinkle sea salt, pepper, and Herbamare on all sides. I cook it for about 2 hours at 350. I start it breast side down for half an hour, turn it over and cover with foil for another half hour, then uncover and cook for about 1 more hour (till the internal temperature is at 180. The skin gets nice and crispy and brown and tastes sooo good. Healthy fats, right? It's a big change from before, when just the thought of eating the skin was a bit icky. Even LMS, who has never liked skin and such before likes it.

After roasting, I deglaze the roasting pan and add the juices to the crockpot with the carcass, which makes the best tasting broth. Yum!

GAPS Intro Week 4

Read why we're doing GAPS here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 1 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 2 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 3 here.

This week we started juicing- carrot juice to begin with. We also added olive oil back in. Nut flour bread was on the list, but since we're not eating nuts or eggs, we skipped it. LMS loves the carrot juice, my reaction is more "meh". The earthy sweetness isn't really my thing. Once we tone it down with other juices, it'll be more acceptable.

All week I had bad cravings, which made life difficult. After a lot of thought, I decided I wasn't eating enough.

• I've increased my level of physical activity since I'm training for a half marathon in January.
• Taste bud fatigue. Or is it appetite fatigue?  Basically I'm getting tired of eating the same thing over and over, and I'm not fond of the taste of beef fat, which ends up in a lot of our food. As a result, I'm eating less overall, which isn't a good thing at this point in time. Adding more foods back in so we have a wider variety to choose from should help with this though.

Random thing:
I usually wash my hair every other day, only blow dry it on Sundays, and let it air dry the rest of the time. The last couple weeks I've noticed my hair isn't nearly as greasy as usual. Usually the morning I'm due to wash my hair, I can tell it needs it and there's no way to let it go another day.  Lately, I've been going 3 or 4 days in between washings, and my hair doesn't feel gross. I washed my hair Sunday morning, and it wasn't till Friday that I felt like it needed to be washed again. Now if I could get my face to clear up a bit more, I'd be happy. It's never been really bad, but I do have a problem with blackheads and blemishes on certain parts of my face.

GAPS Intro Week 3

Read why we're doing GAPS here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 1 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 2 here.

Since we're doing one stage each week, Week 3 = Stage 3.

This week we introduced egg whites, soaked and dehydrated pecans (crispy nuts), avocado, and cilantro.

The egg whites were a massive, but not unexpected, failure. Apparently the whites are the ones that usually cause problems for people, rather than the yolks. So, no egg whites. We tried some pancakes made of egg yolks, summer squash, and crispy pecans all blended together, but they were problematic. I'd eaten the nuts by themselves without too many problems, but after the pancakes I decided we needed to hold off on the eggs and nuts till after we've had more time to heal. Disappointing, but on par with where we were before.

Thankfully we were able to eat the avocado without problems, and LMS is liking avocados a lot more than she used to. She will actually eat them as a snack and ask for some at meals. I'm still not super-fond of the texture, but they're good for us, so I'll eat them.

Surprisingly, the cilantro did seem to give me a few problems. I'll need to try it again in a few days to make sure whether it's ok or not.

Thanksgiving was less than festive for us, but it wasn't terrible. It was nice to have a low-key holiday, even if we weren't able to eat traditional Thanksgiving foods.

Other thoughts:

1. During the healing process, symptoms sometimes get worse before they get better. This is certainly true for LMS, who has had more meltdowns than usual. I'm not at all surprised by this, though, given all that's going on.
2. It took several meltdowns and several conversations where I tried to figure out the reason for that specific meltdown, for me to finally realize a few things. LMS really likes the independence of being able to get her own breakfast together or her own snacks. She is really, really struggling with that right now. She doesn't like that I have to heat things up for her to eat and that there's nothing ready to grab out of the pantry.
3. We've found a couple solutions though. She now knows how to heat up a small dish of mashed butternut squash and some leftover meat from dinner in the microwave (we've always had over the stove models, which she can't reach, so she hasn't had any practice using one), so as long as there's a container with food in the frig, she can get that herself. We've had multiple discussions about snacks and what we can and can't eat, and she's decided that a Bubbie's pickle is an acceptable snack option. Right now I have to get them out of the jar for her, but I will be putting some into individual, reusable containers so she can get one herself.
4. I think I've decided to hold off on introducing foods that we've had problems with in the past. Rather than experience frustration at not being able to eat them yet, we'll just wait and let our intestines heal more. So even though GAPS says to introduce eggs, nuts, dairy, and so on at certain points, I think we'll just try to be patient.

Gaps Intro Week 2

Read why we're doing GAPS here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 1 here.

For now, we're taking a week to go through each stage of Intro. It's very tempting to zoom through them all, but since we know we have significant damage to our intestines, it's going to take a while for them to heal. It's not going to happen overnight.

So, since last week was our second week, we worked on stage 2.

On day 7 of the first week we each had a ridiculously expensive organic pastured duck egg yolk mixed into our bowl of soup. There wasn't significant problems, so we continued to do the same each day.

However, I wasn't sure about the eggs- there were no digestive issues, but LMS has been super cranky lately. I haven't been able to pinpoint whether it's because of die-off, feelings of deprivation, or something else. She really wants her usual snacks and is having a hard time with the restrictions on food she can easily eat.

LMS couldn't stand not having a "snack", and Wednesday she managed to find an almost empty jar of sunbutter in the frig while I was doing some yardwork outside. Later that day she had some intestinal issues, and I couldn't figure out why. The next day, I discovered sunbutter smears on the drawers in the frig, and put two and two together. Needless to say, we had a long discussion about why we couldn't eat sunbutter yet, and we stopped eating eggs for a few days to give her intestines a chance to recover.

I had ordered fermented cod liver oil the previous week, so when it arrived, we started taking the FCLO. We're currently taking it in capsule form, but may switch to a flavored liquid form. There's no aftertaste with the capsules, but I think it's more cost-effective to do the liquid (need to double-check that).

I had read that GAPS cures kids of being picky eaters, and LMS is already less of a picky eater than she used to be. She's never liked pickles before, but now I have to stop her from eating too many at once since we're still adjusting to the probiotics in the fermented pickles. She now asks for a "healthy snack" when she wants a pickle.

LMS has decided she really likes mashed butternut squash, preferably with some duck fat and sea salt on top. I don't mind the duck fat, it seems to have a fairly neutral flavor, but neither of us likes the flavor of lamb or beef lard on our veggies. Hopefully the flavor will blend better with meat when we can cook our meat in other ways besides boiled in broth. Gotta come up with some way to use the tubs of tallow I purchased.....

Other thoughts:

1. We're currently alternating Bubbies pickles with Bubbies sauerkraut. I've ordered a Pickl-It jar and will start some sauerkraut when it arrives.
2. **Over-share coming up**  My period was way less painful than usual. I had some cramps, but nowhere near as bad as usual, and I was able to function without painkillers or curling up around my heating pad. Considering I've been taking a prescription pain killer specifically for menstrual cramps for the last year or so, that's saying a lot. I also wasn't as cranky and irrational as I usually am leading up to my period. I really hope this continues :)

Thankful

Mr M and I were talking today about what LMS and I are (and aren't) eating these days. He's currently out of the country for work, so he's missing out on the fun.  His Thanksgiving dinner wasn't that great, but he mentioned that he was sure it was better than what LMS and I ate.

Because of where we are in the GAPS Intro, the only "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner item we could eat was the turkey. I haven't really been in Thanksgiving meal mode this week, so I neglected to take our turkey out of the freezer in time for it to defrost. Oops.

Instead, I roasted an organic pastured chicken last night so it would be all ready for today. We added some mashed squash (LMS's current favorite) and cauliflower "fauxtatoes" with homemade gravy. We also had some chicken veggie noodle soup (zucchini and summer squash noodles with chunks of carrot, onion, and broccoli). While not the traditional meal, it was quite yummy.

I was realistic though: we turned down several invitations to friends' houses. We could have brought our food with us, but it would have been torture to see and smell all the food we can't eat. LMS would have had multiple meltdowns for sure. Why even go there?

Back to our unconventional meal.

While we ate, I realized that even though it might not be what we really wanted to eat, we are still very blessed.

We have plenty of food to eat. There may not be a lot of variety right now, but we have enough. So many people don't have that luxury. When I think of that, it's hard to complain about our food situation.

GAPS Intro Week 1

Read why we're doing GAPS here.

So how'd the first week on GAPS go?

For me, pretty good. LMS required a lot of encouraging and cajoling, but she stuck with it.

We'd already started drinking bone broth every day and we'd started taking our probiotic supplement as well. When Monday came, I cooked up some squash and hamburger for breakfast instead of our usual bowl of rice crispies, and it wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be.

LMS wasn't thrilled with the idea of eating veg and meat for all three meals, with no "real" snacks (raisins, applesauce, etc). She likes being able to eat snacks that she can get herself that she thinks are yummy.

The first few days my mental fog increased because of the die off reaction, but then it started to get better. I'm still not where I'd like to be, but I'm getting there.

Wednesday and Thursday we were both super tired, though LMS was more so, and Friday our energy levels were back up. I'm glad it was an off week from school- it made it easier to let things slide when we didn't feel up to doing them. The timing was unintentional, but fortuitous.

A few days into it, we both started fantasizing about all the food we wanted to eat but couldn't. I've been spending lots of time online, searching out new recipes, reading others' experiences on GAPS, and so on, and it became very tempting to just go eat all the things I haven't been eating but want to (no gluten, of course, I'm not stupid)- cake, cookies, pizza, etc. Not a good idea to be looking at all the things you might be able to eat sometime in the future, and you don't know when, especially when you're on a very restricted diet.

I could tell LMS was also fantasizing about all the things she'd eat because she pulled out a Japanese kids cookbook and started pointing out all the things she wanted to make. Only she wanted to make them now. She's having a hard time with the whole waiting thing- she wants to be able to eat them now.

Some of the food we ate:
hamburger cooked in broth (as hamburger patties and meatballs)
chicken (cooked when I put a whole chicken in the crockpot for broth)
butternut squash (cooked in broth, then mashed)
cauliflower (cooked in broth, then mashed)
broccoli (boiled till soft, not lightly steamed like I usually like)
onions (cooked in broth)
chicken soup (shredded crockpot chicken, grated onion, carrot, zucchini, summer squash, broccoli, and cauliflower, well cooked in broth)
summer squash soup (summer squash cooked in broth, then blended smooth)
teaspoons of Bubbie's sauerkraut juice (haven't quite gotten the courage to make my own, but soon)
teaspoonful of Bubbie's sauerkraut
chicken pieces and zucchini slices baked in broth

We only ate one egg each during the first week- on day 7, and it was just the yolk, mixed into a bowl of soup. I'm still undecided on whether it was ok or not. More on that next week.

One con: lots and lots of dishes. I used to be able to go 2 or 3 days between dishwasher loads and even then it might be a little sparse. Now I'm doing full loads every single day. Even though we pretty much eat the same thing throughout the day (so I only have to cook once) or leftovers from the day before, using the stove to reheat food rather than the microwave really increases the number of dirty dishes.

A few more thoughts:

1. I don't like the "diet" part of the name. "Diet" has such bad connotations, and I don't want it being applied to our 6 year old, since it's not like she needs to lose weight or anything. I think GAPS regimen sounds so much better than GAPS diet.
2. On the other hand, I have lost weight doing GAPS. I've always suspected that my wieght issues were related to the condition of my intestines, and so far this seems to be the case. Hopefully it'll hold true: I'm now a third of the way to my weight loss goal!
3. We're not restricted in the amount of food we eat- we actually end up eating more, because it can hover on low-carb (which is why we've been eating a lot of squash, to keep our carbs up), we're just restricted in the kinds of food.
4. I forgot to mention that GAPS is not long term. The intro phase usually is 4-6 weeks, but can be longer if needed. Once you're done with intro you move to full GAPS, where you continue to eat nutrient dense food while you continue to heal. Some can come off it in 6 months, others take 2 years, it just depends on your body. After that, you transition to including more foods that aren't GAPS legal. We'll transition to gluten free whole foods/nourishing traditions foods.

Why did we decide to do the GAPS diet?

In a word, desperation.

A few months ago we had to cut out a few more foods, which was a bit depressing. The realization that there's not that many foods left that we can eat was even more depressing. And frustrating.

LMS and I had a conversation about baking and I realized that in our current state of affairs, she'd never be able to learn how to bake, let alone eat, cookies, cakes, candies, pies, bread, etc. What a sad state of affairs.

Out of desperation, I took to the internets to see if I could find something useful and helpful. The first thing I read up on was leaky gut syndrome, which sounded like it could be what was going on with our intestines. As usual, no real treatment, other than dietary changes and supplementation. As I did more reading, I kept running across the GAPS diet, which I'd seen mentioned before in my googling over the last couple years. Previously it never caught my interest, so I never investigated it.

This time, I was willing to look into anything and everything. I borrowed a book about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) from the library, then bought the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride (our library doesn't have it).

GAPS is related to SCD, but with more of an emphasis on nutrient-dense foods. Here's a good comparison of the two, stated much better than I ever could.

The intro phase starts out with lots of bone broth (drunk at each meal), boiled meats and veggies (for easy digestibility), probiotic supplements, and detox baths (alternating baking soda, epsom salts, and apple cider vinegar). You gradually add foods in: first fermented sauerkraut juice, then fermented sauerkraut- small amounts that are then gradually increased if they are well tolerated. Fermented sauerkraut contains probiotics, so you don't want to take too much right at the start, to reduce die-off reactions. The next food you add is the yolks of pastured eggs- they're rich in nutrients and are less problematic than the whites. You continue to add new foods in one at a time, making sure they don't cause problems, and giving time to step back and recover if there is a problem.

What caught my eye was the assertion that bone broth and highly digestible foods could heal the intestines. Since our intestines obviously need help, I decided it was worth a try.

I bought an e-book describing how to do the intro phase of GAPS (it's only briefly mentioned in the GAPS book I mentioned above), and then.... we waited.

We saved up and bought a quarter of a cow, since we'd need the meat and the bones and we're almost out of elk.
I started making and freezing bone broth.
I ordered some strong probiotics.
I started talking up GAPS to LMS.

The last item was the hard part. While our diet wasn't that far from the intro phase of GAPS, we would need to cut out fruit for awhile, completely eliminate rice (no more GF rice crispies for breakfast), and we wouldn't be able to "cheat" and buy M&Ms when we did the grocery shopping (we shouldn't eat M&Ms for various reasons, but sometimes you just need a chocolate fix). LMS wasn't thrilled with the idea of giving up applesauce, rice crispies, and M&Ms.

I tried to get her on board by explaining that if we could stick with it, we should be able to start eating things we haven't been able to eat for quite awhile, like eggs, dairy products, and nuts. This excited her, and she agreed to give it a try.

In an effort to keep the detoxing symptoms to a minimum, we eased into everything by first starting the probiotics, then two days later we started drinking broth once a day.

I originally decided to start November 1- new month, new start, and all that. But it was the middle of the week, Halloween was the night before, and I wasn't ready.  I took the next couple days to get rid of the Halloween candy, do a bit more shopping, get more bone broth cooking, and get lots of broccoli, cauliflower, and squash chopped and frozen, ready to cook. Last Monday we jumped into the first phase of GAPS intro.

to be continued...