Real Food eBook Bundle

Hey, Anyone out there still reading? Maybe you've done GAPS and you've reintroduced some grains, and would like to attempt GF sourdough? Before doing GAPS, I published my GF sourdough adaptations on Gnowfglins.com. Their sourdough eBook (with my tips included) is part of a Real Food eBook Bundle, on sale all week. Check it out if you're interested!

 

(This is my affiliate link and I will make a small portion of the profits if you buy through me)

Intro Again

Not sure how many of you are still out there, but I thought it was worth mentioning that we are starting Intro again tomorrow. We recently had to take a 10 day trip to CA for my grandmother's funeral. Between the stress of the trip, being exposed to lots of different detergents in beds at Grandma's, hotels, etc., and eating out (even though we did the best we could with food choices), Audrey is about as bad off with her eczema as she's ever been. Again.

I have to say this is incredibly discouraging to me. I hoped I would never have to see my baby like this again. However, I am grateful that I know what will calm her system down again.

I am now about 6 months pregnant and will be modifying the diet as needed for myself, but I have been hitting the fruit too hard again anyway, and need to cut it out! We all could do with another round of intro, so...we're doing it.

Hopefully we'll move quickly.

Realizations

Hi GAPS friends,
We are now nearly 7 months into the GAPS diet, and I continue to be amazed. There are still hard days sometimes. We slacked off on the cod liver oil and probiotics, and Audrey's skin issues returned somewhat, though nothing like they were. But I've realized something: I have been in pain most of my life! Now, when I carry laundry up and down the stairs, or carry around my 25 pound toddler, or even (gasp!) exercise, IT DOESN'T HURT.

All my adult life, people have told me that I needed to exercise. That it would make me have more energy. That I would feel better. That having sore muscles wasn't that bad, it kinda felt good. Well, for me none of that was true. But it is now! Before GAPS, I would exercise 10 minutes and be sore for three days. Just the feeling of burning in my muscles as I worked out was excruciating to me. I now realize, when you're already at a 7 out of 10 on a pain scale, adding 2 more points to that is, well, intense. But I was so used to the pain, that I didn't realize I was living at a 7 out of 10. I knew I didn't feel good. I might have classified it as a 4 or 5, but I wasn't aware of how many things I did differently because of pain. Now, I have the urge to exercise. When I do it, it feels invigorating. My muscles only stay sore for maybe a day, even if I work out as hard as I can. I get a burst of energy when I'm working hard instead of feeling like it just might kill me.

I was never diagnosed with anything because I never sought that out, but I'm positive that must have been what people call fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue or maybe even lupus? I'm not sure. All I know is I was sick. And I'm getting well now. And life sure looks different. :)

Food Blog

Hi friends,
I started a food blog today. I haven't felt the need to say much about GAPS specifically in awhile, but if you'd like to see our continuing adventures, join me here. (Hint: GAPS is working. It's working really well. :))

This is working.

I haven't been taking the time to write lately. During intro, it seemed like there were new things to say every day. By now, we've just kind of settled into this way of eating and it seems more or less normal.

But here's the thing: it's working!

Last night I made spaghetti by slicing zucchini with a mandolin. Ground beef. And We Had Tomato Sauce. And though Audrey woke up crying once during the night (we had been out late watching fireworks and it easily could have been related to that) and Hannah said her stomach hurt (she still says that regularly), there were no potty accidents, there was no uncontrollable crying, there was no tearing itchy skin open...

I am SO glad we've done this. Let me say that again: I AM SO GLAD WE DECIDED TO DO GAPS.

My only wish is that we would have started a year ago, when I first heard about it. We would be so much further along in our healing!

I hit 12 weeks in my pregnancy today (yay!) and my energy levels are coming back to my new normal. My new normal has not actually been normal since over a year ago. Even prior to getting pregnant, I found it difficult to pick up toys around the house, vacuum, or do other simple tasks like that. I just had no energy. Now, I'm finding myself with the urge to exercise (WHAT?!).

Things aren't perfect. I'm still dealing with a lot of constipation. I'm sorry, but I cannot bring myself to do enemas. Not gonna happen. I've been taking aloe vera gel every 3-4 days, as needed, (bleh) which has been a very gentle help for me, since magnesium seems to mess things up when use it. It's not technically on the diet, but it works for me. (Incidentally, don't let yourself get caught up in doing the diet "perfectly." I'm not convinced there's any way to do that. You're not a failure if you have to make compromises here and there. We are following GAPS 98% of the time, and I refuse to worry about the 2%.) Also, Hannah is burping a LOT with meals. I have been dragging my feet, but I'm going to start using HCL with her, to see if I can clear up the stomach aches. She's just not digesting well yet. I still require HCL with meals too.

Overall though, our symptoms have become so much better. Nick is thrilled. We are almost 6 months in, and there's no question that it's working!

Life Goes On

I was thinking about this blog last night, realizing how long it's been since I last wrote consistently.

Now that we're done with intro, I find I have very little to say. We're still eating GAPS style. We cheat occasionally, with varying success. I would definitely say my kids seem stronger and happier since we started this.

Audrey's arms and legs are clear of eczema and beginning to feel soft again. She still reacts when she gets overloaded on salicylates or nightshades, but No-Fenol helps, and when she does have a reaction, a few sips of a teaspoon of baking soda in a cup of water makes the itching stop instantly. We've been able to eat SO many foods that we avoided for years!

Hannah has a spot on her cheek that flares up bright red when she gets something that doesn't agree with her - so far strawberries and currants are culprits. I also noticed behavior regression with the currants the other day - it was very pronounced. I've never really paid a lot of attention to that part of her symptoms. I wonder, is it an actual brain reaction, or just a response to not feeling good?

I have found that I can use egg whites (though not the yolks, oddly) in baking and all of us seem to handle that ok.

I have discontinued my anti fungal supplements until my nausea from the pregnancy subsides. Without those in the mix, my nausea levels are usually much lower than I remember from previous pregnancies.

It is difficult to cook and eat like this while newly pregnant. All the fat and the strong smells are hard for me. I am drawn toward fruit and nuts, but when I eat too many of those I pay for it with gas and candida symptoms. I've been pretty tired and weak some days too. So I'm struggling some, but overall feeling decent. 2nd Trimester (and hopefully more energy) is just a couple of weeks away!

Tessa amazes me with how sturdy and hardy she is. I've never seen her have a reaction to anything. She is 18 months next week and wearing size 24 months clothes and size 5 shoes. Her face is broad, her skin is clear, she says probably 30-40 words and understands everything I say to her, she is almost always happy and calm. My pregnancy with her happened after I went off gluten, and all of her solid foods have been WAPF/GAPS style. I wonder how much of it is genes, personality, or diet? My experience raising her has been night and day different from my first two children!

Nick had to go away over the weekend and was able to do very well finding grain free options in health foods stores, delis, etc. He came home feeling fine. I was so proud of him! He really seems to have very little draw to the old foods. He is so happy to be thin and to have lots of energy.

So there's our update! I pray healing and wisdom for all of you as you feed your families!

Update

Hi all,
I keep meaning to write an update! The past two weeks have been spent coping with lots of morning sickness. I think it's about the same as with my other three pregnancies, but as always, it's challenging. I've been downing lots of ginger, using my Sea Bands, and trying to eat often. I'm not 100% sure of my dates on this pregnancy, but I'm counting down the days till week 12, when I felt much better with all three other kids.

As far as GAPS goes, we've done a little cheating in the past week, mainly to help me cope. For the first time since we started GAPS, I had a HUGE craving for chocolate this week. I bought one bar of dark chocolate (the Eat Freely brand, which has no soy, dairy, etc., but does contain organic cane juice) and allowed myself a square of that. Very satisfying! I also have found it difficult to constantly drink ginger tea to help with my nausea. I ended up buying a package of crystallized ginger to keep with me. It does have a little sugar in it as well, but it's sometimes either that or be non-functional with nausea. :-P

I have continued with my anti fungal supplements. I wonder if these might be making my nausea a touch worse than otherwise, but I would so much rather have my gut flora in good shape when this baby comes. So we press on!

Hannah and Audrey really hit it hard with the salicylates this week, and they both struggled a bit. Hannah has a bit of a rash on her left cheek, and Audrey did some scratching. They love to eat Bubbies dill pickles, and berries - two things they could not eat at all prior to GAPS. We just have to keep it at a reasonable level or they seem to get overloaded.

I'm rendering tallow today. Smelly! My pregnant nose does not appreciate it, but my body sure likes the fat when I cook with it. Nick helped me out by making the batch of jerky for the week. Although the smell of it in the dehydrator is tough too.

I've been thoroughly enjoying reading Mark's Daily Apple. I love his positive approach to eating this way, and for the first time really in my adult life, I've been happily exercising using his plan. Eating right for my metabolic type has been huge, and I actually feel good exercising for the first time that I ever remember. Tonight I was able to do one full set of his lowest level of "Lift Heavy Things" exercises. I look forward to strengthening my body and having more energy, especially once I hit second trimester.

Gotta run for now!

No Eggs

I have to say, I'm frustrated. I didn't have any of the weird dizziness with the duck eggs, but the large amounts of sulphur-smelling gas were definitely there. Ugh.

On we go!

Duck Eggs

Well, here goes nothin...

Bored

OK, so we finished intro. Here's where we're currently at:

Nick: has lost a ton of weight. He's really happy with it. I almost feel like it's a bit too much for him. He's 5'11" and under 160 pounds. He feels great most of the time.

Me: I'm still having occasional digestive upset, loose stools (though not true diarrhea), gas, etc. It's much less frequent than it was when we started. I'm continuing on the anti fungals. Ghee, yogurt and kefir still seem to give me large amounts of painful gas, so I'm avoiding them for the most part. I'm relying on nuts a bit heavily because of morning sickness, but they give me diarrhea if I eat too many. Overall, I would say I feel more calm and happy.

Hannah: continues to be very sad and complain of not feeling good, often. I wish I understood what's going on with her. It seems like we still have not figured out everything we need to. My hope is that, with time, she will heal enough that whatever the problem is, will no longer be a problem.

Audrey: has good days and bad days with her skin. Eating almond butter every day seems to be enough salicylates to cause her to get itchy if we forget to give her No-Fenol every day. If we keep up with the enzymes, she does pretty well.

Tess: is growing like a weed and completely hysterical to talk to and watch. I haven't noticed any health issues recently. We are down to one nursing and *sniff* I suppose I'll wean her since she's almost 17 mos and I'm pregnant.

Now what? Part of the interest of this diet has been that there is always something new to add, something to be excited about. Now, honestly, I'm a little bored. We could try beans, but beans have always been hard on me, and except for occasionally craving Mexican food, I don't miss them. I would love some amaranth or buckwheat, but with as few carbs as I seem to need, it seems silly to start them this soon. I can't really do much with flours because not all of us handle eggs. My ND muscle tested me for egg and said it's the yolks that are bothering me, to try the whites only. I also have a source for local duck eggs that I'm going to try. So there's some potential there for new foods, though I don't feel good on sweeteners so baking is not really a big draw. And scrambled egg whites? No thanks, I'll eat homemade sausage, thanks.

We are eating far too many hamburgers, meatballs, and sausages for my taste, but these things are quick and require almost no planning. I'm a bit fried by all the meal prep, plus dealing with early pregnancy, so that's where we're at. I crave soups and will sometimes make some, but usually I'm the only one who will eat it. Well, Tess eats it with me. I bought a bunch of whole chicken legs last night. Those should be good roasted.

Just feeling blah, I guess. Where do we go from here? Everything seems high carb, high allergen, or high sugar. Here I am, complaining about a limited diet again. Will GAPS really fix our sensitivities? And how long will we have to wait? Or is this just a very expensive, very time consuming, failed experiment?

This Week

My hair was falling out so much that I got scared and sad last week, so I made an appointment with my ND on Saturday. He told me that die off increases oxidative stress on the body, and can cause hair loss. An antioxidant (which he gave me) will clear it, and it is much improved today. I also told him about my recent heart palpitations and he said that points to magnesium and potassium deficiency. I haven't noticed a difference in those yet, but I have no doubt they will improve as well.

I am amazed at the difference in my body since taking that metabolic typing test. I am happier, more centered, my stomach doesn't hurt, no gas (unless I eat too many carbs), no sweet cravings (unless I don't eat enough fat), my skin isn't as dry, I have energy, I seem to sleep better, and one really weird thing - the night blindness that I've had for years is gone! If at each meal, I eat one serving of veggies, fill up on protein, and take in as much fat as I possibly can, I feel awesome. Who knew? I have had a bit of "morning sickness" and pregnancy tiredness in the past few days, but even with those, I feel better than I have felt in recent months!

An observation: on GAPS, it becomes easy for the focus to become somewhat skewed. Sometimes it seems that it's all about being able to eat any and all foods, with no symptoms. I don't know anyone who is aware of their body who can eat anything they want without any symptoms. Do you know what I mean? On the other extreme end of this spectrum are the people who only eat 5 foods, because they know they feel good on those foods. While I completely agree with the GAPS philosophy of healing the gut through probiotics and easy to digest foods, I'm not sure the goal needs to be eating all foods. There is a fine line to walk here, because prior to GAPS we were on a very limited diet and STILL felt terrible. That's not what I'm talking about. If there are foods we can eat and feel awesome on, shouldn't we be happy with those, rather than pushing the envelope continually and feeling mediocre? I'm all about continuing to use GAPS to have more healing take place, and maybe, eventually, more foods will work. But in the meantime, I have found some things that are working, and I'm pretty stinkin' happy about it. :)

Many people who come to GAPS are very ill, and have been for a very long time. The problem with long-term illness, is it gets into your consciousness. It becomes part of who you are. And sometimes it can create a negative view of life without us even realizing it. I really appreciate the people who eat Paleo, because even though they are eating very similarly to GAPS, it is approached from a positive perspective, "This is something I can do to make my body work and feel amazing." GAPS seems to be sometimes approached with "This is a terrible experience I must endure in order to maybe someday get to eat whatever I want, but that might never even happen." Ew. Not the approach to life I want to have.

All this said, I think GAPS is an important and awesome health tool. I'm very glad to have come across it. Along with GAPS, I am so grateful to have an amazingly supportive ND. His assistance makes this whole journey significantly less painful. :)

An Announcement

We found out this week that we are expecting baby #4!

We are happy, excited, overwhelmed, terrified, etc. This is a bit sooner than we expected, but God has a plan that's always better than ours. :)

Metabolic Typing

I read Dr Natasha's latest blog post with much interest, because she addressed something very close to home for me.

First, some back-story...
We've been on GAPS since February. Hannah has had some lingering issues, but Nick, Audrey, and Tessa all nearly instantly felt amazing. I, on the other hand, felt terrible. Granted, some of that was candida issues, but even when die off subsided I still had nearly constant gas, bloating, and fatigue. When we started the diet I was still nursing Tessa (now 17 mos) often, so I made sure to get large amount of carbs to keep my supply up.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally emailed my ND (who is very supportive of GAPS, but doesn't use it in his practice at this point.) I told him that I felt terrible, didn't know what to do, and asked what he suggested. He responded that he wanted me to take a Metabolic Typing Test online. The test is $40, money we didn't really have to throw away. I looked up this concept on the GAPS help board, and it had gotten mixed reviews. Some said it could be helpful, others thought it had no scientific basis. After talking it over with my husband, we decided to go ahead and pay for the test. The results I got said:

20% Sympathetic
16% Balanced
63% Parasympathetic
24% Slow Oxidation
75% Fast Oxidation

Along with those results, you also get a suggested meal plan, a list of recommended foods, and some other suggestions regarding food preparation.

When I communicated my results to my ND, he laughed and said, "You're practically an Inuit!" My body is currently asking for large amounts of fat and protein, and very few carbs. So I started eating that way immediately. One small serving of usually a green veggie at each meal, covering everything with oil, filling up on fatty meats. Within one day, the gas and bloating were gone, and I had normal amounts of energy!

I had tried everything I could think of. I was taking HCL with all my meals. I thought I must be reacting to some food I was eating, but couldn't figure out what in the world it could be. I even made some turkey vegetable soup this week, and it gives me gas - too many veggies!

Dr Natasha's blog post was very interesting to me, in light of this experience. If I had been able to follow my body's signals through taste, smell and satisfaction, it could have told me what I needed to know. But so many things can distort that signal - candida, habit, what you think you "should" eat... The test recommends retesting in three months, to allow for adjustments your body will make with time and different circumstances. Maybe because my current type is more extreme, I was not able to stumble across the right fat/protein/carb proportions, like most people are able to do? Regardless, I finally got that breakthrough I've been praying for! And just in time...

Casein Allergy

Last Wednesday night, I made the Chicken Satay recipe out of the Internal Bliss cookbook. YUM. It was SO good. In place of the coconut milk called for (since I didn't have any made), I used GAPS yogurt. We sat down to dinner and everyone was enjoying it. Hannah DEVOURED her chicken, dipping it in the sauce, and then started to complain of a stomach ache. I didn't think anything of it (as fast as she had eaten), so I sent her to the couch to lie down for a few minutes until she felt better. She came back to the table a few minutes later with hives all over her lower abdomen.

Since she had a severe allergic reaction just a few weeks ago, Nick immediately got her some baking soda water to head off the reaction. She drank a little, her upper lip swelled, she sneezed quite a bit. Then she stabilized and we were able to put her to bed at the normal time.

The next day, her belly was protruding, so swollen that her navel was puckered up. She had a fiery red rash under the skin that was no longer raised like before. It covered only her lower intestine area. I decided to take her to our ND, which required an hour trip each way in the car by myself with all three kiddos. This went amazingly well. He checked her belly, and told me he was rather concerned about it. I had brought a grocery bag full of GAPS foods we had been eating, and he muscle tested her on them. The yogurt and ghee are the culprits. I asked him, "How can she react to ghee?" He didn't know. The imprint of the casein?

We removed those from her diet, and her belly returned to normal within two days. The rash healed slowly. She has had no further problems this week.

I had to wean Hannah earlier than I wanted because I got pregnant when she was only 8 months and couldn't keep up with the calorie demands. We put her on raw goat's milk formula until she was obviously reacting to it and gluten at 15 months, when we pulled her off milk altogether. There was nothing else I could have done at the time, but I wonder if her sensitivity developed when her gut was so damaged from being a c-section baby, gluten, and we added the goat's milk on top of that. It might be a long road to healing this sensitivity, if we ever can.

Where I've Been

Posted the list on my personal blog, in case you're curious. Um, wow.

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there who are working hard to heal your families. Even when people think you're wrong or weird, and when it's really hard, you persevere. There was a woman that did these kinds of things in the Bible, about which the Bible says,

"Her children rise up and call her blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied); and her husband boasts of and praises her." (Prov. 31:28). 

Though we don't need gratitude in order to do the right thing, it's always nice. :) May this be something we all hear from our kids today, or someday...

lunch

I'm eating filet mignon and cauliflower for lunch. Yeah, GAPS is pretty rough... :)

In other news, this week was ridiculous and I have about four posts to write but no time. Be back Monday probably!

Oddities

I've been noticing several strange things lately. This is a TMI post!

1. I seem to be losing a lot of hair since starting gaps. Low thyroid? It's similar to what I've experienced at 4-5 months postpartum.

2. I have not had a period since we started gaps. I've been taking periodic pregnancy tests (you never know about these things!) and so far they've been negative.

3. I have always had many large fibroid cysts in my brsts. The whole side of the left one was nearly solid since an attack of mastitis last fall. Now it's totally gone. The two largest cysts are all that remain and they are significantly smaller!

4. This is gross, but I keep finding long white strings in my mouth. They seem to appear after taking my antifugals. Yeast? Gross!!

What I did

I leaving the previous post up.

Sometimes, on this diet, you feel terrible. The whole world is falling apart.

Then you realize...I'm hungry. So you eat.

And you realize...I am really tired. So you take a nap. Like, one of those naps where you don't budge for two hours and wake up groggy but much happier to be alive.

And you realize...I really have to go to the bathroom. So you do.

And suddenly, life isn't going to end. It'll be ok. You can do it one more day.

Just hang on. ;)

Whining.

I'm not very happy today. I just thought I'd warn you ahead of time.

Generally, I make a big attempt to be an upbeat, encouraging person. But I'm pretty down today, and if I can't whine a bit here, where can I?

I feel terrible again. I can't really decide if I've felt badly all along and just had hope that it would get better, or if I had some points where I really felt good. But, today I'm discouraged and I really feel yucky.

I'm pretty sure I know what the culprit is. I'm eating too much almond butter. For whatever reason, my body can handle it to a point, but then there is this line I cross and it all goes downhill. It is SO HARD for me to stay away from it though. My kids don't seem to have the same struggles with it, and they are eating a lot of it, probably too much for them too. But how, when I'm feeding it to the kids all the time, do I avoid eating it myself? It's so quick and easy - we just eat it off a spoon.

I confess...I get tired of meat. I get tired of animal fat. Some days It grosses me out to be eating a bowl of soup and crunch down on some part of chicken that is unidentifiable. I'm craving light, cold food, but so many of the intro foods before that point aren't working for me that I wonder if I'm ready for that. I want a hamburger and fries like you wouldn't believe. I want to take my family out to eat and not be sick, to just be able to sit around a table and enjoy food like normal people.

I'm tired of being hungry. I'm tired of feeling shaky and weak. I'm tired of smelling bad and having my entire abdomen feel bloated and gross. I'm tired of taking HCL and feeling it burn in my stomach until I take baking soda to wipe it out and know none of that meal will digest well. I'm tired of NOT taking HCL and feeling a lump in my stomach where the food is just rotting. I'm tired of being dizzy and foggy after taking my anti fungals. I'm tired of running out of things like broth and knowing we have no money to buy chicken backs until payday. I'm tired of spending hours in the kitchen and not having time for other things that are more important. I'm tired of making eggs for other people and being afraid to try them again myself, but there seems to be no way I would do well on them when I'm already feeling badly.

We are daily, hourly, making the choice to continue this diet because we know it is the right thing for us. I mean, we felt terrible before we started, feeling terrible now isn't that much different. And we have seen huge improvements in the members of our family that didn't have severe digestive issues. I know it works. I have no plan to abandon it. But friends, I'm tired and discouraged today. God, I really need a breakthrough for ME...