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. :)