GAPS resources and blogs

Here's my personal list of blogs and books that I've found helpful and encouraging if you're just starting out on the diet...

http://www.amazon.com/Gut-Psychology-Syndrome-Depression-Schizophrenia/dp/0954852028/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338867010&sr=1-1
       -To really understand what you're doing, this book is a must!

http://www.gapsdiet.com
       -You can use this website to get started on the intro diet

http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2011/01/how-to-prepare-for-going-on-the-gaps-diet.html
      -Very practical post on how to prepare for going on the diet.

http://www.gapsdiet.com/uploads/FAQS_Listing.pdf
       -Great questions and answers about what to expect while on the diet. This particular site has been very helpful to me.

http://www.youtube.com/gnowfglins
        -Helpful videos on how to ferment all kinds of dairy and veggies, how to make sourdough bread, and tutorials on making GAPS friendly foods.

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2011/10/12-tips-and-recipes-for-stage-1-of-the-gaps-intro-diet.html
         -Practical blog with great ideas on how to stay organized and prepared.

GAPS Intro Stage 1 (Day 7)

Sam
Today was a turning point and as I write I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief. Sam woke up with an appetite and begged me to saute him some veggies. He pulled out the onion, peeled it for me and then he and Simone stayed busy throwing away the peels of the onion and garlic and the ends of the zucchini. Sam drank a full cup of beef stock between each bite of veggies. He kept calling the zucchini "cucumber" and when I corrected him he wondered why it wasn't a cucumber. It's green on the outside and white on the inside with seeds. Very observant. He thought it was funny when I told him zucchini is from the squash family. He ate cups of yogurt and probably 6 bowls of soup throughout the day. His eyes looked a little funny all day but he is definitely recovering and I'm so happy! For lunch he and his sis helped make butternut squash pancake (mashed up squash fried in butter) with chicken and broth on the side. I find that when he is able to help prepare the food he's much more interested in eating it. Maybe because he's invested? I introduced raw egg yolk to his diet this evening. He didn't even notice because it was mixed into his bowl of soup and looked like butter. I didn't tell him, thinking he'd have a problem with it, but later when he heard me talking to Jake about raw egg yolk he said "I want some in my soup." I was shocked once again. Who is this kid??? Eating onion, egg yolk, unsweetened kefir and yogurt, begging for zucchini and downing spoonfuls of coconut oil. I'm in awe. I told him I'd already put egg yolk in his soup and he finished his bowl without a question or fuss.

Simone
It's safe to say that Simone spent half the day at the kitchen table, eating and playing with her food. She's a little scientist. Jake found her with an empty cup of kefir. It was empty because she'd spread it in a nice circle on the table and was busy applying it to her skin, hair and face. I found her dumping her broth into her cupped hand and trying to sip out of it. Most of the broth ended up on her face, neck, torso and even in her diaper. Another time I found her dipping her bib into her soup then wringing her soaked bib into a cup of water. She's got a huge imagination! A least she's having fun with her food. The differences between her and Sam are hysterical. Sam wipes his mouth after every drink of broth and if he drips food or even water on himself he will insist on changing clothes.

Jake
This is day 15 for Jake. His frequent, hourly hunger has subsided a bit, which was expected. Apparently the first week or couple weeks you feel like you're starving if you haven't eaten in over an hour or two... then your body adjusts and you can go for longer stretches of time. He has had some really amazing nights of sleep and has much more energy. He continues to comment about his clarity of mind and feels less stressed and more relaxed.

Me
Yay! 1 week down. I couldn't be happier. To summarize, here are some words I'd use to describe the last week... Greasy :) hard, difficult, encouraging, frustrating, confirming, upsetting, hopeful, annoying, messy, challenging, rewarding and very, very busy. Looking back, I would do some things differently. The number one thing would be preparation. I'd have the freezer and fridge stocked with pre-cut veggies, bones, and meat. I'd have homemade sauerkraut fermenting and meals planned out for at least the first week. I'd also have the freezer filled with meat broth and bone stock.. already portioned out and ready to eat. Regardless of not being prepared, I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of this. I know how to make a great stock, I've learned from Jake how to brew and bottle the kombucha, I've become creative in coming up with a variety of soups and am experimenting with new foods. I also have a new appreciation for the natural sweetness in vegetables. Overall, while it's been frustrating at times, it's been a great learning experience and I look forward to the next week!

Intro Stage 1 (Day 5-6)

Day 5
Sam
Woke up with a skinny face and sunken eyes. He had a small, weak voice and was lethargic most of the day... feeling a little better after Jake made him eat a small bowl of chicken soup. Later that afternoon I juiced him and Simone 1/2 apple and a carrot and it perked him up. Before bedtime he had one more bowl of soup. It's really rough on me to watch him go through this. After day 5 I have much more empathy for him because I certainly had a hard time stomaching the soup. The only reason I did was for the baby I'm growing. Otherwise I might have been on the couch with Sam... refusing to eat  :) 5 days of the same thing with no sweetness to break it up is terrible. It makes me realize how much we had been depending on that sugar "fix." I backed off the coconut oil and that may have helped with Sams vomiting problem. We limited him to about 1TBSP.

Simone
She didn't turn down food once. Even though she woke up with even more severe flu symptoms than the day before she still had energy to run around, unlike Sam, because she willingly ate what we gave her. Lots of kefir, sauerkraut juice and of course... chicken stock, meat and veggies. She's constipated but from my understanding constipation is normal at this stage and the main concern is diarrhea. Simone and Jake are champs. I don't see how they can happily be eating soup after so many days. Glad it isn't hard on them, just a little jealous though. lol.

Day 6
Sam
Seemed to have more energy and didn't look so skinny. I gave him and Simone a detox bath with warm water and 1 cup of raw apple cider vinegar.  He still had a puffy face and swollen eyes but eating a little soup after the bath really helped his mood.  We packed soup and a juiced apple and carrot and headed to the park to get fresh air and sunshine. I can almost guarantee we were the only crazy ones at Cherokee park, sweating in the 90ish degree weather and eating hot soup. Yuck! But... you gotta do what you gotta do when you're hungry. It's amazing to me that the food we're eating is so digestible that we're hungry every hour or so. Sam was very excited about the butternut squash I baked that morning. It was enough motivation to get him to eat a couple bowls of soup throughout the day. I sneakily put in homemade yogurt, sauerkraut juice, probiotics and lots of butter and he didn't even notice. All in all, it was a successful day because Sam regained a little energy, didn't look quite so sick and I was in a much better place emotionally.

Simone
She woke up with a very runny nose and puffy eyes. She also had a low fever throughout the day and was pretty clingy, fussy and irrational at times. Her energy was pretty good though. No surprise there. She's a big eater and isn't picky about her foods. I can put pretty much anything in front of her and she'll try it. We all had lots of ginger tea this morning between our frequent meals.

Today I introduced Butternut squash.  The squash had an incredible sweet, nutty flavor and there was almost a hint of popcorn flavor. I ate mine hot and mashed with lots of butter and salt. YUM!!!  I honestly don't know if I've ever had butternut squash before. With as little sweetness as we've tasted in the past week it was like candy. Both the kids loved it! We made sure to push the broths in-between bites of food or made sure we gave them meals as soups. Sometimes it's nice to mix it up and just eat veggies, or just meat instead of having soup. I think this is fine as long as we are drinking stock throughout the meal. The kids enjoy the broth using a straw.

I had a great day with only a minor breakdown in the evening when I felt overwhelmed again by the greasy, endless mess. The pile of dishes that needs to be washed and the 20x in day I have to wipe down the counters, the kids and the floor is hard to cope with at times. I am doing way more laundry than before and having to degrease the kids clothes. It's just a greasy mess. How many times can I say that?! But it's true. Ok, I'm done complaining. I have so much to be thankful for and I'll focus on that now :) I think there are a few things that contribute to making my day better, even though I am still feeling sick. The prep work I did the night before, the meal planning and a clean kitchen. I've always worked really hard to keep my house clean and de-cluttered. I cannot function in a messy house but with all this cooking and cutting and de-greasing I do, it's been especially time consuming to keep the house clean. Thankfully Jake and I have worked extra hard to keep our place functional this weekend and it's helped my mental state. We also escaped the house to the park and spent time in the sunshine and fresh air then let the kids play for awhile. We laid on a hill in the sun and did a little cloud watching while we sunbathed. Yay for vitamin D!

Venting!

Major meltdown this morning... and this time, it was me who was losing it.  I woke up feeling like I'm coming down with a cold. Sore throat, achy neck and a huge lack of sleep. Since starting the diet I've slept terribly, waking up 4-8 times a night to go to the bathroom. Last night I tossed and turned for what seemed like hours.

First thing I hear is Simone crying... about food. And then I saw Sams face. He looks like an Auschwitz surviver. Sunken eyes and a skinny pale face. Thats when I got pissed. Pissed that I would be trapped in the house for another day, even though it's gorgeous outside. I wasn't about to take Sam out with us to pick up our co-op order and go to the park like we'd planned. I literally haven't left the house once in 5 days except for a quick trip to Whole Foods the other night. Sam barely has the energy to walk across the room, let alone play at the park or go hiking. I desperately need fresh air and sunshine. So, I lost it. I started crying and vented to Jake about poor me. I'm so tired of this diet. I'm tired of us feeling starved and having to work so hard to nourish ourselves. You'd think soup is easy. But no. It's messy and time consuming and greasy. I feel a bit crazy right now. I just want us to be normal and healthy.

Jake decided to take matters into his own hands and pretty much made Sam eat for the first time in two days. Our plan had been to let him hold out as long as he wanted, hoping that he'd eventually come around. But looking at his face made me worried. STUPID TOXINS. STUPID CANDIDA. STUPID BAD BACTERIA. It makes me realize how much crap we live with in our culture. I've thought we're pretty healthy as a family, but obviously we have a lot of crap we're growing. My main motivation at this point is my children. I don't want them to go through what I've seen Jake deal with in the past year. I want them to grow up with strong healthy immune systems, healthy guts, stable minds and emotions and a good sense of what "health" actually means. It's easy to rationalize eating poorly. Believe me, I've done it time and time again throughout my life. But ultimately, it's irresponsible to do this. We are sick. And we're confused as a culture. We think we have it all together, but the fact is we are so behind other cultures. We can't even get the basics of how to feed our bodies right. You'd think we would have come a long way from a few hundred years ago, but the fact is we've strayed so far from what real food is that we don't even recognize or acknowledge real food anymore. What a sad state of affairs.

The goal of this diet is to heal and seal the lining of the gut so that food doesn't escape into our blood stream. When the lining of the gut has holes and lets food escape the body attacks it as if it's foreign, creating autoimmune reactions and diseases. Having a sick gut that is overridden with bad bacteria wreaks havoc on our bodies and minds. So much so that it's been linked to seizures, crohns, ulcerative colitis, Alzheimer's, depression and many other diseases and disorders.

GAPS Into Stage 1 (Day 1-4)

So much to say. Too little time. So I will summarize. Our GAPS journey has officially started. Today marks day 11 for Jacob and day four for Sam, Simone and me. I'll be journaling our progress for my own sake as well as for anyone who's interested in seeing how it goes.

Day One
Sam and Simone started on the diet with only a little cheat. They had a tiny spoonful of honey mixed with probiotics and Sam ate less than ten almonds. Other than that we ate homemade chicken broth, well cooked veggies, a spoonful of fermented sauerkraut juice, coconut oil, kefir and boiled chicken meat. The kids handled the first day pretty well with little complaining.

Day Two
Sam
Woke up with a runny nose, low grade fever and the "sick" breath. He had low energy most of the day and wasn't as enthusiastic about soup as he had been the day before. However, for the FIRST time ever, he asked for kifir and drank at least 6oz. He also wanted to try sauerkraut. So bizarre because he's such a picky eater.

Simone
Simone kept up a healthy appetite but clearly started to crave something sweet. I gave both her and Sam a few ounces of homemade kombucha to satisfy their sweet tooth. It's on the illegal list until a later stage. She had diarrhea this day.

Day 3
Sam
First things he did upon waking was run into my room and tell me he had to puke. He didn't throw up much but wretched pretty violently. He was very weak the remainder of the day and laid on the couch, not moving much. He barely ate anything until later that evening when he enjoyed a huge helping of chicken, veggies and plenty of grassfed butter with a cup of broth. After dinner he drank some kefir and thoroughly savored two heaping spoonfuls of coconut oil. Another miracle. It was incredible to watch him consume, crave and ask for foods he's never touched before.

Simone
She seemed extra cuddly and had flushed cheeks and a low grade fever. She was up and about more than Sam but still a little tired. She ate plenty of fermented cabbage and fermented juice along with bowls of stock, veggies and meat. Around midmorning she started acting out, getting furious with me because she wanted something sweet. About 6 months ago I bought organic suckers from Trader Joes. I was shocked when she told me she wanted suckers and pointed up to the cabinet where I had kept them. How crazy is it that a 2 year old has that good of a memory?! When I told her I didn't have suckers she got more angry, then asked for honey, then begged for kombucha. It was heart wrenching to see her so angry and upset and actually disparing at not being able to have something sweet. I totally felt for her and understand what she's going through. I've considered her the healthy one in our family but clearly, as she became irrational, I realized her little body was definitely going through some sort of pathogen die-off. I could tell she wanted to hit me with her little clenched fists... but she didn't. She's such a sweetheart. I was ready to throw in the towel several times that day. It was hellish to say the least as her meltdowns continued. She was in tears many times.

Day 4
Sam
He threw up mid afternoon. More mucus and the few carrot chunks he'd eaten that day. He complained of his leg hurting. I'd read that muscle cramping is often a detox symptom so I offered to  message his leg and it seemed to help.  I read that it's normal for children to throw up on the 3rd and 4rth day... which is exactly what happened with Sam. I also read that it could have to do with blood sugar levels dropping too fast so around 6pm I juiced 1/2 organic apple and 1 carrot and split the juice between Sam and Simone. The way they held the cups in their hands and savored that shot of juice was interesting to watch. Sam was much perkier after that but quickly fell back into his previous state, which was collapsing to the floor and saying he had no energy. And I believe every word because the poor kid chose not to eat all day other than the shot of juice and a few spoonfuls of coconut oil and some sips of ginger/lemon tea. I even offered to spoon-feed him dinner because he truly looks weak and thin but he refused. Tomorrow (day 5) I will back off the coconut oil as it can kill bacteria and cause severe detoxing symptoms. Hopefully he will regain his appetite and gain a little weight back. He's looking pretty sick right now. While it's nerve wracking to watch him not eat for days in a row, it's also encouraging to see the pathogens die off. Every symptom he's experienced, from vomiting mucous, to the constipation to the fever and lack of appetite  has been spot on with everything I've read. It's very normal to experience these things, along with many others, as the gut heals and bad bacteria die. I'm praying I stay strong and can stick it out so that I can give my kids a healthier start to their lives than I had.

Simone
Ate a lot of kefir, broth, veggies, butter, coconut oil and chicken. Even got creative and dipped her chicken in the kefir and loved it. She didn't ask for kombucha but did ask for honey several times. I found that distracting her from her cravings was helpful. I tried to keep her busy with crafts, building blocks and baby dolls. She still had meltdowns at silly things. She seemed to be more sensitive and emotional today than yesterday.

I am following the GAPS full diet as it's not safe to do the intro-diet while pregnant or nursing because of how the toxins produced can affect the baby. Today I ate the homemade stocks, boiled meats and veggies, lots of coconut oil and grassfed butter, chicken fat along with 1 apple, a handful of prunes, a couple TBSP of peanut butter, cacao nibs, kombucha, honey and coconut shreds. I've also been adding in a nightly enema which is recommended especially in this stage of the diet. I'm having a hard time satiating my hunger and find myself wanting to eat hourly... which is typical in this stage. My spirits tend to be high in the evening but pretty low at the beginning of the day. Probably because I know whats ahead of me. Constantly dealing with greasy, messy food, seeing chicken stock all day long and dealing with upset kids. Blah. I'm already so tired of it. The food tastes fine.. In fact, it tastes good but not good enough that I crave it.

Thankfully Jake is doing perfectly fine on the diet. He has been a huge support during the day while I'm at home dealing with fussy kids. He is such a strong person and has been a rock for me in the last few day. The first week of the diet was rough on him as his energy levels dropped and he felt very weak. But each days seems a little better and he has commented daily on his continued clarity of mind and how his emotions seem to be stabilizing. He is less stressed by the little things and has a much happier demeanor.

Update

Jacobs energy continues to increase and he's stopped losing weight and actually put on a couple pounds. We are so excited about his progress! He's had 4-5 small flareups in the last couple of weeks. We think it's because of stress with starting school full time and maybe too much almond flour in baked goods. I told Jacob the other day that I don't look at him anymore and think that he looks ill. In most ways, he's actually looking way healthier than I've ever seen him. He's alert and awake throughout the day when before he was diagnosed, he had a hard time focusing on anything. Before we started the diet we were told that if there was no change in the first month then the diet wouldn't work for him. Well, I'm happy to say once again that he has made HUGE progress and I can confidently conclude that he is healing due to the change in diet.

Good news

Jacob got his blood results back. His hemoglobin count is 11.3. That's right!!!! 11.3! He's come a long way in a little over a month. To give you an idea, his blood count in the hospital got down to 7.3 which is severely anemic. Now he is considered slightly anemic. This is wonderful news. On the downside, he's got some other counts that are too high or too low so we are looking into various vitamin shots, mainly vitamin B12 and folic acid,  to get the blood issues worked out. Prayer for wisdom is much appreciated.  But overall..... Hooray!!!!