Not a good example...

I hope no-one is following my advice on this diet!  I didn't make it very far.  I didn't add in bread for awhile and did eat a very good diet and was probably 80 % GAPS for about 3-4 weeks but I am having willpower issues.  I plan and make most of the meals for the kids and since we aren't all on it, there is the challenge.  It's hard to make a soup or some other food and not taste it!  I really thought we would do it as a whole family but we've been so busy that I don't know how I'd add all that time in the kitchen making broth and the dozen of other things that take your time with this diet.  Plus, I don't know about other GAPS dieters but it is expensive for this many people. 

Day 3 of the intro diet.  I can't say I've been doing a great job.  I ate soup on Monday night but I had added some dried veggies and they gave it a strange flavor that literally made me sick.  Blacch!  Tuesday I had broth for breakfast and ate some roast chicken and jello.  Lunch was probably chicken and jello again, I can't quite remember but I didn't have anything else around here to eat.  I did add gobs of home done sauerkraut and that isn't on the intro stage but it makes everything taste so much better.  For supper I made up some chicken livers, boiled some meatballs in broth and had home canned beets.  The liver wasn't too good but better with sauerkraut.  I walked yesterday and today as I'm trying to add exercise to this diet to help get my hormones and enzymes, etc. in right synchronization. 

For breakfast I am having broth, scrambled eggs with lots of sauerkraut and some jello (from the SCD diet).  I feel pretty good so far just hungry for what I consider "real" food!!!!  

Starting GAPS diet...

So I made it 12 days on the lemon juice cleanse this time and yesterday I drank lemon juice and juiced some oranges for fresh orange juice.  Orange juice is supposed to get your digestive tract ready for food.  This morning I started with some more fresh made orange juice and had some chicken broth around 10:30 a.m. and now am having a cup of broth with cooked onions and carrots in it.  I thought having any kind of food would satisfy me after having only juice but I would rather have the tortilla with cheese, fresh cut tomatoes, onions, peppers and sour cream that the kids had, a bit more flavor for me.  I will keep it up this week anyway :)  I hope to keep adding foods every day or two until I am on the full GAPS diet in a week to two.  Prematurely, I took out a bag of chicken livers.  I looked up some recipes that sound good to try this week with them but I hope they don't go bad by the time I cook them up.  I do have a stomach ache right now but my stomach has to try to handle having food after so long.  It may take a couple days. 

Day 8...

I am day 8 on the juice cleanse and not thinking I'll make it too far.  I will probably be able to do 14 days but not the 20 like the last time.  I'm not sleeping at night and I am having trouble drinking much of the lemon stuff.  I don't drink as much as I should so I know that is leaving me tired too.  I don't have any real detox symptoms this time around.  I always feel real good on it.  I have energy enough and am not bloated like I usually am with eating any food.  The down side of juicing is I feel better than when I eat but I can't keep smelling and preparing food for the family like this.  I made 2 buckets of sauerkraut and opened one on Sunday and it is perfect and wonderful and I want to eat a whole jar of it, that's how hungry I feel.  I am planning foods to eat when I come off of this and I pray I can come off of it properly and not eat too anxiously to fill my cravings. 

Lemon Juice Cleanse...

Today is day 2 of the Lemon Juice Cleanse for me.  My daughter Emily tried to start with me yesterday but didn't like the lemonade mixture and wasn't drinking it so I won't let her continue since it is vital you drink the lemonade to succeed.  The last time I went on this cleanse I made it 20 days and felt great.   I've read about people going 30 days or even several months but because of feeding the kids I end up craving food too much.  My plan is go on the GAPS diet following the cleanse.  I plan to do the cleanse until the lemons run out (38 pounds of them) but I only say this is my plan.  I don't know what reality will be.  I'm already hoping I can just make it until tomorrow. 

My goal is to detox, lose some weight, balance my hormones and to feel good!  On day 2 I already have softer skin and have lost a bit of weight (about 8 pounds).  My belief in losing so much right away is that the food I'm eating was affecting me.  I was either having intolerance/allergy reactions to it or not digesting properly (same thing as intolerance probably).  It was causing me to feel bloated after meals. 

I  am mixing up filter water with fresh squeezed lemon, maple syrup and cayenne pepper.  I use the mixture: 6 ounces lemon juice, 1/2 c. maple syrup, about 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (a bit less) and 6 cups water.  This morning I made half of this because it is best to drink it as fresh made as possible and the enzymes are fresh and alive.