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.

Apple slaw...

I did finally make the apple slaw in January of 2010! I julienned apples and cabbage. Combined 1/4 cup home made goat yogurt, 2 TBSP honey, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tsp gr. mustard and let chill one hour. Tossed apples with 2 TBSP lemon juice, added cabbage and the dressing. It was tart and I didn't care for it a lot but it was pleasant to add to a meal in a small amount. I imagine walnuts, slivered almonds, or some other nut would make it better. My hubby liked it well enough too. Some kids tried it but no-one was incredibly impressed.

I have taken an hiatus from this blog because life just got too busy. The son we are on this journey for took a turn for the worse in August of 2009 and ended up in a Children's Hospital for 10 days and was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. We took a step away from the GAPS/SCD diet for about 2 weeks after the hospital trying to follow the doctor's advice. It worked only those 2 weeks before he wasn't feeling good and we went back on the "diet" and he has continued to improve. Right now he weighs over 20 pounds more than he did a year ago. He is on prednisone and Asacol to control inflammation. As we lessen the milligrams of each he continues to stay stable. The blood in bm's disappeared about 7 weeks ago. He has had two incidences of blood. One time was after having chili, I think it was the tomatoes and another time was after cheese on his scrambled eggs 2-3 times in one week (very small amounts although not allowed on the stage he's on). He hasn't progressed past stage 3 of the SCD or about stage 4 of the GAPS. He absolutely loves the food he eats so it hasn't been a huge problem for him. In August of 2009 when he flared again I had allowed fresh fruits and veggies in quite large numbers and I believe that was a huge mistake. Now, we will listen better to his body and take it very slowly.

Too much time on my hands...

I wish the words to this song was true. I've been busy with raising a family as naturally as can be. I've been gardening and we are now eating lettuce of all kinds! I've been contemplating going to a new detergent for laundry. I'm a little scared to try different ones as I have used the same one for 13 years and like how it works. I am wondering if it would help keep my son and everyone else a little less toxic?!?

We are still 100% Gaps at home and minimal away from home. We continue to see progress and love it. The little girls' eczema is continuing to clear up. I can feel where it was but they don't itch it and create little scabs all over. My oldest started a babysitting job two weeks ago and ate 1 1/2 meals with the kids and got ill feeling for two days. All processed food of course like boxed mac and cheese and some other foods ready made, just heat and serve. I didn't like it because does this mean we can only eat "pure" food forever. No, because she said homemade food make with similar ingredients doesn't make her sick just the boxed all together kind. Interesting!

I keep running into people with health problems. Mostly allergies. All I can say is BONE BROTH!!! It is an incredible healer. It is full of calcium and minerals and the good fat your body is asking for. So many people are afraid of fat today. The good fat won't make you fat! Olive oil, coconut oil, almond and other nut oils and butter will give you so many health benefits.

I was going to make the cabbage apple slaw but keep using the cabbage for other things. My son ended up with a swollen foot and it seemed like edema had settled in and cabbage, apple, celery juice helps with that so we've been juicing for him. It does the trick. He likes it too! So do I!