For a few day

It looks like my stomach didn't handle the beans so well.  Now I am only doing miso soup for a few days to let me stomach heal and rest.  It's been a little tough because I feel like I should be eating something so my brain keeps saying you need to eat solid food even tho I am not hungry.  The miso soup is filling and it doesn't taste bad.  I find it funny I crave for foods I wouldn't even had thought twice about because I know I can't have them.  It's hard to push through the cravings.  I have to drink the miso often because I don't stay full for long.  At least my stomach isn't hurting as bad as it did yesterday!  We will see how this goes for a few days!

New Plan

It looks like I have to put the GAPS diet on hold for right now.  I'm a little sad because I really wanted this to work so I could for once and for all heal our guts.  We have now found out that my son and I can not process animal proteins so we now have to figure out how to modify the GAPS diet using vegetable broth and no meat. Now I am only eating beans, veggies and nuts.  We will eventually put my son on this diet but we don't want to change him until we get him an ABA therapist.  That way they can help us transition into these foods since right now he will only eat almond butter sandwiches on gluten free bread which still has grains in it so it is still messing his stomach up, apples and grapes.  He did eat a little bit of beans yesterday so maybe I can transition him into beans ok.  This meal plan is a little hard on the stomach, mine is pretty sore and bloated today.  My nutritionist said it takes about 2 weeks for your stomach to get used to eating beans.  We will see how this plan works!

Starting again

I have decided to start again but this time with only me.  I have decided to do the intro diet for breakfast , snack and lunch and do the full GAPS diet for dinner.  I wanted to see if this would help with the detox and not make it as bad.  So far so good.  I was a little light headed and week this morning but nothing like before.  This morning for breakfast I had veggies in chicken stock and had the same for snack.  I did have a spoonful of almond butter because I needed to something to give me energy.  Do night I had meatball soup with cooked cabbage that I did with onions and carrots and some garlic and tomatoes which was really good.  I was so hungry but after eating the cabbage I was so stuffed I could hardly eat the soup.  The soup was good.  It was made with chicken stock, mat rolled into balls, onions, carrots, squash and garlic and sauerkraut. For seasoning I put in salt and chipotle powder which has become my new favorite spice.  My symptoms of bloating have not gone away yet but may only go away when I do the full intro.  My nutritionist Sarah Bingham is going to see Dr. McBride this weekend so I am anxious to find out everything she learns.  

New Plan

It's been a rough few days.  I have met with our nutritionist and we are doing a different game plan.  We are now trying to do the full GAPS diet which is nothing like the introduction diet.  We have had Cilantro Lime Chicken, BLT Salad, Taco Salad, Tomato, Avocado,  Greek Olives Salad.  Last night we had stuffed peppers and veggies from our chicken stock.  This morning we are having banana and almond butter pancakes.  After we do the full GAPS for a while then I think we will go back and try the introduction diet.  I just hope we don't have the same reaction as last time.  The meals on the full GAPS diet are very good.  The kids eat some, my daughter like more of it then my son, but then my son is very picky on what he eats.

Day 4

Oh thank heavens we are all feeling a bit more alive.  The kids went to school today and I went to work.  I was still very sore and weak but I made it.  I couldn't stand laying in bed one more day not matter how hard it was to get up.  For breakfast we had bananas and almond butter which is not on the diet but we just had to get feeling better.  Our Dr's think we got a stomach bug on top of changing our diet.  It just hit at the wrong time because they said detox shouldn't have been so bad for us.  Have no fear if you do this diet it wont be so terrible for you! For lunch my husband and I had veggies and chicken and the kids I had to give them almond butter sandwich, grapes, watermelon.  The nutritionist gave us 6 foods that our son can have.  Gluten free bread, grapes, watermelon, bananas, avocados, and almond butter.  We have to go and get him some more test done.  For dinner we are going to try meat balls with carrots.  We will see if the kids eat it.

Day 3

OH what a day we have had.  Our daughter woke up at 4 am throwing up and I was throwing up by 8 am.  My son has been fine now that he gets to eat his gluten free bread.  For breakfast we where supposed to have chicken and veggies except I don't think anyone ate but my husband.  For lunch we had meat patties and carrots again and at least my daughter and I where able to eat those.  For dinner we caved with out daughter and gave her anything she wanted to eat so she would eat and feel better.  I ended up having to go to the Dr because I had gotten so weak.  My weight has dropped about 6 lbs which I didn't have 6 lbs to spare.  I had to go off the diet last night and had to eat a banana because my body and muscles where so sore.  I did feel better after eating that.  We all had an early night.

Day 2

Wow this has been one horrible day!  My husband is the only one that has not gotten sick but the kids and I are going through a terrible detox.  We have been asleep most of the day and just really getting up to eat.  It's been really hard watching the kids be so miserable.  We have had to cave in for my son and give him some gluten free bread.  It's been very hard not to quit.  Today for breakfast we had onion and leek soup and for lunch we had boiled meat strips, veggies, and more onion and leek soup.  Tonight for dinner we are having meat patties and carrots and squash as a side.  I am hoping we start to feel better really soon.  We are all supposed to go to work and school tomorrow.  I guess I will just have to wait and see how things are.  So tired going back to bed and wait for dinner to be ready.

Dinner

Dinner was ok.  We did the veggies and chicken again with the squash soup and I also made onion soup which was pretty good.  I am now trying to experiment with adding in spices so it's not to bland.  My older child ate it but the younger one didn't care so much.  We are still working on what he might like.  Tomorrow is meat patties and he is excited for those so that is a good sign.  I am suffering more then anyone in the family right now.  Besides being hungry all the time I feel light headed, my heart is pounding and I am ver tired and my stomach feels a little weird.  Kind of sour.  I know it's detoxing from carbohydrates so I can eat dates, drink juice and have onions immediately when I feel this way so I had onion soup and it seems to be helping some.  I wonder when or if the rest of family will have any symptoms of detox and die off.  Die off is when all the bad bacteria in your gut is being replaced with good bacteria so the bad is dying off.  I already wanted to quit but my angels Sarah and Jenny have encouraged me on.  I know it will only get better but it's tough.  The tough part for me is going to my moms house and seeing all the food their I have been craving which is weird because I don't usually crave these foods, like chips, cookies.  I just want my crackers!!! I am off to bed so I can start day 2!!

Breakfast/Lunch

This morning went pretty well with the squash soup.  Got one child to eat some and one child that didn't want to.  I was surprised that my husband and I were very hungry for lunch.  We had only eaten breakfast 2 hr before we had lunch. For lunch we had chicken, veggies which where carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks and zucchini, all warmed up in some chicken broth.  My husband and I ate well and the kids did ok.  It's hard to get them to eat stuff they are not used to but so far not to many tears.  My little one is having the harder time with it but when he gets hungry I'm sure he will eat more. I am still hungry after lunch which is weird to me because I am usually never hungry, so to have this feeling is odd and I can't just go and grab some crackers or protein bars anymore. It's difficult for me not to just grab these things and eat.  I was surprised that when I went to my moms house and saw all this food I couldn't have and usually don't crave, that I craved it and wanted it and I had to leave and go home.  I am warming up some chicken stock we're supposed to be drinking and they say that will fill you up. We will see.  The side affects so far aren't bad.  Right now for me it's being hungry and a little tired.  My husband is also hungry but feels fine and the kids haven't complained of anything yet.

Today is the day!!

Today is the day we start this transformation.  I have been clearing out the cupboards and fridge of all the food that is not allowed on the GAPS diet.  It's a little stressful because its all looks so bare like we don't have enough food. After 2 months of cooking we have plenty but it's all frozen and getting defrosted to eat.  We will see how the kids do this morning with breakfast.  This morning we are having butternut squash soup.  It looks and smells wonderful.

2 More Days

Yikes 2 more days until we begin this life style change.  I just cut up more veggies to make more chicken stock tomorrow.  Now it's time to get all the food out of the house that is not on the GAPS diet. It's stressful because it's all the comfort food you now have to get rid of.  If we're hungry we just have to eat what is on the diet.  This way there is no temptation in the house for the kids to turn to when they don't want to eat what is given to them.  I also am nervous about the detox.  How is each of our bodies going to handle it?  Will we get sick, feel sick, be emotional.  I just don't know what to expect, and I hate the unexpected. So this will be a challenge.  It's only temporary and there is a light at the end of the tunnel!!

Beach Day

Beach Day

Took the family to the beach today even tho I have a head cold. Was hoping the salt water air would help. It was really hot so we only stayed for 2 hours. Sometimes it’s hard to take our 5yr old son places. We never know how he will act. He gets so over stimulated he acts out, cries over everything. Today was ok. He was mad when we got there because there was sand on his flip flops. Once he is in the water he is fine because its very soothing to him and relaxing. Of course the first couple of minutes in the water he gets bit by a crab :( but I am able to convince him after a while that the crab went further down the beach to bite someone else :). We ended up leaving early because he just wasn’t listening and that is our clue he has had enough. Overall we had a good beach day!!! #gapsdiet #healthyliving #allnatural

My Angels

My son and I where diagnosed with a rare digestive disorder called CSID. This disease inhibits the body from digestion of all sugars. My son was only aloud to have 2g of sugar for every 100g of food.  That was impossible to do.  I really needed help trying to figure out what to feed my child and I.  He was diagnosed when he was 3 and by 5 we where still trying to find someone that has ever heard of this disease.  We where able to control his symptoms by having him take an enzyme called Sucraid which helps him digest sugars. We switched to a new pediatrician, Dr. Franz,  from The Franz Center who has saved my sons life and really has taken care of him and really tries to understand everything he needs with all his medical issues. Through our pediatrician I found another Angel,  Sarah Bingham Nutritionist.  I don't know what we would of done if we hadn't met Sarah.  I have never met someone that cares so much about her patients.  She first put our son on a full elimination diet which consisted of going vegan, no wheat, gluten, soy, corn, milk, tomatoes, or sugar. It was hard at first but he did pretty well.  Some of his symptoms were starting to become less.  His tantrums where becoming less, his stomach pains where not as frequent, his night terrors where becoming less frequent, his Sensory issues where not as bad.  Things where looking good, but there still was work to be done.  Sarah finally said we needed to try this GAPS Diet.  We needed to fully heal our guts and all these symptoms should disappear.  That is where we are at now.  I couldn't do this with out Sarah.  She is walking us through every step, and helping me emotionally to prepare for this very restrictive diet and helping me get the family ready.  Sarah is always by my side helping me through everything.  Sarah also introduced me to my other Angel Jenny Porter.  She was able to come into my house and help me shop for the foods I needed and show me how to prepare all this food.  The thing you have to understand about me is I hate to cook and grocery shop.  Having someone come in and show me it's not as hard as it seems, really helps to lower the stress.  Having them both there for me when I have melt downs about if I can do this or not is a God send and they are always there to pick me back up and tell me I can do this.  I love my Angels, I couldn't do this with out them!!!   

One week left!!

We have one more week until the GAPS meal plan starts!!  We are trying to eat what we have left in the house because once we start the GAPS diet all the food that we have left has to go.  I hope to find people that will take the food that hasn't been used or a food bank that may want some of it because I would hate to throw it away.  I am hoping to not have much left because I am not buying anything anymore that is not of this meal plan.  Not only is it the food we need to change it's what we use to wash our clothes in, shower with, brush our teeth with, the deodorant that we wear, what we put on our skin.  All this is very toxic to the body and are harmful especially during the detox stages.  Once we are on the GAPS diet we have to be so careful about being exposed to toxic substances in our environment.  I am looking forward to living an all natural life and being as healthy as we can be and helping others see its not that hard to be healthy!!

Starting Early

I am thinking of starting this GAPS meal plan early.  My poor 5 yr old boy is having a rough time with his tummy.  He has been having diarrhea every morning since last Monday which of course was the first day of school.  We don't know if he was fed at school or just a little nervous.  We finally had a good morning today and no diarrhea which I was a little surprised because he went to bed last night with out eating because his stomach was so sore.  This morning tho he woke up fine and had breakfast and had no issues with his stomach.  Hopefully the diarrhea is over.  Now to convince the family that we might start a week early.  Hopefully this will go well.

Our family GAPS meal plan adventure: Count down to when we start GAPS

Our family GAPS meal plan adventure: Count down to when we start GAPS: 15 more days until our GAPS adventure starts!! I have been prepping like crazy!! I made 10 bottles of meat stock and 4 jars of chicken stock...

Gut and Psychiatry how they go hand in hand

GAPS Diet, What it is

This is a web site that explains what the GAPS Diet is about, what he heals and how it all works.

Reason for doing GAPS

The main reason we are doing the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride) meal plan is that my five your old son and I have very bad gut issues.  My son was diagnosed with CSID which is Congenital Sucrase Isomaltase Deficiency which means his body does not process sugars.  Also he has very bad gut flora from the many antibiotics he was on for the first 3 years of his life.  He was born 2 months early and was very sick until he was 4.  Now we are trying to heal his gut which will help with his behavior, appetite, growth, weight gain, mood and his sensory issues.  Your gut is like your second brain so if it is not well balanced, neither is the rest of you.  I have had major issues with my gut since I was a little girl.  I never ate like my son because it just hurt to much.  It was easier for me to just not eat.  Well that led the diagnosis of having Anorexia because I refused to eat and not a lot of people understood that the reason I didn't eat was because it was to painful, not because I thought I was fat.  So I am now hoping this meal plan will heal us all and we can start to live a healthy normal life, pain free!!

Count down to when we start GAPS

15 more days until our GAPS adventure starts!! I have been prepping like crazy!! I made 10 bottles of meat stock and 4 jars of chicken stock. I also added veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and onions to each stock so those are also done.  I have cut up one butternut squash and have a few more to do plus acorn squash.  Prepping the family is a little bit more difficult. My husband is on board but my 9 year old and five year old ( who we are really doing this for) are harder to convince.  We are working on them!!