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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Week 4 ~ Considering a New Path: GAPS

GAPS is all about pastured eggs!

Week four of mostly raw and all gluten-free finds us at a crossroads.  Being all gluten-free has been way easier than I thought it would.  Since we eat a cooked dinner every night, our starch cravings are satisfied with a welcome helping of potatoes, soaked quinoa or rice, sweet potato fries, or corn tortillas.  This is a cinch!  But, my son has started to mention his stomach bothering him at night again.  Agh!


The crossroads:  I have seen a few blog posts about the GAPS (Gut & Psychology Syndrome) diet and honestly, I've avoided reading them.  I have changed so much of my family's diet over the past six years, I feared another drastic change might send them overboard.  But here's the thing.  Jeremy still has acid reflux and my son, at only seven years of age, already suffers from similar symptoms.  It will only benefit the rest of us to join this diet.


This diet is the most extreme I have ever considered, but what I especially like about it is it's temporary and it heals.  It's not a quick fix, but it's a permanent one, and it's not a new lifestyle diet to lessen the effects of a health issue.  This sends health issues packing for good and once you've finished being on it, you can slowly introduce starches back into the diet.


Another reason I connected with he idea of the GAPS diet is it weaves every good thing I have learned from a number of differing sources (Weston A. Price,  Gershon, raw books, nourishing food sources...) into a remedy that just makes sense.


If someone you know suffers from anything as simple as seasonal allergies to something as severe as  autism, fibromyalgia, MS, lupus, etc...  You might want to consider joining me on this crazy ride.


Here are some great blog posts that can help explain and introduce you to the GAPS diet:


The Healthy Home Economist just published an article about successfully reaching your goals with the diet.


Keeper of the Home is in the process of going through the GAPS diet with her family, and she shares her findings and ideas starting here.


Health, Home, and Happiness offers a menu plan, complete with to-dos, and shopping lists.  She offers three days for free if you want to try it out.


There you have it.  The new direction on our road to complete health.  I'm a little scared I'll admit, but there are too many positive testimonies regarding this diet.  We won't be starting right away, as we need to phase out the rest of the potatoes, yams, etc. from the kitchen.  Phase out the starches, phase in the butternut squash, then on to apples and bone broth for a while...  Thankfully we like butternut apples?

24 comments:

  1. Good luck on this journey! I love your devotion to the health of your family. I am a few steps behind you in the whole food dept.& hope to eventually join you completely in this quest. I love reading your blog & learning such great info. Thanks for sharing your heart. Bless you & yours.
    Georgette

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  2. I'm a new follower and I really enjoyed this post! Thanks and good luck!

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  3. Wow, how have I not heard of GAPS? I had (what I THOUGHT was) severe indigestion or reflux for a very painful year, only to find out I had a diseased gallbladder and a severe egg allergy. I went on a strict diet for a while and cut out eggs and fatty foods and I've been symptom-free for a few years now (thank you, Ronda Nelson). No gallbladder attacks, either. My allergies have come back, though, so I gotta work on that. I'll check out the GAPS thing, thanks!

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  4. I am a new follower and will be doing the GAPS diet very soon. I just ordered the probiotics (Biokult) and have some broth ready to go in the freezer. I am expecting great things from this diet. :) But it does not sound fun at all. Please write if you do decide to do the diet. We need the encouragement from one another.

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  5. Have you ever heard of Great Taste No Pain? It's based on the theory that our bodies need to be at a proper pH balance and that different enzymes to digest different types of food, so eating properly combined foods helps your body to do its thing. My mom suffered from severe acid reflux (even causing her to vomit...nearly every day) for years, and once she began this way of eating, her acid reflux completely disappeared. (She found this site by Google-ing her symptoms.) And I've had IBS symptoms for the last couple years and this has helped me a great deal as well. They offer a free sample 4-day menu for you to try, and there is also a gluten-free option.

    I'm sure you could adjust any meal/diet plan you are wanting to go with for your family while still putting the principles of GTNP in place, but thought this might help with some of the health issues your family has. (BTW, I'm not affliated with Great Taste No Pain in any way whatsoever, just happy to share what I've found to be great information.) Hope it helps. ;)

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  6. It seems I can't escape the GAPS diet! :) Everywhere I go I read about it. My husband and I actually went on the intro diet last fall but only lasted a week because I was so sick that I couldn't eat or get out of bed for 3 of those days. I know it meant my body really needed the healing, but I just couldn't function and couldn't keep missing work, so we had to stop. But we've been slowly cutting out grains and I'm considering trying the GAPS diet again, just not doing the intro right away. But I agree, it is scary to commit to something like that! I don't want to do it! But I do believe it would be very healing... Hope you guys find success with it! I would love to hear about your journey!

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  7. Katie!!! You're killing me! I have been dealing with serious stomach issues (& several other health issues that have been cured by GAPS) for the last 6 months to a year. After reading about your family's raw food journey, we have been thinking about going raw.. But *now*....after re-researching GAPS (I used to read Keeper of the Home so I learned about it from her when she first started researching it) I feel like it would help me *a lot*. Of course it would benefit my entire family as well, but they don't necessarily have specific issues. The biggest hold up for us is the money. I have a very very tight food budget & don't have (or haven't discovered) much access to grass-fed meat, good quality eggs (that aren't $8 a doz!), etc. Do you think this diet is possible on a limited budget? The only dollar amounts I've found online are $110 a week & $500-$700 a month & I need to spend like 1/2 (or less) of that! Anyway, just curious. I think if we did do it, I would wait to start (at least with the whole family) until September because of Jacob's busy schedule this summer. So for now I'm just learning & gathering resources. :)

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  8. We have been gluten and mostly grain free for a few weeks now, but GAPS is something that has always been lurking in my mind. I feel the same as you, we have changed Sooo much in a few short years and now just going gluten free, good grief...I don't know if they're ready for it. To give up raw milk and yogurt would be absolute torture for my kids...and me! I know my son and I need it, but my kids are 5,3, and 1 and were thinking of trying for another soon, so we may wait awhile before we do it. I can't wait to hear how it goes for y'all and hopefully I will be encouraged by your family's journey through it! I will be praying for y'all!
    -Amanda

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  9. I understand what all of you have been saying about making so many changes that it's driving the family kind of nuts - specifically my husband. In fact, it has been one of the main arguments in our marriage!

    How have you addressed these issues? When the kids complain, it doesn't bother me at all, but when my husband is upset on the brink of angry, I just don't know what to do. I can't always go against him, but if the choice were his alone he'd have us eat steak and potatoes every night with garlic bread. Ugh.

    Any suggestions?

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  10. i hope this helps you guys! its so true how its harder to take your family on a healthy food journey when they love so many other types of food. if it was just my self it would be easy haha. try getting a mexican to eat gluten free ha! its a slow process over here lol

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