3 Months Down!

Ah, yes...3 months down on the GAPS diet and going strong. Some days stronger than others, I might add. Some days pretty weak and overwhelming, but in the overall picture, we are doing so much better, feeling so much better and the good days are better than good days of old. So I am motivated to continue on this journey. Being in the kitchen, preparing food, doing dishes, visiting farms and researching foods has become pretty commonplace now. I still don't care for cooking and I still despise doing the dishes, but like most things, they have become more routine after doing them so much in the past 3 months.

So...with feeling better comes a longing to fully dive into who God created me to be and what He desires for me to do with my time. Time is so precious and I have filled up so much of my time lately with activity. Now comes the process of sorting through that activity and praying, thinking and discerning what activity should stay and what should go. A total revamp is my desire, but I'm thinking baby steps are more likely. I am really longing to have more time to think and pray and write and draw and create. That feels like life to me. I love how different we all are. I love how for some, those things (or some of them, anyway) don't feel like living at all, but work. Finding out what those areas are that God has put into our DNA and given us a passion for is so important. It has taken me longer in life to figure out what those things are for me. I envy those who know this from a young age and head in the direction they were created to go. For me, the road has been a little more curved with lots of detours along the way. With feeling better, more of a clarity of mind is emerging and I love that! I love that I am seeing things more clearly. I honestly believe that dairy and gluten were poisoning my digestive system and that I was in a mental fog whenever I had them. Even when I changed my diet and eliminated them, I was medicating myself with lots of sugar. This brought inflammation as well. Although I enjoyed the temporary rush or blood sugar spike that would come with eating sugar, the overall left me tired. I was just getting through life, not enjoying it so much. I was doing my best to take care of the boys and things at home, but some days it was just a struggle to have energy and to be pain free. Healing is definitely coming. After 3 months I am routinely eating yogurt. It is made from raw, grassfed cows' milk. I never could have done this before.

A quick summary of the boys' progress: JD is off of his allergy meds. that he took year-round. He also has not needed his inhaler at all the past 3 months. Even when he was on his allergy medication, I wouldn't allow him to be around certain dogs because he got so incredibly stuffy and miserable. He has since had one of these dogs sitting on his lap for hours with little or no effect on him. This is all so wonderful and I am thrilled that he is not on any medications. He also had dark staining on his teeth from bacteria and that is now gone.

JET is feeling better than ever before in life. He routinely tells me that he loves his life. He has energy. When asked how the diet has changed him, he will tell you that he used to be so tired and lazy and just sit around and watch t.v. a lot of the time. He now desires to be productive and creative. He has learned to cook many new foods and enjoys doing this. He learned to crochet and has also knitted a number of hats for himself and others. He is regularly cleaning out his room. His skin has cleared up immensely. His quality of life is just so much better. Although he does talk about foods he will eat once we are off the diet, I am hoping that he sees the benefit of "real food" and desires to make choices that allow him to feel his best.

Well, the sun is shining and I have some dancing to do...literally. Hope to catch you in the very near future.

So...10:56 PM on New Year's Eve. Gotta stay awake to pick up the 14-yr. old at 12:30 AM. What better time to blog? We did not do a Christmas card or letter this year--just too much going on and couldn't keep up. Maybe you'll pick up a couple of 2012 facts from this post.

Today was a big day. We began the GAPS Introduction Diet. I've been reading Nastasha Campbell-McBride's book. A friend told me about the diet, and within the same week God brought the very same diet across my path in 3 other ways. Crazy, because I haven't heard much about it since then unless I go looking for it. Bing-lightbulb. So, I ordered the book (Ok, Tru ordered it for me) and read it. Boy, it is like a textbook in some regards. Some of it is so basic and easy to understand and other parts felt like I was in a medical school course. As I was reading the book and understanding the concept, it just seemed like a culmination of all the reading I've done on health and digestion the past few years. Also, personal experiences were continually validated throughout this book. It made me hopeful.

Today, after the first full day on the diet, I just miss my chocolate, caffeine and sugar. I'm not quite as nice right now as usual. I'm wondering how long this will last!! I'm also already feeling panicked about where I will get my next source of chicken, beef or fish. I cooked for a day ahead, but need to shop tomorrow for the following day's stock and soup.

Today, we had sauerkraut juice, two of us had Biokult probiotic supplements, two of us had Blue Ice fermented cod liver oil, we had homemade chicken stock. Throughout the rest of the day, we had chicken soup with carrots, onion and garlic made from the homemade stock. We also had ginger tea, grated fresh from the root. Finally, we had some organic coconut oil with a bit of unprocessed honey. That, I believe, was my saving grace today. I'm not 100% sure we are supposed to have coconut oil during the introduction phase. Gotta look into it some more. Tomorrow we will add fish oil supplements also. Tomorrow we will also have beef stock that I made overnight and a soup I will make from it.