Diary of a Mama on the GAPS Intro Diet – Week 1
After one week on the GAPS intro diet, based on the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Campbell-McBride, I have survived and have done quite well! I'm proud of myself for sticking to it. Here's how my first week went.
First off, the eBook I bought from Health, Home and Happiness, “What Can I Eat Now? 30 Days on the GAPS Intro Diet” book has been a godsend! I don't know what I would've done without that except go CRAZY cray cray.
Here's What I've Been Eating
- Boiled Meat Patties (like hamburgers with organic ground beef and pork, with shredded carrots and cauliflower mixed in)
- Butternut squash soup (This was really tasty! Butternut squash, chicken bone broth, sea salt, onions, and leeks.)
- Grape juice jello – this is from the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and it's such a nice treat, but it can cause irritation if your gut is in bad shape
- Chicken meat from the chicken stock I made – I add it in with the soups to make it more filling.
- Water with lemon
- Apple cider vinegar tonic (which I normally have anyway)
- Boiled carrots, butternut squash, broccoli
- Other veggie soups with homemade beef stock – ones with onions, leeks, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and butternut squash (but not all together!)
- Ginger tea with gelatin at night for continued digestive help
- Detox Baths – obviously this is not a food, but I'm putting it here anyway! 🙂 I use 2 cups of epsom salts in my bath and soak for about 45 minutes.
- I did have scrambled eggs the last day – I was stuck out at a farmer's market and starving. The GAPS diet doesn't introduce complete eggs until the third week, but the SCD diet allows it from day one. So, I figured I'd be okay as a sort of compromise between the two diets. We will see how my body reacts in the next few days!
Foods I'm Going to Start Adding
- Raw egg yolk (yes, it's part of the process!)
- Homemade sauerkraut juice (I've got some fermenting on the counter right now)
- Sauteed Apples (peeled) with cinnamon on top
- A few tablespoons of homemade yogurt (just made some with my yogurt maker from raw milk), gradually increasing each day
- Thinking about adding eggs since they are allowed from day 1 on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet
- I didn't know I could have green beans, so I'm adding that in because I LOVE green beans (Well cooked, of course. Raw is harder to digest.)
- Ripe bananas – the Specific Carbohydrate Diet allows for ripe bananas from the very beginning, so I might try them and see how I do
Meal Prep Was A HUGE Help
I made boiled meat patties at the beginning of the week and have used those as quick snacks to grab when I get hungry. Plus all the veggies I cut up and froze into separate bags have been super easy to make soups with, which is a big part of this diet. All in all, I have not been stressed AT ALL this week making meals for both myself and my three kids and husband, cooking three times a day. The meal prep is the reason why, I'm convinced!
Coffee is My Schtick
I tried giving up coffee the first day, and drank green tea instead. But I still ended up with a major headache and took acetaminophen to make it go away. Yes, that is terrible! NSAID drugs like acetaminophen are known for damaging the gut. Thankfully that was the very first day, so I didn't have any progress I was messing up. So, I've continued to stick with one cup of coffee and will try to get rid of it later on, when the diet gets a little easier. I decided I couldn't handle getting rid of it along with everything else and cooking meals for my family, too. Whew! I'm not superwoman.
Symptoms Are Reducing, But Still Need Improvement
One major improvement was my energy is back up and my irritable bad attitude is gone, my whole family thanks me for that (poor schmucks!). BUT my eczema is still pretty bad on my hands, although it is better than at the beginning of the week – I'm still getting new blisters and they as dry and rough as sandpaper. Not sure if there is still an offending food. I did have an upset stomach twice today, both times after eating soup! So, I'm wondering Plus I'm constipated and while on the full GAPS diet, I was never constipated.
Anyway it’s going very well so far. It’s not nearly as hard as I thought it’d be. I think it’s because I’ve already been on the full GAPS diet for 5 months – I really don’t feel like I’m being deprived. And I’m already SO used to not cheating – I’ve really disciplined myself these past five months that temptation isn’t worth it anymore.
I went off my probiotics at the beginning because I thought that's what I was supposed to do, but I read on gapsdiet.com that you stay on probiotics the whole time! So, I hope that will help.
More GAPS Intro Diet Resources
The key to remember about the GAPS and SCD diets is that you're eating the most easily digestible foods to give your digestive system a break so it can effectively kill off the bad bacteria and yeast overgrowth (Candida) and heal the gut lining. That's why all the vegetables and meat are thoroughly cooked. Once you're healed and sealed in about four to five weeks, you can transition to the full diet where a lot more food is allowed, but still off of grains and sugar.
- “What Can I Eat Now? 30 Days on the GAPS Intro Diet“
- What Can You Eat on the GAPS Diet at Well Fed Homestead – excellent list of all the approved foods for each stage. Best list I've found so far!
- How to Prepare for Going on the GAPS Diet – from Keeper of the Home. This is very similar to the eBook I listed above, just shortened. Some very helpful tips like meal planning, prepping all your food and freezing it (like I did), and more!
- Recipes and Ideas for What to Eat on the GAPS Introduction Diet – from Keeper of the Home. Fabulous resource for the legal foods in each stage, plus all her tips from having her family on the diet.
Read the first post in this series, Diary of A Mama Toughin' It Out on the GAPS Intro Diet