Happy lunch! Stir fry with a side of cashew bread toast

Onion soup

Sometimes a dish works out at the last moment just as you feel like
you're going to have to suck it up and eat it. For instance, I thought
it was a great idea to have onion soup. I was too lazy to cut the
onion very much, so it ended up being this ugly soup with big chunks
of onion and squash. Well, my friend the blender rescued my dish and
won my heart, because now the soup I couldn't eat two hours ago...
gourmet!!
Ingredients:
Chicken stock/broth
Chicken, chicken livers and hearts
Acorn squash
A BIG white onion
Garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking route: crockpot

Yeah my raw milk kefir worked!!!

Quick Update

Just a quick update, I will be more active on here once I recover.

So the bad symptoms got me to the place where I said, GAPS here I come. I started on the intro on Saturday. There are some awesome places to get food here in Tulsa. If I wanted I could just buy fish stock from Bodeans Seafood Market for super cheap.  I was feeling pretty good and then I was insanely emotional, crying over everything. "Die-off" is certainly a new sensation that I'd prefer to be without. Sunday morning, I was fine, but I looked at my tongue in the morning and had a raging cause of Oral Thrush, aka Candida Albicans. So I went to the store to get probiotics, because I don't yet have the BioKult, the recommended probiotic for GAPS (they are coming through amazon). Once taking many of those I felt better....until there was night time. UPDATE 6/13: Biokult has hidden sugars if you are sensitive. For me it was a no go.  Right before bed I started feeling nauseated, my abdomen was gurgling, and I straight up had a fever. This morning the bathroom and I had a reunion of which details should not be discussed openly, and I again felt feverish. Today has not been the best in my record of "fabulous vitality days", but it has shown me how much I really needed to do this.

The GAPS diet is all about killing the bad guys, but also really emphasizes restoring the good guys through broths and fermented foods. I've made my first beet kvass, which is rather tasty for something that contains beets, garlic, and whey protein.

All in all, I'm feeling good about going down this road, despite its difficulty. I know now that it is very true that it must get worse before it gets better. I'm grateful for all the information on the interweb where people have discussed their "die-off" symptoms so I know that this is normal.


What I have learned to do to fight the yeast is:
Probiotics
Hold yogurt in my mouth for a minute (it's crazy, it sticks to the yeast- it was like Braveheart in my mouth!)
Oil of Oregano
Olive Leaf Extract
S. Boulardii (another type of yeast that fights the might C.A.)

I've been updating my links as I do research so that there is more linkage goodness in one place. I found two places to get supplements. I'm very intrigued with Dr. Ron's supplements that are additive free. I was concerned about their multi-vitamin because it contained Boron (Aspartate) which is the same thing as Aspartame. They called me back within 2 hours and explained that it was a very low dosage and was put in the multi to prevent osteoporosis. They also told me that it was from a natural source that doesn't cause the problems that the synthesized molecules do. Quality company. I'm definitely buying my Fermented Cod Liver Oil from them (also recommended supplement for GAPS diet to heal the GI lining). I'll post if the Multi is legal. I've written them an email requesting the information if it is or not.

Tasty Way of Taking Oils

One of the important things I learned this week was that we must take supplements during the time that we are on this diet to properly heal the gut. In the GAPS diet, one of these supplements is Cod Liver Oil, because of it is plentiful in Vitamin A (it is also very high in Vitamin D). The first time I took it, which was straight from the spoon, was a slightly icky moment.

When I was speaking with the woman with 140 different food allergies, I mentioned that perhaps one of the reasons things weren't getting better for her (along with the fact that she was not on the correct diet) was that she wasn't supplementing with gut healing remedies. When I brought up Cod Liver Oil, her eyes got quite wide and she said, "Oh yes, I just can't take that, it's really gross."

Well if you know me, you know I'm generally a no excuses type girl. Where there's a will there's a way; Fight fire with fire, and etc. So I masterminded a remedy for the faint of palate.

I thought first, perhaps I could mix it with something delicious or just have a strong chaser. But then, I went back in the noggin' where the chemistry info is stored and picked out this simple and yet effective truth: Oil will float on water.

So I took out my handy dandy shot glass, my freshly squeezed OJ, and my rather untasty supplements. I also take Vitamin E by way of Sunflower Oil, so I put a dose of that in as well.

First pour a bit of OJ, then follow it by the doses of oils. Swig it back and it naturally has just the taste of orange juice (or whatever juice you choose). So simple!

 

  Update: Since I have been on the GAPS diet, I am unable to drink orange juice (at the present time). Any one on the intro will not be able to drink any type of fruit juice or vegetable juice. Using water as a base works just as well with oil supplements like cod liver oil. The only time you have to have some type of chaser is when what you're slinging back is water soluble (like grapeseed extract)/ JUST DO IT! motto is all I can help with there. Also, I have found fermented cod liver oil from Dr. RON's that helps take out the sting. My favorite is the Arctic Mint. Be careful, not all the flavors are legal!

Update: subtlety and there is a reason for everything

Subtlety seems to be a repeating lesson for me, but always a good lesson to remember. I had been having the return of many symptoms: fatigue, moodiness, and constipation from eating the illegal beet chips.I didn't realize it was affecting me. So many on the server have these tremendous reactions to the wrong food, but I either have a GI issue or it's lost in the details. It's partially why I'm grateful that I was introduced to the diet, because before, I didn't have gross reactions to sugar or potatoes, but now I'm able to see their true effect on my system. I'm also really grateful to have this blog and to have people that read it. Without that text message, letting me know I'd made a mistake, I would have trudged through a few more weeks not understanding the return of my symptoms.

I let my guard down on making sure to check the ingredients. Mainly because my husband thought of the beet chips that we had eaten previously to the diet and thought it would be a good snack for me. He asked the whole foods lady and she had told him that it was just beets and salt. So when he told me that, I just believed without asking if he had looked at the label. All good lessons, all very good.

Lastly, I'm quite grateful for this incident because it made me look a little more into things and I think I will be better off for the knowledge I gained from it.

I was at a party this Saturday night and met a woman who was allergic to 140 foods and still feeling really bad. When I told her about this diet she was very happy. When I relayed that I wished more medical practitioners knew about it, she said that she was happier to know it the way she was learning about it. She said that things happen for a reason and before she wouldn't have been ready to hear it.

This lesson will also end with me finding a dehydrator. Because I can no longer live without beet chips!!!! If you know of a good brand, please let me know.

As my momma says, "In every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better."

BEET CHIPS are NOT LEGAL

So I just found out that the beet chips at whole foods are not legal at all. They contain Dextrin. My sincere apologies.