GAPS, Stage 3 Summary

We entered into Stage 3 around seven days into our diet.  It was a nice change--Stage 3 of GAPS brings some new flavors to the equation, which is wonderful.  Made some interesting discoveries here, such as:

Avocado--I like avocado!  I have never had it before.  If you haven't either, it has a creamy texture, kind of like smooth mashed potatoes.  It has a lingering butter aftertaste.  Definitely a pleasant surprise!  I don't like how quickly they go bad, though, and if I only eat half of one, the other half usually goes to waste.  I did find a suggestion online that someone put a slice of onion in the same container as some uneaten peeled avocado, and it supposedly kept the rest of the avocado from going bad.  I'll have to try it.

GAPS pancakes--these were a bit dry, but better than nothing.  I think I might tweak the recipe a bit, and will probably make them completely differently once fruit is involved (I'm thinking banana).

Scrambled eggs--I was so excited to add these.  I've been wanting scrambled eggs so badly, so I was very disappointed to have nausea a few hours after I ate the eggs.  I must have a sensitivity to egg protein as well as a dairy issue, but that's how it goes, I guess.  Thinking that maybe something just didn't sit right, I tried again a few days later.  While I didn't feel bad a few hours after I ate them that time, I did find myself fairly nauseous again the next morning when I woke up.  I'll have to remove them and wait a few weeks, then try to introduce them again.  Kind of threw a wrench into things. 

Sauerkraut--I was happy to have a successful batch of sauerkraut!  I got the juice out of the first ferment, and had instructions on how to re-ferment to get more juice out of the cabbage, which I did.  However, after that second brine, I found the sauerkraut too salty to eat, so I'll be starting over to make a fresh batch for eating.  We have plenty of juice right now!

Nut butters--I can't tell you how excited I was to add nut butters to the food list!  The thing is, I'm short on time as it is--when would I find time to make my own peanut butter?  So when I went to the grocery store, I checked out all of the peanut butter in the aisle, and what did I find?  Smucker's natural creamy peanut butter, with the only ingredients listed being peanuts and less than 1% salt.  I bought two jars!  Hey, I have to save time where I can, plus it's good!  It actually needs to be refrigerated once it's opened.  I didn't buy any almond butter, and I might attempt to make that one day myself, but for now, jarred peanut butter has been a blessing.

Purchased a juicer--what a great contraption!  It seems to have an incredible motor in it.  It made carrots disappear faster than a rabbit!  I made a small jar of carrot juice with it so far, and look forward to the option of having juices with breakfast soon.

I have a confession: I made crackers to go with my soups.  I borrowed a little from Stage 4 and made almond meal crackers for soups--a Godsend!  They're quite tasty.  I'll try to post the recipe in my Stage 4 summary.

Summary: Despite being able to vary the foods we're eating now, I'm finding it harder as the time goes by to fight cravings, not for sweet foods or bread, but for comfort foods.  It seems like my cravings for things I can't have are increasing, and I don't know if that's normal or not--I haven't found any answers online.  At times I'm fixated on things I would rather have, but can't.  Little Caesar's commercials do not help at all, and it seems like they are on constantly (I'm guessing in preparation for the upcoming Super Bowl).  I think I'm starting to get my appetite back now that I don't have to eat just soup, so that's a plus.  I have noticed that I tend to be hungrier during the day when I'm working.  I think it's stress-related.  However, I'm enjoying not feeling bloated and uncomfortable after eating meals, which happened quite frequently before we started.  That's certainly an improvement!  It is getting easier to follow this plan, though.  I stand by the first two stages being the hardest, and if you can make it through those, you can make it through Intro!