Spring Busyness and Test Results

Lots going on right now!  We are in the process of selling our current home and have an offer on another home...it's out in the country with four acres!  It's all so exciting right now.  Everything is still pending inspections, but so far, we're moving forward.  I'll keep you updated as things progress.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I started seeing a chiropractor/wellness practitioner.  At our initial visit back in March, he recommended three tests, all of which I took and finally received results.  I went back to get the results at the beginning of the week, and learned some interesting things--things that make sense now.

1) I DO have leaky gut.  After seeing the results of the blood test, the practitioner knew what was going on:

Every food tested is rated from 0-4 on a sensitivity scale.  0s and 1s are still okay to eat (1s need to be eaten only occasionally), but I was advised to avoid 2s and 3s for the next month.  As you can see, there are some pretty healthy foods on the do-not-eat list, which was disappointing, because I was enjoying the healthier diet.  The results of this test actually confused me.  Notice how dairy and eggs show no reaction, even though I know they don't sit well with me?  I'm not sure why, but I'm still avoiding them.  And how is white sugar just fine, and soda is perfectly acceptable, but broccoli, carrots, green beans, lemons, garlic, tomatoes, etc. all bad for me??  Well...I don't know, but because of the fact that all of these items are present in the blood test, it means that particles from the foods are permeating the intestinal wall and entering the blood stream = not good = leaky gut and inflammation of the body.  This is a result of stress and medications that I have taken over the course of my life (antibiotics being the biggest contributor).  Going out to eat will be nearly impossible, but at least I have some direction now, and it explains why I was still having a lot of problems on GAPS.  Turns out, GAPS is not for everyone, and I guess I'm one of them.

2) My adrenal glands are functioning at VERY low levels as the day progresses, which explains my constant fatigue:

 

I can get through the morning fairly well, but by the afternoon, I get really tired and feel that way for the rest of the night.  The adrenal glands are responsible for a multitude of functions in the body, including blocking inflammatory responses by producing cortisol, stabilizing blood sugar levels, and dealing with stress levels in the body, among other things.  When you have adrenal glands that aren't working the way they're supposed to, the body really struggles to maintain status quo.  The inflammatory responses are a result of the permeable intestines (or vice versa).  I've always had blood sugar issues, as has my mother, and get really shaky when blood sugar levels plummet, which happened frequently before I changed my diet.  It's not as common now, but still does happen.  Stress...well, that's been a life-long issue for me.  People are probably my biggest source of stress, and a close second is my job and the jobs I've had in the past.  I've also struggled with handling stress well, and now it's all come to a head.  I'll be learning how to deal with stress in a more healthy manner in the coming weeks.  Want to know a little more about adrenals?  A simple explanation of the function of these little glands with a big job can be found here.


3) Thankfully, I don't appear to have a candida (yeast) overgrowth, nor do I have any evidence of parasites in my digestive system.  Yes, it was tested for, and yes, both of those issues can cause the same symptoms that I have been experiencing, so I was happy to take the test to rule those out.  It also means that there is no need for additional medical treatment before starting the healing protocol.  The test did reveal an imbalance in my good and bad digestive bacteria, though, and that will have to be remedied.  The cause of this would also go back to overused antibiotic prescriptions (I'll be a lot more cautious about prescription meds from now own). I'm not against prescription medications--there are some good, helpful medications available in this day.  However, I'll be more inclined to pursue natural remedies for what ails me before I try medication if it's something simple.

If you are experiencing the problems I've had, I urge you to seek out a doctor who has experience with these symptoms.  It's not always easy, and probably not cheap, but it was worth it to me to just get these test results back--tests that none of the traditional medicine docs felt were necessary to order.  Find someone who is familiar with your symptoms and has treated others with the same problems.  I know that not many people out there right now have experienced or are experiencing what I've been going through, but if my experience can help at least one other person find answers, then it's worth it.

*If you are interested in the tests I took, send me a message or leave a comment.  I'll be happy to share the names of the tests that were prescribed so that you can go to your doc and request them.

Exciting News!

I realize I've been quiet on here for a while now, over a month!  What gives, right?

Honestly, there just hasn't been a great deal of anything going on to discuss.  We've been working hard, cleaning up after another winter, and now, we have decided that it's time to finally start looking for our dream "forever" home out in the country.  Yes, it's time to put our little suburban house up for sale!

A while ago, I wrote a post about what was important in my life, and how those priorities have changed over the past several years.  Now is our chance to make some of those things happen!  Hard to believe, really.  We've been here for over seven years.  When we moved here, we thought it would only be for a few years, but the Lord works in ways that we can't understand and sometimes don't even realize.  We've had great neighbors (for a change) in this little neighborhood.  There have been some negatives, but overall it's been a good seven years.  But now, it's time to get out in the country, start our little hobby farm, and get away from the noise and concrete of the city.  Start another chapter of our lives, really.

I'm so very excited!! This is going to be an interesting adventure, for sure!

For the time being, though, posts will most likely be sporadic and short.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the Lord works all of this out for us, and hopefully soon, I'll be able to share the news of our new home.

An update on GAPS: I'm not really following it right now.  I got to the end of my rope with it last month and was finally able to find a wellness practitioner here in our city, and have started seeing him.  He is very familiar with my problems and knows about GAPS but is not a GAPS practitioner, so I'm not likely to go back on it.  I have lost 15-20 lbs. so far on GAPS and it has taught me how to eat better, which I'm happy with, but it was too stressful for me.  I am looking forward to seeing what this practitioner has to say once additional test results come in. 

The Shattering of the Ball Jars

Well, eight weeks into GAPS and I still don't have spare time to do anything else!  I should have known better.  I did, however, purchase a starter online to try making sour cream (creme fraiche) over the weekend.  I'm going to try introducing dairy.  I have been praying for enough healing to have taken place that I'll be able to tolerate it.  We'll see what happens.

I love collecting old jars.  I love the colors, I love the old style of writing, I love the history behind them, and it reminds me of just how much work women did to preserve food and provide for their families.  While these jars at one time functioned as a mundane, utilitarian vessel for food, now they are being used in all sorts of creative situations.  Personally, I usually use my antique canning jars to hold flowers, both fresh and dried.  A pretty ribbon around the top makes them look so cute!  I do, however, purchase new jars for kitchen and food storage, which leads me to the topic of this post.

A while back, I mentioned that I kept finding shattered Ball jars in my upright freezer when I was getting stock out.  I ended up with somewhere around a dozen shattered jars before I just gave up and ordered plastic deli containers specifically made for freezing.  I didn't want to use plastic, but I was left with no other option.  I was so confused about why my jars were breaking--I'd seen so many blogs from others who talked about freezing their broth in glass jars--that I took to scouring the internet for explanations and others who had experienced the same thing.  And that's exactly what I found.

Turns out, many others had made the same mistakes as me.  Someone, in one blog's comments, politely pointed out that the regular mouth jars seem to be most prone to breaking, but that NONE of the quart Ball jars are freezer safe.  Sure enough, I went into the pantry and pulled down an old Ball jar box that I had kept, and it did state that the quart jars (all types) are not freezer safe.

Hmm.

Why on earth not??  You mean in all of our technology, we cannot engineer a freezer-safe glass canning jar?  On GAPS, broths are too valuable to lose to broken jars, and I just can't chance drinking broth and finding a shard of glass when I try to swallow.  Glass canning jars can withstand extremely high temperatures when canning, but they apparently become too brittle when frozen.  Turns out, the shape of the jar might have everything to do with it.

Anyone who knows about jars (which is probably a group of about ten people on Earth and includes me) will understand that the shoulders of the jars are likely the culprit.  Shoulders of jars are the curved or sloped shape of the top of the jar, at the spot where the jar opening narrows to accommodate the size of the lid. 

Many folks are of the opinion that the liquid, which expands when it freezes, pushes against the curves of the top of the jar, creating too much pressure and not enough expansion room, thereby causing the liquid to push against the weakest part of the jars--the shoulders.  There might be less chance of that happening with wide-mouth jars due to a less-pronounced shoulder, but I can say from experience that both the regular-mouth and wide-mouth jars will shatter.  The only jars that are freezer-safe, according to the Ball jar box, are the jars with straight sides, like the jelly jars and half pint wide mouth jars.

No shoulders on this jar!

Don't they know how much room all of those wide-mouth half pint jars would take up in my freezer??

You guys.  I made this picture.  It took for-e-ver.  And it's not even good, because I'm novice at best with Photoshop and had to copy and paste every...single...little...jar into the rows.  And the rows are all crooked, because the program froze on me halfway through the first attempt and I lost the file, so I had to start alllll over again.  And then it was past my bedtime and I didn't care if the rows were straight.  But it's a great illustration of how many jars it would take to fill up my freezer shelf with half-pints of broth, if I actually knew how many jars it would really take. 

Lesson learned: always be sure to check the box of glass jars for confirmation of being freezer safe!  Oh well.  Hopefully this will help you to not make the same mistake I made.  Like I said, I finally settled on freezer-specific quart containers for my broth, and they are doing a great job so far.  The sad part is thinking about how many dozen Ball jars I purchased in anticipation of starting GAPS.  Frowny face.  On the upside, I love using Ball jars for all sorts of other storage, so I'm sure I'll find a use for at least some of them.  Plus, I guess I'm ready to try canning when I get a gas stove! 

GAPS Stage 6 Summary, And GAPS Peanut Butter Cookies

Goodbye, Intro!!   I've been waiting a loooong time to say that. 

I've decided that it's time to move us to the full GAPS diet now.  I really haven't had problems with introducing anything in Stage 6, so I said to myself, 'Self, it's time to move on!'  I'm hoping that this diet becomes less labor-intensive now.  I simply can't keep up this pace of constant food prep, storing, and freezing.  We have had no life on the weekends, as I've been stuck in the kitchen making food and stocks to prepare for the upcoming workweek.  I have come to the conclusion that once my intolerances are gone, I will start adding foods in that aren't GAPS-legal, and move away from the diet somewhat.  However, I believe that the diet is healthy for us, so I don't want to completely abandon it--I just need a break, and I miss regular things like potatoes.  Hubby and I are happy with our results to this point, although my results are far less measurable than his.  We also decided that this is a great way to cleanse/purge the body of things that are bad for us, so we've decided to do this every January, to restore our bodies after the binges of the holiday season.

My summary of Stage 6, and the Intro Diet as a whole:

What I've Learned:
I've learned that willpower plays a huge role in this diet.  Having determination and a goal helps greatly with the willpower (my goal was to heal my food intolerances).  It's really hard to not go out to eat, and to know that I can't have things I like, but to me, the probable end result makes everything I've had to give up seem worth it.  I have realized just how much we socialize over food, and I've missed that, because it's just been easier to navigate this diet by staying home and not even being tempted.  My husband has gone out for lunch at work a few times, and just ate salad (which was ahead of where he was in the Intro, but necessary to do).  I continue to hope and wait for the day that I can eat an egg and cheese omelet or join others for an ice cream cone again.  I'll continue to give occasional updates on our progress, and will rejoice in the day when I can say that dairy and eggs are no longer my enemies!


Tips for the Intro Diet:
If you plan to start this diet, prep for it well ahead of time.  Give yourself a month to start stocking up the freezer with broth and soup veggies.  Mentally prepare yourself for a lot of work in the kitchen, and enlist help as needed from the family.  Build a support system, because it will be hard, and if you're a Christian, remember this: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)! Be very committed to sticking to a strict diet and not allowing cheating, especially with kids (get rid of tempting food if you think it'll be a problem).  Eating something that is GAPS-legal but only allowed on a stage ahead of where you currently are is one thing; eating something GAPS-illegal is very different, and could cause significant setbacks, depending on your situation.  Be sure to read through the GAPS diet book by Natasha Campbell-McBride, and consider signing up for the GAPS support group on Yahoo, as well as the group on Facebook.  A really good site for frequently asked questions and advice is badenlashkov.com.  You can look up so many topics on that site!  I also purchased an e-book that I had printed at Staples called What Can I Eat Now? 30 Days of recipes and tips for the GAPS™ Intro Diet, by Health, Home and Happiness.  Finally, look over the GAPS faq page located at GAPS.me.  

All that being said, it does get easier as you get farther into the Intro.  In fact, by Stage 6, you will begin to introduce more comforting foods, like increasing your honey amounts and sweet fruits.  By then, you'll be so glad to have this variety!  Every food introduced tastes really good.  You'll have developed a new-found respect for foods that you probably didn't give much thought to before the diet. :)  And with that, I give you a cookie recipe for you to enjoy!  I don't know why, but these cookies really lifted my spirits once I was able to figure out the recipe.  The ingredients aren't anything that we hadn't already been eating, but just knowing that these are cookies makes all of the difference!

GAPS-Legal Peanut Butter Cookies!! (DF, CF, GF, Egg-Free, Vegetarian, Tasty!) 
Ingredients:
1 C all-natural peanut butter (make your own, or buy from the store--nothing but peanuts and salt)

1/2 C raw honey

2 TBSP homemade vanilla

2 TBSP flax meal dissolved in 6 TBSP water, allowed to sit and gel for 10 minutes (or two eggs)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth.  Drop by rounded teaspoon onto a parchment-paper lined cookie pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, watching carefully to prevent burning.  Allow to sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.  They will be slightly gooey in the middle.  Best eaten warm! Makes about 20 cookies.  GAPS Stage 6 legal.

GAPS Stage 4 Summary

Stage 4!  Two weeks in, and we moved all the way through to Stage 4.  It feels good to have made it this far!  We're enjoying even more of a range of foods.  The other night, I made baked salmon with roasted asparagus, both drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper.  Mighty tasty!  We both greatly enjoyed that meal.  In fact, hubby said it needed to be a once-a-week meal!  If it's hubby approved, then you know it's good.

I tried out my juicer!  Holy cow, does that thing work.  This is my first experience with any juicing, but I'm actually kind of excited to have purchased it now!  I admit that I really don't know what I'm doing, but I made a pint jar full of carrot juice, and honestly, it was fun!  It has an incredible motor on it--I put the carrots in, turned it on, and whirrrrrr, buzzzz, the carrots were gone and juice was running!  I can't wait to try other things in there.  I was tempted to go root around the fridge and just see what else I could find to put through it, but I didn't.  I'm really looking forward to introducing fresh orange juice in the mornings (which I've missed soooo much) and making my own concoctions for beverages.  Apple juice will be especially good, I'm sure!  I'm not sure about whether to keep the pulp or not, but there are some recipes in the GAPS book that call for pulp.  I'll have to investigate further.  If you're interested, it's a Hamilton Beach 67601A Big Mouth Juicer.


I'm still having soup for my lunch every day.  I'm doing my best to make sure I drink all of the broth with the soup, but I think I need to be drinking more broth.  If I just do an 8 oz. cup with each meal, and plug my nose and chug it, I might be okay.  For some reason, I can't stand to just drink the broth on its own--if it's in soup, no problem.  I just don't find it appealing as a beverage AT ALL.  I just need to find a way around that.


I found that three (and later, two more) jars of broth cracked in the freezer!  I didn't know that they would do that.  Hubby thinks I filled the jars too full, and they expanded too much when they froze.  I think he's right.  Considering how stout Ball jars are, it was a big surprise when I pulled these out.  Needless to say, I didn't keep the jars or the broth, in case there were some little shards that had become embedded in the frozen liquid.  Not good to find in soups!


However, soup is always improved with crackers!  I mentioned in my Stage 3 summary that I had a cracker recipe that I was going to share.  I found the original recipe on Pinterest, but altered it to omit the eggs because it seems that I have a sensitivity to eggs, too.  Here's the recipe:

Almond Crackers (original recipe can be found here)
2 C almond meal/flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 large egg (or sub flax meal, like I did--see flax meal package for egg substitution directions)
1 TBSP olive oil
(Optional) Extra sea salt, for sprinkling on top of crackers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour and salt in bowl.  If using flax meal, prepare that and set aside to soak according to package directions.  Combine egg (or flax mix) and olive oil with dry ingredients to form a ball--dough should hold together and not be crumbly.  Divide the mixture into two balls, and place one ball on a Silpat mat or parchment paper.  Place a second piece of parchment on top of dough, and roll to very thin (the thinner, the crunchier).  Score crackers into squares with a knife or pizza cutter, and move baking mat to a cookie sheet, and sprinkle with extra sea salt.  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until crackers start to brown lightly around the edges.  Allow to cool before breaking apart.  Store in a glass jar or airtight container.

Summary of Stage 4:
Continues to get easier.  I really like being able to add almond meal to the ingredient list.  I also like roasting meats and having that other option--boiled meats get so old!  Dinners now are consisting of roasted meats and roasted or boiled veggies, and either an addition of cold-pressed olive oil or coconut oil.   I'm hoping that my insides are very happy with me!  We ended up staying on Stage 4 longer than anticipated not because of any setbacks, but rather because I used all of my grocery money buying food for Stage 3, and had to wait until we got paid again to get groceries for Stages 5 & 6.  I feel that we spend as much on groceries now as we did on groceries and eating out before, so that's probably a wash in cost.  However, our electric bill came, and it was higher than normal, and we wonder if it's because of how much we're using the stove now.  On the weekends, it's in constant use, especially if I'm making bone broth.  I think our water bill will be higher too, because I'm constantly washing dishes and running the dishwasher.  Just another expense, but if it's really helping, it will be worth it!

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!

GAPS Diet, Stage 1 & 2

The GAPS diet is supposed to be a really good diet for healing and sealing your digestive system, especially if you have (or have developed) problems like I have.  I believe that I have leaky gut, which has led to an inability to eat anything dairy-related (a good description of leaky gut can be found here).  I needed to heal my dairy allergy and prevent new ones from developing, so we started the Intro Diet on January 1.  I have to say, I thought I was somewhat prepared, but I knew that it was going to be a lot of work.

That was the understatement of the year (so far).

Meatball soup

The first stage might be considered the hardest; however, there's little difference between the first and second stages, so maybe they should just all be one looong stage.  But it seems to be the foundation for healing, so I won't complain.  We spent a total of 3 days on the first stage, and then four days on the second stage, which consists of eating lots of homemade broth, soups made from the broth, meat, certain veggies, and a lot of fat.  In the second stage you can also add egg yolk to the soups for more protein and nutrients.  I ended up ordering leaf lard online from Tendergrass Farms, and have been using it faithfully to add fat to the already fatty soup stocks--you're supposed to have a large amount of animal fat along with the homemade broth, as both are supposed to contain a lot of healing minerals and nutrients essential for the intestinal lining.  The high fat content also helps to keep you feeling full after you've eaten, and it really did seem to do that for both of us.  In fact, we really had little appetite when we started!  We've come up with several recipes for soup, all of which contain meat, carrots, zucchini, squash, yellow squash, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, and leeks.  Soups do get old when you have to use the same ingredients over and over again, but we did come up with one that we really liked: meatball soup!  Recipe at the bottom.

We experienced some die-off symptoms over the first three days, but they seem to have leveled out.  We're both ready for "real food" instead of soup for every meal, but it's so important to remember that this is good for us.  I've had success making sauerkraut, and will be adding the juice to our diet to up the probiotics.  Thanks to my sister for an Amazon gift card and to a friend for recommending the Picklemeister (left)!  It's a great invention, and I had sauerkraut on my first attempt using it.

My summary of Stage 1 & 2:
It's very tough.  It's especially hard when you are completely changing your eating to reflect this healing mindset.  I don't know how families do it together, because it's also incredibly expensive (and we've only been doing what we can, so not 100% following the guidelines), it's time consuming, and the food really isn't that great.  However, my hubby and I have already lost some weight, and and I think I've felt a little better.  Dairy still doesn't agree with me, though, as I found out when I thought it'd be fun to try and add some clarified butter to a bowl of soup one morning.  Oh well.  I think that if you can make it through the first and second stage, you'll be okay. 

Okay, running out of time.  Here's the recipe for the meatball soup:

GAPS-friendly Meatball Soup (still good if you're not on GAPS)
Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. ground pork

2 qts. beef stock

1 qt. water

1 C (8 oz) broccoli florets

1 C (8 oz) cauliflower

1 medium onion, cut into large chunks

2-3 TBSP lard

Salt, pepper, sage, rosemary, thyme, dill to taste

4 cloves chopped garlic

Combine stock, water, broccoli, cauliflower, and onion in a large (7 qt) pot and cook veggies until soft.  While veggies cook, combine ground beef and pork in a bowl with plenty of salt and pepper.  Form into one inch balls and set on a plate.  When veggies are semi-soft, add meatballs, one at a time, to boiling stock.  Allow to continue to cook for another 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.  Add salt, pepper, herbs and garlic and cook for another 10-15 minutes.  Yields approximately 6 servings (approximately 12 cups).

GAPS: The Good and The Bad

This is the post that I naively started on January 1, 2015, the first day on the GAPS Intro diet:

"Happy New Year!  2015 is officially here.  We spent New Year's Eve eating lots of things that we were going to have to give up, which was fun and tasty.  Say goodbye to old habits (brownies and cookie dough) and hello to the new ones (soups, fresh meats, veggies)!

Along with ushering in the new year comes our GAPS diet.  I will admit that I still feel overwhelmed with all of the work and prepping that goes into preparing our meals now, even with all that I did beforehand to be ready.  I got up this morning with determination and a loose plan:

Breakfast carrot-squash soup

Drink my mineral water
Make breakfast soup:
Assemble ingredients for other soups and get those started
Make coconut honey bites--a mix of 1 C unrefined solid coconut oil and 2 TBSP raw honey
Attempt a new batch of sauerkraut--Picklemeister
Clean the kitchen as needed, keep washing dishes as used

Whew!  On top of that, I also needed to clean up the kitchen, take out the trash from last night, rearrange the pantry to make some more room for things that were going away for a while, get down our Vitamix that my in-laws gave us, and try to find a place to store the microwave, which is now on the do-not-use list.  I'll miss that convenience.

Veggies prepped for the freezer, for using in soups

I probably won't post daily on this, because time just won't allow it.  I'm keeping a journal, and I might post a once-a-week update and summary of how things are going, along with recipes from the week.  I can honestly say that if it wasn't for this dairy intolerance, I wouldn't embark on this lifestyle change.  But I need to heal it, so here we are.  I truly appreciate my husband's willingness to go through this with me, and I know that we'll feel better.  The first step (and first day) is always the hardest when trying something new and completely unfamiliar, so patience and planning will be essential to our success.  It's not that the food isn't good; I thought my breakfast soup was tasty!  I'm just used to toast and orange juice or cereal for breakfast, and I'll miss those things, at least until the bad bacteria is gone.  I'm looking forward to the good things that we'll be able to eat soon, and I think the coconut honey bites will be a necessary snack for right now."

Oh, that's so cute. 

Since I started that post, I've had literally no time to do much of anything besides sleep, work, cook, eat, shop for more food, and do dishes.  I have had no time at all to post anything here, which I correctly predicted 11 days ago.  I have kept a journal, though, and tracked not only the foods we've eaten, but also our transitions through the first phases and the probiotic dosages that we've been having.  I won't lie, it's been tough.  I'll probably never want to eat soup again when this is all over.  But we're starting to introduce other foods now, which is helpful. 

I'll try to post a few updates for the stages (we're currently in Phase 3) in a few days, just to give anyone new/unfamiliar with all of this an idea of what it's like.  But for now, I have to go make dinner!

Preparing for GAPS

Stock!  Lots of stock!

Last weekend was quite a weekend!  The last several weekends have been so busy.  In the midst of the holiday prepping and planning, I'm also trying to prepare for our upcoming foray into the GAPS diet to help me overcome my recently-developed intolerance to all dairy great and small.  Part of prepping has been to try my hand at making bone broth.  It's quite easy--just takes time.  It seems like everything takes time...but I'm believing more and more that good things truly are worth the wait.  I'm gaining more appreciation for making things like this!  I've always liked to make things from scratch, but I don't always have time to do so.  However, I know that much of the diet relies on homemade broth, and I imagine that it will go quickly, so the more I can make, the better!  I now have accumulated 14 quarts of chicken broth and 8 quarts of beef broth, which should get us going.  One things I'm having trouble with is getting the gel consistency in my broth, but it has a good flavor.  I'm thinking that I need to boil it down more to get the gel.

I was able to buy some grass-fed beef bones from a local farm,
along with some grass-fed chicken feet (never thought I'd say that!) to add to the chicken broth.  I have to admit, I felt like I was buying my first voodoo kit when I ordered two pounds of chicken feet over the phone.  I'm told they add a lot of gelatin to the broth, which is great for the intestinal lining.  The look a little ghoulish floating around in the pan, though!


As well as preparing for the diet, we've also been trying to eat all of the food in the house not allowed on the diet, so I took the opportunity to create a chicken soup using a quart of homemade broth (not a GAPS-friendly recipe, but pretty tasty):

• Two potatoes, cubed and boiled to fork-tender and drained
• Two cups frozen peas
• Two cups cubed cooked chicken, dark and white meat
• One quart (4 C) chicken broth
• Two tablespoons corn starch dissolved in two tablespoons cold water
• Oregano, basil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chicken base, and other seasonings, to taste

Add all ingredients except corn starch slurry into a 5 quart pot and heat to simmering.  Add corn starch slurry to pot and allow to simmer until desired thickness is reached.

While I was at it, I also decided to try a bag of einkorn flour that I purchased online from Jovial Foods.  It's made from unaltered, non-GMO, non-hybridized wheat that is easy to digest and does not seem to affect people with gluten intolerance (not to be confused with Celiac).  I used it to make some dinner rolls to go with my soup, and they turned out very nice--they browned well, had a good texture, and had a really nice, light flavor.  Hubby liked it, too!  Once we're done with GAPS, I'll be purchasing a larger quantity of this flour and using it as a regular flour staple in my pantry.  It seems to corroborate the suggestion that the altered wheats available today to make our flour really is harder for our bodies to digest.  I thought it was interesting.  (P.S.--this isn't a sales pitch, and I wasn't compensated for mentioning this flour.  I was just pleasantly surprised with the product!)

While I was at it, I came up with this fun Christmas decoration:

I found a gallon Ball jar at Wal-Mart for $14, found the glittery balls at Hobby Lobby, three bags at half price for $10, and I had purchased the fun Christmas twigs on clearance last Christmas.  The silver picks have battery-powered lights wrapped on them.  I tried to make each color of the balls in the jar as individual layers, but as you can see, when I was arranging the picks, some of the different colors mixed layers.  I still think it looks good!  I might just shake it all up and mix them together.

I'm not sure if I'll be back on here before the New Year.  It's just so busy this time of year.  So I'll wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and hopefully be back at it at the beginning of 2015!

Image from Little Birdie Blessings