So we are two weeks in on the full GAPS diet and here are the things going for us:
I have kept things SIMPLE...breakfast has only a couple of options, lunch is ala carte, and dinner is a soup or easy dish like chili.
We are still alive.
I'm able to eat milk based products without stomach pain, though I think there still needs to be more healing as I'm not 100%...no pain, but I do get a lot of rumbling sometimes.
We are still alive....like all of us!
I've noticed that Jed's face looks slimmer. We are NOT trying to get him to loose weight, as in cut back on calories, or such, but he is doing better with foods since he can't slather everything with ketchup. He had a love of sour cream, and would eat it like yogurt! So that's out too. But no differences in his speech or other health issues yet.
Did I say we are still alive? Yeah, that's a good thing.
The things that are not going well for us:
The kids are hating gaps. Merida has been sick with a horrid tummy bug, visibly lost weight, and for her we are allowing non gaps foods because she's having a hard time eating anything.
I knew we would feel hungry all the time, but I was hoping it wouldn't be as bad as doing gaps intro....and maybe it's not, but by golly my kids are eating ALL. THE. TIME! Did I say all the time? And did I say my kids are hating gaps? Yeah....
With a truck that needed fixing our grocery budget was cut back, and I was hoping we would make it on the food we had....not exactly. We have two days till shopping day and I made them up some gluten free pasta (not on gaps). It's not that we don't have food....but I'm pretty good with keeping things simple, and toughing it out when it comes to food...and I'm getting sick and tired of eating chicken and vegetables. I try to think of other people who don't have food and be thankful...I really do...
Actually the eating of the food isn't too big of a problem for me, it's all the cooking. Lots, and lots of cooking...lots. Did I say lots? Do you see a theme here? Yeah, me too.
Here is a rough estimate of some of the amounts of food we have gone through...in just under two weeks....
8 pounds of aged cheese
4 full chickens, and just cooked up two more today, they are about 1/4 done.
12 pounds of beef
8 pounds of strawberries
at least 12 bunches of bananas
3 or 4 pounds of blueberries (we buy the bags at BJ;s, so they are bulk style)
3 or 4 pounds of raspberries...see above
1/2 a bag of frozen mangos....same bag size
3 or more pounds of carrots
4 jars of natural style peanut butter
about 3 or 4 quarts of kefir (my kefir is just starting to get up and running)
2 gallons of yogurt
maybe 4 or 5 pounds of broccoli
a bunch of other frozen veggies that we throw in soups or roast
eggs...LOTS of eggs...crazy lots of eggs (maybe 8 dozen or more...no joke)
I think that is most of it....the bulk of it. Man, writing that out it doesn't seem like a whole lot...
So I am not sure what we will do going forward. My sister found an amazing probiotic that I feel can really help us out. I was going to pair that with GAPS, but the probiotics are crazy expensive...and I don't see how we can make that work with our food budget. I know that the first 2 to 4 weeks...maybe it was longer? you feel hungry ALL the time. So I'm thinking we will have to just eat gluten free, and do the probiotics and see what happens. Because money doesn't seem to be growing on any of the 200 trees we have on our property :-) Imagine that.
I really hate having to go back and forth, try this, try that...but really I am trying to do the best I can with what I have available. What really is horrible is that my husband took a huge pay cut so we can have better insurance. Waaaaaay too long of a story to put out here, just trust me on this. However, we are now paying more for insurance, and the co-pays are higher....sigh. Jed's speech is going to cost way too much, and we have to cut that out for now. I feel very strongly that he still needs it, and I am trying to find a way to make it work. So sometimes I feel like I am spinning my wheels. We get things going over here...but everything falls apart over there.
One thing I am trying to work hard on is to NOT STRESS over it all. I am one human, I can only do so much with what we have. I know I am doing the best that I can with the knowledge I have.
So we tweak. We had to take stock of our options and make a new plan. We'll stay gluten free, only fermented milk products, no sugar (save honey), but that allows a bit more wriggle room in the grocery budget to add foods that will stick with us better, hopefully ending the 'hungry all the time stage'. I will write an update once I get the probiotics in and we start that plate spinning :-)
Here are some pictures that have nothing to do with this post. But of course.
Aubrey has been obsessed with taking pictures with the cats, or trying to make videos. This is him with Simba, the cat we've had for the longest time (I think 6 years now?)
Six years old and trying to get the hang of taking a selfie!
Blurry, but so cute. This was when Merida was *finally* starting to feel better, and she wanted to dress up like a princess. After a week of not being herself, I was pleased to oblige!
More Aubrey :-) I seriously have like 400 photos on my phone of his selfies and videos! Ha, ha!
At the playground. She insisted her animals come to have fun too (a racoon and a very flat teddy bear...he's lost his stuffing).
I have kept things SIMPLE...breakfast has only a couple of options, lunch is ala carte, and dinner is a soup or easy dish like chili.
We are still alive.
I'm able to eat milk based products without stomach pain, though I think there still needs to be more healing as I'm not 100%...no pain, but I do get a lot of rumbling sometimes.
We are still alive....like all of us!
I've noticed that Jed's face looks slimmer. We are NOT trying to get him to loose weight, as in cut back on calories, or such, but he is doing better with foods since he can't slather everything with ketchup. He had a love of sour cream, and would eat it like yogurt! So that's out too. But no differences in his speech or other health issues yet.
Did I say we are still alive? Yeah, that's a good thing.
The things that are not going well for us:
The kids are hating gaps. Merida has been sick with a horrid tummy bug, visibly lost weight, and for her we are allowing non gaps foods because she's having a hard time eating anything.
I knew we would feel hungry all the time, but I was hoping it wouldn't be as bad as doing gaps intro....and maybe it's not, but by golly my kids are eating ALL. THE. TIME! Did I say all the time? And did I say my kids are hating gaps? Yeah....
With a truck that needed fixing our grocery budget was cut back, and I was hoping we would make it on the food we had....not exactly. We have two days till shopping day and I made them up some gluten free pasta (not on gaps). It's not that we don't have food....but I'm pretty good with keeping things simple, and toughing it out when it comes to food...and I'm getting sick and tired of eating chicken and vegetables. I try to think of other people who don't have food and be thankful...I really do...
Actually the eating of the food isn't too big of a problem for me, it's all the cooking. Lots, and lots of cooking...lots. Did I say lots? Do you see a theme here? Yeah, me too.
Here is a rough estimate of some of the amounts of food we have gone through...in just under two weeks....
8 pounds of aged cheese
4 full chickens, and just cooked up two more today, they are about 1/4 done.
12 pounds of beef
8 pounds of strawberries
at least 12 bunches of bananas
3 or 4 pounds of blueberries (we buy the bags at BJ;s, so they are bulk style)
3 or 4 pounds of raspberries...see above
1/2 a bag of frozen mangos....same bag size
3 or more pounds of carrots
4 jars of natural style peanut butter
about 3 or 4 quarts of kefir (my kefir is just starting to get up and running)
2 gallons of yogurt
maybe 4 or 5 pounds of broccoli
a bunch of other frozen veggies that we throw in soups or roast
eggs...LOTS of eggs...crazy lots of eggs (maybe 8 dozen or more...no joke)
I think that is most of it....the bulk of it. Man, writing that out it doesn't seem like a whole lot...
So I am not sure what we will do going forward. My sister found an amazing probiotic that I feel can really help us out. I was going to pair that with GAPS, but the probiotics are crazy expensive...and I don't see how we can make that work with our food budget. I know that the first 2 to 4 weeks...maybe it was longer? you feel hungry ALL the time. So I'm thinking we will have to just eat gluten free, and do the probiotics and see what happens. Because money doesn't seem to be growing on any of the 200 trees we have on our property :-) Imagine that.
I really hate having to go back and forth, try this, try that...but really I am trying to do the best I can with what I have available. What really is horrible is that my husband took a huge pay cut so we can have better insurance. Waaaaaay too long of a story to put out here, just trust me on this. However, we are now paying more for insurance, and the co-pays are higher....sigh. Jed's speech is going to cost way too much, and we have to cut that out for now. I feel very strongly that he still needs it, and I am trying to find a way to make it work. So sometimes I feel like I am spinning my wheels. We get things going over here...but everything falls apart over there.
One thing I am trying to work hard on is to NOT STRESS over it all. I am one human, I can only do so much with what we have. I know I am doing the best that I can with the knowledge I have.
So we tweak. We had to take stock of our options and make a new plan. We'll stay gluten free, only fermented milk products, no sugar (save honey), but that allows a bit more wriggle room in the grocery budget to add foods that will stick with us better, hopefully ending the 'hungry all the time stage'. I will write an update once I get the probiotics in and we start that plate spinning :-)
Here are some pictures that have nothing to do with this post. But of course.
Aubrey has been obsessed with taking pictures with the cats, or trying to make videos. This is him with Simba, the cat we've had for the longest time (I think 6 years now?)
Six years old and trying to get the hang of taking a selfie!
Blurry, but so cute. This was when Merida was *finally* starting to feel better, and she wanted to dress up like a princess. After a week of not being herself, I was pleased to oblige!
More Aubrey :-) I seriously have like 400 photos on my phone of his selfies and videos! Ha, ha!
At the playground. She insisted her animals come to have fun too (a racoon and a very flat teddy bear...he's lost his stuffing).
