The first week of GAPS - I felt pretty good overall. My digestion improved a lot and very quickly - within a day or two. I still have "deeper" pain in my abdominal area. But the really sharp pains I would get have gone away. I didn't have cravings and I felt pretty satisfied. I really tried to make sure that I was eating enough food and that I didn't get overly hungry. I feel like my appetite decreased a bit over the week, but nothing drastic. I think all the fat on the diet really helped me feel full. I still had joint pain at the end of Week 1.
My story for dairy this week - I had decided to add dairy in on the second week of GAPS. With the LEAP diet, I have been off dairy for five weeks, so I felt like it was time to add in good raw yogurt. I ordered some from our farm (where we are members) and it was supposed to be delivered last Tuesday (day 6 of GAPS). I have to make 24 hour yogurt, so it would have been done fermenting late on Day 7, which would have been perfect. Well, for some reason the drop got screwed up - someone picked up our products, or something. So I didn't get it that day.... I was SO disappointed! So later that week, we decided to head up to the farm on our way up to my husband's 20th reunion. Well, work ran late, and it took forever to get packed, and by the time we headed up there, it was going to be close to 10pm by the time we got up there. I texted our farmer and she said, okay the porch light will be on until 10pm, if the lights are off, that means she's gone to bed and it's locked. WELL, we didn't want to drive an hour out of our way and then show up and have it be locked (we were really cutting it close on the timing!). So we decided not to go. Then she texted us and said to come anyway, she'd make sure we could pick up. But we were already about 10 miles past our exit. It was getting so late, we decided not to go. I truly could have cried! That's how emotional I was about this damn yogurt!!! It's been so long since I've had food variety, I was REALLY looking forward to it! So I just thought - I'll order next Tuesday, it's not that much longer to wait. And of course on Monday, the farmer texted and said her daughter had gone into early labor and the milk would be delivered on THURSDAY! What???? Aaahhhhh!!!! I thought I was going to die. Okay, so FINALLY we got yogurt yesterday and I got it fermenting ASAP, and it will be ready today around 7:30 PM. THANK GOD. So I will actually be starting dairy into my third week on GAPS.
The second week of GAPS - I decided to stay on Stage 1 until I could introduce yogurt. As you can see, that has turned into quite a fiasco. So I went through my second week of GAPS, still on Stage 1 (minus yogurt) and I just felt like I was at a plateau. I'm not sure if that's because I am on Stage 1 for too long, or if my body is just working through things, or what. My joints still hurt and that is disappointing. So on Tuesday night, I realized I hadn't done some of the *extra* things on GAPS - things like detox baths, enemas, castor oil compresses, etc. So I did them all on Tuesday night. Yikes! That was a mistake! I woke up on Wednesday and felt terrible! I could barely get to work and make it through and hour and a half of meetings. So Wednesday night, what did I do - well, I decided to do it all again - enema, detox bath, castor oil compress. I thought that I might as well get all that bad stuff out!!! As you probably guessed, Thursday I woke up feeling even worse! Again, I just made it through some meetings at work and then came home. I was lightheaded/dizzy, weak, nauseous, had blurry vision and a headache. And I was EXHAUSTED. All day. I hope since feeling terrible corresponded with the extra detox things I did, I hope and assume it was die-off. Because if it was die-off, maybe I will eventually feel a lot better! Today (Friday), I do feel better than I did on Wednesday and Thursday. I didn't do any of the detox things yesterday, I was quite literally too exhausted. But -sigh- I still have joint pain. I still feel achy. I still have "deep" pain in my abdomen. I am still constipated. I still lack energy.
There is conflicting advice out there - Leave Stage 1 as soon as your immediate digestive concerns settle down (which happened to me within 2-3 days), but no longer than 7 days no matter what. OR Stay on Stage 1 for as long as it takes for your major symptoms to subside. For me, that's my joint pain. I have been concerned about eggs and nightshades for my joints.... and Stage 2 adds eggs right away. Nightshades come quickly thereafter. So I am left with this dilemma... Stay on Stage 1 for a long time (how long will it take?) or take a risk and move onto Stage 2, trusting that if I'm healing my gut, my joint pain will resolve itself in due time. After a lot of soul searching this week, I have decided to move to do the latter, and move to Stage 2 early next week. This is truly not because I am wanting more food variety (well, I am.... but that's not why I'm moving on).... I feel like my body is telling me it needs more nutrition. And since I was on LEAP for a full month before this, I've been off of eggs and nightshades for 6 weeks. Theoretically, that should be enough time to tell a difference. Except that my joint pain hasn't gotten better, so how am I supposed to know if eggs/nightshades make a difference? Ah! I'm pretty frustrated. Okay, but I'm pretty convinced I need to add new foods. So here my progression so far, and what I plan to do:
- Day 1-15: I ate meat broth, boiled meats, animal fats (no dairy yet), and boiled vegetables - only carrots, leeks, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, winter squash. Sea salt for seasoning. Questionable foods (made my stomach kind of rumbly): cauliflower, leeks
- Day 16-18: Introduce 24-hour fermented raw goat yogurt.
- Day 19: If all goes well with yogurt, move to Stage 2, introduce egg yolk first. If the yogurt doesn't go well, I will eliminate it again, let my digestive system settle down, and then move to Stage 2 without yogurt.
I have read that it is safe and healthy to stay on Stage 3 indefinitely. So my goal is to try to get to Stage 3 (still going slowly with the introductions in Stage 2) and stay there until my joint pain subsides.
I have also realized that I probably have not been getting enough natural probiotics. I am supposed to be having sauerkraut liquid and/or fermented dairy everyday. Well, I've really been doing neither. I ran out of sauerkraut liquid probably about a week ago, and I really need to make more. Actually, I'm going to buy more... There's a woman at our local farmers market that sells THE BEST lacto-fermented sauerkraut. I'll be going on Saturday to get some. I cannot wait! This stuff is amazing. And the yogurt will definitely help. It brings up the point that this stuff takes a long time to make (waiting for it to ferment), so preparation is key.
It's also been a long time since I've posted my measurements. I am FINALLY losing weight, remember that last post where I explained how I dropped so quickly.... yeah, well I've been losing since then! Not that fast of course. Actually, I've really needed to make sure that I'm eating enough so that I don't lose very quickly... So here's where I'm at right now:
- Weight: 173.9 (started at 191.7, down 17.8 pounds)
- Clothing Size: 14 (started at 16, down 1 size)
- Waist: 40.5 (started at 43.25, down 2.75")
- Hips: 43.25 (started at 45.5, down 2.25")
- Upper Arms: 12.375 (started at 12.75, down 0.375")
- Upper Thighs: 24.375 (started at 25.75, 1.375")
- Calves: 15.625 (started at 15.875, down 0.25")
- Bust: 39.5 (started at 41.5, down 2")
That's a total of 9" lost! I can really feel it of course. I am solidly in a Size 14 now, and I finally was able to ditch some jeans and a belt that I got when I was my biggest. That felt good! I will keep donating clothes as I lose weight. But I won't ditch anything smaller than a Size 12 until I know I'm going to stay down. I don't want to have to buy a whole new wardrobe! My regular adult size should be about a Size 8. So if I could get down to a Size 10 again, I'd be pretty darn happy. So I'll make sure I stay there for at least six months before I donate any Size 12s.
Well this has been a long enough post! I haven't posted much because I've been busy with work and I haven't introduced foods. I'll try to post again sooner!
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