After introducing dairy, I realized I was reacting to it. Within a week, my old abdominal pain (deep aches) came back. I knew I needed to eliminate it for longer. In addition, Minnesota was in the middle of a huge heat wave. It got HOT. And all I was eating was soup. I don't do well with heat, so the soup really started to bother me.
The beginning of the end happened on August 23rd; I was performing on stage and during my piece, I completely spaced out. It was a busy day and I had not had time to gulp down some soup. So I just hadn't eaten. Directly after my performance, I knew I needed to eat something - and fast. I grabbed the only thing available to me - a cookie. I only had a bite. It was too sweet, and I didn't even love it. But I knew I needed something to eat, and that's what I had.
It's funny.. shortly after that, I couldn't control my appetite. The next day I was craving sweets and pastries again. Because of the heat, my slip-up, and my own frustration with not seeing improvement in joint pain - I decided to go off the diet for awhile.
My husband also noticed reactions to dairy, and decided he'd be interested in GAPS too. So we gave it some thought and decided to do it after the holidays are over. We'll be starting GAPS January 2014. Most likely on the 1st.... even though it is so cliche! But it makes counting the days easier, and all the holiday celebrations will be over at that point.
In the meantime, we are doing a bit of a modified GAPS intro, prior to Thanksgiving celebrations. Through this, and my first experience with GAPS intro, I have learned a few things:
- Be prepared for die-off: When I'm sick, I just don't feel like cooking. I need to have meals pre-cooked for each stage of the diet, so I have something quick to grab.
- Be prepared for stress: Last weekend, we got a call that my husband's dad had a gun accident. Thank god he was okay, but one of the first things my husband said when we were figuring out when to go visit was, "I can't stay on the diet, I'm too stressed." If we are going to seriously do this long-term, we need to have a plan in place. There will always be emergencies or other stressful events to deal with. We have to have a plan in place. Again, this comes down to being prepared.
- Move quickly: The first time I attempted GAPS, I took three weeks on Stage 1. I did this because I was hoping my joint pain would lessen before I moved on. I wanted to know what foods might be causing my pain. However, it's so important to move quickly so that you can get to the stages where you can eat more food. This way, you don't get bored and you end up being more satisfied. I hadn't moved on because Stage 2 is all about EGGS, and eggs can sometimes be implicated in joint pain. I haven't figured out what to do about this yet - skip eggs and move right to Stage 3? I think I also might want to avoid nuts too, since I haven't done well with them in the past either. Argh!
Also, I wanted to keep a quick note of the foods I'm concerned about:
- eggs - joint pain, digestive distress?
- nightshades - joint pain
- dairy - dull abdominal pain
- nuts - acute stomach pain
- zucchini - blistering of skin
- honey or anything with natural sugar - brain fog
