(Stage 4) Day 1:
Going well here in stage 4! I broke out the juicer and we had some carrot & ginger juice this morning. Definitely took me back to my childhood. My mom juiced all the time and carrot/apple was a fave of hers. My mom was crunchy before it was cool 🙂 The kids didn’t like the juice but that is ok, we will keep working on it…slowly but surely. I didn’t like it at their age either. We are getting better at pin pointing the foods that cause digestive issues and waiting to add them in until later – Dax seems to be bothered by baked goods made with almond butter (either that or its the pumpkin, we are testing to see which one) and I can only have farm eggs. I got some organic, free range ones at Costco in an effort to save our budget and…NOPE. This won’t be a problem as soon as our chickens start laying though. I feel like our ability to read our bodies better is a win.
(Stage 4) Day 2:
Today was mostly stage 4 but at dinner I used some spices (which are stage 5). I feel comfortable with it. We haven’t had any issues and aren’t quite adding all the other stage 5 things yet. We may soon though. Stage 3 & 4 are so similar that I think we may be ready to move on to stage 5. If we aren’t we can always go back again. Dax is over pinkeye completely (hallelujah!) and went to play soccer today. He came back saying that he noticed a difference in his energy levels as well as a difference in the smell & taste of his sweat (gross but kinda cool if I don’t think about it too much). Makes total sense since he has been detoxing. Exciting either way! Since we didn’t have major issues to fight it has been harder to see the improvements so having some outward signs of benefit is very rewarding. Healing is happening, we just can’t always see it! We are all feeling great!
Stage 5-6
So life happened ya’ll and I wasn’t able to be as faithful in keeping this diary. I will say that stages 5 & 6 are awesome! Totally worth the wait! I think a challenge I wasn’t expecting is how tempting it is to start skipping through these last stages. They are so similar and it is so exciting to get to start eating some “normal” meals that you just want to rush through – don’t give in! If I could go back I would have prepared more for these stages. Meaning I would have been ready to stay on them longer. The great thing is that we haven’t had any reactions and F has been able to eat some dairy without problems!! That is a HUGE win! I also have to give major kudos to Dax who has started to become a GAPS expert in his own right. He has done research, found recipes, searched for restaurants that will work for us and been such an encouragement. I am blessed to have him as my husband!
What I have learned…
It is totally worth all the hard work!
This diet is a tool NOT an easy fix. The issues you are dealing with didn’t happen over night and they probably won’t disappear over night either.
Plan to be at home during the early stages.
Prepare for the later stages! I busted our budget preparing for the early stages and was in a fix when I needed more veggies etc.
If you have young kids – prepare for them to be hungry all the time!! Not really, but mine wanted to eat a lot. Broth helps 🙂
Give yourself grace. You may not do everything perfectly and that is ok. Listen to Natasha on some podcasts etc…she is more chill than some GAPS bloggers and FB posters 🙂
DO IT! Dive in and GO FOR IT! Even if it doesn’t fix everything you hoped it would, your body will benefit and you will gain some good food habits.
