GAPS Intro, Stage 2

There is only one word for what I have been experiencing over the last 4 days.... Detox, or as gapsters like to call it Die-off. (Also known as the Herxheimer Reaction)

It is not an enjoyable process, as my dear husband and children will tell you! Basically when the body starts to kill off bad bacteria, and cleanse toxins, it goes into a healing crisis, where all the symptoms that you are trying to overcome by doing this diet come back in greater intensity than normal.

So for me this has meant a week of being very grumpy, critical, depressed, overwhelmed by small things (like a teen trying to show me how many push ups he can do, for the FIFTH time - and all Im thinking is "I dont care let along have time for this, Ive got to make more soup"!).

Well you probably get some understanding of my state of mind! Ive also been tired a lot and had a sore throat on and off even though Im not eating any illegal foods.

It has not been easy but my GAPS support group have been great and it helps to know that this reaction is normal (when I feel like Im going crazy!!).

As the title of this entry states, I have moved onto stage 2. Mainly because I really needed more than just soup. I was always hungry. So I have added, avacado, saurerkraut and ghee. Ive also been drinking copious amounts of ginger tea, and have started really enjoying the flavour of it.

Ive been doing the enema's every other day, and am feeling brave about increasing it to the daily regime. (The next bit of info is for fellow Gapsters who need info on enema's, so family and friends can skip this bit!)

Now about enema's - everyone has a different tale to tell, and I have heard that "it feels great", "it is so easy", "I can hold a litre of water a time" etc.... well I havent found them to be particularly easy or great, and I can only hold in about 200-500 mls, before my insides are gurgling and Im crossing my legs and testing my resolve to hold on for a few minutes more.

What I have found that helps is to do a systematic, hold then purge, hold then purge approach over about an hour. This seems to work quite well and I have it on authority from a long term enema user that this is the best way! I can hold a little bit more fluid each time and for a little longer. Still a lot of gurgling and leg crossing but I feel like Im getting the hang of it.

What I have been eating:

Breakfast:

• Mineral supplement and RO water first thing
• Hot water with 1 Tablespoon of Coconut oil
• Soup with kraut and ghee

Lunch

• Soup with half an Avacado and kraut
• Ginger tea

Dinner

• Two bowls of soup with Avacado, kraut and ghee
• More ginger tea
• Hot water with coconut oil

Epsom salt bath before bed (1 cup of salts - soak for 20 mins)

Great things about this week:

• I know my body is responding as it should be.
• I have actually been enjoying the soups
• Detox baths
• Im loosing weight
• My gaps group!

Not so great:

• Having to cook food for the rest of the family that I cant eat. (When you feel like Im going out of my mind anyway, this can really do you in!!)
• Having the children remind you what a grump you are being! (Very little sympathy here)
• Enema's - yuck

GAPS Intro - Stage 1

Well I started off on the GAPS Intro diet 4 days ago.

To be honest I havent done very well at sticking to the "soup only" policy and therefore Stage 1 is taking me longer than expected to complete.

The first day I ran out of soup and got hungry after dinner. I munched on a banana and some butter with coconut. The second day I went to a wedding and although I didnt go to the reception David wanted to go via the UNI library on the way home and the whole thing ended up taking such a long time I was starting to feel dizzy from lack of food (I had only had 1 bowl of soup for breakfast), so we stopped at the bakery!!

The third day, I did really well but again ran out of soup and ate some fruit. I also did a lot of baking for Jordan (I started him on the GAPS diet 4 days ago, but he is not doing Stage 1 yet. So I have been very busy in the kitchen trying to keep up with the quantitiy of food that he needs to eat), and it is very hard to bake and not taste the food to see if it turned out ok. All the recipes I am trying are new so I want to know if I should repeat them, chuck them or tweak them to re-use another time.

So here I am on day four, still eating soup!!

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Lessons I have learned: Make the next batch of soup when Im still half way through the current batch.

Take soup in a thermos even if only intending to be out for a couple of hours.

Postpone Stage 1 if trying new recipes!!

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Having said all that, I am definately seeing some detox results regardless of my adhoc approach. Last night I was extremely nauseas at bed time and even when and got a bucket to put beside the bed. Fortunately there was no need for the bucket during the night.

Today I had soup for breakfast but at lunch time I tried to eat some and felt sick again, so just drank some water.

Tonight I am feeling better and getting my soup ready for tomorrow!

As far as the enema situation that I mentioned in the last post - that hasnt happened yet. I thought I would just pop down to the chemist and pick one up, but I ended up needing to order one on the internet!

The enema kit arrived today, so that is on the list for tomorrow. (Dont want to try it before bed!).

The amazing thing so far is the improvement I have seen in Jordan. For as long as I can remember, Jordan has had a constant runny nose and an equally constant (and annoying) habit of picking it. Well, since he started GAPS his nose has stopped running and I havent seen him even scratch his nose let alone pick it!! Whooo hoooo. Im such a happy mumma.

I havent seen any impovement in his acne yet but I am expecting that to improve once his fruit intake is reduced. (He's still eating about a kilo of apples a day - even though that is not part of the GAPS diet!). I need to take baby steps with Jordan so he doesnt completely reject the diet.

Im off to take a detox bath and watch a movie with hubby.