Healing is underway for me. I hope... no wait, I believe. It makes me sad that we live in a generation that is so quick to heal things with crazy doses of prescriptions and antibiotics. We are a generally uninformed, lazy, and apathetic culture that eats things out of convenience and purchases things without even reading the labels, but do we have to be so passive and careless? Absolutely not. We have an active role to play in our current health and the ability to help provide healing for our bodies from years of poor diet, elevated stress, and even things that have been wrong since birth.
In some of my last posts, I shared a journey that I had started on to tackle some chronic health issues that have been going on for years. Since then, a lot has happened. My eating habits slipped and I ended up stuck in a rut for the umteenth time, dealing with stomach issues, headaches, fatigue, etc. So I decided to do something about it. I decided I didn't want to be uninformed anymore. I didn't want to mask my pain with stupid medicine. I wanted to heal from the inside out AND I wanted to help others do the same. I enrolled in the Nutrition Therapy Practitioner program through Nutrition Therapy Association and my classes started a few weeks ago. This program focuses on a whole food diet and how significantly we can heal [or harm] our bodies through what we eat. I am learning so much and can't wait to start sharing more with whoever decides to read this.
The other thing that is new is that I have started The GAPS diet. This is a diet that I kept frequently stumbling upon in my research about how to heal Candida. Every time I read about it I felt a little overwhelmed but also intrigued. So after several months of thinking about it and trying to ignore it, I finally decided that I think this diet is what is going to bring me ultimate healing. The GAPS diet was developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. This diet has been used to effectively treat people with Chrohn's disease, Celiac disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Autism, ADHD, allergies, depression, A.D.H.D.... the list goes on. It stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome and that is because:
All Diseases Begin In the Gut.
When there isn't a good balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut, things can get real crazy real fast. Since the good bacteria isn't able to do it's job, people can develop leaky gut, allergies, chronic constipation/diarrhea problems, nutritional deficiencies, emotional disorders, etc. What is even crazier is that we inherit the gut flora of our mothers at birth, so sometimes there are problems with bad gut flora that have been present since we were born. Toxins in our gut can have an effect on so many different systems in our body, especially the brain. Headaches, brain fog, fatigue, memory loss... so many things. Gut health is SO important and through this diet and school I am quickly learning that we are all putting things in our bodies daily that aren't healthful or supportive to our bodies whatsoever. This diet is intense. I have been mentally preparing for months. I have been physically preparing for weeks. The picture below shows pretty much everything I have been eating for the past been eating for the past 3 days.
The diet consists of an introduction phase, which has 6 stages. The Full Gaps Diet comes later and is recommended to be followed for 1-2 years. The introduction diet mainly consists of homemade bone broths, boiled meats, fermented vegetable juice, and a few vegetables. The reason for this is to allow the gut lining to heal and reseal. The bone broth provides essential nutrients and minerals that are easy to digest. The fermented vegetable juice helps to provide extra probiotics, on top of the probiotics you are taking daily to help repopulate your gut with good bacteria. If you are not experiencing certain symptoms, it is advised to move through each stage in 3-7 days. As the stages progress, you get to add things like egg yolks, avocado, homemade kefir/whey/yogurt, nut butter, & apple. I CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT.
So over the next couple weeks, I will probably be posting about my experience with the introduction part of the GAPS diet. I am on Day 4 right now and I am feeling alright [at the moment]. The first two days I had a terrible sugar/caffeine/carb withdrawal headache, but that has subsided. I noticed that I need to eat pretty frequently otherwise I crash and burn and feel like I am going to pass out. My energy level is very low and I can feel my body going through serious detoxification. I have been eating broth and veggies for every meal and it hasn't been too bad. I am however, craving something crunchy. Today I introduced ghee, which is clarified butter. You make it by boiling organic, grassfed butter and then straining it through cheesecloth into a jar. Ghee does not contain any whey, milk protein, or lactose at all, so it is more easily digested for people that have issues with lactose. It is also great for cooking things in because it does not burn. I added some to my butternut squash soup tonight and it was so delicious.
So that's where I'm at. Day 4 is almost complete. This diet is not for the faint of heart. I am working my butt off to grocery shop, cook everything by hand, do dishes constantly, ignore cravings, and not feel discouraged. My sweet boyfriend has been a great support to me, but it is still super challenging. I hope you will all enjoy reading about my journey. If nothing else, I hope this encourages you to do a little bit more research as to what you are putting in your body. I'm sure all of you know someone with one of the diseases I mentioned up there, so maybe even check out GAPS diet website because maybe... just maybe there is someone else out there that will really benefit from this diet.
