GAPS Diet Chat and Support - Page 10 « Back to Group Discussions

[LunaLady]

I do broth two ways:

I either strain the whole thing (after it has been in the crockpot about 24 hours) and make soup. Otherwise I just keep it going by adding more water and bones as it needs and just take out mug fills for drinking or cupfulls for cooking.

[Abraisme]

When you do the perpetual broth method, do you add onion, garlic, celery and carrots?  I think these things add so much to the flavor, that I can't imagine going without..

[LunaLady]

Originally we weren't, but we have started adding in garlic and onions. Simply because those veggies were cooked with the chicken fryer! But it does add wonderful flavor!

[LunaLady]

Originally Posted by Abraisme 

On another note.  George had another dr's appointment this week with an allergist that was recommended by an Integrative/Holistic Psychologist.  Even though the dr. is an allergist, he was willing to look outside of the box and try to help him pin point what is causing his IBS and Bi-Polar.  I had to force George to go (after being to several other dr's this week that he didn't like much), but since it was covered by our insurance I sent him.  Anyway, George loved this guy and was so happy that he went.  The dr is going to run a micro-nutrient test, a comprehensive stool sample and some other unusual blood tests.  Hopefully the new tests will tell us something and we can help making a nutritional plan that is custom tailored for him.

That's great news, Abra! I'll be excited to hear what those tests say.

[LunaLady]

So I've been having this internal debate with myself for... a few months, now - but I keep feeling really pulled towards eating more grains again. I have no idea why! I feel like my brain is telling me that I shouldn't *need* them, but my body keeps urging me to have rice, oats and home-made bread.

And, it's not that I'm having cravings, I really don't have cravings much at all anymore. We do allow ourselves treats once a week at the store, but that's usually a gluten free cookie or a chocolate bar split between us. Nothing crazy. I don't feel cravey after those things. 

But, when we are shopping, or when I'm making meals I keep thinking, "Oh, rice would be good with this." or "I'd like some oatmeal with breakfast". 

Anyway, I got out my Nourishing Traditions and Wild Fermentation books and looked over all the grain chapters again. I decided to make a loaf of bread.

I had some organic unbleached white flour from making Rhyko play-dough, so I decided to just use that since I had it on hand.

I soaked it overnight in sauerkraut juice and then let it ferment with yeast for the better part of the day. I cooked it this afternoon and it is so tasty! With butter ;)

Funny enough, a real food blogger I follow on FB then posted something about Matt Stone and 180 Degree Health and so I was reading there. His thing is more about metabolism and that being too low carb can really mess with your metabolism. He's also a big 'no diet' proponent.

Anyway, baby calls... must go! Food for thought! ;)

[Abraisme]

Here are my thoughts..

Why were you doing GAPS in the first place? Do you feel like you are healed? Do you still (or had you) had digestive issues?

We are doing GAPS to cure and heal IBS. Until that is done, we will stick with it. After that, I will likely go back to a few whole, fermented grains like rice, steel cut oats, and quinoa. We will never go back to wheat or gluten, as I believe that it led to many of the issues my dh has and I don't think it's good for anyone.

Personally, I am not missing grains or longing for the variety. That may come in time. We also still eat fruit and honey, so we are not super low carb. Luckily neither myself or hubby have metabolism issues, so I'm not too worried about that either. I do think though that a Nourishing Traditions type diet is good for lifelong health, once health has been established. I think the most important thing is that you feel satisfied and healthy on the diet you choose.

Organic fermented white flour bread might taste good, but it's still gluten and highly processed. Lots of things taste good, that shouldn't be sole factor in the decision making.

Also, our kids are not strict GAPS. My DS eats steel cut oats and all my kids eat popcorn and the occasional treat at a restaurant.

[Abraisme]

Oh, and I make a lot of GAPS treats and breads, which satisfy the bread craving.

[LunaLady]

We decided to do GAPS because I've struggled with depression, insulin issues, weight issues, haven't had a solid poo in years (I do, now, though), etc. There's more, I'm sure, but that's the basics. Mostly for my depression.

I don't feel like I'm healed of all of that. And I don't feel like I'm really craving grains, I can go without them just fine. I just keep envisioning having them.

I agree with you about gluten. The wheat available today is MESSED. UP. There are many other grains (rye, spelt, kamut, einkorn) that haven't been us played around with as our wheat and that are naturally much lower in gluten. However, I'm still torn. 

I just can't quite grasp why I haven't lost more weight. The Matt Stone guy says that going Paleo can really mess with your metabolism. We've been basically paleo/GAPS for about two years, now (and NT diet for three years before that) with obvious lapses, but the 80/20 rule applies. And I haven't lost weight. There's just some missing piece for me and I'm not sure what it is.

[LunaLady]

And DH and were talking about it and I was showing him the Weston Price book and how the Swiss villagers ate Rye bread at every meal, plus cheese, milk, butter, broth and then meat about once a week. He said, like you said Abra, that those people started life in excellent health and their bodies can process those things with ease.

[Abraisme]

Yeah, unfortunately we were born in a time where it is so easy to screw our bodies up (or we are just as likely to be born screwed up).  I think pretty much every single person I know has diet-related health issues.  They might not all effect their day-to-day lives right now, but I suspect many of the issues are just going to get worse with age.  It's really amazing that we live in a time and place with plenty of food and plenty of nutrition, yet pretty much everyone has a vitamin or mineral deficiency of some sort!  Oh man did we manage to screw things up as humans.  I've been reading a lot lately about mineral deficiencies and the genetic mutations that tend to cause them.  It's complicated at best to try to figure it all out.  However, the basis is that it's a very delicate and fragile system and if 1-2 things get out of wack, the whole system can't function for very long without robbing nutritional stores from another part of the body.  Not only that, but our food actually does have less nutrition today than it did 50 years ago, mostly it seems like it's due to the commercial varieties that we grow.  Varieties that hold up well and look nice, but are lacking in the actual nutrition part.  

Our goal is to become complete experts about this and figure it out on our own (with the help of a few dr's here and there).  Hopefully, we can discover where the imbalances start, fix the broken part and get the whole system to work on it's own again.  With the help of a very nutrient dense diet of course!  I'm really exciting to see what all these lab tests are going to show us about George.  He is already feeling better just by supplementing with the RIGHT B12 (methylfolate), B complex, vitamin C, extra cod liver oil, cal/mag and zinc.  Soon we will make a customized vitamin plan for him.  

Christina,  Have you had your thyroid, adrenals and hormones checked?  I've heard that even if your thyroid is within the normal range you could still be having issues.  

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

Edited by Abraisme - 3/17/13 at 7:28am

[LunaLady]

I had my thyroid checked about... five years ago when I was vegan and it was within normal range. I should get that re-checked.

I had my adrenals checked last summer when we found out I had the MTHFR mutation and she said that I was in pretty sever adrenal fatigue. She gave me a supplement for that and i took it for about a month, but that sort of fell by the wayside... it's a liquid so just not as convenient. I should start it up again.

I haven't had hormones checked...

My DH has been enjoying the bread, but I just feel like that's not what I was looking for. I've really only been interested in incorporating rice and oats. I haven't thought things like, "I miss bread!" or anything. 

At any rate, I want to continue to do full GAPS. I don't think I have it in my to do intro AGAIN. 

And we do eat a fair amount of carbs... navy beans once or twice a week, fruit, dates, veggies... It's probably still 'low carb', though.

[Abraisme]

I would think that it would be worth getting a few simple tests done thyroid, adrenals and hormones can all work against weight loss.

[Abraisme]

We are now in the process of getting every medical test we can for George.  So far he's having..

regular bloodwork

micro-nutrient bloodwork

heavy metals testing (hair and blood)

mthfr (hoping to get this one)

upper and lower GI colonoscopy (this seems silly to me, but George's dad (who's a doctor) insists on it)

He's going to swallow a pill camera that goes all the way through and then sends back imagine (this is fascinating, although I'm not sure needed)

We are also both reading, "Natural Healing for Bipolar Disorder, A Compendium of Nutritional Approaches".  This book is written like a text book manual for doctors to reference.  It's very comprehensive and well done.  They basically say that 50% of all the people that try their method AND stick to it will recover and can fully come off of medication.  The other % can drastically reduce their medications.  

[Abraisme]

We have been perfecting the GAPS ice-cream recipes.  So far my favorite is peanut butter and chocolate chip.  Mmmm.

I also started a few new ferments today.  I'm trying ketchup and dilly pickles.  I will let everyone know how they come out next week.  

[LunaLady]

Sounds great, Abra! I just got some water kefir grains and I started those today. I hope it turns out! I haven't read if they are GAPS legal or not, but my DH loves to drink hi-ball energy drinks and I'm hoping he'll like the water kefir instead of those.

[Abraisme]

I make water kefir and kombucha. They are both considered advanced GAPS foods since they might have a small amount of residual sugar. I bottle mine in glass flipper bottles (used for home brew beer), which makes the kefir nice and fizzy.. Sometimes too fizzy, so you have to play around with it. Everyone around here likes it and its fun to experiment with different flavors. So far 'lemonaid' and ginger have been our favorites.

I make everyone drink some every day, as we have cut out pill probiotics right now. We are doing more fermented foods instead.

[Abraisme]

George got his igE allergy test back today.  He's mildly allergic to cashews, beans and beef.  Oh joy!  We really did know that he doesn't digest beans or nuts at all, so I suppose it wasn't that much of a surprise.  I really think that he's a person that reacts to most foods because his guts are so messed up.  He's going to go back and do the intro diet for a long time until his digestion is solid and then VERY slowly add back in other foods.  He just needs much longer to heal and we tried to rush the 'advanced' GAPS foods too quickly.  We sent off his comprehensive stool sample today, which is going to be covered by our insurance (wooot).  I'm really eager to see what this test shows as it tests for all types of bacteria, yeast and parasites.  Plus they give you probiotic and antifungal recommendations based on your digestive issues.

[birdhappy85]

Oh wow, Abra... I can't imagine being allergic to beef! That one sounds especially difficult to remove from the diet of a GAPS follower!

How would I go about finding a doctor/naturopath to do those comprehensive tests on me? How do you know what type of "specialist" does them? I'd really like to get some more testing done. I had the ELISA ACT test done 8-9 years ago, and I'm pretty sure I'd have more autoimmune allergies pop up on that screening nowadays... I want to know what I'm working with. I for sure think I still have some bacteria and/or parasites that need to be dealt with. Back when I had cryptosporidium, I tried researching whether or not it completely leaves your system after treatment... and I couldn't find it out anywhere. That one really bothers me since I was never the same after that infection.

[Abraisme]

George is having most of the testing done from an allergist. This guy happens to be covered by our insurance which is an extra bonus! Naturopathic doctors will often do these tests or you can just order the tests for yourself online, mail them in and it's all DIY.

[LunaLady]

Abra, that's really great about all the tests George is having done! I really should ask my ND about them...

I'm having a bad swing, again. I wonder if I'm bi-polar or just really f-ed up in the head? I just can't figure it out. We've been eating really well and I've been religious with my supplements for MONTHS and I'm just not staying on an even keel. I'll have perfectly fine days where I'm very happy with my life and then days like today where I'm plotting my demise. I just really wish I could figure this out.

I listened to the Healthy Life Summit interview yesterday with the woman who overcame adrenal fatigue, so I've been looking more at that. I just need to visit my ND again and get some more testing done. I should have her do the igG and igE tests and cortisol testing and more of the adrenal testing... all of this.

I'm just so done feel badly!