On February 15th I started the Introduction Diet of the GAPS Protocol. I would have liked to have posted through the process of the past 11 weeks, but I really didn’t have the energy to do an additional thing.
The GAPS Diet is a restorative process of healing your digestive system. All of my reasons for entering into this and the results are part of my personal story, and I recommend that if you are interested, you research what is best for you. What I can share is that I have not needed my inhaler since February 15th. To put it in perspective, I was needing an inhaler every 4-6 hours for more than a year, and off and on for most of my life. Another side effect of not having grains, starchy vegetables (potato and sweet potato), beans, sugar, alcohol, and dairy for 6 weeks and then slowly introducing some of them back in, is that I have lost more than 20 pounds. I have not been able to tolerate any grains yet, and have had minimal beans, sugar, and alcohol.
There are many resources I can recommend if you are interested in researching this for yourself.
Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s Website
Her books cover a wide-range of topics. The one I am using primarily is the Gut and Physiology Syndrome, and all address the issues of digestion and nutrition for healing our minds and bodies. I have all of these books and am researching all of the aspects of health that she covers.
The progress for me has been slow. I have not fully incorporated dairy into my daily routine. I will be making my own yogurt this week, though!
Restoration is a long-term process and from what I understand it can take up to two years to heal from Fibromyalgia, allergies, food intolerances, asthma, etc. Possibly longer. I am fine with that because I am feeling so much better. I sleep through the night, the fog of my mind has lifted, I am in less physical pain, and all of the digestive discomforts have been alleviated. I will not detail them here, but they were daily and disrupted almost everything in my life. (it took the 6 weeks Intro to alleviate)
I will be documenting each month as I continue with GAPS and with my study of nutrition and I will share more as I come to a better understanding of how the food we eat affects our bodies and minds.
I have one cookbook that works through the stages and has some great ideas for recipes.
There are many resources online and one of the YouTube channels I recommend is Bumblebee Apothecary. She has instructional videos through the Intro Diet as well as simple and easy to follow beginning recipes.