So far on my to-do list I have:
Purchased the book
Read 2/3's of it
Purchased Dermrash cream - TOTAL RIPOFF - gave me maybe 2 oz for $28!! Haven't used it yet but MAN it's frustrating!
Identified a couple of sources for bones (Real Foods in Orem/SLC, free range farm in SLC, marrow bones in freezer from 1/2 grass fed cow we purchased)
Joined FB support group for Weston A. Price
Put a raw egg yolk on Kai's legs tonight for the allergy test
I'm SO overwhelmed. This is do-able...ish. Basically, it's a full on lifestyle change. And it's important for the whole family to do it. Highly unlikely that my husband will agree to it. Unbelievably unimaginable that I can get through it, too.
Worst part? You should do the whole thing for 2 years and then wait 6 months to come off it before trying to conceive a kid. I don't have that kind of time. I'm not convinced this is something I should do but it sure sounds like I need it.
My little bro who has done many of the individual parts of this protocol is going to come help me for hopefully a week. But what I need is so beyond only a weeks' worth of help. Looks like I should hold off on the fermenting until I've reached stage 2 of the intro diet. So that wipes out my to-do list from before.
Now I need to talk to the hubs and find out if he's even willing to consider/if he is supportive. We need to pray about it. Then I need to try the different recipes starting from the beginning of the diet and moving forward. I want to have experience with most of these things prior to beginning full-term. Halfway through december is a flat out terrible time to try to start something like this. BLA!
Moving forward with faith...
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Friday, December 6, 2013
Side Note - Intuition
My mother was very health-conscious growing up. We were exposed to herbal remedies, etc. She made food from scratch too. Other than that, I am not qualified whatsoever to know what I'm doing here.
I've noticed as I've gone through this journey, I feel prompted to do certain things that I've never been "formally taught" and then later I will find scientific validation (by chance) that those little things were absolutely right.
I don't think highly of myself as far as being an intuitive person (generally speaking) and I certainly do not have much formal education to boast of - (I graduated high school, got a business certificate from a community college).
The point of my mentioning this is that over the last year and a half (since I've become a mother) I have found that "Mother's Intuition" is, in fact, a real thing. It is innate and inherent. No, we don't always know what to do right away, but it will come and often it will follow instincts.
So my point is listen. Pray. I could not be doing this alone and would not be this far on my own, either. He is there. He listens. He answers. He gives promptings. He teaches, leads, guides and walks beside.
Trust your gut. Follow your instincts. Listen. You are a beautiful person, whoever you are and you've been endowed with power from on High to do the best for you and your family if given effort, faith and prayer.
I've noticed as I've gone through this journey, I feel prompted to do certain things that I've never been "formally taught" and then later I will find scientific validation (by chance) that those little things were absolutely right.
I don't think highly of myself as far as being an intuitive person (generally speaking) and I certainly do not have much formal education to boast of - (I graduated high school, got a business certificate from a community college).
The point of my mentioning this is that over the last year and a half (since I've become a mother) I have found that "Mother's Intuition" is, in fact, a real thing. It is innate and inherent. No, we don't always know what to do right away, but it will come and often it will follow instincts.
So my point is listen. Pray. I could not be doing this alone and would not be this far on my own, either. He is there. He listens. He answers. He gives promptings. He teaches, leads, guides and walks beside.
Trust your gut. Follow your instincts. Listen. You are a beautiful person, whoever you are and you've been endowed with power from on High to do the best for you and your family if given effort, faith and prayer.
Day 1 - To-Do List Prior to Starting GAPS
So here I am. Day 1. No idea where to start.
So I'm compiling a list of things to do from advice I've gotten from my brother and online Facebook group forums and the books I have on hand.
The one thing I cannot stress enough is that this is not an overnight change. I am going to have to take it step by step and learn as I go. There is a GAPS class at Real Foods Market in January, one month from now. This will give me a running head start to read the book, practice the recipes and gather the supplements.
Here is what I'm starting out with and my goal is to check everything off within 1 week (except finishing reading the book):
This is scary. Overwhelming. Lonely. Crazy. But I am convinced it's the answer to my many prayers. I know this is what I need to do and I'm finally bucking down to do it!! I've made a shopping list and quick instructions from my bro on probiotic foods. It is below:
S trainer – winco
So I'm compiling a list of things to do from advice I've gotten from my brother and online Facebook group forums and the books I have on hand.
The one thing I cannot stress enough is that this is not an overnight change. I am going to have to take it step by step and learn as I go. There is a GAPS class at Real Foods Market in January, one month from now. This will give me a running head start to read the book, practice the recipes and gather the supplements.
Here is what I'm starting out with and my goal is to check everything off within 1 week (except finishing reading the book):
- Purchase remedies in book for immediate eczema relief:
- Dermrash Cream from Dr. Kang Formulas
- Dermatrophin
- Andrographis Complex
- Purchase GAPS book and READ it - continue reading others mentioned earlier.
Buy Ghee to replace butter(Ghee not recommended until stage 2)- Find a good source for marrow bones.
- Learn how to make probiotic foods:
Whey(for stage one, it says to make probiotic foods without whey!! Recipes for lacto-fermented foods)- Saurkraut
- Cabbage juice tonic
This is scary. Overwhelming. Lonely. Crazy. But I am convinced it's the answer to my many prayers. I know this is what I need to do and I'm finally bucking down to do it!! I've made a shopping list and quick instructions from my bro on probiotic foods. It is below:
To buy:
2 Bulgarian yogurt – real foods
Ground celtic sea salt – real foods
Caraway seeds – winco (6 Tablespoons)
Medium cabbage
PROBIOTIC FOODS:
Pg. 87 – Making Whey
Get yogurt (Bulgarian)
Plain cotton t-shirt
Pour yogurt in
Pour yogurt in cotton fabric, leave in strainer until it
stops dripping (several hours) – the whey will drip out. Separate cream cheese
to store. Whey for 6 months, cream cheese for 1 month
Pg.92 – Making Sauerkraut
Follow instructions – don’t eat exposed shreds from
refrigerator.
Pg 614 – Cabbage juice tonic
Follow instructions - can pound with mason jar instead of buying hammer.
A Little Background
I found the GAPS diet through the books, "Healing our Children" by Ramiel Nagel and "The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby and Child Care" by Sally Fallon Morell and Thomas S. Cowan, MD. I have not even finished them yet - working my way through very slowly.
Yesterday I realized this was the answer I had been praying for and made the decision I must move forward. It's SO OVERWHELMING! I wanted to keep a blog for any parents who will have to take the path I'm on.
This is to log my journey, ups, downs, what I'm learning, the process I'm taking, regrets and what I'd tell someone like me as they are beginning...
I'm a 28 year old mother of one. He's beautiful, born 8 lbs, 12 oz. Healthy. Red headed. A super happy kiddo.
He was born naturally, except for the (MANDATORY) antibiotic I was forced to have at the hospital because I was group B strep positive or whatever that's called. That is a big contributor to my child's current gut problems, I think.
I exclusively breastfed until 4 months when my milk started drying up. I was able to keep limping along with supplemented formula until 6 months when my supply completely and utterly dried up despite my trying every known remedy to man to keep it going/bring it back.
We tried an organic baby formula that he had an instant face rash reaction to. We ended up using Gerber Good Start Gentle Formula - it was the only thing he could tolerate. I strongly believe if he were breastfed he wouldn't have all the same problems or severities that he has now. That formula is absolute poison.
He had a little colic here or there but wasn't a SUPER colicky baby. Usually quite smiley but did have a bit of an issue with wind - had to burp A LOT! He kinda lived on Dr. CHristopher's kid-e-col tinctures because they worked so well. I wonder if I gave him too much and that contributed to his current conditions...
He was never good at eliminating. Very few poopie diapers. Always. With every great now and again diarrhea episodes.
At 4 months, he showed every single sign on the list that he was more than ready for solid foods. Per my pediatrician's green light, I started feeding solids. I skipped grains entirely (no rice cereal!) and opted for fresh, homemade baby food. It was very simple: steamed, pureed sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, etc. We did that til a year introducing more fruits and veggies. No dairy, no grains.
I look back and wonder if his diet was too simple for that period of time and perhaps that also is to blame for his condition.
At 11.5 months, I started introducing raw milk to replace formula. Couldn't wait to get him off the stuff. 1.5 weeks in, he got a horrible acid-diarrhea yeast diaper rash situation. It was one of the worst experiences of our lives. Took me about a week to get rid of it by realizing he couldn't tolerate the milk, going back to formula and using baking soda baths and aztec bentonite clay powder in every diaper change.
Turns out the clay saved our lives repeatedly and I am never without some in my pantry. I use it like baby powder in every diaper change.
We tried goats milk. We tried almond milk. We tried rice milk. Nothing worked. They all gave him the horrible acid diarhea yeast diaper situation. Back the formula each time.
At 12 months I gave him his first taste of eggs. He loved them. Scarfed them down. A few minutes after he finished, his face got red, blotchy, puffy and his eyes and ears were itching like crazy!! We rushed to the ER. Thus the beginning of the path we are on with terrible allergies.
I sought out a nutritionist based on the allergy test she could provide. A blood test supposedly 94% accurate. It's called MRT (Mediator Release Test) - only done in Texas. We had his blood drawn and shipped to the Texas lab. It came back with results on 180 different foods and chemicals and his reactions to them. Long story short, he was extremely reactive to a lot of things.
Thus began our journey on the LEAP nutrition program. Very simple. Cut out his reactive foods. Slowly reintroduce over time. We've been on it for 3 months. Needless to say it hasn't done the trick all by itself and while there were things I needed and overall it was worth it ($400), it was only 1/3 the battle if that.
The results I saw with just the LEAP program/nutritionist: we were getting less frequent diarrhea episodes, I learned to cater his taste buds to bland/bitter by cutting out yeast and sugar and fruit.
I kept getting a prompting that I needed to do more. Just working on the food with this program wasn't enough. I kept searching. One tear-filled night I reached out to a support group of mothers and someone recommended I contact Jonell Francis at Feel Good Foods online. I did the next day.
We scheduled a consultation and I bought her cookbook and supplements. I was so hopeful and excited. I knew it was the answer to my prayer and what I was prompted to find. She had an herbal tincture to help my son with his horrible yeast imbalance as well as L-glutamine to help heal the gut. She explained the nature of his current leaky gut condition and it was eye opening and overall helpful and worth it .... but... not enough on its own either.
The results I saw with Jonell: we were able to find a different rice milk he could tolerate after being on her yeast beaters cleanse for a couple weeks!! (NO MORE FORMULA!) Basically no diarrhea yeast acid situations except every now and again when I'd try to reintroduce stuff. Just getting off the formula was astronomical, though. And the yeast beaters cleanse was exactly what he needed to get us to where we are now. He has regular bowel movements - 2-3 times per day, great consistency!!!!!! Great appetite!
While he has improved in many ways, he was regressing as far as he has gotten eczema much worse which pushed me to finally find GAPS.
More reading. More searching. More praying.
My brother bought me the nourishing traditions book of baby and child care and Healing Our Children. Healing Our Children was mind blowing. It was so intense, I had to set it down and take a break for days at a time. I would hold my breath as I was reading because it was so intense. It is truth, though. Powerful and overwhelming in every sense. So there's my story. That's who I am, where I'm coming from, the path that led me here and the motivation behind my crazy decision to move forward with GAPS.
Yesterday I realized this was the answer I had been praying for and made the decision I must move forward. It's SO OVERWHELMING! I wanted to keep a blog for any parents who will have to take the path I'm on.
This is to log my journey, ups, downs, what I'm learning, the process I'm taking, regrets and what I'd tell someone like me as they are beginning...
I'm a 28 year old mother of one. He's beautiful, born 8 lbs, 12 oz. Healthy. Red headed. A super happy kiddo.
He was born naturally, except for the (MANDATORY) antibiotic I was forced to have at the hospital because I was group B strep positive or whatever that's called. That is a big contributor to my child's current gut problems, I think.
I exclusively breastfed until 4 months when my milk started drying up. I was able to keep limping along with supplemented formula until 6 months when my supply completely and utterly dried up despite my trying every known remedy to man to keep it going/bring it back.
We tried an organic baby formula that he had an instant face rash reaction to. We ended up using Gerber Good Start Gentle Formula - it was the only thing he could tolerate. I strongly believe if he were breastfed he wouldn't have all the same problems or severities that he has now. That formula is absolute poison.
He had a little colic here or there but wasn't a SUPER colicky baby. Usually quite smiley but did have a bit of an issue with wind - had to burp A LOT! He kinda lived on Dr. CHristopher's kid-e-col tinctures because they worked so well. I wonder if I gave him too much and that contributed to his current conditions...
He was never good at eliminating. Very few poopie diapers. Always. With every great now and again diarrhea episodes.
At 4 months, he showed every single sign on the list that he was more than ready for solid foods. Per my pediatrician's green light, I started feeding solids. I skipped grains entirely (no rice cereal!) and opted for fresh, homemade baby food. It was very simple: steamed, pureed sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, etc. We did that til a year introducing more fruits and veggies. No dairy, no grains.
I look back and wonder if his diet was too simple for that period of time and perhaps that also is to blame for his condition.
At 11.5 months, I started introducing raw milk to replace formula. Couldn't wait to get him off the stuff. 1.5 weeks in, he got a horrible acid-diarrhea yeast diaper rash situation. It was one of the worst experiences of our lives. Took me about a week to get rid of it by realizing he couldn't tolerate the milk, going back to formula and using baking soda baths and aztec bentonite clay powder in every diaper change.
Turns out the clay saved our lives repeatedly and I am never without some in my pantry. I use it like baby powder in every diaper change.
We tried goats milk. We tried almond milk. We tried rice milk. Nothing worked. They all gave him the horrible acid diarhea yeast diaper situation. Back the formula each time.
At 12 months I gave him his first taste of eggs. He loved them. Scarfed them down. A few minutes after he finished, his face got red, blotchy, puffy and his eyes and ears were itching like crazy!! We rushed to the ER. Thus the beginning of the path we are on with terrible allergies.
I sought out a nutritionist based on the allergy test she could provide. A blood test supposedly 94% accurate. It's called MRT (Mediator Release Test) - only done in Texas. We had his blood drawn and shipped to the Texas lab. It came back with results on 180 different foods and chemicals and his reactions to them. Long story short, he was extremely reactive to a lot of things.
Thus began our journey on the LEAP nutrition program. Very simple. Cut out his reactive foods. Slowly reintroduce over time. We've been on it for 3 months. Needless to say it hasn't done the trick all by itself and while there were things I needed and overall it was worth it ($400), it was only 1/3 the battle if that.
The results I saw with just the LEAP program/nutritionist: we were getting less frequent diarrhea episodes, I learned to cater his taste buds to bland/bitter by cutting out yeast and sugar and fruit.
I kept getting a prompting that I needed to do more. Just working on the food with this program wasn't enough. I kept searching. One tear-filled night I reached out to a support group of mothers and someone recommended I contact Jonell Francis at Feel Good Foods online. I did the next day.
We scheduled a consultation and I bought her cookbook and supplements. I was so hopeful and excited. I knew it was the answer to my prayer and what I was prompted to find. She had an herbal tincture to help my son with his horrible yeast imbalance as well as L-glutamine to help heal the gut. She explained the nature of his current leaky gut condition and it was eye opening and overall helpful and worth it .... but... not enough on its own either.
The results I saw with Jonell: we were able to find a different rice milk he could tolerate after being on her yeast beaters cleanse for a couple weeks!! (NO MORE FORMULA!) Basically no diarrhea yeast acid situations except every now and again when I'd try to reintroduce stuff. Just getting off the formula was astronomical, though. And the yeast beaters cleanse was exactly what he needed to get us to where we are now. He has regular bowel movements - 2-3 times per day, great consistency!!!!!! Great appetite!
While he has improved in many ways, he was regressing as far as he has gotten eczema much worse which pushed me to finally find GAPS.
More reading. More searching. More praying.
My brother bought me the nourishing traditions book of baby and child care and Healing Our Children. Healing Our Children was mind blowing. It was so intense, I had to set it down and take a break for days at a time. I would hold my breath as I was reading because it was so intense. It is truth, though. Powerful and overwhelming in every sense. So there's my story. That's who I am, where I'm coming from, the path that led me here and the motivation behind my crazy decision to move forward with GAPS.
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