GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) is a diet formulated by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride. And I'm not going to go all the way into it (mostly because I could never explain it the way she and other more qualified people are able to). Basically, it is a detoxification protocol that "heals and seals" the gut.
I was introduced to GAPS through Mary Stockwell at Dr. Jackson E. Stockwell and Associates. After a long (years and years) journey of not being able to properly digest my food, constant nausea, severe migraines, and a variety of other symptoms that had become a part of my daily life I was almost willing to try anything. But little did I understand at that moment what I would be getting into.
The GAPS diet consists of six different stages, mostly consisting of a meat stock soup eaten for pretty much all three meals. So, the night before my entry into the program, I whipped up a pot of beef stock and a pot of chicken stock. Now, I am someone who has never really had a taste for meat. Even more so, I'm extremely finicky about meat fats. But on GAPS the most important step of the diet is to make sure to get the fats from the chicken and leave them in your broth. It's enough to say that by the end of the night (feeling as though I was covered in animal grease and smelled like it too) I went up to my room and had a slight mental breakdown. As the stench of the broth wafted into my room, I knew there was no way I would be able to accomplish this.
The next morning I somehow woke up and poured myself a small bowl (probably only a few spoonfuls) of my chicken stock and added some meat. I tried to bring the spoon to my lips with any kind of enthusiasm, but sitting in front of a fatty bowl of chicken was never something I wanted to wake up to. I took one bite, fought back a gag, and left the house for the day. And miraculously, I was able to stop from eating anything else until I returned home, poured myself another bowl (a little bigger this time since I was starving), and forced it down.
Now I don't know if the stock tastes that bad to everyone who eats it. All I know is I could barely stomach it. Which may have something to do with the fact that I eat a diet that is mainly fat free. I don't like salad dressing, I stay away from meats, my dairy products are all fat free, and I use any other fattening ingredients sparsely. So I think my repulsion is some of my body just trying to adjust to a fairly foreign substance. But now that I've learned how important fats really are, I am determined to keep at this until I can stomach them.
Okay, confession time. At the end of my first day, I'd had about enough. My brain was screaming at me that is was starving to death, I had a horrible caffeine headache (had to go off my beloved diet coke), and I seriously felt so inhuman and disconnected from myself that I can only compare it to being on medication that gets you wired. And I broke down and ate a piece of bread that night, promising myself that I would start again the next day.
Well here it is, the night of my second day (yes I'm counting the first even though I probably shouldn't). And I stayed on the diet completely. I ate a breakfast of chicken stock, and for dinner I boiled some squash cubes in some beef stock and pureed them to make a butternut squash soup. It still tastes fatty, but the squash gave it enough depth that I managed to get down an entire bowl (probably a whole measured cup). And I swallowed all the supplements that were given to me. The whole day I've felt exhausted, hungry, and with a migraine and stomachache after every meal... BUT I MADE IT! And, though the difference is small, I feel almost better than yesterday. And I'm going to DO THIS!!!
PS: there was a significant factor that got me through the day today. I found a link online to an e-book that has a great list of meal and detox bath suggestions for each day of the 30 day intro period. It gives suggestions and directions like a GAPS diet for dummies, which is exactly what this dummy needs. And best of all, it is endorsed by Dr. Campbell-McBride. Just go here for more info.
Good Night!
I was introduced to GAPS through Mary Stockwell at Dr. Jackson E. Stockwell and Associates. After a long (years and years) journey of not being able to properly digest my food, constant nausea, severe migraines, and a variety of other symptoms that had become a part of my daily life I was almost willing to try anything. But little did I understand at that moment what I would be getting into.
The GAPS diet consists of six different stages, mostly consisting of a meat stock soup eaten for pretty much all three meals. So, the night before my entry into the program, I whipped up a pot of beef stock and a pot of chicken stock. Now, I am someone who has never really had a taste for meat. Even more so, I'm extremely finicky about meat fats. But on GAPS the most important step of the diet is to make sure to get the fats from the chicken and leave them in your broth. It's enough to say that by the end of the night (feeling as though I was covered in animal grease and smelled like it too) I went up to my room and had a slight mental breakdown. As the stench of the broth wafted into my room, I knew there was no way I would be able to accomplish this.
The next morning I somehow woke up and poured myself a small bowl (probably only a few spoonfuls) of my chicken stock and added some meat. I tried to bring the spoon to my lips with any kind of enthusiasm, but sitting in front of a fatty bowl of chicken was never something I wanted to wake up to. I took one bite, fought back a gag, and left the house for the day. And miraculously, I was able to stop from eating anything else until I returned home, poured myself another bowl (a little bigger this time since I was starving), and forced it down.
Now I don't know if the stock tastes that bad to everyone who eats it. All I know is I could barely stomach it. Which may have something to do with the fact that I eat a diet that is mainly fat free. I don't like salad dressing, I stay away from meats, my dairy products are all fat free, and I use any other fattening ingredients sparsely. So I think my repulsion is some of my body just trying to adjust to a fairly foreign substance. But now that I've learned how important fats really are, I am determined to keep at this until I can stomach them.
Okay, confession time. At the end of my first day, I'd had about enough. My brain was screaming at me that is was starving to death, I had a horrible caffeine headache (had to go off my beloved diet coke), and I seriously felt so inhuman and disconnected from myself that I can only compare it to being on medication that gets you wired. And I broke down and ate a piece of bread that night, promising myself that I would start again the next day.
Well here it is, the night of my second day (yes I'm counting the first even though I probably shouldn't). And I stayed on the diet completely. I ate a breakfast of chicken stock, and for dinner I boiled some squash cubes in some beef stock and pureed them to make a butternut squash soup. It still tastes fatty, but the squash gave it enough depth that I managed to get down an entire bowl (probably a whole measured cup). And I swallowed all the supplements that were given to me. The whole day I've felt exhausted, hungry, and with a migraine and stomachache after every meal... BUT I MADE IT! And, though the difference is small, I feel almost better than yesterday. And I'm going to DO THIS!!!
PS: there was a significant factor that got me through the day today. I found a link online to an e-book that has a great list of meal and detox bath suggestions for each day of the 30 day intro period. It gives suggestions and directions like a GAPS diet for dummies, which is exactly what this dummy needs. And best of all, it is endorsed by Dr. Campbell-McBride. Just go here for more info.
Good Night!
