After three months of preparation, I finally started the GAPS Introduction diet today.  Last night when I went to bed I wasn’t really sure I was going to, but when I got out of bed today I decided it was going to happen.  No turning back!

So because I wasn’t sure last night, I wasn’t really ready this morning.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  It turns out my three months of preparation actually made this day easier because almost everything was in the freezer.  I was looking forward to some Butternut Squash Soup for breakfast!  I left out the spices and ghee since they are Stage 2 foods.

I went to the freezer, took out the butternut squash, and put it in a pot of warm water to start defrosting.  Then I poured myself a glass of water and took my Bio-Kult.  Unfortunately, the water was not room temperature as recommended in the GAPS book.  I had planned to pour a pitcher of water every evening and leave it on the kitchen counter so it would be room temperature by morning.  That did not happen last night, but it will tomorrow!

Then I made some chicken soup in my slow cooker and made breakfast.  The rest of my day was pretty uneventful.  Because I had a slight coffee headache off an on all day and a foggy brain, I stayed pretty low.  I sipped on garlic tea all day and ate soup whenever I wanted.  It was kind of a nice break from almost constantly preparing food for the last three months!

I documented every thing I put in my mouth in a food diary and all of my symptoms in a symptom diary.  This was a recommendation by my GAPS practitioner.  It is supposed to help you determine which food you added to your diet is causing symptoms so you can eliminate it and try it again in a week.

I went to bed fairly early and slept a bit restlessly even though I was exhausted.  I usually take a natural sleep-aid, but decided to suspend all supplements except the Bio-Kult to see if I could stop taking them altogether.  I am not taking anything recommended by a medical or natural practitioner, and if I can keep from having to take any pills I will save some money.  If you are taking a prescription or anything recommended by your health care practitioner, do not stop taking it without their approval.  It could be a life or death decision.

Things I enjoyed about the GAPS Intro diet:

• Adding garlic to each bowl of soup before I ate it.  I thought eating soup all day would be boring, but it’s not!  I absolutely adore garlic and it makes the soup come alive on my tongue.  Such a delight!

• Butternut squash.  When I was growing up, I didn’t like squash.  I never ate any squash until last year when it was recommended by my GAPS practitioner to increase my carbs.  I told her I didn’t really like it, so she suggested trying butternut squash first.  I love it!  Especially with lots of butter, but I haven’t added butter to my diet, yet.

• Never-ending soup.  I make soup in my slow cooker in the morning and turn it on high for a few hours.  It is ready to eat by lunch, and I can eat it all day whenever I feel like it.  I never got really super hungry because I added lots of satiating, healthy fats to my soup and broth.

• Dairy is my saving grace.  There seems to be a lot of confusion about whether or not to add dairy from the start of the Intro diet.  Let me try to clear that up.  If you have started the GAPS diet with the Full diet, you will need to go through a six-week elimination time period before adding it back in.  If you start with the Intro diet and do not suspect a dairy allergy, you are encouraged to add probiotic dairy to your soups, first yogurt and then kefir.  If you suspect a dairy allergy, wait until the sensitivity test comes back clear before you add it.  Then start with ghee, then yogurt, then kefir.  I added yogurt to my breakfast, which was Butternut Squash soup.  It was a nice touch and added some variety.

Things I missed by starting the GAPS Intro diet:

• My morning coffee.  I love the taste of coffee, but have tried several times to quit to no avail.  Maybe because my husband drinks it every day, which makes it easily available.  I started my day today, though, with a nice cup of chicken broth with coconut oil and salt.  Unfortunately, I felt tired all day and had a slight coffee headache.  (I didn’t miss it as much my second day!)

• Evening wine.  I love the taste of wine, too, but it has become a habit that I want to break for several reasons.  It is my hope to make or grow almost everything I put in my body, and I don’t see myself making wine anytime real soon.  Maybe someday, but not now.  It is also an expense that I would like to get rid of to help lighten up the budget.

• Eggs for breakfast from my “beauties.”  I love walking out to the chicken tractor and gathering eggs for my breakfast.  There’s just nothing like it!  I’m going to try to add egg yolks back to the diet this week.

As it turns out, the day was not too bad.  I didn’t expect it would be since most of my major symptoms are gone.  My only major complaints would be not sleeping well without my sleep-aid and feeling tired all day.  Overall, I’m very happy to have survived the first day unscathed.

Have you tried the GAPS Intro diet?  Do you have some health issues you think might clear or improve with the GAPS diet?  Do you know about the GAPS diet?  I’d love to hear from you!

Some of my links are affiliate links and help support this blog.  Your privacy is important to me, and I do not sell email addresses.

Shared on Real Food Wednesday, Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday and Fight Back Friday.