It is day 15 and I’m at Stage 3 of the GAPS Intro diet. Towards the end of the second week, my energy came back strong! I’m still a little tired, but my stamina is way up! That makes me so very happy, and I got a lot done the last couple of days.
I’m probably going to stay at this stage until I get off coffee completely. I’m down to a few sips every other day, so things look very promising. My husband usually makes a pot every morning, and I used to heat up a cup or two to drink. Now I’m planning to dump out what is left in the pot when I wake up. He’s usually gone by the time I get up because he starts work really early.
I have no idea why it has been so difficult to get off the coffee this time. I have done it before with no problems, but have never been able to stay off it forever. I’m thinking it’s because it is so readily available everywhere I go. And I need to replace it with something else, like broth or warm lemon juice and honey.
Another reason I plan on staying at Stage 3 is because I’m still experiencing occasional digestive issues and stomach pain. It was kind of crazy week, and I was unable to completely stay with the diet. Nothing real major, but I know things are not healing as well as they could be. I have contemplated going off the diet until fall, but I’m going to push through and increase my broth intake to see if it helps with the healing. I might go back to Stage 1 for a day or two to see if it helps, too.
At the very beginning of the week, I almost caught a cold that was going around the family. I was able to stop it in its tracks with Zicam
There is so much to this diet! For the first week, I completely forgot about taking detox baths. I was so focused on everything I put in my mouth and my symptoms. Unfortunately, my first bath, which was a magnesium
I am also not juicing because I’m trying to keep my oxalate levels low. High levels of oxalate are found in fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds. There is a theory that oxalate might play a role in the pain associated with Fibromyalgia patients. I found when I removed carrots from my diet back in the spring of this year, my pain level decreased significantly. That was when I determined the theory had some merit for me, and I began to eliminate other foods from my diet like fruit and nuts. I hope to write up a significant post about this in the future, but please refer to the Low Oxalate Diet website for more information.
I was so excited to make squash pancakes for breakfast this week, and I even added some honey. They were delectable! The recipe can be found in Cara’s ebook “What Can I Eat Now?” Unfortunately, I started having some Fibromyalgia pain so I checked the oxalate food list and discovered that nuts and seeds are high in oxalate. I still plan to try them without the nuts and will let you know! I was also extremely pleased to be able to eat eggs again.
I never did figure out what was making me burp so much. At first I assumed it was the way I was eating my soup. No slurping, please! It puts air into the tummy. But then I noticed it happened at times when I didn’t eat soup. So that wasn’t it. It finally stopped a couple of days ago. I don’t know why, but am thinking my tummy has experienced some healing. Yay!
So things are finally looking good, and I’m thrilled! I should be off coffee completely very soon and hope to move out of Stage 3 as soon as my digestion stabilizes. I thank God every day for Dr. McBride and the GAPS diet. It has truly saved my life!
Are you interested in the GAPS diet? Does it overwhelm you too much? If you are doing the GAPS diet are you doing Full or Intro? Do you have any questions or comments? I’d love to hear from you!
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Shared on Fat Tuesday.