Following GAPS Intro is very interesting for us. We've been on an "elimination diet" of sorts for four years, much more restrictive during the last two, so I am already used to preparing most of all of our food from scratch and have been able to experiment and find foods or techniques that fill the gaps - bean flour pancakes for example. But now we are introducing foods - and not just the GAPS list - but beef, lamb and pork are new for L, she's also never had eggs or dairy in any form, and the animal fats are new to all of us in their rendered form. So it's a bit nerve-wracking after carefully avoiding to be introducing new foods - but we're doing it (carefully)!
Menu/Protocol:
This past week, we continued to eat soups at least twice a day. The soups are chicken stock based with simple vegetable combinations - like summer squash and red pepper, onion and leek, broccoli, and butternut squash. At N's request I made a chicken, onion, carrot one night. I add in extra fat to each of them. If I blend them in the Vitamix with the fat, I think they are getting homogenized because they look super creamy versus blended then adding the fat.
We also started adding some casserole recipes like butternut squash chunks baked with turkey on top. We used the slow cooker and made slow cooked rabbit with onions and pulled pork. So it was nice to start adding some variety in the form of cooking style. One can always pull the soup food out of the broth and serve it on a plate and drink the broth - which L seems to prefer.
Taking the bath each night is great for all of us. I find my 20-30 by myself-minutes in the tub really helpful for my mental health!
New Foods:
We introduced egg yolks, fermented vegetables in small amounts, pork fat, duck fat, and ghee this week, along with some new meats for our family, like rabbit and pork. New vegetable was celery root, since Emily liked it so much. I also made some coconut milk (Vitamixed dry coconut flakes with warm water and squeezed the pulp) and we tried that on Sunday. I did put cinnamon (not on Stage 2 list) in the butternut squash soup as a treat one day.
It is tricky with the new food introduction to space it out and also to go slowly with some of it. For the egg yolks on the first day, I split one between me, N and L. Now we are up to one yolk each per bowl of soup, though this morning they had yolky boiled peas.
I was afraid to try the ghee personally because I don't have time to spend 12-24 hours in very close proximity to the toilet. N encouraged me by saying, "Mama, you're going to be fine - you've been eating ALL this soup!" I loved her for that and I was fine!
A note on rabbit: At $10/pound that was just a farmer's market find and not meant to be a regular event. I well remember the herbs de Provence coasted roasted rabbit I enjoyed in southern France 12 years ago (yes - I remember foods I eat too, Em!). However, N consumed it, declared it her favorite meat and needs to know the next time she will have it! I mentioned she could chose it for her birthday dinner.
Reactions:
Eggs, vegetables and fats, including the ghee are all well tolerated (so far). I noticed that coconut oil seems to upset both girls tummies so I will not use it in their meals for a while. I really think that oil needs some food to buffer it, so perhaps in baking it will work well for us.
N got a big red rash around her mouth after the cinnamon, which she was sensitive to when she was 2. Surprise! So, we'll be careful with that. If her insides looked anything like her face, then we don't want her eating that.
I've felt fine after eating both carrots and tomatoes so, perhaps last Sunday was some die-off or a retracing of mononucleosis.
The children have been very hungry and N seems to be constantly eating. She especially loves the egg yolks and they both will literally scrape the skins of the squash after I roast and peel them.
No one seems to be experiencing any other forms of rashes, but we are all experiencing slower digestion. THAT needs to improve and I hope with the introduction of probiotic powder and perhaps some juicing it will.
Other Thoughts:
It's a challenge to get L to eat some of the foods and especially to drink the broth. N will do it, but it takes her time. I found that they love squash flavored broth, so that helps. Also L, really liked the onion soup and willingly ate and drank that.
We have to get creative to encourage them - this included a reward of a tiny market basket this week to take to market to get a favorite food to try this week - avocado! It also includes telling stories of the baby gnomes living in our bellies who help us take care of our bodies and how we are helping the baby gnomes (enterocytes) grow and get strong so they won't be bothered by the mean trolls (bad bacteria). I showed the girls the illustration in the GAPS book of the enterocyte, which looks like a funny gnome so that's how this story came about. L was explaining about gnomes inside us to our 85 year old neighbor the other day!
Constantly cajoling them to eat/drink is contrary to how I want to parent, so I decided I need to back off, not worry and find what is going to work (that's always the lesson) and I know we will.
In summary:
All in all, I am pretty happy with the week. Starting to get the hang of the process of food preparation and also realizing how we have to customize GAPS for us - even the Intro. We did not introduce fermented fish yet and will wait on egg whites a bit longer. Full dairy, since we are "sensitive," will also wait until after Intro is over.
The meals were good this week (whew!) and can I just say that ALL of the pork butter I made last Saturday is gone! I received an order of pastured duck, including duck fat, this week and - wow! - duck fat is glorious. Thankfully their is a source at our farmer's market for it because it is going to be a staple around here.
The GAPS book says, "the more animal fats your patient consumes the more quickly he or she will recover." Bring on recovery! Here's a great article on why this is and blog that gives a GAPS Fats overview.
C was happy to find that using the dishwasher on heavy wash reduces his need to scrub the fat coated jars!
Coming up:
This week we will try beef products, including tallow (that I must make today) and broth. Pastured duck is also on the menu. We'll also be trying sunflower seeds, avocado and possibly olive oil, as well as continuing to add new vegetables - like artichokes.
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