GAPS diet intro Stage 6

Hurrah, we've made it at last, taking in all 5 weeks.

We've certainly learnt a lot!
One of the lovely, unexpected outcomes has been that it has drawn us even closer together as a family and we often find ourselves all working, talking and laughing in the kitchen, preparing food or WASHING UP! Many of the jokes are about the food!

So many people I speak to say 'I wish my family would eat more healthily' and look at me as if I was so lucky to have this cooperative family! Well, maybe I'm am, though I wouldn't use the word 'luck' as I don't believe in it! What they don't hear is the menfolk cracking jokes about how delighted they'll be to tuck into an cream egg in two years time, or laughing as they try to stretch their morsel of newly introduced food into a feast! So we are by no means an extra -ordinary family. We're pretty normal underneath! So, don't give up if you are the mum who knows that better food would help your family's health, just keep slowly moving forward and presenting them with healthy, better alternatives. Take delight in your cooking and feed your family with love and food as full of nutrition as possible. One step at a time. It does take time to build up new cooking skills, and to hunt out new recipes, and to learn the hows and the whys of traditional cooking skills, so don't expect to have it all NOW! You don't have to do the GAPS diet to se differences in your health - just learn to cook traditionally and there are little things you can do to start now. I'll write about what this entails soon.

It hasn't been easy ending just as we hit Easter and the shops seem to have bigger offers than ever - buy one, get TWO free on easter eggs. Funnily enough, I don't crave the gunk. I can walk past and not be bothered but the menfolk are all desperate to have COCOA! 'When can we have it Mum?' so I doubt it will be long .. but I'll hold off as long as I can! Fortunately the price will ensure we don't eat much!

Cheese is the next big thing they are missing terribly so we are going to increase our kefir and kefir soured-cream so that we can try that one delicious mouthful - and then wait three days for a reaction in fear and trembling.

I love the way the Sons tell their friends about their exciting introduction of a new food. No one seems very impressed as they just can't understand what the fuss is about. I mean, who seriously gets so excited about tasting a raisin? Well, only if you're on the GAPS intro, or you've ever been seriously without. So that's another thing we have learnt - to be satisfied. No biscuits in the cupboard to just grab mindlessly.

So how are we doing?

Husband has not had any blood tests since we started so we have no idea if there is any change there yet and the same for my underactive thyroid, but we continue to feel well.

Son 1 though continues to make improvements. To date, his mild stutter has gone (this went when we started soaking grains and reducing our consumption of grain based goodies.) His intonation has become normal. This son didn't talk until he was four years old and has always struggled with language construction. Last week, for the first time ever I heard him self correct a grammatical error we have been working on for years. His concentration continues to be fantastic. He has suffered from mild phobic tendencies, but these seem to be diminishing - he's getting bolder than ever before.
I continue to have lots of energy. I also have found that my hair has become thick. Being on Levothyroxine has meant my hair falling out a lot. This seems to have stopped.

So we are encouraged and that will give us determination to continue, though it can only get easier now!

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