Notes from Day 2

Today is our second day on the full GAPS diet. So far we have been feasting on homemade yogurt (turned out great), a batch of cream cheese (made by dripping some of the yogurt), my first sauerkraut, and pickles (second batch turned out great!). Last night I decided to give Laurel a break from meat eating and made some lentil soup (with homemade chicken stock of course). We had the soup and a salad with fresh grated chiggoa beets and toasted pumpkin seeds and a slice of SCD bread. Tonight I made turkey liver pate on homemade crackers which we both ate as fast as we could to get it over with sooner, Laurel with her nose plugged. On the side we had fresh steamed green beans from our farm share (picked today!) with a mustard dill dressing.

At some point I am going to have to figure out a way not to cook every night, and to be able to eat leftovers for more than just lunch the next day, because the dishes situation has been out of control with me making everything from scratch. With two bandaged fingers (one from a kitchen knife incident and one from an evil thorned weed in our garden) Laurel stepped in and did all the kitchen clean up for the last two nights. But I know this is too good to last.

At a Board of Directors meeting today, I found myself in an uncomfortable position of having to bring the lunch and not being able to eat any of it. Grab a sandwich, one of the board members said as I passed them out and described their contents. "Oh, I'll eat after the meeting," I said, hating to sound like one of those women, but not wanting to go into the whole story of my weird diet. Not really the right crowd. After the meeting, I scarfed down a homemade sandwich I had brought from home-- leftover sliced turkey breast with lettuce, mustard, cheese, and sauerkraut on my homemade bread. Besides the bread tasting like cooked eggs (all SCD baked goods do!) and falling apart, it was pretty good.

Obviously two days in is too quick to tell any substantial changes, but I have been closely monitoring my symptoms (low energy, stuffed up nose, itchy skin) for signs of improvement. I have been a little more congested than usual lately, which I have been telling myself all sorts of stories about what it could be from because it is definitely not due to my increased dairy consumption.... (I just got dairy back after all these years, and don't want to give it up!) I have also been pretty tired, conking out by 10 pm the last two nights. But my belly has felt great-- no bloating or feelings of being stuffed or uncomfortable.

Laurel has also experienced some of her usual symptoms. Yesterday after eating an egg, an apple, and almond butter she felt nauseous. Since none of those foods are generally triggers, one guess is that the  combination of fruit and protein at the same time was bad, or maybe it was some kind of detox reaction. I am so sold on the GAPS philosophy that I am unable to think of "if" GAPS will work for us, instead wondering "when." On to day three, and almost the weekend. Tomorrow we drink single malt scotch while watching a friend play at the Alberta St. Pub!