We are in the full swing of allergy season. And I'm finding more information than ever on gut health, TH1 and TH2 immune response, and allergies. Is it because I'm more in tune with this aspect of overall health because we're doing the GAPS diet? Or is it because this information is becoming more mainstream? I hope it's the latter.
Bubby still has episodes of stuffiness and runny eyes. But I find that it is closely connected to what he eats. We've had to cut out larabars and other dried fruits to lower his sugar intake. Fresh fruit is still ~okay~, but not his best food. Milk kefir is a wonder-food for him. Yesterday, we had fried eggs for breakfast, and oxtail soup and kefir strawberry shakes for lunch. There was almost no stuffy nose or eye-rubbing.
We are worlds beyond where we were a year ago. Bubby used to not be able to breathe at night, his eyes were bloodshot, and he stayed locked inside from April to June. He's been outside all spring and is still having a much milder reaction. But since his allergies aren't completely gone, we may be staying on the diet for another year. When Precious eats things that are off the GAPS diet (ahem- Easter candy from a well-meaning neighbor), her reaction is getting less marked. It was very obvious just a month ago.
In the first article above, Donna Schwenk says, "I noticed when I first starting eating cultured foods that the symptoms were greatly reduced, but they did not go away completely. Each year that I ate these foods, I noticed that the time I had my allergies was shortened – by about one week each year. What started out as two to three months of symptoms eventually was only three to five days of symptoms." So that gives me hope that Bubby will gradually improve.
We might do GAPS intro each year starting in January to give us all a bit of holiday detox, and to give him the best start on spring. But it's crazy, because I thought we were health nuts who didn't eat much sugar or grains, and consumed plenty of broth and fermented vegetables. That was, until we started this diet and realized how much we couldn't have that we had been eating before, and how much more broth and fermented foods we needed to be consuming.
I think doing GAPS has changed how we think about food. It is now clearly divided in my mind: foods that heal, and foods that inflame. GAPS has created a sort of "ideal-diet-bubble" that we live in. And in this bubble, we feel fabulous, there is no brain fog, and the kids aren't hyper. When any food outside of that bubble enters the picture, there is muscle and joint pain, it's harder to form thoughts, and the kids go haywire and get stuffy noses. It's very helpful to have this standard to strive towards.
The hardest aspect of GAPS at this point is that we've sort of reached a plateau of healing, eating like this has become normal to us, and things are going extremely well. So it's taking a little extra dedication to make sure we get broth regularly and take our supplements. I've slacked off a little in the busy-ness of spring. We're getting it; I just have to keep reminding myself.
back to GAPS Part I
back to GAPS Part II
GAPS Part IV- Cumberland Island
GAPS Part V- Concluding thoughts
Bubby still has episodes of stuffiness and runny eyes. But I find that it is closely connected to what he eats. We've had to cut out larabars and other dried fruits to lower his sugar intake. Fresh fruit is still ~okay~, but not his best food. Milk kefir is a wonder-food for him. Yesterday, we had fried eggs for breakfast, and oxtail soup and kefir strawberry shakes for lunch. There was almost no stuffy nose or eye-rubbing.
We are worlds beyond where we were a year ago. Bubby used to not be able to breathe at night, his eyes were bloodshot, and he stayed locked inside from April to June. He's been outside all spring and is still having a much milder reaction. But since his allergies aren't completely gone, we may be staying on the diet for another year. When Precious eats things that are off the GAPS diet (ahem- Easter candy from a well-meaning neighbor), her reaction is getting less marked. It was very obvious just a month ago.
In the first article above, Donna Schwenk says, "I noticed when I first starting eating cultured foods that the symptoms were greatly reduced, but they did not go away completely. Each year that I ate these foods, I noticed that the time I had my allergies was shortened – by about one week each year. What started out as two to three months of symptoms eventually was only three to five days of symptoms." So that gives me hope that Bubby will gradually improve.
We might do GAPS intro each year starting in January to give us all a bit of holiday detox, and to give him the best start on spring. But it's crazy, because I thought we were health nuts who didn't eat much sugar or grains, and consumed plenty of broth and fermented vegetables. That was, until we started this diet and realized how much we couldn't have that we had been eating before, and how much more broth and fermented foods we needed to be consuming.
I think doing GAPS has changed how we think about food. It is now clearly divided in my mind: foods that heal, and foods that inflame. GAPS has created a sort of "ideal-diet-bubble" that we live in. And in this bubble, we feel fabulous, there is no brain fog, and the kids aren't hyper. When any food outside of that bubble enters the picture, there is muscle and joint pain, it's harder to form thoughts, and the kids go haywire and get stuffy noses. It's very helpful to have this standard to strive towards.
The hardest aspect of GAPS at this point is that we've sort of reached a plateau of healing, eating like this has become normal to us, and things are going extremely well. So it's taking a little extra dedication to make sure we get broth regularly and take our supplements. I've slacked off a little in the busy-ness of spring. We're getting it; I just have to keep reminding myself.
back to GAPS Part I
back to GAPS Part II
GAPS Part IV- Cumberland Island
GAPS Part V- Concluding thoughts
Comments
How do you find entertaining/eating out/visiting others?
I came across another program to do with leaky gut, thought I would share the link: http://solvingleakygut.com/early-bird/?q=/order