I'm on the GAPS diet.
My husband, Ladson is joining me in solidarity (and because he is this best friend ever). We are adventuring in all things fresh, fermented and grass-fed. I think I owe it to you all to share my adventures in the kitchen as I travel this journey to health.
Here's the back story:
At only about two years old, I was diagnosed with asthma and various allergies. My mom was a healthy California native so she had breastfed me for a year and transitioned me to solid whole food diet. At four, my little body had become so accustomed to taking inhaled medicine, that I became immune to its effects and was hospitalized for a severe asthma attack. Over the course of the next 16 years, I visited pediatricians, pulminologists, allergists and the like, and took inhaled and swallowed steroids almost daily. I was diagnosed with allergies to dairy and corn, and then soy, and then nothing. Hay fever season was the worst, and two years of allergy shots only took a little bite out of that annual agony.
In college, I was working with a nutritionist to handle a different medical issue, when I took a saliva test and found that I was allergic to gliadin (protein in gluten) and soy. I cut that out of my diet and soon found my asthma went away, and I was able to stop taking medication for it. Horray! This seemed like a great success...
until this spring.
Confession. I had become more lackadaisical about gluten. I made cookies with oats in them and had cake at my wedding. I didn't always ask for gluten-free menus. Over lent, I did a short fast. When I came off the fast, I started to react to grains like millet and rice. These grains do not contain gliadin, so I was quite confused about why I was becoming asthmatic.
A nutritionist did a live blood analysis on my blood and diagnosed me with leaky gut. The symptoms sounded like me. I would feel gross if I didn't eat healthfully and work out and get a good nights rest. I felt quite high maintenance, and was relieved to learn that that might not just be my inner-diva.
I tried strictly eliminating all grains and dairy as that nutritionist suggested. This was so sad for me since I love yogurt! I quickly lost about 5 lbs. (A good amount for my frame) I was so hungry so often, and just not enjoying this protocol.
That is when my nutritionist, Kim Schuette, suggested I go on the GAPS diet. She suggested I read about it and think about it, talk it over with my husband. So Ladson and I talked about it and prayed about it. In about a week, we knew that this is the route we would go. I could spend hundreds of dollars and hours finding nutritional council in the DC area, but GAPS seemed to have a positive solution.
We started the GAPS intro diet on June 14 2012.
We went through the intro diet pretty quickly. We were constipated for a while, but that cleared up as we introduced raw vegetables. I am still not eating any fruit or honey as Kim suspects a candida in my gut. But Ladson is on the full GAPS diet.
A few weeks ago, my dad suggested that I start a blog. This was somewhat surprising, and somewhat expected. Dad is a "big-brother" averse entrepreneur. He doesn't believe that facebook is a safe social outlet, but if it can become a source of positive cash flow, the risk may be worth it. It is to him that I owe my re-entry to blog-dom. That is, to him and Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.
My husband, Ladson is joining me in solidarity (and because he is this best friend ever). We are adventuring in all things fresh, fermented and grass-fed. I think I owe it to you all to share my adventures in the kitchen as I travel this journey to health.
Here's the back story:
At only about two years old, I was diagnosed with asthma and various allergies. My mom was a healthy California native so she had breastfed me for a year and transitioned me to solid whole food diet. At four, my little body had become so accustomed to taking inhaled medicine, that I became immune to its effects and was hospitalized for a severe asthma attack. Over the course of the next 16 years, I visited pediatricians, pulminologists, allergists and the like, and took inhaled and swallowed steroids almost daily. I was diagnosed with allergies to dairy and corn, and then soy, and then nothing. Hay fever season was the worst, and two years of allergy shots only took a little bite out of that annual agony.
In college, I was working with a nutritionist to handle a different medical issue, when I took a saliva test and found that I was allergic to gliadin (protein in gluten) and soy. I cut that out of my diet and soon found my asthma went away, and I was able to stop taking medication for it. Horray! This seemed like a great success...
until this spring.
Confession. I had become more lackadaisical about gluten. I made cookies with oats in them and had cake at my wedding. I didn't always ask for gluten-free menus. Over lent, I did a short fast. When I came off the fast, I started to react to grains like millet and rice. These grains do not contain gliadin, so I was quite confused about why I was becoming asthmatic.
A nutritionist did a live blood analysis on my blood and diagnosed me with leaky gut. The symptoms sounded like me. I would feel gross if I didn't eat healthfully and work out and get a good nights rest. I felt quite high maintenance, and was relieved to learn that that might not just be my inner-diva.
I tried strictly eliminating all grains and dairy as that nutritionist suggested. This was so sad for me since I love yogurt! I quickly lost about 5 lbs. (A good amount for my frame) I was so hungry so often, and just not enjoying this protocol.
That is when my nutritionist, Kim Schuette, suggested I go on the GAPS diet. She suggested I read about it and think about it, talk it over with my husband. So Ladson and I talked about it and prayed about it. In about a week, we knew that this is the route we would go. I could spend hundreds of dollars and hours finding nutritional council in the DC area, but GAPS seemed to have a positive solution.
We started the GAPS intro diet on June 14 2012.
We went through the intro diet pretty quickly. We were constipated for a while, but that cleared up as we introduced raw vegetables. I am still not eating any fruit or honey as Kim suspects a candida in my gut. But Ladson is on the full GAPS diet.
A few weeks ago, my dad suggested that I start a blog. This was somewhat surprising, and somewhat expected. Dad is a "big-brother" averse entrepreneur. He doesn't believe that facebook is a safe social outlet, but if it can become a source of positive cash flow, the risk may be worth it. It is to him that I owe my re-entry to blog-dom. That is, to him and Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.
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