I'm getting anxious to start this experiment. We're planning to start our ten day trial beginning on December 25th to run through January 4th.

So I decided last night (Saturday) that I would attempt a day on my own, that day being today.

The last week has been rough on me. First off, I took off Monday (11-30) and Tuesday (12-1) from work so I could get to meet Sarah Palin at the Costco in Tempe. I was anxious on Monday night and couldn't get to sleep until 10:30pm. Then I woke up at 2:30am, unable to sleep for the excitement and anxiety that we wouldn't make it into the line for getting our books signed. Dh wasn't even sure about going, because he wasn't sure how his bathroom time was going to be. So we kind of sat around trying to figure out if we should go. I had heard on the 10pm news that 200 people were already in line waiting overnight. Finally we decided to get going and we got in line at 6:20am.

Ends up we were 401 and 402 in line, whew. Well within the initial limit of 500 books that she was planning to sign.

Since my son has Down Syndrome, I feel a connection to Mrs. Palin and it means a lot to me that she kept her baby, Trig. I brought two pictures of my son to show her. We were told it took her 4 seconds to sign each book and you had about that long to shake her hand and move along. I wanted to show her the pictures, and her handlers almost didn't let me, but they decided to allow. Sarah stopped and spent about 20-30 seconds with me, and I broke down crying.

I was tired, hungry (I'd eaten cookies and drank coffee [affiliate link]), and emotional. It was quite draining. My husband told me afterward he was watching me carefully, afraid I might pass out. Not that I've ever passed out. He just was concerned. Then the next two days at work (Wednesday and Thursday) I didn't get enough sleep and was tired all day long and falling asleep driving, and had to drink coffee those days to wake myself up so I could think to get anything done. On Thursday night I made my all time favorite comfort food, Spinach and Noodle Casserole. I made two batches. One for our staff Christmas potluck party the next day, and one for dinner.

It was delicious, as usual. I have been trying to avoid pasta and starches, and have noticed that when I don't eat pasta/carbs I have no trouble stopping eating when I'm satisfied. With pasta, I just overeat like a crazed, starving dog.

I overate on the Spinach and Noodle Casserole. I went to bed feeling very full and bloated.

At work there was the usual assortment of junk food and I managed to not overeat, but it wasn't a GAPS legal spread by any stretch of the imagination.

On Saturday I was exhausted. I got eight hours sleep, woke up at 6:30, went out to milk at 8am and was back inside to process the milk within half an hour. I went back to bed by 9am, and slept until about 3:30pm. I also ate the remainder of the Spinach and Noodle Casserole for breakfast and lunch.

I went to bed about 10:30, and was up by 6am this morning. I was back in bed by 11am and slept until 3pm.

I feel that between the lack of sleep, emotional feelings, the non-nutritious food, caffeine and sugar, I was just worn out worse than ever.

Today I had my broth early in the morning. I was a bit hungry before I went out to milk so I remembered dh had bought some ripe avocados and had one mashed up in a bowl. I am not sure if avocados are GAPS legal, and these weren't organic. It seemed to make my stomach feel bloated.

When I came back in from milking I had chicken breast smeared with garlic butter (is garlic GAPS legal?). This was from the chicken stock I'd cooked overnight.

I went to bed and read Going Rogue for a while, and felt tempted to have some of the cheesecake ds2 had brought home from the staff party yesterday. But I had had some the previous day before napping, and it filled my throat with gunk and it was annoying. I didn't want to deal with that again, and was able to be strong enough to avoid the temptation and lure of the cheesecake.

I woke up and was kind of hungry. This time I had more chicken breast, some of the cooked carrots in broth and a bit of the garlic butter. There are these chocolate peppermint pieces that were tempting, but again I managed to avoid eating any.

Interestingly, I have not eaten much today, and have not felt hungry. Instead I have felt satisfied. I want to be very certain that I am not lying to myself. I did feel some temptation to have cheesecake, but the side effects of having thick phlegm in my throat was not worth it. I am sure part of my fatigue is due to the carb loading in the last few days so avoiding candy is going to help me feel better.

Ds2 brought out some salted cashews. I went to see if cashews are legal. They need to be “fresh” but I don't know exactly what that means. Do they need to be raw? I had a three handfuls of them.

For dinner I'm making soup. Cooking some cabbage, red bell pepper, carrots in the chicken broth and will toss in some chicken meat.

Ds2 is making popcorn. I don't know if can avoid eating some of it. We are going to finish watching a movie we watched half of last night. UPDATE: I was unable to avoid the popcorn and ended up eating four to six cups. Some with butter drizzled onto it. I also ate more cashews. I don't feel overly stuffed though.

So that's how today's experiment went. WAIT. One last update. The cheesecake finally got the best of me, and I ate a slice and a half. I found myself saying to myself, we're not even on the official 10 day trial, so why not? So I ate a half slice, then compulsively went back for the last slice. At least it's gone now. I killed it dead. No guilt. Just reporting the facts.