I found this foodie blog (not GAPS friendly) and she showed a picture of an apple and apple sauce peanut butter spread that she'd recently tried. This reminded me of last week, before I went on my fruit fast, one of our volunteers at work shared one of her favorite snacks with me at lunch… apple dipped in peanut butter [affiliate link]. It was yummy. And suddenly I was tempted.
I said to my 21 year old son, “I'm supposed to be staying off fruit this month, but this picture of an apple and peanut butter looks really good.” He replied nonchalantly, after glancing at the photo, “No, it doesn't.”
And that was helpful. In spite of his constant joyfulness at the thought that I'm on a D.I.E.T. he knows how to help his momma stay on track.
And as much as I hate to admit it, so far it does seem like staying off fruit is helping my energy level. For the last month it has felt difficult getting anything done. As I mentioned earlier this week I'd stopped making my bed, was no longer folding my clothes… to me these are signs that I'm having low energy.
But today I felt better. I got a good night's sleep and was up at 4:30. Early for me on a day I don't need to work. Going to bed at 8pm helps. I didn't need a nap today. And I got quite a bit of chores done around the house. Here's what I did: swept and mopped the kitchen floor, washed three sink loads of dishes, put away two, folded two baskets of my clothing and put those away, picked up and vacuumed the living room floor, scooped the cat litter box, made taco salad for dinner. I'm not feeling exhausted right now either.
My thumbs are doing better, too. I am now taking a different kind of glucosamine chondroitin, and I've been applying arnica gel at night. The arnica gel is in a metal toothpaste type tube and it is nearly empty and it hurts my thumbs to squeeze it out. I need to buy another tube soon because I think it is helping. It doesn't smell very nice. My thumbs are not 100% pain free, but they are better and I am glad for that. It's not fun having pain and not being able to open door knobs or turn off water faucets properly, open jars, bottles of water, use a can opener or garlic press. Thank God I live in a household with three strong men.
I've also been taking my cod liver oil, and a Vitamin C supplement, along with a Vitamin B Complex supplement. It is so hard to remember to take my vitamins, but the pain in my thumbs is definitely a great motivator. The pain was several times worse before the glucosamine chondroitin. My mom says it works for her and her arthritis pain.
So I guess my sister that read the GAPS book does not see any reason for her to do GAPS. I guess that makes me wish I hadn't been fooling around eating fruit on and off these last months because weight loss speaks louder than anything, unfortunately.
Well, it is now just a few minutes after 7, but I am feeling tired. I think I will go to bed and hope for another productive day tomorrow.
Thanks for reading along with me. Oh, by the way, I passed my 10 month anniversary for being on GAPS on the 6th. It is so hard to believe that it's been almost one year. Amazing. That's a very long time for me to stay committed to anything.
Good night for now.
I like peanut butter and apples also. As far as the weight loss that’s an on going battle. The best pain relief cream I’ve found for arthritis is Australian Dream. It doesn’t have any odor, not greasy, doesn’t stain clothes and doesn’t burn. It just woks.
Thanks for letting me post to your blog.
Ruth
Hi Ruth, I will definitely have to check into the Australian Dream. The glucosamine chondrotin seems to be helping a lot. In fact, I just got a new kind through my Azure Standard coop and it seems to be working better than the first two bottles I tried. Thanks for visiting and commenting!