So each day my hands get better and better. I can pick things up with my fingers, I can open jars. I can turn on the water faucets outside and water the animals without pain. Tonight when I watered the pullets I was able to pick up their waterer and take it to the other pen and carry it back full without pain. It's lovely to not have pain. There were so many things that were hard to do with my hands when they were hurting.

I'm pretty sure it was the Vitamin C… once again, I did two things at once… tapered down and off the Vitamin C, and started Intro. So… it could be that I have been eating nothing allergenic, but I suspect strongly that it was the Vitamin C. Especially since my hands started getting better the less Vitamin C that I took each day.

I have to say I feel really stupid. I feel like I made a huge mistake by taking so much Vitamin C, and causing myself all that pain. What if I had gone to a doctor? I probably would have been diagnosed with arthritis and what if I was someone who wants medicine for any little problem? I'd be on medication, when all I had to do was get off the Vitamin C.

My hands aren't 100% perfect. I wonder if they will continue to get better every day? Maybe I do have arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome but it's really mild.

Anyway, I guess when you take too much Vitamin C it too can cause inflammation.

I am kind of failing at doing Intro again. I had broth and chicken and cooked vegetables for the first and second days. On Wednesday I worked until 6pm and didn't get home until 7:30pm. Lunch was at 12:30 earlier in they day. I was able to make it home and I ended up eating lima beans, and I'm not sure which stage beans are allowed on. Then on Thursday night I went to Costco and had to do some shopping for my job and also bought my son some salami, one of my favorite things from Costco. I didn't get home until about 6:30pm, was very hungry when I got home with no options of anything to eat right away and I ended up eating about ten slices of the salami. It contains nitrates. I also bought avocados, forgetting that I was a couple of stages from having them, and figured since I'd eaten the salami, may as well indulge in an avocado. I did find some sausage to buy that says it has no MSG, no gluten and no nitrates. Aidell's is the brand, and it was the chicken and apple version. Okay, this is going to drive me crazy. I just looked at the website for this product, and the ingredient list says nitrates.

Then tonight I made stir fry with pork and vegetables, and… I'm pretty sure this is an advanced stage of Introduction, too.

So… maybe I did stage one Intro for two days. Agh. My main intent though was to move back to simpler foods to see if I could get my hands to stop hurting. Maybe it wasn't even necessary. Something worked.

I need to put together a new batch of sauerkraut, my last batch is just about gone.

I'm feeling pretty good overall. The other night I needed to trim my toenails and I was reminded of how one of the first things I noticed when going on GAPS was that I could easily bend over at the waist while seated at my desk and reach down to get something on the floor. Before GAPS, I remember any time I bent over it would feel as if my lungs were being pressed into to the point where it was hard to breathe.

I've stopped telling people about GAPS. I feel like no one wants to hear about it. They aren't willing to give up any foods. I can only say it is so worth it. I wish I had known this a decade ago.

Would you ever do GAPS?