So yesterday was Day 1 of this round of intro. I did a kind of maybe sorta intro in January, but once I figured out that the pain in my hands was being caused by the Vitamin C I was taking I lost interest in doing intro again. So this is officially my second round of intro, the first being in March 2010.
Yesterday I cooked two chickens, and I bravely blended up the “soft bits” again like Dr. Natasha says to do in her book and on her site. I wasn't very hungry yesterday. I had some cooked carrots with butter, and then I cooked two zucchini squash (sliced) in some of the broth. I had boiled chicken with the zucchini. It was pretty good.
I split up the stock and with about eight cups made soup with zucchini squash, onion, mushrooms, carrots, green beans, and peas. (I also added celery and cabbage, which now in reading over Dr. Natasha's prescription for intro says to avoid fibrous vegetables like cabbage and celery. Oops.)
Only I wasn't hungry for dinner. Which is kind of odd for me as I usually have a good appetite. On the other hand, when I don't eat enough in the evening, I am usually awakened in the middle of the night with insomnia. I don't necessarily feel hungry, but on the nights that I get up and do something, instead of lying in bed trying to sleep, within an hour or two of waking up finally I will feel ravenous. So I've come to assume if I wake up in the middle of the night, it's a blood sugar issue and I can often get back to sleep rather quickly if I just get up and eat something.
But not this time. I mean to say, I didn't wake up during the night.
It makes me wonder if I'm super sensitive to carbohydrates… although carrots are high in carbohydrates. Again, what I mean is doing intro is rather low carb. So is it because I'm not getting carbs that I slept well, even though I didn't eat much yesterday? In spite of not eating much I did “go” this morning, and was kind of surprised to see undigested carrots. That is not usual for me. Dr. Natasha does address this question at the FAQ at her site:
Question: After 2 years on GAPS I still have undigested vegetables in my stool and they take about 3 days to go through my digestive tract. I keep reading that any undigested food feeds pathogens and fungi. Is this true and if so, should I just cook the veggies in my broth and then strain them out? I assume after cooking the veggies for 35-40 minutes all the nutrients are in the broth anyhow?
NCM Answer: It is normal to see some undigested vegetables in your stool, particularly if they were eaten raw and not chewed very well. It is also quite normal for them to take three days to get through your digestive tract. They do not feed microbes any more than any other food would do. Raw vegetables are important to eat, as they provide active enzymes and other nutrients, which are destroyed by cooking. Providing that you have no diarrhoea, you do not have to cook all your vegetables. Indeed, when you boil vegetables, a lot of nutrients from them finish up in the water. That is why it is best to eat boiled vegetables as a soup with the broth you cooked them in, so no nutrients are wasted.
She answers it slightly differently at the FAQ at the GAPS Diet site:
Question: If GAPS patients see undigested food in their stool, should the undigested food be avoided?
NCM Answer: Not necessarily. There are many foods which go through most of us undigested, such as sweet corn, for example. If there are symptoms, such as abdominal pain, flatulence, etc. as well as undigested food in the stool, then it may be sensible to remove it for a while and see if that helps.
So I am not sure what is going on with this time doing intro (that I would see undigested foods). I'm not really feeling any symptoms of die off, although I feel very tired which is probably die off. I did go to bed as soon as I could last night, which was about 10pm and I slept pretty well and didn't get out of bed until 7am. I am glad I'm sleeping good.
My husband was able to get a load of water, so I will definitely take a detox bath sometime today or this evening.
I have been getting this vegetable box – up to 60 pounds for ten dollars. After my interview with Teri Ryan from Grain Free Foodies this morning, I took a trip into town to see about getting a vegetable box. Unfortunately the truck had broken down and they were unable to make it today. That's okay, I wasn't really looking forward to processing 60 pounds of vegetables.
Here's the awesome thing… 1) pre-GAPS I never would have had the nerve to even think about having a talk show and 2) I would have been wiped out from the stress of doing something like that. I remember thinking how it used to be for me when I would get stressed out. It would literally feel as if I was worn out and it would take me a few days to get back to normal.
Doing the talk show isn't that difficult. As I kept telling myself, it's like talking on the phone. It is a little bit stressful in that there is the expectation that I have to do this at a certain time. There is some time taken to prepare for the interview, and I know pre-GAPS my thoughts would have been consumed with every minute detail and every little “um” or mistake I could potentially make while doing the show. I find myself taking this more in stride.
And, I know for sure before GAPS, that doing a talk show would have had me waylaid for days. Today, I got up from my computer, ran in and got dressed and left to go get the vegetable box.
The vegetable box, which I fully expected to come home and spend the next 4-6 hours on my feet, processing. Peeling, chopping, blanching, bagging, putting in the dehydrator.
So even though I really don't feel like I have all that much energy, I do remember how it used to be, how I would have been. In comparison, I have quite a bit more energy. And for that I am grateful to GAPS.
On my way home I also came up with an idea for a new soup, which I'll share with you soon.
It's 3:30 here… a bit late to take a nap… although I do feel pretty tired. Maybe I will just go lie down for a little while.
UPDATE later in the day:
I decided to take a nap, but first I sat in a nice hot detox bath with Epsom salts. It rained today in normally sunny Arizona and it was chilly in our house. After my detox bath I felt even more tired, and decided to go ahead and take a nap. I slept until 6pm.
I have noticed one thing has changed for me in the past week… I was having pain in my right shoulder in the soft tissue area. I'd slacked off on broth in the last couple of months, and we are supposed to have it daily on GAPS. Shame, shame. But since I was going to do intro again, I made a pot of chicken soup on the 4th and I finally worked up my nerve and blended the “soft bits” from the chicken into the stock. I have had some of that each day since I made it, so basically have gotten back to having broth every day since April 4th.
That is probably why my shoulder has stopped hurting.
Okay, this is it for the night. I promise.