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  • Day 188 – Back in the Trenches

    I think I am going through another healing phase. I am tired and need to get to bed. Thing is, I slept soundly last night, and took a three hour nap today. But I’m still tired. I was tired all week long in fact. I also had some brain fog going on at work, and was losing words.

    I’m not too worried, I expect healing to be in spurts with some steps going backwards and then forwards.

    I don’t know if it was just that the week was more stressful than usual? Or maybe I am having some die off since I’ve been off fruit for several weeks now.

    The whole candida thing for me is confusing, since for many years I was plagued with yeast infections so I just assumed I had candida. Then about three months BEFORE I started on GAPS, the yeast infections stopped and I have never had another one. I took the comprehensive questionaire and scored really low. So I just don’t know. Do I have candida and it is dying off and causing me to have brain fog now?

    I had a dentist appointment this week, I can’t remember if it was on Tuesday or Wednesday, that’s how tired I feel right now. I do remember that my last dentist appointment I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown because I had to get a small surface filling done.

    Part of why I could have been stressing out so bad at that last visit is because I’m scared to go against conventional advice from doctors and dentists, which is why it’s easier for me to just avoid going to them as much as possible. I was trying to be strong and if it was a filling, I was hoping to heal it by eating the “right” foods. Back then however, I was not on GAPS, and so it was futile to even attempt to heal a cavity.

    I just remember how nervous I was, how anxious I felt, how I felt like I was literally shaking in the chair, and how I sobbed after I left the dentist’s office because I was so upset at myself for letting him give me a tiny surface filling that I could have maybe healed. I felt like a failure.

    But not this week. I was calm and not nervous at all. I am sure this is because of being on GAPS.

    Now yesterday at work I did have a little spell where I got worked up about something annoying that I was being forced to do a certain way by one of our contract holders. We had the thing worked out and they were being nitpicky and I got a little annoyed. I also was feeling badly because I complimented the one gal that has helped me for the last three years (via email) only to find out that she had been “talked” to by her supervisor and told she wasn’t supposed to answer questions for us any longer! Then I felt like I’d gotten her in trouble.

    I finally ended up taking a Kava Kava because everything was getting on my nerves down to one of our young women clients dressing inappropriately and our building isn’t in the best part of town. Everything was bothering me, and I was really tired.

    My boss has been going through some terrible pain and she’s not sure if it is arthritis in her hips, her kidneys, another kidney stone or what. She was in so much pain yesterday that she broke down and cried at her desk when I asked her if I could help her get her stuff to her car so she could go home early.

    So maybe that was bothering me too. And my mom got stung by a scorpion for the second time in a week which was making her feet and hands numb. Maybe that was worrying me, too.

    So today I just decided to take it real easy and when I laid down for a nap I ended up sleeping three indulgently lovely hours. It is unusual for me to be so tired again so early in the evening having taken a nap, but like I said maybe this is another healing phase and I’m going to get myself to bed and thank God I’m able to sleep peacefully.

    Sorry for the disjointed, jumbled post, I hope I make some sense!

    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.

  • Chicken Stir Fry

    Chicken Stir Fry

    I got home from work today to find that no one had removed any meat from the freezer for dinner. Since we don’t have a microwave and it was already almost 5pm I was at a loss of what to make. Fortunately I did find one package of chicken breast thawed in the refrigerator.

    I realized I also had plenty of vegetables on hand, so I set about to make stir fry. It really turned out very delicious. I’ve been hungry for several days it seems, never satisfied for longer than a couple hours at a time and this really hit the spot.

    • 2 pounds chicken breast, trimmed and cubed
    • 2 celery ribs, sliced thinly
    • 2 carrot, peeled and sliced thinly
    • 8 mushrooms, sliced thinly
    • 1 small (about the size of a softball) head cabbage, quartered, cored and sliced thinly
    • 1 large zucchini, sliced in half down the middle, then sliced thinly
    • 1/3 small cauliflower, chopped
    • virgin coconut oil [affiliate link]

    First I trimmed and cubed the chicken (you don’t have to use breast, or chicken for that matter). I heated my large cast iron skillet, added 2-3 tablespoons coconut oil and then the chicken. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

    While the chicken is cooking on medium heat, slice the celery and carrots. Be sure to keep stirring the chicken so it doesn’t stick or burn. When the chicken is done, remove from the skillet. Add 2 tablespoons coconut oil, allow to heat momentarily and add the celery and carrots. Add more coconut oil if needed or desired. Keep a close eye on the vegetables, stirring every couple of minutes, and slice the cabbage thinly.

    When the carrots and celery have turned bright and are no longer crisp (but still firm), remove from skillet. I used a large bowl to dump all the vegetables in as each batch finished cooking.

    Cook the cabbage in four separate batches, each time adding 1 or more tablespoons of coconut oil to the skillet first, heat momentarily, then add the vegetable and stir.

    The mushrooms will absorb a lot of oil, so add some water to the skillet once you get them in the pan.

    When all the vegetables are done and removed from the skillet, mix them together. You can add the chicken and mix, or if you want to give each person their own portion of chicken you can add to the top of the vegetables (like a garnish).

    All of the vegetables were just barely cooked, some of them were still just a tad crunchy. My husband loves vegetables this way, I think he’ll like what I’ve made for dinner tonight.

    Chicken Stir Fry
    Chicken Stir Fry

     

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    Recipe: Chicken Stir Fry
    Author: 
    Recipe type: Main Dish
    Prep time: 
    Cook time: 
    Total time: 
     
    A quick and easy maindish.
    Ingredients
    • 2 pounds chicken breast, trimmed and cubed
    • 2 celery ribs, sliced thinly
    • 2 carrot, peeled and sliced thinly
    • 8 mushrooms, sliced thinly
    • 1 small (about the size of a softball) head cabbage, quartered, cored and sliced thinly
    • 1 large zucchini, sliced in half down the middle, then sliced thinly
    • ⅓ small cauliflower, chopped
    • virgin coconut oil
    Instructions
    1. Trim and cube chicken.
    2. Saute chicken in 2-3 tbsp of coconut oil.
    3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
    4. While the chicken is cooking on medium heat, slice the celery and carrots.
    5. Be sure to keep stirring the chicken so it doesn’t stick or burn.
    6. When the chicken is done, remove from the skillet.
    7. Add 2 tablespoons coconut oil, allow to heat momentarily and add the celery and carrots.
    8. Add more coconut oil if needed or desired.
    9. Keep a close eye on the vegetables, stirring every couple of minutes, and slice the cabbage thinly.
    10. When the carrots and celery have turned bright and are no longer crisp (but still firm), remove from skillet.
    11. Cook the cabbage in four separate batches, each time adding 1 or more tablespoons of coconut oil to the skillet first, heat momentarily, then add the vegetable and stir.
    12. The mushrooms will absorb a lot of oil, so add some water to the skillet once you get them in the pan.
    13. When all the vegetables are done and removed from the skillet, mix them together.
    14. You can add the chicken and mix, or if you want to give each person their own portion of chicken you can add to the top of the vegetables (like a garnish).
    Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

    If you love recipes like this, I have two cookbooks you really need to check out ASAP! Beyond Grain and Dairy for gluten-free recipes and Winter Soups.

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    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.

  • Day 186 – GAPS: Mother of All Diets?

    If you’re looking for a great article to pass on to friends and family who want to know more about GAPS, or you just want to know more yourself- check out this great post at Sustain Living: The GAPS Diet – The Mother of All Diets?

    I am posting early in the morning since my husband nudged me towards the computer to pull him a map. I thought I’d share this gem with you while getting that.

    Love to all,
    Starlene


    Later in the day…
    It’s almost 6pm. Almost time for bed. I thought I’d pop in for a couple of minutes for an update on how things are going.

    My brain fog was back today, it was hard to concentrate. I sometimes wonder if it’s all my head (no pun intended) because my boss asked me for a certain kind of report and I had to wrack my brain trying to figure out if I could get it for her. She is still running our accounting in her manual, old-fashioned ledgers side-by-side with me on the electronic system. There’s really no point in her creating a huge spreadsheet of handwritten data if I can produce it with the program…but anyway, I kept getting dead ends on what I was looking for. Maybe that is why my brain fogged out.

    It could be die off. I have been off fruit, winter squash and honey [affiliate link] for a few weeks, maybe a month so far. My mom told me today she is going to start reading GAPS Guide (I thought she already was reading it?) and try to start making some changes in her diet.

    I am tired. But I have been up since 3am. Don’t you think it is normal to be tired after being up for 16 hours, having gotten seven hours sleep the previous night?

    I am in the middle of cooking dinner, so I should tend to it.

    Yours Truly,
    Starlene

    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.

  • Day 183 – My Six Month Anniversary on GAPS

    I am amazed to be at six months on the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet.

    I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate the occasion by sharing the healing I have seen by embarking on this journey thus far. I expect to see more good results as time goes by and it seems impossible to ever return to eating the way I used to eat.

    1. Foot Pain – My severe foot pain completely subsided.
    2. Stiff Back – My back used to stiffen once I’d been in bed seven hours at night and I would have to get up whether I’d had enough sleep or not. The stiffness would take from half an hour to a couple hours to finally relax. Now I can sleep comfortably for up to nine hours, and after that many hours my back does feel a little stiff, but that goes away within minutes of getting out of bed and into an upright position.
    3. Sleeping Better – I used to experience insomnia occasionally and I had connected it to hunger/blood sugar drop. I am finding when I eat too many carbs (winter squashes/fruit) in the evening I will experience insomnia. I am sleeping much better, I wake feeling more rested.
    4. Brain Fog – Prior to GAPS it was an every day thing to feel like I couldn’t think clearly. I sometimes still experience this, but not every day all the time like before GAPS. The world just seems brighter.
    5. Lost Words – Prior to GAPS I had noticed that I would have trouble speaking because the words would evade me. I’d have to think really hard to find the word I was trying to say. I am experiencing this occasionally, usually when I haven’t gotten enough sleep.
    6. Concentration – I’m able to concentrate much better at work and am actually getting caught up. For a while there I was starting to think I must have ADD.
    7. Depression – The mild depression I was experiencing in the past few years has pretty much disappeared. I had a feeling much of the time (pre-GAPS) that life was lackluster, that I never felt like smiling. I felt miserable a lot, I muttered under my breath this phrase quite often, “I hate my life, I hate my life.” I’m not doing that anymore! My mood in general is much more stable.
    8. Anxiety – Pre-GAPS I had started to take Kava-Kava regularly, sometimes one capsule daily. I bought three bottles from Amazon because it was the best price and I figured I’d be using it for the rest of my life, so why not stock up? I’d gone through one bottle and most of another when I started GAPS. I had had one anxiety attack, and most days I would be filled with fear, anxiety and stress. My life is just as stressful as it ever was, but the feelings of anxiety have disappeared. I have only had to take Kava Kava 3 or 4 times since I started GAPS.
    9. Hurting Hands –  My hands used to hurt, like when I’d try to open a small lidded bottle. That is not happening at all.
    10. Wrists Hurting – my wrists used to ache when I was driving, like the weight of my arms hanging on my hands would make my wrists ache. That is no longer happening. I used to have a bit of carpal tunnel pain on occasion, but that has stopped as well.
    11. Dropping Things – Before starting on GAPS, sometimes – in the last few years – I would be really clumsy. I would reach for something and it would drop from my hands. That has stopped.
    12. Eye Matter – All my life I had strings of eye matter coming from my eyes. I would always have to wash my face upon waking and then through the day my vision would sometimes get blurry because the eye matter would sometimes be in the way of my iris. I rarely experience that excessive eye matter and there is much less dried matter on my eyes upon waking in the morning.
    13. Marital Relations – I was sad that this area of my life seemed to be dying. That has changed since GAPS.
    14. Strength and Stamina – I can work in my garden, shovel dirt, pull weeds, and I’m able to do what needs to be done! Before GAPS I was having to sit down every few minutes to rest.
    15. Energy Levels – Before GAPS I was just worn out with no energy. I still don’t have tons of energy, but for example two days ago (Day 181) I cleaned my bedroom and spent seven straight hours working on decluttering, going through boxes, sorting, repacking, taking bags of stuff to donate outside. This is a great improvement.
    16. Fatigue – Before GAPS I was tired almost all the time. This resolved shortly after the back stiffening stopped because I was able to get more sleep at night.
    17. Constipation – In the last couple of years I was experiencing constipation and that has resolved on GAPS (once I re-learned my bathroom habits, many thanks to the Fiber Menace website and the book Fiber Menace: The Truth About the Leading Role of Fiber in Diet Failure, Constipation, Hemorrhoids, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and Colon Cancer*.
    18. Allergies and Asthma – I have been much less affected by seasonal allergies this year, and I am using two puffs of my asthma medication every other day. I tried to go off my medication altogether after being on GAPS only a few weeks but failed and had to go back on. I am hoping to continue cutting down slowly.
    19. Appetite Decreased – I am able to eat less food. I tried for over a decade to cut down on my portions, or at least stop going back for fourths. I believe it was the carbohydrates that caused me to overeat. I am finding when I eat fruit now it makes me more hungry, same thing when I eat vegetables high in carbs, like butternut squash or carrots.
    20. No Longer Overeating – I used to overeat at every dinner meal, prior to GAPS. I tried to stop eating as much food, but most of the time my stomach would ache from having eaten too much. I would ask myself why was I punishing myself and overeating. I felt compelled – driven – to overeat. Not since I’ve been on GAPS.
    21. Skin Tags – These disgusting things seem to be disappearing. I had several where my bra goes around my rib cage and they are gone. I had some on my neck and they seem to be shrinking.
    22. Road Rage – Okay, not specifically on the road, but in dealing with people in general. I used to get really frustrated but I’m much more mellow.
    23. Blood Sugar Leveled Out – I used to have blood sugar spikes and drops. Although I have not been diagnosed with hypoglycemia, my mother has and I have many of the symptoms. Before starting GAPS I would have low blood sugar drops and feel really tired, or I’d get cranky and irritable. It is really nice to be able to eat fruit and not have to worry about feeling drugged afterward (although I have found the fruit makes me hungrier and so I eat more and also makes me tired the next day).
    24. Hot Flashes – Before starting GAPS I’d started to have hot flashes. I have had none in six months.
    25. Weight Loss – I did not weigh myself prior to starting GAPS and when I did weigh myself a couple of weeks after getting started, I was at 232. On June 1st I was at 200. So I have lost a total of 32 pounds and four dress sizes (20 down to 16).
    26. Bloated Stomach – my stomach has really flattened since I’ve been on GAPS. I learned at Fiber Menace it was very likely the fiber which caused my bloating and protruding stomach. I have always disliked how my stomach pooched out even when I was slender as a young woman. Now I have a layer of soft padding on my stomach, but I can feel underneath the padding that my stomach is pretty flat.
    27. Swollen Ankles and Fingers – at my last visit to a primary care physician, the woman doctor who was about my age asked me if I ankles were ever swollen. I said they did sometimes and asked her why. She said it was because “we’re” getting old and the blood can’t make it back up so it causes edema. Well, Lady Doctor, you were wrong. It was eating crappy food that did it, because since I started GAPS, my ankles have not been swollen even one time and my rings are loose on my fingers and used to occasionally be very tight.
    28. Lower Back Pain – my lower back used to hurt whenever I had to be on my feet too long. Like while standing at the sink washing dishes, or working in the garden. Not anymore!

    Okay, I guess that’s all I can think of for now.

    I am looking forward to seeing continued healing in the next six months.

    If you don’t want to miss any of my updates, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed or by email to get updates directly to your inbox.

    Until we meet again,

    Starlene

    *Amazon Affiliate Link

    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.

  • Day 179 – Fighting the Garden Thieves

    Quick update tonight. Breakfast was chicken soup. Delicious way to get my broth in the morning. Lunch while at work was leftover faux-tatoes, a small hunk of roast, gravy, a bit of spinach, and a cucumber-tomato salad, also leftover from last night.

    I brought enough faux-tatoes and gravy so my boss could try some. She loved the gravy, even though she said she had misgivings when I told her it had not only zucchini, but cauliflower in it, along with the beef broth and onion. I also shared my faux-tatoes with another coworker. She had a few tastes cold and said it was amazingly like mashed potatoes. She embarked on a diet plan herself this last weekend. Alas, not GAPS. Maybe one day.

    This morning hubby and I got ES to step on the scale. He has lost seven pounds in the last month. That was a relief to see.

    The creature(s) ravaging my garden will not stop. I had my hubby help me put up corrogated metal around the perimeter of the garden on Friday, but every single day there is more destruction of the squash plants. One poor squash is actually still growing, in spite of being half eaten. Not the plant, but the actual squash vegetable.

    I had to water today, so I was out in the garden and realized what is happening is our dogs are chasing the critters into my garden, and the critters think they are in the Garden of Eden! Lots of delicious food to eat inside the garden and a big plus, the dogs can’t get at them while they dine!

    The dogs meanwhile, have been digging the hard dirt like mad, trying to get into the garden, making an even bigger entryway for the critters to enter my garden. The critters are no doubt able to squeeze through minuscule holes since their lives are in danger of being caught so they are even more desperate to find refuge in my garden (is refuge the right word, I’m tired).

    So I had to remove two panels of metal and reattach them. I will no doubt have a huge bruise on my shin tomorrow for I had to pound one metal sheet with a hammer to dislodge it, of course as my luck would have it, I had just put that nail in to my satisfaction, only to realize I had no choice but to remove the metal panel and start all over. I pounded the nail in so hard that there was no way to get the claw of the hammer underneath it, so I had to go from the other side and bang it and then it flew loose and right into my shin.

    It was hot and I was fuming. I even cried for a few minutes.

    At work I am getting lots of attention and compliments and everyone assumes I’m feeling so much better because EVERYONE feels better when they lose weight. I try to explain I am doing this to heal my digestive system but they don’t just don’t get it. One coworker did ask for the websites because she has two friends who have Crohn’s Disease. So that was nice of her.

    We are having a thread on the list about how some people have gained weight and it is scary to most, and also scares me.

    I was reading some more over at Fiber Menace and the author’s opinion seems to be that if we wish to lose fat, we need no additional fat other than say cod liver oil and fish oil. That scares me! I have been on a low fat diet and I was a mess, starving all the time!

    My plan for June is to stay off the fruit as I have been, and try to keep my nut consumption to a real minimum. I would like to make a baked almond good at least once this month. I think I will also work at cutting down on my portions. Since I am now not eating addictive foods, I think I will try again to work on eating consciously and possibly eating less. Have you ever heard that our stomach is only about the size of our closed fist and we should not eat more than that much food at one time? I eat more than that, even though I do use a smaller plate. It is about 8 inches in diameter. Before GAPS, I would go back for seconds, thirds and fourths. Now I am often satisfied with the one serving.

    Okay, I’m tired now after working on the garden for about two hours. Thankfully hubby made dinner and so I had a hamburger patty and a small avocado for dinner and now I’m going to bed.

    Starlene

    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.

  • Baked Butternut Squash Fries

    Baked Butternut Squash Fries

    Baked Butternut Squash Fries

    I have lots to update about my GAPS journey, so I’m going to share the recipe first!

    Baked Butternut Squash Fries

    Please be careful peeling and cutting butternut squash – here is a post I wrote, complete with video on how to Safely Cut and Peel Butternut Squash.

    • 1 butternut squash, peeled and sliced into long sticks
    • Coconut Oil [affiliate link]
    1. Peel butternut squash.
    2. Cut into long strips.
    3. Lay out on a cookie sheet.
    4. Preheat oven to 425°F.
    5. Using your fingers, slather coconut oil onto the squa.s
    6. Place in the oven and bake 40 minutes or until fork tender.
    7. You may turn on the broiler and place the pan under the broiler for additional browning of the fries.

    5.0 from 1 reviews
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    Baked Butternut Squash Fries
    Author: 
    Recipe type: Side Dish
    Cuisine: Great substitute for french fries
    Prep time: 
    Cook time: 
    Total time: 
    Serves: 4 servings
     
    Use butternut squash to make GAPS-Friendly french fries without the potatoes!
    Ingredients
    • 1 butternut squash
    • ¼ cup coconut oil
    Instructions
    1. Peel butternut squash.
    2. Cut into long strips.
    3. Lay out on a cookie sheet.
    4. Preheat oven to 425°F
    5. Use your fingers to slather coconut oil onto all the squash pieces.
    6. Place in the oven and bake 40 minutes or until fork tender.
    7. You may turn on the broiler and place the pan under the broiler for additional browning of the fries.
    Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

    Well, today is day 178. I have been weighing myself once a month and I decided to weigh myself on the first day of the month. On May 1st, I weighed 203.6 pounds. Today I weigh 200.6 pounds. So I have lost 3 pounds. I honest had hoped to see 199, but that is okay. Once again, Starlene dear, this is NOT about weight loss. Think of all the improvements you have seen since beginning GAPS.

    I did not weigh myself before starting GAPS, but I did have my son look at the scale a couple of weeks in and he says I was at 232 pounds. So I have lost nearly 32 pounds.

    My husband stepped on the scale and he has lost ten pounds! He also remembered, when a commercial came on the television that he has not had acid reflux in the middle of the night in months! This is wonderful news. I remember how he would wake up choking. He said it would come up into his nose sometimes.

    Sunday will be my six month anniversary of starting on GAPS.

    For the last couple of days I had been hankering for a “special treat”. I really was tempted to make some kind of cupcakes with almond flour [affiliate link], but I also want to wait until after the first as I figure the extra calories would affect my weight loss. My plan is to stay off fruit again this month, now that I’m finally broke free of eating them, and I’m also going to limit nuts and almond flour products.

    Last night, I decided I should probably use the butternut squash that’s been on the counter for the last week to ten days. One of the ladies on the Yahoo GAPS group I’m on talked about butternut squash fries and they sounded so yummy, I just had to give them a try. Here’s the before picture.

    Butternut Squash Fries
    Butternut Squash Fries

    They were FABULOUS. OH my goodness. I just squished coconut oil onto the fries with my fingers, then spread them out. I baked them at 425°F for 20 minutes on one side and turned them to the other side for another 20 minutes. I wanted to save some for ES, but I ended up scarfing them down all by myself.

    I have written before about my bouts of insomnia. They were not too frequent, but I realized this morning since beginning GAPS I have been sleeping VERY well. And in the last couple of weeks I have even woke up hungry a couple of times and been able to go right back to bed and fall to sleep easily! This is huge! This has not been possible for me to do since before becoming pregnant! Every since having a pregnant body, if I awoke hungry in the middle of the night, I had to feed myself, or I would just lay there awake.

    I am finding though, that eating foods that are higher in carbohydrates causes me to have insomnia.

    Last night I experienced it again, after scarfing down the butternut squash fries. On Day 29 I also ate more than a fair share of butternut squash and was awake throughout the night.

    That tells me I should avoid foods high in carbs at dinner because it affects my sleep.

    I also have a tooth that has become sensitive to cold and heat. Bummer. It is in the area of the molar which my dentist has wanted to crown for the past 3 or 4 years, but I keep chickening out. I may have waited too long. I hate the dilemma of having dental work done.

    Today I had chicken soup for breakfast, a few raw cashews on the way to work. An avocado a couple hours after arriving at work. At lunch there was a crisis. The health inspector arrived to inspect our kitchen! It’s always a stressful time for my boss and I didn’t want to be in the kitchen heating up my soup with my own little saucepan, so I made do with half a cucumber and a tomato with olive oil and raw apple cider vinegar. On the way home from work I had another tablespoon or two of raw cashews.

    Hubby made roast for dinner, and I steamed cauliflower to make Faux-tatoes, used some of the beef broth (with cauliflower, shredded zucchini and a whole cooked onion blended) to make gravy.

    I also cooked the organic spinach I managed to score from the farmer’s market last Tuesday. There was barely a pound.

    I am tired and must go to bed now. We switched milking to mornings, so now I must be up at 3:30.

    One thing I have always tried to do when I have to get up that early. We are fortunate to live in an area that is still relatively dark at night, so we have the opportunity to see thousands of stars, and many nights the Milky Way is very visible. The moon was very bright this morning. I always try to look at being out that early as how lucky I am to see the beautiful moon and stars. And the weather is perfect right now. Perfect. Not too cold, not warm at all.

    One more thing. I found Ellen’s site I am Gluten-Free – she began her gluten free lifestyle having been diagnosed with Alopecia. ES was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata (basically baldness on the head) at the age of 2.5. He began the cycle of losing his hair and it would come back, a little less hair each year. We were told all those years ago (1989) that there was nothing to be done. Poor boy, to this day he thinks I cut his hair and snatched him bald-headed. He giggles when I cut his father’s hair or his brother’s hair because he thinks I might take their hair, too. Some days he gets really upset at me for taking his hair. I think it has been gone too long, but I learned at Ellen’s site that Alopecia is an auto-immune disease. Which is something GAPS is known for addressing and possibly healing. I doubt that his hair will ever grow back, but I feel sure we are on the right track with GAPS.

    How is your GAPS journey?

    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.