GAPS Diet Bucket List

I’m planning on starting a modified GAPS introduction diet on Saturday. I say modified because I’ll be doing the broths and soups and mushy veggies, but I’m also going to include freshly squeezed fruit + vegetable juices right away, and probably bananas after a week or so. I’m not interested in going basically low to zero carb for a month, or even a few weeks. And being some people skip the intro altogether and go straight to the full GAPS diet, I’m customizing this to my needs and tolerance level. Everyone is different.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say my daily IBS symptoms are about a 6.5 or 7, with a few 8 and 9 level episodes. I’d consider 10 to be the need for hospitalization or emergency medical care; bleeding, projectile vomiting, uncontrolled weight loss, skin rashes, and many other severe symptoms. I’m between a 6-7 because I can pretty much manage my symptoms despite being achy and bloated. They are just inconvenient and uncomfortable and frustrating.

The good news is I have kicked my Advil usage during Aunt Flo’s visits. I have gone two of her visits in a row without ANY painkillers. It hasn’t made any noticeable differences, but I’m sure it helps. Advil is very harsh on the stomach, and boy oh boy, I’d eat them like candy during her visits—but only during her visits, never in between. When I’d take them on an empty stomach I’d get pains so sharp in my stomach that they could take my breath away. That couldn’t have been good. So now I endure the extra aches and pains that come with her and wait for it to pass. Heat compression helps. As does intermittent fasting. Less pressure from the digestive system means less pressure on the girly parts which helps ease the pains.

Eventually I’m going to introduce some homemade yogurt into my diet. So I bought this cute little Euro Cuisine yogurt maker on Amazon. My mom said they had one that looked just like it when I was a baby! She said it’s so easy to make it, too.

I also bought two more Hamilton Beach 6-quart crockpots because I’m going to have bone stocks and soups cooking 24/7 for the next month!

So about that GAPS bucket list…

My food is about to get very predictable for the next few weeks: Soup, juice, broth, soup, juice, broth, maybe a banana!, broth, broth, juice, etc. etc. I’m still gluten-free since August 5th, but have been enjoying dairy again, mainly from raw milk cheese. There haven’t been any improvements in my symptoms, but hopefully they will come once I implement GAPS.

I’m going to be missing a lot of my favorite foods, so I’m enjoying whatever I want this week, in moderation of course. I’m still sticking to gluten-free. Gluten-free is easy, man! Look at these goodies:

I’ve been craving chocolate cake for the longest time and FINALLY made one yesterday. And it didn’t disappoint! It turned out beautifully! But that’s coming in my next post.

Dustin has been wanting me to make Chex “Puppy Chow” for years now. I don’t know why it took me so long, maybe because I’ve never had it and didn’t know its amazingness? Probably.

To his delight, I finally made peanut buttery, chocolaty Muddy Buddies aka Puppy Chow yesterday!

It’s ridiculously easy to make! It took like 10 minutes??

I had a handful of them to satisfy my curiosity (and sweet tooth). They’re SO GOOD! Like a crunchy Reese’s peanut butter cup. The rest of the batch is sitting in a huge plastic food-storage bag on Dustin’s desk. He’s happy.

I have more recipes coming this week that I’ll be crossing off of my GAPS diet bucket list.

Today, my focus has been on the fiasco in Florida. To all my homeys in Tampa, may the Cosmos be with you. Thank you for fighting.

Going to plan something to eat and then take a shower.

Tagged as: bucket lists, Chex, diets, GAPS, Muddy Buddies, Puppy Chow, snacks, sweets, treats