This diet is very confusing. After reading Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, I was even more confused on how to actually start the diet so I turned to PecanBread and used their "stages". I have since learned that there is a GAPS intro. I've been toying with the idea of going back and redoing the intro. What's stopping me? The kids! It's hard enough trying to come up with food that replaces what the typical American kid eats. If I redo the intro with them, there will be no more almond flour pancakes, no more brownies, no more cookies, no more uncured beef hot dogs (at least for a while). I'm just having a hard time thinking about taking it all a way.
I've come to the conclusion that I will redo the intro myself. I don't feel like I've progressed in the diet like I should. Sure, I know that I've detoxed some (black specks) but I've introduced foods to close together. Sometimes, I introduced more than one food at a time. I'm paying for it now. I have an unhappy tummy! I've been bloated with gas pains for the last few days and I'm not sure what is causing it. I have my suspicions but I can't really say for sure. When I stopped taking the EFA and CLO, I started to feel much better but it only lasted about a week. My suspicion is butter. I always had trouble with dairy before starting the diet so it would seem likely that's the culprit. Butter is supposed to be one of the firsts things to reintroduce too. I guess that means I need more healing so I'm definitely going to do the intro. I'll need a week or so to get prepared. Wish me luck!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Spaghetti
Ok, I'm over my anger. I just vented to Don. No, I didn't yell at him. I just told him what happened and he was very supportive. He even said he thinks my mom owes me an apology.
I wanted to blog about something else tonight but I got sidetracked. Tonight I made spaghetti using a spaghetti squash and homemade spaghetti sauce. I told Shawn it was a magic vegetable that made spaghetti noodles when you cooked it. I've been wanting to try this for a very long time. I saw it in one of my SCD cookbooks and then a few weeks later, my friend Andrea blogged about making spaghetti with a spaghetti squash and how much her children liked it. Every time I went to Publix, I looked for a spaghetti squash but none was to be found....until today. Results - at first, Shawn said he liked it but then he changed his mind and didn't want to eat it. I asked him what was wrong with it and he told me he didn't like how the noodles tasted. Since I hadn't tasted yet, I took a bite and I must say that it was very good! The only difference was the texture of the noodles not the taste. Shawn does have texture issues but I don't think he knows how to express it and just says he doesn't like the taste. I remembered I had a block of Parmesan cheese in its own grater so I asked Shawn if he would eat it if it had cheese on it. Of course he said yes (he loves cheese). He thought that the cheese grater was the coolest thing ever. He did eat the spaghetti and he didn't gag or throw up. I think it was only a texture problem for him and hopefully, he got over it. I definitely want to make this again. Joshua loved it! So all in all, I think we had another winner here.
I wanted to blog about something else tonight but I got sidetracked. Tonight I made spaghetti using a spaghetti squash and homemade spaghetti sauce. I told Shawn it was a magic vegetable that made spaghetti noodles when you cooked it. I've been wanting to try this for a very long time. I saw it in one of my SCD cookbooks and then a few weeks later, my friend Andrea blogged about making spaghetti with a spaghetti squash and how much her children liked it. Every time I went to Publix, I looked for a spaghetti squash but none was to be found....until today. Results - at first, Shawn said he liked it but then he changed his mind and didn't want to eat it. I asked him what was wrong with it and he told me he didn't like how the noodles tasted. Since I hadn't tasted yet, I took a bite and I must say that it was very good! The only difference was the texture of the noodles not the taste. Shawn does have texture issues but I don't think he knows how to express it and just says he doesn't like the taste. I remembered I had a block of Parmesan cheese in its own grater so I asked Shawn if he would eat it if it had cheese on it. Of course he said yes (he loves cheese). He thought that the cheese grater was the coolest thing ever. He did eat the spaghetti and he didn't gag or throw up. I think it was only a texture problem for him and hopefully, he got over it. I definitely want to make this again. Joshua loved it! So all in all, I think we had another winner here.
Angry right now!
I'm so angry with my mother right now. I'm hoping by blogging about it, I will calm down. I love my mother and we get along great, however, I don't feel like she supports this diet change at all.
Here's my analogy: a drug addict decides to get sober. He's having a particular bad day so he calls his sponsor. He's telling his sponsor he doesn't feel good and his sponsor tells him to smoke a joint; it will make him feel better. That's how I feel like when I'm talking to my mom.
It usually doesn't have anything to do with me telling her I'm not feeling well. In fact, I usually try to avoid the subject of the diet. She's usually the one that brings it up and she usually does it by asking a question. The question usually has something to do with when will we be done with the diet, or when can Shawn eat _(insert junk food here)___ again, do I think it's helping Shawn, etc.
Once, I did tell her I wasn't feeling well. I was in a funk. I still don't think I'm out of the funk yet but I'm definitely over the hill on the down slide to back to normal. Her suggestion was to eat some comfort food because it will make me feel better. I didn't say anything then. I just kept quiet. Every time we talk she slips in a comment that makes me feel I have to defend my reasons for being on the diet. Tonight, I just exploded and told her how I felt. She asked if after a year if Shawn would be healed. This may sound like a reasonable question but this isn't the first time she's asked it.
I told her everyone is different and I don't know when Shawn will be healed and she shouldn't need to worry about that. Quit asking me!!! I told her I didn't feel like she supports me with the diet (which she doesn't) but she got her feelings hurt and took it as I said she doesn't support me. She tried to turn it back around and told me she did support me but she was just being honest. She doesn't agree with me about this diet, blah, blah, blah. Duh, I know you don't agree with me. You make it known every time we talk about the diet. Hence the reason I said you don't support me with the diet.
I guess now I'm supposed to feel guilty because I upset her but I don't. I'm angry! I know she loves me but I still don't see why she's so concerned with the way we are eating. It's way more healthy then the Standard American Diet. It's only difficult because we are addicted to the bad food we've grown up with. Not all countries eat the way Americans do. Since I've started this diet I've become enlightened about our food system. It's scary stuff and I'm so glad I'm not feeding my kids that stuff anymore. She told me tonight the reason she wants us to quit the diet is because it's an inconvenience to her. What???? I'm the one doing all the cooking and researching. We're the ones spending all kinds of money on food because we can't buy the cheap processed foods anymore. I think that's what I'm so angry about is that she thinks it's an inconvenience to her. She complained that she couldn't have us over for dinner anymore or take her grandson out for pizza. First off, she could have us over for dinner. She just doesn't want to fool with cooking legal foods for us. It's not that difficult. We eat regular meat and veggies (just not out of cans or boxes). We just have to be careful of how it's cooked and what seasonings are used. I guess that's too much of an inconvenience for her. We've had them over for dinner quite a bit so it's not like we never eat dinner with each other and when ever they keep Shawn for the weekend (which has only been once since we've been on the diet) we send all his food with him. It's not like she has to be so inconvenienced to cook him "special" food. The only real inconvenience is that it forces them (when they are keeping him) to make him eat the food we send. They can't let him eat powdered doughnuts all day like they used to. Shawn doesn't usually eat willingly but he's gotten a lot better than in the beginning.
The lack of support makes me want to be a hermit. It's just easier than having to deal with other people thinking I'm a horrible parent because I'm making them eat healthy!
Here's my analogy: a drug addict decides to get sober. He's having a particular bad day so he calls his sponsor. He's telling his sponsor he doesn't feel good and his sponsor tells him to smoke a joint; it will make him feel better. That's how I feel like when I'm talking to my mom.
It usually doesn't have anything to do with me telling her I'm not feeling well. In fact, I usually try to avoid the subject of the diet. She's usually the one that brings it up and she usually does it by asking a question. The question usually has something to do with when will we be done with the diet, or when can Shawn eat _(insert junk food here)___ again, do I think it's helping Shawn, etc.
Once, I did tell her I wasn't feeling well. I was in a funk. I still don't think I'm out of the funk yet but I'm definitely over the hill on the down slide to back to normal. Her suggestion was to eat some comfort food because it will make me feel better. I didn't say anything then. I just kept quiet. Every time we talk she slips in a comment that makes me feel I have to defend my reasons for being on the diet. Tonight, I just exploded and told her how I felt. She asked if after a year if Shawn would be healed. This may sound like a reasonable question but this isn't the first time she's asked it.
I told her everyone is different and I don't know when Shawn will be healed and she shouldn't need to worry about that. Quit asking me!!! I told her I didn't feel like she supports me with the diet (which she doesn't) but she got her feelings hurt and took it as I said she doesn't support me. She tried to turn it back around and told me she did support me but she was just being honest. She doesn't agree with me about this diet, blah, blah, blah. Duh, I know you don't agree with me. You make it known every time we talk about the diet. Hence the reason I said you don't support me with the diet.
I guess now I'm supposed to feel guilty because I upset her but I don't. I'm angry! I know she loves me but I still don't see why she's so concerned with the way we are eating. It's way more healthy then the Standard American Diet. It's only difficult because we are addicted to the bad food we've grown up with. Not all countries eat the way Americans do. Since I've started this diet I've become enlightened about our food system. It's scary stuff and I'm so glad I'm not feeding my kids that stuff anymore. She told me tonight the reason she wants us to quit the diet is because it's an inconvenience to her. What???? I'm the one doing all the cooking and researching. We're the ones spending all kinds of money on food because we can't buy the cheap processed foods anymore. I think that's what I'm so angry about is that she thinks it's an inconvenience to her. She complained that she couldn't have us over for dinner anymore or take her grandson out for pizza. First off, she could have us over for dinner. She just doesn't want to fool with cooking legal foods for us. It's not that difficult. We eat regular meat and veggies (just not out of cans or boxes). We just have to be careful of how it's cooked and what seasonings are used. I guess that's too much of an inconvenience for her. We've had them over for dinner quite a bit so it's not like we never eat dinner with each other and when ever they keep Shawn for the weekend (which has only been once since we've been on the diet) we send all his food with him. It's not like she has to be so inconvenienced to cook him "special" food. The only real inconvenience is that it forces them (when they are keeping him) to make him eat the food we send. They can't let him eat powdered doughnuts all day like they used to. Shawn doesn't usually eat willingly but he's gotten a lot better than in the beginning.
The lack of support makes me want to be a hermit. It's just easier than having to deal with other people thinking I'm a horrible parent because I'm making them eat healthy!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Regression!!!
I'm not sure what happened but yesterday afternoon Shawn's behavior took a turn for the worse. He was in serious hyper mode along with being very disobedient and a little whiny. I stuck him in a bath with Epsom Salt around 4:45pm but it didn't really seem to help any. I'm hoping he was having some die-off!
I can't think of anything that he ate that would have caused it but I'm backing off on the cheese for a while at least until his behavior seems to have settled. I did notice that he pooped right after lunch and that's when his behavior starting getting worse. Maybe a connection? Who knows!
I can't think of anything that he ate that would have caused it but I'm backing off on the cheese for a while at least until his behavior seems to have settled. I did notice that he pooped right after lunch and that's when his behavior starting getting worse. Maybe a connection? Who knows!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Yummy!!!
The other day I had a bad craving for a Philly cheese steak sub. Don stopped at Publix and asked the butcher what kind of steak do they use for cheese steak subs. There were 3 types and I don't remember what the other two were but I do remember London Broil. So the next day I went to Publix and asked the butcher to slice up some London Broil for me. I don't know why I didn't think of this before! I put a few slices of London Broil in the food processor to chopped it up and then cooked it with green peppers, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and topped it off with some cheddar cheese. I didn't have the roll but it was still so yummy. It was definitely comfort food and I'll definitely be making this again!
Changing the subject, my parents came over on Saturday and we cooked out on the grill. I made Shawn eat the fish and chicken and although he thought it was "yucky", he still ate it without gagging or taking an hour to eat it.
Changing the subject, my parents came over on Saturday and we cooked out on the grill. I made Shawn eat the fish and chicken and although he thought it was "yucky", he still ate it without gagging or taking an hour to eat it.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
more improvements
We're still seeing a slow but steady progress in Shawn's eating habits. Last night I made some steak (the kind used for stir fry) only I don't have a wok so it was cooked in a pan. Don made him take a bite of it and he didn't gag or throw up. Victory!!! He said he didn't like it but he was able to eat it without chewing for 20 minutes on 1 bite. In light of this new discovery, I made him eat a little steak for dinner (along with other food that he likes). He was not happy about it but he ate it.
Tonight, I made Shawn eat some broccoli. Again, no gagging! He said he didn't like this either but I was able to get him to eat it. I'm starting to see a trend here. I feel as long as he's not gagging on the food or taking a really long time to chew something, he should be able to eat it. I'm going to start making him eat more "normal" food.
My bloating update...I think it was either the EFA or the Cod Liver Oil because I didn't take either of those last night and today I feel better. I'm still a little bloated but I'm not in so much pain as I was. I'm going to wait a few days to make sure and if everything is still good, I will take the EFA only to see if I have some sort of reaction. If I don't react to the EFA, then I'll reintroduce the Fermented CLO. I'm concerned about the EFA because the information on the website says that it may contain traces of soy or derivatives. Soy is not legal on this diet. I'm not sure why they are selling this product on the gapsdiet.com website. I would think this would be an illegal supplement. I've been giving it to Shawn and he hasn't been complaining about not feeling well. Well, we'll see.
Tonight, I made Shawn eat some broccoli. Again, no gagging! He said he didn't like this either but I was able to get him to eat it. I'm starting to see a trend here. I feel as long as he's not gagging on the food or taking a really long time to chew something, he should be able to eat it. I'm going to start making him eat more "normal" food.
My bloating update...I think it was either the EFA or the Cod Liver Oil because I didn't take either of those last night and today I feel better. I'm still a little bloated but I'm not in so much pain as I was. I'm going to wait a few days to make sure and if everything is still good, I will take the EFA only to see if I have some sort of reaction. If I don't react to the EFA, then I'll reintroduce the Fermented CLO. I'm concerned about the EFA because the information on the website says that it may contain traces of soy or derivatives. Soy is not legal on this diet. I'm not sure why they are selling this product on the gapsdiet.com website. I would think this would be an illegal supplement. I've been giving it to Shawn and he hasn't been complaining about not feeling well. Well, we'll see.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I wanna pop!
I've been miserable for the last two weeks. I hope it ends soon! I've been having some terrible bloating and gas pains since Friday. I'm not sure if it was something I ate or if it is the EFA or Fermented Cod Liver oil I started taking. I'm not sure if they can cause more die off or not but I had a lot of bloating in the beginning of the diet so I'm just going to press on and see if it gets better soon. I've also been trying to drink lots of water. I should probably take an Epsom Salt bath to see if that helps but I just don't have the time. I had a really good bowel movement yesterday and this morning so at least I'm not constipated along with the bloating and gas.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Ugh, the 3 month flare!
I'm pretty sure I've hit the three month flare. Actually didn't realize it until I read a post from someone else that described how I'm feeling and then it was like a light bulb going on in my head.
What is the 3 month flare you ask? Well, a majority of people that are doing SCD complain about reoccurring symptoms around 3 months. Now these symptoms can range to all sorts of things but in my case, the most prevalent one is probably depression. I've just got the I don't feel like doing anything blues, lol. It's pretty bad right now. So bad in fact that I know I'm not eating right. I just don't feel like making anything, thinking about making anything, buying ingredients to make something, etc. I've seriously thought about quitting this week. Mostly because I haven't seen the changes I wanted to from Shawn but in all honesty, he has improved.
We did cheat one night this week. I ordered pizza. It was right after I found out that Shawn did ok with the cheese at lunch time. I got to the point where I didn't have anything ready to feed them at dinner. Plus, I was really craving carbs which by the way is another symptom of the 3 month flare. Supposedly, because of the food we are eating, the bad bacteria doesn't have food to survive so it starts to die off. When it dies off, you get all kinds of reactions. When some of the bad bugs die, some of the stronger bad bugs take their place. At some other point in time, they will start to die off also and it usually takes place at regular intervals the first one being the 3 month flare. Now that I recognize it, I'm trying really hard to not let ourselves cheat again (that just feeds the bad bugs). I probably need to take an Epsom Salt bath to see if that helps. I just don't think about myself; I'm usually worrying about the kids and their reactions.
What is the 3 month flare you ask? Well, a majority of people that are doing SCD complain about reoccurring symptoms around 3 months. Now these symptoms can range to all sorts of things but in my case, the most prevalent one is probably depression. I've just got the I don't feel like doing anything blues, lol. It's pretty bad right now. So bad in fact that I know I'm not eating right. I just don't feel like making anything, thinking about making anything, buying ingredients to make something, etc. I've seriously thought about quitting this week. Mostly because I haven't seen the changes I wanted to from Shawn but in all honesty, he has improved.
We did cheat one night this week. I ordered pizza. It was right after I found out that Shawn did ok with the cheese at lunch time. I got to the point where I didn't have anything ready to feed them at dinner. Plus, I was really craving carbs which by the way is another symptom of the 3 month flare. Supposedly, because of the food we are eating, the bad bacteria doesn't have food to survive so it starts to die off. When it dies off, you get all kinds of reactions. When some of the bad bugs die, some of the stronger bad bugs take their place. At some other point in time, they will start to die off also and it usually takes place at regular intervals the first one being the 3 month flare. Now that I recognize it, I'm trying really hard to not let ourselves cheat again (that just feeds the bad bugs). I probably need to take an Epsom Salt bath to see if that helps. I just don't think about myself; I'm usually worrying about the kids and their reactions.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Miracle?
Shawn was fine yesterday after eating the cheese. I even gave him more at dinner (along with another digestive enzyme) and he did fine. I think this may be a small miracle, lol. I'm not going to give him cheese on a regular basis though because without the enzyme, he has a reaction. I'm assuming that his gut doesn't have enough healing to digest it on it's own so I'll only let him have it occasionally. Still, this is huge for him.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
It must have been the cookies or was it?
Shawn didn't eat any cookies on Sunday because we were out. He didn't even have a bowel movement yesterday. So I'm thinking it must have been the cookies but he now has a snotty nose so maybe it wasn't the cookies. It's so difficult trying to pinpoint these things. I'm going to make the cookies again in the next few days so we'll be able to tell if it's the cookies. He will have a limit on how many per day he can have though.
So call me crazy but I'm testing cheese again. This time I had Shawn take a digestive enzyme before eating. He only got half a slice of cheddar cheese. I also made sure he knew that we were testing it out again and it doesn't mean he'll be able to eat cheese; it all depends on his behavior. So far, so good. It's been about 2 hrs. since he ate. He's watching a movie right now (because Joshua is napping) so we'll see how he behaves once Joshua is awake. Keeping my fingers crossed because I really do want him to be able to eat cheese every once in a while as long as it's not preventing his gut from healing.
So call me crazy but I'm testing cheese again. This time I had Shawn take a digestive enzyme before eating. He only got half a slice of cheddar cheese. I also made sure he knew that we were testing it out again and it doesn't mean he'll be able to eat cheese; it all depends on his behavior. So far, so good. It's been about 2 hrs. since he ate. He's watching a movie right now (because Joshua is napping) so we'll see how he behaves once Joshua is awake. Keeping my fingers crossed because I really do want him to be able to eat cheese every once in a while as long as it's not preventing his gut from healing.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
I still don't know if it was die-off or a head cold.
Shawn got congested the day after my last post. He didn't have any sneezing though and he didn't complain of a sore throat. Even if he did have a sore throat, he probably wouldn't tell me. He just doesn't complain about being sick unless it's his stomach.
My congestion lasted almost all week. I did start sneezing and had a runny nose but it was clear. Later in the week I had a cough which I think has to do with the post nasal drip. I never really felt like it was a head cold even though I felt horrible. It was just different somehow so I don't know if it's my imagination or not. Two days ago, Shawn woke up with some cramping and had to use the bathroom. He had several bowel movements within an hour and the last one was borderline diarrhea. Today was the same thing - cramping, several bowel movements, diarrhea. I'm thinking that has to be from the bio-kult but Don thinks he was eating too many cookies that I just made. We are out of cookies so we'll see how he does tomorrow.
I'm still congested but not in the I can't breathe kind of congested. This is what I've been dealing with for the past 2 years. We just increased our Bio-Kult dose yesterday so we'll see what happens.
One thing I have noticed with Shawn is his lack of attention. Remember my post about positive changes? Well, you can just throw that out the window, lol. I read about how the diet and starting probiotics will make things worse before they get better. I hope that's all it is because I didn't realize how much Shawn has improved until these last few days. His attention is where it was before we started maybe even worse so I hope it's just the probiotic doing it's job!
My congestion lasted almost all week. I did start sneezing and had a runny nose but it was clear. Later in the week I had a cough which I think has to do with the post nasal drip. I never really felt like it was a head cold even though I felt horrible. It was just different somehow so I don't know if it's my imagination or not. Two days ago, Shawn woke up with some cramping and had to use the bathroom. He had several bowel movements within an hour and the last one was borderline diarrhea. Today was the same thing - cramping, several bowel movements, diarrhea. I'm thinking that has to be from the bio-kult but Don thinks he was eating too many cookies that I just made. We are out of cookies so we'll see how he does tomorrow.
I'm still congested but not in the I can't breathe kind of congested. This is what I've been dealing with for the past 2 years. We just increased our Bio-Kult dose yesterday so we'll see what happens.
One thing I have noticed with Shawn is his lack of attention. Remember my post about positive changes? Well, you can just throw that out the window, lol. I read about how the diet and starting probiotics will make things worse before they get better. I hope that's all it is because I didn't realize how much Shawn has improved until these last few days. His attention is where it was before we started maybe even worse so I hope it's just the probiotic doing it's job!
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