*These posts were written when my blog was more of a journal and will have more of a diary entry typestyle. If you are in the middle of the GAPS Diet or considering doing the GAPS diet, these posts will helpful for you to see what being on the temporary diet was like.

90 Day GAPS Summary (Part One of Three)

(Originally written in 2013 – some sentences have been updated)

Can I just tell you I am a HUGE fan of the GAPS diet! I have read so many wonderful stories of healing in people’s lives from doing the GAPS diet for a season of life (everyone is different and it could be months or a couple of years.)  The main reason I am a big fan of this way of eating and internal healing is that I personally have seen such drastic improvement in my own health is just a matter of 90 days!  Praise God! It is amazing.

I really do Praise Him because he is the ONE allowing GAPS to work to heal me.  By His Grace alone….

Over the next three posts, I would like to summarize for you

1. What my day looks like on GAPS each day and what I take supplementally
2. Symptoms that are gone and some that are still here
3. Addressing other pieces to the puzzle like my thyroid and getting enough sleep which is also helping me heal

What my GAPS Day Looks Like:

About 20 minutes later I take my probiotics of which I have been able to work up to the therapeutic doses finally. I take GutPro because it is dairy free and has NO fillers and Prescript Assist (no longer on the market) because these are the soil based probiotic organisms that I need right now. When I am done with those, I will be switching because we are supposed to switch probiotics frequently so as make sure we get a variety of good bacteria in our intestines.

A few minutes after the probiotics that I take L-Glutamine powder in some water.  L-Glutamine is a great gut healing amino acid!

Within about 30 minutes of my waking, I get to have my morning cup of “coffee!”  My morning cup of coffee is actually juice. I have been able to successfully introduce juicing into my daily routine and I look forward to it every day.  It rejuvenates me and wakes me up!  My morning juice consists of 2-3 carrots, a piece of cucumber, a few dill sprigs, sometimes a yellow or red beet, several beet greens, a few big leaves of kale, & 2 celery stalks. It is so tasty! It ends up to be about a cup and a half.

While I am cleaning my juicer, I have already started my breakfast broth, meat and veggies simmering on the stove.

About a half an hour after I have had my juice, my breakfast is usually ready. 
**It is good to let freshly made juice be in your stomach with no other proteins or foods for about 20-30 minutes to get your digestive enzymes flowing as well as allow your body to get all the nutrients from the juice without much work.

Breakfast Variety

My breakfast varies in how it is prepared but usually the variety of food I eat is close to the same each day/meal.  I eat a bowl or big cup of bone broth (usually homemade beef or chicken) with every meal.

In the broth (for a soup) or on the side is usually some form of good meat like Wild caught Salmon or Halibut, Grass Fed Beef, Organic and Antibiotic Free Chicken, or Nitrate and Sugar-Free Pork Bacon that is antibiotic free. 

Along with the meat, I add lots of veggies to the pot.  The veggies I eat are usually avocado, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, bok choy, mustard greens, carrots, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, & zucchini squash.  I would like to reintroduce onions and garlic again soon and hope to be able to have those.

*It is good to be sure to eat some form of squash with each meal because there is carbohydrate energy in those and it keeps the GAPS patient from going into a state of ketosis. We need some form of carbohydrate but not coming from starch or starchy veggies.

Not All  Soups

I don’t eat all my meals in the form of a soup.  I do make my own beef sausage patties to have on hand. They are seasoned with salt and pepper, sage, thyme and sometimes rosemary.  I make a lot of these to store in the freezer. 

For chicken, I usually roast, grill or make it in the crockpot. 

To enjoy fish, I usually sear it on the stove.

My bacon, of course, is fried and other beef cuts I usually use the crockpot as well.

Sometimes I make little croquettes with chicken or beef, avocado and squash and fry them up.  Sometimes I make meatballs and throw them in a pureed cauliflower or carrot soup I made. I try to keep it simple but add enough variety that I don’t get sick of what I am eating.

Regardless of how my food is prepared, I always have some form of good fat added to my dish like reserved pastured bacon fat, organic beef tallow, and/or avocado.  I cannot tolerate coconut oil still and do sometimes use olive oil drizzled over my fish with some dill sprigs.

I also like to julienne cut my veggies to add variety or sometimes I even make “noodles” out of my zucchini for a change.

Before Eating My Meals

Before I eat, I take my HCI and GUTzyme digestive enzymes to help me digest my proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Due to my out of control Hashimoto’s, I don’t make enough stomach acid to properly digest the foods I eat. 

I am hoping this is temporary but my doctor says that I have a genetic marker that doesn’t allow me to digest my proteins properly so I may need to take HCI the rest of my life.  We will see. Only the Lord knows. My goal is to be off all medications (thyroid) and all supplements, except for a multi-vitamin, someday.

Enjoying My Food

After that part of my daily routine, I can sit down and enjoy my breakfast! I usually have two big bowls of soup or a big plate of meat with veggies and a side of broth. For my second portion of foo,d I pour about 1 TLBS. of Flax Oil (optimal EFA’s) over the soup or meat to make sure I am getting my essential fatty acids in. Sometimes it is just flax oil and sometimes a mixture of Flax and Borage oil. This is also a source of good fat from a plant source.

What I Hope to Eat Soon

I still would love to be able to have egg yolk, raw milk yogurt and homemade sauerkraut.  I will try these over the coarse of the next few weeks again to see if I can tolerate them yet. I did buy some beef gelatin for an egg replacer and look forward to using that soon.

After Breakfast Routine

This is when I take my vitamins. This routine will vary for every individual but I have been tested for my personal vitamin and amino acid levels through a NutrEval Test and need to take the following:

• Vital Nutrients with no Iron or Iodine (no iodine until my Hashimotos antibodies come down a bit)
• Folate which I need to get in the form of folate NOT folic Acid. Click on the link to get more info.
• Iron I Need more iron which I can also get from organ meats and I supplement with this when I absolutely cannot stand organ meats.
• GLA (Gamma Linolenic Acid)
• ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid)
• Liquid Vitamin D/K2 (I take this additionally after lunch since I need a bit more than my multi provides.) 

I really don’t snack throughout the day unless I have some bacon cooked up. Then I might have a slice here or there.  I may also have a piece of acorn squash as a snack.  Usually, I just eat my three meals a day.

For lunch, it is the same as breakfast and I do take my Vital Nutrients multivitamin after I eat.

In between lunch and dinner, I take more T3 for my thyroid.

For dinner, which is also the same as breakfast, however, sometimes I prepare something a little more fancy (again, same food just prepared differently) to satisfy my desire for something special.

After dinner, I also take more of my multi vitamin and two more GLA capsules.

The Biggest Challenges of Being on the GAPS Diet

• Lack of variety in food at this point in time. It is such a slow process reintroducing foods ONE at a time and I also have to introduce supplements ONE at a time.  This means that I try something on one day and have to wait as much as three to four days before I can try something else.  Sometimes if I have had a reaction I have to wait longer until the reaction subsides. I can’t wait to not be so limited. I know it will come with time and patience with this healing.
• Not being able to eat freely is hard too. I miss being able to just pick up a piece of food that is at a potluck or someone’s house or even mine for that matter, and enjoy it.  Instead, I literally have to think about every single thing that enters my mouth and how it will affect me.
• I still have sweet cravings a lot and wish I could just have a piece of fruit here and there. Hopefully soon!
• The prep is also hard.  I have gotten a good routine going though.  I make 21 quarts of broth every 4-5 days. I make sure my veggies for juicing are prepared on a tray the night before.  I have all my veggies cut for the next day the night before and either my meat cooks in a crock pot all night for the next day or I already have it prepared for the next day.  It takes a lot of forethought but makes the days easier in that I am not in the kitchen 24/7.

Read my next two parts in this series! 

The next post will be all about my symptoms that have disappeared and some that are still sticking around. 

The third post I will talk about a big piece of the puzzle to my healing – my thyroid imbalance/balance as well as getting adequate sleep.

The last post will summarize for you an entire year of healing with GAPS.

Helpful GAPS Resources for You

These are some amazing resources that will help make doing the GAPS diet attainable for you.

Are You Considering GAPS or Already on the Journey?

I would love to hear from you in the comments below if you are considering doing the GAPS Diet. What questions do you have? What worries you about doing the diet?

Also, I would love to hear from you if you are already doing the GAPS Diet. Comment down below and let me know your biggest challenge and your biggest victory. It’s so encouraging to hear from others. It inspires everyone!