GAPS diet: Days 5-9

It has been a very hard week. I've been continuing on the intro stage of this diet. To answer some questions: There are five stages to the intro to move through before going full into the diet. I'm on stage one. The time frame for moving through each stage is different for each individual. I've been confused as to when to move on to the next stage. I finally emailed one of the gals who works closely with the doc and she told me to move forward even though I'm still having symptoms.

My symptoms have decreased and I'm not in pain so that is a good sign. I was expecting to be symptom free before moving forward but I'm realizing that my not happen for a very long time. Once I'm on the full GAPS diet I can probably expect it to be a couple of years before I can start eating normally again.

I'm just really mourning the loss of good food. Brian has been such an encouragement. Every couple of days I say that I'm going to quit and that this isn't worth it and he reminds me it isn't forever and going back to how I was feeling isn't an option. I just keep trying to remember that at the end of this I should be able to eat more foods than I've been able to eat in a long time (not that I didn't eat those foods anyway...they just put me in a lot of pain).

We are starting the diet with the kids next Tuesday. I sat down with Tyler and explained to him all about the good gut flora and sick flora and what the flora's job is in our intestines. I showed him pictures and explained that I loved him very much and I wanted him to have all the good flora he could get. He was very on board and is actually excited to start "soup day." He was even more excited when I explained that after a long time he might be able to eat soy and milk again if we could build enough good stomach germs. He keeps talking about how when he's seven and we go to Minnesota he'll be able to eat ice cream. Please pray for that to come true. I would love for my boys to be free of their food intolerances.

I've been experiencing another round of die off. This is also known as the healing crisis. Its basically when your symptoms get worse before they get better. My eczema on my face is so bad it hurts and there are days I can barely open my eyes they are so swollen. Fatigue and lethargy are also some of my die off symptoms. Some days I feel like I can barely stand up. But, I have to. Someone has to cook all this soup!

Thank you for notes and call of encouragement. I know I will need even more next week when the kids start with me. If anyone has an urge to cook something for Brian, we would both be so grateful. Poor guy.