Saturday, January 20, 2018

The GAPS diet

I've recently embarked on something called the "Gaps" diet. It would take pages to describe the intricacies that make this diet unique so I'll leave you with a link. It was created by a neurologist to help treat her autistic son through nourishing soups and easy to digest foods. This diet is not for weight loss purposes but is rather a healing protocol that puts your body through a very intention process to begin healing many many issues including digestive disorder (extreme or minor), leaky gut, skin conditions behavioral issues, and so on. The base is homemade stock/broth made from well sources animals. With that stock you make soups with easily digestible veggies and boiled meats and graduallllllllly add foods in over the course of several weeks or months depending on your body.

Someday I will write out my health journey but it's hard to write that out so publicly! I have been wanting to do this diet for years after seeing the success of many I know going through it. My brother went through the entire program (which is a 1-2 year process) and had amazing results - I won't share his health story for him lol. Timing hasn't worked out until now because I was either pregnant or breastfeeding and can't be done during those times. I knew after the holidays was a good time to embark especially while it's still winter and soup is actually appealing. 



However, after all the waiting the idea of starting this was daunting to say the least. As the primary cook of my family I knew it was going to be hard to cook meals for them and then eat my soup. I began on January 8th which makes today day 13. WHOOOOO! This diet is broken up in stages, beginning with the most limited and ever so slowly moving forward to the "Full Gaps" diet which is similar to SCD/paleo diets. I spent several weeks reading the GAPS book as well as many guide gooks and cook books to make the process easier. The biggest trick for me was making almost everything before hand. This is has been crucial to my success in not slipping because when I'm tired and done from the day I can grab one bag of soup from the freezer. I expected stage 1 to be difficult, but this whole process has been even harder than imagined for me personally. There is something called "die off" which is essentially when all the bacteria/pathogens in your gut that live off of sugars/grains/etc begin to die because they aren't being fed they can produce flu like symptoms or worse. For me it was a couple days of living in the bathroom :/ tmi.

Since stage 1 is already incredibly limited to broth, meats boiled in broth and very very cooked vegetables, I was so bummed when my body wasn't tolerating the vegetables very well and that left just broth and meat. Don't worry, this stage is not meant to be long as it's not healthy to live on broth and meat alone - but it's necessary for a time in order to get that healing process going. It's giving your digestive system a huge break from having to break down foods and gives a great platform to rebuilding a broken wall. When I moved onto stage 2 soft boiled eggs tasted like heaven and I was eating so many a day lol!


Broths at work :) :) 

How am I feeling? To be honest, not good........yet. I'm holding out though. I'm praying it's just taking my body time to get rid of all the toxins and begin that healing process. I was sure the hardest part of the diet was going to be eating soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner ---- but it's by far been how sick I've been and felt. I lost 10 lbs in 10 days - this where I need that one teeth face emoji.

I believe wholly in this diet though and I am making adjustment with probiotics and such to hopefully get there. I can't believe I haven't slipped up, not one grain of rice not one crumb of bread!!!! My addiction to sugar was so so strong. I was positive this was going to be hard. The thing that keeps me from cheating is that then all those days were for nothing. It's not the kind of diet you can cheat on because any amount of the allergens keep those bacteria alive in the gut and they don't die off.


My plan was to blog my way through this intro diet but I've felt so crummy I've been taking care of the basic tasks of feeding my family and keeping my home somewhat orderly. With homeschool and work and doctors appointments thrown in there it's a good thing I'm allowed tea with a tiny bit of honey cause that is what keeps my blood sugar up!!!


Day 1 Breakfast!


Die off feeeeeels :( 


Just broth and meats :( 


Eggs - oh the joy!



Saving dishes - right out of the pot. 


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Saturday, January 6, 2018

Homeschool

A title I never thought I would write yet here I am! (Also a semi-controversial topic which I almost always stay away from writing about haha.)

As I begin the second half of our school year I've been able to reflect on the past few months of this adventure called homeschooling.
My daughter began kindergarten in the fall and we planned to have her return to the public school down the road where she attended TK the previous year. She seemed to like it and I certainly enjoyed the time with 2 kids instead of 3! She was struggling with a variety of issues but I never assumed those had any correlation to school or that environment -- and still don't make that assumption.

As last summer started I began to mentally think through the idea of jumping on the homeschool train. To back up, this was not the "plan" my husband and I thought would be best for our family. Even though we were BOTH homeschooled by amazing parents growing up and received amazing educations, we felt it was best to have our kids attend public school for several reasons. We really wanted to be out in our community and connected to those living around us. We also wanted our kids to be able to bring Jesus to the world along with us and not separate ourselves out into safe little bubbles. And then there was the reason I hate to even admit but it was that homeschooling just wasn't something that interested me. I don't have any formal teaching education and I was excited to use that time while my kids would be at school to work alongside my hubs at our job, grocery shop, clean, etc.


Before I go any further I want to be so so clear -  where you choose to have your children receive their education is an incredibly personal decision. It's only one that can be made by parents for each child. If there's something I dislike as much as mom shaming (well maybe not more but it's up there) is school shaming. I have witnessed both -- the notion that homeschool is the best and only way and you basically don't care about your kids if you choose public school. And the opposite - those that homeschool are taking their kids away from opportunities and resources and community to be schooled by a parent who's not qualified. Even as I write this post I'm like "oh man I don't want anyone feeling like what I chose for my kids means that they should be making the same choice", or that even my reasons for choosing to school my children at home apply to anyone else.

SO......All these things were going round and round my head over the summer (Yes, as in this last summer, weeks before school started back up). I felt my daughter was slipping through some cracks at her current school (again, no shame, they are a terrific school!). I was bummed that apparently kindergarten has changed from what it was when I was 6. Homework, sight words, writing, etc are now the norm (and she was in TK!). I remember lots of coloring, alphabet learning and art work when I was in kindergarten -- but now that's for preschoolers. It hit home for me one day when she came home from school and said "Today was the BEST day! We went outside for a walk!" ............which is so sweet but I was thinking ahhhhhhh you should be outside walking and running not sitting in a classroom for 6 hours every day. She just seemed to need more/different. At the time I was incredibly certain I could not provide that lol. I won't even mention some of the very basic things I have had to google (how have I forgotten so much since College??) So just to clear any assumptions that I am just super awesome and therefore would rock homeschooling. Wrong.

But even though I was feeling completely under qualified to provide "perfect" schooling for my child, I did feel that I had enough knowledge and support to give it a go. Plus, I kept saying, "it's kindergarten! Basically I can't fail this even if we do colors and alphabet all year". What is truly amazing to me is that I began this process with her in mind. I wasn't someone who ever wanted to homeschool. The idea of being at home the majority of my day teaching my most challenging child new concepts was daunting. So what's crazy, is how much I've loved it. I've fallen in love with going at our own pace because this means I get to go slower on things she has more difficulty with and allow her to be "ahead" in areas where she excels. It's so easy to customize for each child. We have a life that involves traveling overseas and I love the flexibility of taking our work with us and learning about the world and other cultures as we go. So many of the issues she was having last year have lessened or gone away completely. Of course that could be a mix of things but I do wonder if a classroom of 28 kids was just too much for her. I love that we have so many amazing resources as homeschooling families now and she can be involved in classes that I could never offer at home and we can incorporate the arts (music, dance, art classes) into our school day instead of working them around the edges. I love that our day starts with the Bible - and that she can color her way through the stories. I love that my kids are learning together alongside one another and that when it all feels overwhelming we get to take a break and get outside and find cool leaves or flowers. I could go on but this time that I thought would be so so hard has been such a surprising gift to me.

Are there days where it feels like too much and I'm failing? YUP! When my toddler is throwing a tantrum at my feet and my 4 year old wants to be involved in e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g while I'm trying to teach math can make me feel like how will I do this when I am schooling more than one child! But just like with parenting, if I had jumped straight to 3 kids I would have a nervous breakdown haha. You start with one and take it day by day.


yes my youngest is standing on a folding chair :$

I think the common fear in new (and maybe experienced) home schooling parents is the fear that we aren't doing "enough". Are they behind in a certain subject? Are they writing enough? Are we doing enough variety? The concerns are endless and I am learning to let those go, within reason, and follow the laid out path we have. I think you also have to know yourself and as with anything be wise in your choices of input and resources. If I listen to too many podcasts, read too many articles, or compare to what others are doing it's easy to begin feeling bogged down and aimless. Honestly, I asked those around me I trusted for good curriculum, checked them out and went for it. I knew if I spent hours reading about different ones I would have a hard time knowing what to do. Everyone has a different teaching style and approach and that's the beauty! 


This has been our journey with public and private school this last year. Clearly by my years and years of experience homeschooling have given me the ability to write about it hahahaahahahaha. But I do stand by whatever is best for your family and the things you have going on in life to do only that.

Public school? Awesome! Private? Awesome! Homeschool? Awesome! No one likes to feel insecure about the choices they make for their kids because (unless you're not like me :/ ) most of us are already in some way concerned that we are doing "well" or "enough". Let's encourage each other and spur one another one to do good things! I'm exciting to blog my way through these fun years of schooling and the many ups and downs they come with.



Snack time :) 





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