Day 56 - weight loss

I love waking up in the morning and seeing that I have lost another kilogram. As of today Ben and I have both lost 15kg. You can really see that weight loss on my husband well, because he has less to loss. He now only has another 11kg to go before he reaches a healthy BMI. My weight loss is not as easy to see, because I have a lot more to go, around 53 kgs to within the healthy BMI for my height. However I am no longer worried about that, in that I know on this diet my body is going to get to it's own normal size. Plus I love that we aren't exercising like crazy (insert picture of the biggest loser ad, with the commando yelling at you) for the weight to be falling off us. We may loss weight a little faster if we were, but spending 4-6 hours a day training is not a natural way to loss weight.

On and interesting note research has shown that over weight women that loss 15% or more of their body weight will double the chances of dying with in the next 5 years. Men will increase there death rate by 1.5. So lets say you weight 130 kgs and you loss 50kgs then you have probably brought your funeral forward. Why is that? Now depending on your age you body will adjust to those changes slightly differently, the younger you are the better your body can adapt to those changes. But generally speaking those that are overweight, obese, and morbidly obese, have got that way by consuming food that aren't good for you, or empty calories, devoid of micro nutrients. Which leaves the body nutritionally deficient. This is where we start to see the body breaking down, cause many of the modern illnesses that we see today.

We are now seeing a whole new generation of malnourished people that are being told to eat less, to loss weight. The answer isn't to eat less the answer is to eat more, more nutrient dense foods, but also more natural good fats, found in coconut oil, olive oil, butter, cream, animal fats, avocados, eggs, and so on.

In today's society we have such a fear culture around fats. Fats have been giving a really bad rap by the Medical and Food industries. Fats are one of the major food groups that you can't live with out, but we have these whole new range of products that are no fat, low fat, reduced fat, and so on. We have a whole new industries created around producing what I call bad fats, vegetable oils, canola oil, Margarine, trans fats, etc. These didn't exist 50, 100, 200 years ago. We are told not eat animal fats, saturated fats, coconut oil, and to reduce the number of eggs, and avocados we eat, as they are high in cholesterol. Now I could write a whole article on fats, and I might down the track, but lets just leave it, our bodies were designed to be able to deal with NATURAL fats, ones that are straight from animals or one that require very little processing. Our bodies know how to use them.

See one of the reasons that people who loss lots of weight and loss it fast tend to die earlier is that there bodies have often been protecting them with that weight. When toxins (chemicals, Trans fats, colours, msg, preservatives, BPA's, and whole host of other things) enter the body, the bodies first response to to protect itself. Now it does that by binding the toxin with fat, so that is can't harm the vital organs. Now if you take away the tool that your body has been using to protect it's self then those toxins are released into the body, where they are free to settle and do harm to your vital organs, the brain, liver, kidneys, and so on. So how does one loss weight and regain really health?

This is were I think some of the beauty of the GAPS Diet is.

Step one: Remove all the foods/ or food like products that are putting toxins into the system. You need to go preservative free, chemical free (as much as possible), colour free.

Step two: Start giving the body a constant supply of good fats, and nutrient dense foods,like bone broth.

Step Three: Start rebuilding the gut flora, so that food can be digested properly. Then you can get the most out of your food.

Step Four: Start rebuilding the bodies supply of nutrients, vitamins and minerals.

Step Five: Allow you body time to heal, because that is what it is doing, healing from the damage we have done to it, by we I mean society, environmental, food industry, advertising, parents, and of course ourselves.


And this is another reason I love the GAPS program because it is designed for healing. I don't need to think about the ins and outs of foods, Dr Natasha has done that for us. However if you do, like me you start to see the beauty of what she has done by putting it all together for you.

Day 53 - temptations

Wow, Day 53. I'm so glad to be able to say that we are 53 days in to this. I wish I could say more, but I'm thankful that I am not saying less, and I can say we haven't cheated. We have moved forward a little on special occasions, but never to a non legal gaps food. However today offered many temptations. We had a busy morning, today is our big shopping day, the day that I try to get everything that we need for a fortnight. I like to get everything that we need so that we aren't going back and forth to the shops all fortnight, and if there is anything I did miss, usually no more than one or two things, like running out of eggs, then we buy them from the local corner shop if we can. Anyhow, Lunch is normally very late on this day, which doesn't normally matter because we are home for the rest of the day sorting out food, making yoghurt, and all sorts of other cooking related tasks. Today however was different we had been invited to Ben's Nan's house, which was a nice treat. After buying our food we quickly came home to drop it off and then got going. We grabbed some fruit for the children to eat for their lunch in the van on the way. Ben and I weren't that hungry, we had a late breakfast, and munched on some nuts on the way.

We were having a lovely time with His family, when I was asked to get the party pies out of the oven, which I didn't have problem with until I smelt them. Wow, they smelt good, I could have totally picked on up and eat it, right there and then. No one but me would have known. I didn't in case you were wondering. I kept my self control, but it was challenging. I guess I'm not free yet. :0) Apart from that moment of temptation we had a lovely blessed time, visiting, chatting, playing, and so on. Ben's Nan is renowned for you generous nature, and kindly sent us home with some kale and silver beet from the garden. She also sent us home with a ginger bread house that was made for her, and covered in icing and treats. Oh boy, it smelt and looked delightfully tasty. Poor Ben had to be the one to break it into pieces to take home. For me the smell was enough to start sugar cravings. It would have been so easy to put a little in mouth and eat it, oh lets face it if I had it would have been a little, once I had eaten some it would have been a lot.

There are several things that I miss being on this diet, one of which is eat whatever you like, but look how that has turned out so far. Another is that we aren't on fruit or raw foods yet. I miss being about to grab something easy on the go, like a banana, or a quick salad, we will get there. However I'm sure today's temptations would have not been so hard if we had been able to eat before going. Mental note for next time. Don't go anywhere without eating. I normally don't, I'm normally very good at not leaving the house without being full. But today I just felt a little uninspired in the kitchen, which makes cooking a little more challenging. Well tomorrow is a new day, the house is full of food so inspiration should be easier to come by. Bye for now.

Children and GAPS

I have been ask to write about children and GAPS. I can't say that I am the best person to do this. Our children are eating full GAPS 6 days out 7, with the exception of one day a week when we visit my mum and she cooks for them. Also I haven't made our children do intro. However in saying that they have done intro with fruit and carrots. We have always been a household were the children weren't allowed to be fussy. I normally keep fruit on hand, if they don't like what I am making and don't eat it, I won't make them something else, and I ask them to at least try what is on their plate. Dessert is a privilege and one that must be earnt by eating your dinner. If you can't eat your dinner you can't eat dessert. In saying that as well we don't often have dessert.

So I don't have a lot of experience with picky eater, as I'm sure some of your out there will have, please share your experience and tips in the comments.

Anyhow here are some of the things that I do with my family
- Get the children involved in the cooking process.
- Talk with the children about why we eat these foods.
- Have lots of food for children eat or snack on.
- Grow what you can.
- Try not to make a big deal out of eating.
- Have fun experimenting with a different way to cook.

Getting Children Involved
Starting a journey like GAPS for some means a heap more time in the kitchen, cooking things that they aren't use to, or not had to cook in the past. It can be very overwhelming at times. My advice, if you have children that can help, use them! Clearly some of you won't be able to do this, your child/ren are too ill, or too young. As my older children (6,7,8) love Breakfast balls in the morning I have taught then, if they want them for breakfast, they need to get the meat out of the freezer the night before. They are also capable of smooshing the meat, herbs, salt, pepper, and egg together and rolling them into balls ready for me to cook. Of course, I supervise, while doing another kitchen job. Two of my younger children (3 and 5)can get the carrots and veggies ready for our morning juice/milkshake.

I am also in the process of teaching my older children to care for the milk kefir. They love Kefir icey poles, so for them it means that they also get to make some icey poles. As they and I get used to this routine, I will get them involved in more an more.

Talk with the children about why we eat these foods
When we first started this diet I think that hardest concept for my children to get their heads around was why not these foods. After all we have spent the last several years teaching them that fruit was healthy and good for you, and now all of a sudden we weren't eating it. It took I think the first month to explain to them that fruit was still healthy, it's just that our bodies were not, so our bodies couldn't get the goodness out of food. We had to let our bodies heal so that we could eat those things again.

Also my children really love it when I can explain to them what part of their bodies each food is helping. Ie Walnuts are good for the brain, Carrot's are good for the eyes, and so on. I often find them telling me "Look Mummy I'm feeding my heart" while eating a tomato. :0)

Have lots of food for children to eat or snack on
GAPS food is easy to digest so the body doesn't have to do a lot of work to absorb it. So many people, children included feel hunger a lot when they start GAPS, especially if you start with intro. So having extra cooked veggies, boiled meats, boiled eggs(when you get that far) in the fridge is really handy. You really don't want to be a position with children saying they are hungry, when everything you can feed them takes an hour plus to make.

Grow what you can
This point has a double purpose. One it can help with the ever growing food bill, and two, much research has been done into getting children to eat veggies, and growing it themselves, along with cooking it, is seeing many parents and school succeed in this area. Even if you only start with one product, like tomatoes. The is no tomato like a home grown one, Once you eat your own you won't want to turn back. As you go along give your children a veggie that is theirs to grow, put them in charge of it. You will be teaching them a valuable life skill, and giving them something to be proud off. When we eat food that our children have grown we say a special thank you to them at the dining table. I love seeing their faces light up when we say how much we like that particular veggie.

Try not to make a big deal out of food
While we have the rule that if you don't like what your given then tough!, we try not to make a big deal out of it. The children know the rules, they don't need us repeating it over and over. If they are hungry they can have some fruit or a carrot, but there will be nothing else until the next meal time. However in saying that we do make them try what is on their plate before they leave the table, and there have been times when I know they haven't even tried the food and are just being stubborn, in which case I have made them sit at the table until it is eaten. Which in most cases has them sitting there for a good amount of time, refusing to eat it. Then they finally give up and eat it in a few short minutes. When these situations arise, and we make a stand, we don't back down. However I don't sit there talking to them about it, putting pressure on them, I simply carry on with what I am doing, until they relent. I don't think it is necessary to do this at every meal, with every child. You know your child and you know all the other factors around that moment. Be wise, pick your battles.

Have fun experimenting with different ways of cooking
For many moving onto the GAPS Diet, going through the stages will having you cooking things you may never tried before, or cooking in ways that you have never done before. Or in most cases cooking with out things you are used to using. Have fun with this process, if you have fun, they will have fun, and the whole experience will be much more enjoyable for everyone. There are some amazing foods that you enjoy on GAPS, you just need to be open to them, and open to the creative process.


Like I said before our children are not 100% full GAPS, however we have seen positive changes in their bodies, and minds. They have also learnt that eating junk makes them feel unwell, gives them eczema, for Elijah it induces vomiting at times. For others it can cause bed wetting, headaches, generally unwell. Which I see as a valuable lesson.

I hope this has helped you some. For more ideas, recipes, and testimonies, I will put some links below for you to check out.
Christina


http://www.mamaeve.com/caring-for-baby-a-toddler/best-baby-food/gaps-diet-getting-a-picky-eater-to-eat/

http://www.cheeseslave.com/autism-recovery-with-the-gaps-diet-one-mothers-story/

http://www.nourishmd.com/home/1604-doing-the-gaps-diet-at-disney-world

http://www.healthhomehappy.com/

GAPS Coconut Treats

These coconut treats a Full Gaps legal. As my children are coming along for the right on this diet with us, from time to time I like to make some little treats for them to enjoy. As Full Gaps has so many yummy food, and treats that they we don't normally try, so in a creative moment I put this on together. I have used a Thermomix to put it together but you could use any food processor, or some times and a good knife.

Ingredients
One young coconut
300grams Blanched Almonds
200grams Dates
200grams crushed peanuts.

Open a young coconut and drain out the water, drink or set aside for another use. Remove all the flesh from the coconut, and put into the blender with Almonds and Dates. Blend until coming to together and slightly sticky, add a little warm water if needed. Line the inside of a slice tin with grease proof paper, and sprinkle with half the peanut mix. Press the mixture into the tray on top of the peanuts, cover with the remaining peanuts, and press in. Put in the freezer for an hour to set. Take out of tin and slice into bite size squares.

These little squares are packed full of goodness, and a tasty little treat for young and old. Here is one of my blessings enjoying it.

Day 48 Chicken Nuggets.

Chicken Nuggets are a favorite in most household containing children, and our home is no different. Pre GAPS our children would have enjoyed these from either KFC or McDonalds. Since we haven't eaten any food like that for the last 48 days, this tasty little treat is something that they haven't enjoyed for a little while. So tonight I thought I would brave a grain free version on them. Oh boy these were tasty, and everyone agreed that they were way better than any we had brought at a takeaway shop!.


Garam Masala
Ingredients
2 cinnamon sticks
8 Cardamom pods
2 Tbs whole coriander seeds
1 Tbs whole cloves
1 Tbs Cumin seeds
1 Tbs Black pepper
2 bay leaves

Put all the ingredients into a blender, food processer, or Thermomix and grind to get a powder. Put in a jar. This mix will last months, and great to add a little extra flavour to your cooking.

Chicken Nugget
Ingredient
1 kg of Chicken mince
1 egg
1 Onion
5 cloves of Garlic
1 TB Salt
1 Table spoon of Garam Masala
1 tsp. of Sweet Paprika
300gram of Almond meal/flour
Ghee, Lard, or coconut oil for frying.

Mix all the ingredients (except Almond meal and oil) together in a bowl. In another bowl have the almond meal ready for rolling the nuggets in. Using a heaped tsp of chicken mixture roll and then coat them in the almond flour, pressing into the nugget shape and setting aside on a tray. Once all the balls have been rolled and coated, heat a frying pan with your chosen oil, and fry until golden brown on both sides. lightly salt and serve.

My children have told me that is recipe is a new family favorite or ours. I think we will be eating this one for many years to come, even if we are not on GAPS anymore. :0)

Husband's Guest Blog 3- slowing down, relaxing, changing.

Okay so we are half way through the second month of this GAPS journey and I can honestly say this last week, in stark contrast to the week before- has been quite difficult for me. Although I am eating properly at every meal, the consequence of us going a stage further to eat a berry dessert unleashed some serious cravings for me. I literally went a bit mad, having three helpings of it! Almond bread, which I am learning I should have in moderation, I devoured like I hadn't seen food for three days. I am feeling a bit discouraged, but I have passed the point of no return now though, having lost nearly 16 kilograms, and have enjoyed various other health benefits already.

The discipline of this diet seems very gruelling. Having been a person that was free to have whatever they want, restricting the diet, and restricting it for a (seemingly) long amount of time isn't an attractive process. But I also believe the diet has a gentle component to it that cannot be underestimated. If you are able to work with the diet, slowing down when you feel you need to, and distracting yourself with other things, it can make things easier. In the GAPS booklet we have, called "What can we eat now?", there is a few pages devoted to "other activities" which you can do instead of eating, I would humbly suggest potential GAPS people to do them! Eating as a pastime is part of our culture. Learning to do something else is a key skill to overcoming.

Relaxing is another component of this diet. If you literally "go mad for food", like I do with overindulgent passion, you have lost the gentle nature of the diet. Part of the reason GAPS food is in stages and you introduce things slowly is so that in a gentle way you can listen to your body. When you have a reaction after you eat something, you know you are going too fast to be able to eat it yet. Relax. It gets easier. Listening to your body is more difficult for men than women. Women sometimes instinctively know, whereas it generally takes a bit more effort for men. Sorry fellas "My body wants a cheeseburger" is probably not right. In fact Christina asked me whether my body was ready for the berry dessert. I said "Well, my body is having a bit of a conflict. My stomach is saying definately no, but my tastebuds are welcoming it with open arms!". The diet sometimes does that to you.

I've found that I can finally enjoy herbal tea. Caffeinated Tea my body will reject at this stage, but herbal tea I am having to no ill effect. No sugar of course. It's controversial whether I should be drinking any kind of tea, but with a bit of fingers crossed we are doing it anyway. I would hardly think we could not, seeing as I am a Tea freak.

I heard an interesting thing in church today. Over 90% of people who have serious heart conditions don't change their life after being told how serious their heart conditions are, effectively saying "I would rather die than change", and after a certain amount of time, they actually do die, rather than change. This is sad. Yes, change is very hard sometimes, but it comes with big rewards for those who embrace it.

Be Blessed.
Ben.

P.s. I see this second month as a proving ground. I believe after the difficulties of this month I'm going to see a greater degree of self control and health. :)

Reactions day 45.

Over the last two days it seems that both Ben and I have been having reactions to nuts, and fruit, so it looks like that is our next hurdle to over come. After serving fruit and nut dessert, it seems that Ben enjoyed it so much that he had little to no self control and had three servings of it. So much for going slowly. Any how he has had an increase in pain, fatigue and fogginess, and just a sense that he wasn't ready for it. I on the other hand didn't think that I had a problem with it, I did have a head ache the next day, but I thought that was due to not drinking enough water that day, so I ignored it. There was however left overs so thought I was safe to eat some of them. Well today I have paid for it, my headache is worst. So that is a clear sign for me that my body is not ready for this type of treat, so will be stepping back from it for a little while also.

While having to move back in the foods might seem discouraging, we were talking about it today that is was only a few short weeks ago and we had the same issues with eggs, and now don't have any problems with it. So I'm sure our bodies will adjust to nuts, and fruit soon enough. I should mention that we aren't reacting to nuts in the form of Almond meal/flour, Almond bread.

Another issue that I'm having at the moment is a tooth ache. I don't know if you have ever experienced this, where I know that I need to go get the tooth out, but I just really don't want to, So I tend to wait until I don't have any choice, and can't live with it any more. On a positive not a tooth ache does help curve cravings, mostly because you don't want to eat they thing at all.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day pain wise. Tomorrow is the birthday of our lastest addition. Which has given me time to think today. This time last year I was in a hospital bed, begin told they would deliver my baby the very next day, and they weren't sure what the out come would be, He could have water on the brain, may die, we just don't know until he is earth side. I feel so blessed that I am now a year on and can say Happy Birthday to my special little guy. His birth is also a very big reason that I am doing this diet.

Food for today
Mineral water
Breakfast balls, with broth gravy
Yoghurt, Almond bread, Egg and broccoli muffins
Dinner, chicken drumsticks with broth.

So tired today and really looking forward to falling into bed tonight. I'll leave you with a picture of our breakfast balls.

And another with our special little man. :0)