Husband's Guest blog 5- Ups and Downs

My dear wife has badgered me to write another post, and to be honest, I have no idea what to say. Twice she had suggested that I record my progress, and I actually realise now, sitting here writing this blog that that isn't something I have done yet. Facebook friends whom I have bored to tears with my constant status updates would know how my health is going, and no doubt they think things like "wow, you're health is getting better! Woohoo, that status update just rocked my world". I do believe however, that marking time is an important part of getting well. So let me start at the start.

When I started this diet I was 26 kilograms heavier than the upper limit for a male my age, I suffered from back pain often at night and I often suffered from headaches. I regularly had mouth ulcers, I had a constant band of pain in my stomach both day and night. I also had immunity problems. In the six to nine months before the GAPS diet there was seldom a week where I wasn't sniffling, had a cold or was just feeling tired and rundown. In addition to this, my head was in a bad space. Not only from being chronically tired, I seemed to have a brain fog, and a sensitivity in my ears. Often when someone would try and speak to me, or when someone was trying to teach me something new, I would struggle to understand. I was often in a daze, and I had to strain to understand difficult concepts. This lack of concentration also had a deadly edge. twice in recent history I was nearly run over by cars because of my head being in a fog-like condition. Some days the brain fog was so bad that I had a job to understand basic things and I would worry that I would not understand at all. Being tired all of the time means that it was difficult to not be grumpy, and grumpy I was!

This is a picture of me, during the weightiest times.

I always remember visits to the doctor for one thing or another as a child, and I was the sickly one in our family. I can't remember a time when there was nothing wrong with me. Only in the last 10 or 12 years has the problem been really bad. And we went to oh-so-many doctors about it too! One doctor, a flamboyant russian one said. "You're constipated... you need more fibre in your diet- you eat this bran for breakfast! One week of this and you'll be shitting like a rocket!". I could see where he is coming from, but the bran didn't help. Another doctor we went to looked at my bloodshot eyes after I'd explained my situation and she said as if struck by some amazing revelation "I think you are depressed..." I felt like saying "OF COURSE I AM FLIPPING DEPRESSED! I CAN'T SLEEP BECAUSE OF MY ACHING STOMACH YOU SILLY WOMAN!" She was kind enough to go through a short mental illness test with me asking things like "if I felt sad often", and whether i'd been "seeing things that weren't there". I aced the test, but only because the voices in my head told me the answers! But in all seriousness, something inside me knew that this was another thing causing the problem. I do realise that a mental illness could actually cause other problems in the body, but I knew somehow that it was the other way around for me, and I had to get my stomach somehow straightened out. One doctor even sent me to an ultrasound to check if I had a hernia. Not only did I not have a hernia, but I also found out that I was just fat, and not pregnant at all.

In light of all of this, what has changed in 72 days?
Once I had lost ten kilograms, my back pain completely ceased. Also, instead of sniffling most weeks, I had my first cold last week. We got through the vast majority of autumn without a sniffle. I very rarely get headaches now (maybe one in 3-4 weeks), and if I do, it is usually just tired headaches to remind me to go to bed. My weight loss has slowed considerably, but I have lost 16 kilograms and feel better about my weight. I had an amazing breakthrough two days ago when my stomach felt about 60-70% less pain during the day. I think I may have been detoxing, because the pain level went back up during the night. My stomach pain hasn't stopped, but is generally 20-40% better than when I was eating rubbish often. I think I have had one mouth ulcer since the GAPS diet, and it seemed to go within a day, not a week as they usually did, but I think one of the biggest transformations has been in my energy levels. I would sleep during the day nearly every day before the GAPS diet. Now it is very rare that I do that. I find I can get through the day and tiredness only happens every now and then. The brain fog is almost completely cleared up. I don't find conversations nearly as difficult to follow now, and I don't get confused as easily. I am still grumpy, but I live on a more even emotional keel now. Things that were impossibly frustrating to deal with, especially with my children are now a lot simpler, since I am thinking straight. I never thought I would be speaking about health in a positive sense so now, I feel the need to encourage people that it works, and that especially men should do it, because there really is no greater gift than feeling well.

In saying that, I am not out of the woods yet. Yesterday we visited my mother in law and she cooked us a casserole, and she told me "You can take the casserole in the container home, or you could put it in a plastic bag..." (of course meaning that I should put the container in the bag). I proceeded to scoop the contents of the casserole into the plastic bag, obviously thinking it was 'a bit of a strange request, but Okay' No. I don't have autism... but sometimes I wonder.

Oh, well...I am getting better. slowly.
Anyway, blessings.
Ben.

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My Gaps Dream.

Over the last couple of days I have been taking a walk down memory lane. Talking with a friend over some of our shared experiences with Prem babies. Our latest addition Xavier was born 5 weeks early, with a hole in his lung and blood infection, and then went on to develop phenomena. So he spent 5 weeks in Special care nursery. That time was a hard time for our family, in that we were separated for most of that time. My husband isn't able to drive, so we only were together as a family on two occasions during that 5 weeks. We were very blessed by friends that helped care for my family while I was away. However being apart from my family was not the hardest part, for me the hardest part was seeing my baby being given needle after needle to help fight infections and the only thing I could do was hold is hand and talk to him. Not being able to just pick him up and feed him, whenever we both wanted is really hard. I feeling of not belonging is really hard as well. After day 5 I was no longer a patient, so I didn't belong, the only care I could do for my baby was express milk, so I didn't really feel needed, but I didn't really belong at home either without my baby.

I do believe that the state of my mind and body contributed to the early arrival of my son a great deal. I started the pregnancy at my heaviest weight and was really not in the best condition to have a baby. (I will talk more about what happen in his birth story). So for me, one big part of this journey is correcting those things, so that I can go on to have more healthy pregnancies. Yes you heard me right I do want more babies. I am aiming not be pregnant for 6 months at least to give my body a good chance at that. If you have read my other posts of family planning you will know that we choice to trust God for our family planning, and we will continue to do that. I also really believe that the Lord lead us to do this diet. I am still pinching myself at the fact that we are even doing this, I think it's by his strength that we are and we haven't given up. We have only being doing it for two months but have already seen so many good results, and looking forward to seeing more.

So one of the major things that I really look forward to the most, is being able to have a health pregnancy which ends in a peaceful water birth at the birth centre. I would love to strive for home birth, but will settle for a birth centre birth first. :0)


That is my dream that I want to make reality.

Day 64 Moving forward

During my last post I mentioned how Ben was having increased pain. Well over the last few days that has come back down. We think that he was having a detox dump, and literally once he cleaned out he was feeling a lot better.

Over these past few day we have decided to move forward in to full GAPs. We have add a little raw fruit and veggies. so far so good. I'm really looking forward to be more creative in the kitchen in the weeks to follow. Once we have raw fruit and veggies in and are handling them well, we will look at add cheese I think, as this is an ingredient that we have missed over the last 2 month. Wow it feel strange to be able to say that we haven't had cheese for 2 months.

I'm also planning this fortnight on taking the leap into fermented condiments more. I hope to make fermented mayo, maybe so ferment ranch dressing, Fermented bbq sauce. We defiantly need more salsa as that was a favorite for everyone.

Would love to hear from you about what your favorite fermented foods are? so please share. :0)


Related Posts
Gaps Diet

GAPS intro Day 61

Wow, and double wow. We have been doing this now for 61 days. 2 months! It's almost hard to believe that it's only been 2 months!. It really feels like a lot longer. Not because it has been a really hard chore or task, but I'm starting to forget what it's like to order take away, and all the other things that we used to do pre-GAPS.

This is becoming so much a part of our way of life at the moment. I don't need to think about how I'm going to feed our family as much as when we first started. I'm almost at the stage hwere I can go to the shops or markets and I know which food we are able to eat, and how much I should get to last the fortnight. Which was one the bigger things that I had to think about when we first started.

We are now starting to venturing out into more full GAPS foods, we are mostly still on stage 4 foods, with a few added things like Dates, and berries. We haven't tried raw foods yet, but hopefully not too far away.

Our weight loss has slowed down, but we are still losing steadily which is nice. I'm currently 2 kgs away from my pre pregnancy weight with my first child. My body shape is obviously quiet different from then. But I'm glad that each week the numbers are coming down. Ben is around 10kgs away from his weight goals.

Ben's stomach pain has been increased this last week, with him spending several nights awake unable to sleep. Which has been a good reminder of life before Gaps. We are wondering several things, whether the pain is due, to bowel build up, or foods that don't agree, or detoxing. We aren't exactly sure, but we will keep plugging along. We do think he is having some reactions to nuts, and are trying to stay away from them a little unsuccessfully as the desire to branch out into new foods is quite inviting.

Juices
We are currently doing a fruit and veggie juice daily, to make GAPS milk shakes, with milk kefir, egg, and avocado. Yum! I actually really enjoy these, and it is becoming one of my favorite things. It is a double bonus for me because it is generally the one things that Ben makes on this diet, so I get a rest and a treat at the same time. :0)

As you can see from some of the recipes that I have put up on the blog lately, I am enjoying experimenting and trying out new things in the kitchen, and look forward sharing them with you.

Ben will be due to write again soon so keep a look out for that one, and don't forget to send me a message if there is a topic that you would like me to write on.
Til Next time
Christina
christinamathewson@yahoo.com.au

Blueberry, lemon,coconut, kefir cheese cake

We have just finished devouring this tasty little treat. Oh it is so nice! i highly recommend you give it ago. Now there are a few steps to making it that take time, but aren't difficult, and once you give it ago you, like me will wonder why you didn't try making it before. :)

Crust
2 cups of Almonds, or almond meal
3 tbs of melted butter.
1 cup of dates

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor, until fine crumb had developed.
2. Press into a well greased spring pan. Refrigerate until firm.

First Layer.
2 cups of Lemon Kefir cheese. - Instructions below
1 cup of Sour cream - Instructions below
Juice of one lemon
The flesh of a young coconut.
Beans of 2 vanilla bean pods.

Mix all ingredients together in a blender or with a hand blender, making sure all the coconut flesh is broken up. Pour 3/4 of the mixture over the base. Put in the freezer to set.

Second layer.
1 1/2 cups of blueberries
Remain mixture.

Blend mixture with a blender. I used a hand blender. Pour over the first layer, and set back into the freezer to set.

Within two hours your cheese cake will be set and it's time to enjoy. At room temp it will be a little runny, but still very enjoyable. Best served slightly frozen.









Lemon Kefir Cheese
This product is easy to make. Simple take you kefir once ready, Add the peel of a whole lemon, and store in the fridge for a second ferment over night. The next day, simply strain and hang through cheese cloth, tea towel, nut bag or pillow case. Let drip for around 8 hours.

Sour cream
Using 500mls of cream, pour into a glass jar, and stir in 1/4 of a cup of Kefir.
Leave at room temp. for 24 hours. Stir at least once or twice.
Refrigerate.

Husband's Guest Blog #4 Running

The Bible says the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. To be honest I think mine was a megachurch.

When I set about this radical lifestyle I didn't do it to lose weight, Altough it is one of the more pleasant side effects of doing this diet. You do tend to lose weight. We have been doing this diet for 56 days (i think) now, and I think we are slowly adding the physical exercise component to it now. Our family have been going on sporadic walks and we are trying to keep that as a regular thing. But one very odd side effect is happening now. I have a desire to run.

Now this is only odd when you consider my background. As a child I HATED sports. I was uncoordinated, was always picked LAST at sports and wasn't even on the charts in the beep test. (For those who aren't aussies, or don't remember, all of the primary school children had to do a certain amount of sit ups, running exercises etc, and were timed by beats to get an average). I was always encouraged to "have a go" at things, which I did, and my teachers commended me for it. That doesn't mean I saw the point of it though. Doing things like the hurdles scared me. The athletes in the class would jump over them easily, and speed up to get over the next one. I always slowed down because I thought "WHAT IS THE POINT OF PUTTING BLOODY OBSTACLES IN THE WAY! I'M GOING TO TRIP OVER!" Even when I did slow down to get over the hurdles, my trailing leg would sometimes get caught on the top and i'd still fall over. And don't get me started on high jump. What is the point of high jump? using a freaking pole to jump over a bar to win a ribbon? I perhaps saw javelin as a real skill, since you could potentially take out school bullies from several yards away; but that's only if you could hold the blasted thing steady.

Anyway, the odd thing about where I am at now is that I have just started running. Now as my wife will testify, I don't run. In fact, I think runners are extremely weird. They go out in all weather, wearing lycra in enthusiastic colours usually, and just run for the sake of getting fit. Some runners may as well have a neon sign over their heads saying "I'M RUNNING! I'M GETTING VERY FIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, SLOB!" Peasants. Anyway How weird is that? Why would you voluntarily run? Fair enough, if you were being chased you might run- even I would run then, but voluntarily? My experience with running as a boy was one of sheer obedience. In my committment to "give something a go" I would run for my teachers. Perhaps they got some sick satisfaction out of getting children to run, because I never saw them doing anything. In cross country and even sprints I always came last. Dead last. Actually that isn't true. Once I actually came third in a running race, which I was rewarded with a coveted green ribbon for. I think the disappointment revolved around the fact that there was only three people running in the race!

Another classic memory is when an important assembly was called, and I was not listening to a word the teachers were saying, basically because I was bored out of my tree. The teacher asked a question and suddenly everyone started to shuffle off, leaving me on my own with them wondering what was going on. One of the teachers and a few fit looking kids looked at me. "So did you want to be part the interschool cross country competition this year. Ben?" Too embarrassed to say I wasn't listening, and piecing enough of the assembly speech together to realise they didn't have enough runners, I nodded dumbly, I think saying something like "I can't guarantee the school will win if I join". Eventually when I did run in the competition, I had completed half of the track, when they started packing up the witches hats to mark the course (I kid you not!), and I was overtaken by a child who was running with his trainer, because he was a severe asthmatic. Once I had finished the course I noticed all of the other runners were already waiting in the bus. These experiences may have put some negative associations in my mind about running.

Two days ago though, I had decided I wanted to run again. Why? I don't know. Perhaps because I am insane. Perhaps because I wanted to see if I could do it, or maybe because I wanted to create some positive associations between myself and the action of running. I didn't want to be the "running joke" anymore. I did pretty well for a first run, but I am still not as fit as I thought, and my body was screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Ignoring these signals I walked, jogged and ran around a circuit in my neighborhood. I find that having my music on helped me too. In my opinion this is just the beginning.
I am absolutely no expert in exercise, but could I make a suggestion to you, if you are going on the GAPS diet that I got from someone else:

* Do what makes you feel good, and works for you- walking, running, dance etc.
* Find a time that works for you.
* The Australian Government recommend you find half an hour for exercise. This might be tricky for some people but it's worth it.
* Don't bash yourself up for not doing enough exercise, just make a determination to do better next time. Every day is a new day.
* Make it a routine. If I have learned anything from the GAPS diet it is that once a routine is in place everything works much more smoothly

Anyway, be blessed, and don't forget to comment, question, follow and / or subscribe! (I was going to say donate too, but that might be a bit cheeky).
Ben.

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.