GAPS diet intro day 1

I have been avoiding starting the GAPS diet for 6 months, but I am finally ready for healing!
It's going to be an interesting journey with our family of six, but I KNOW that it is what we need to do!
As I boiled the broccoli in our bonebroth, my 8 year old, Justin just went to his room an sobbed. It is going to be difficult, but worth it. Something that is encouraging me today is how bad things were yesterday. Between my horrible gas/bloating, Dallin's gargantuan diarrhea explosion while riding in the car, Justin's mood swings and Devon's chunky soup diareah, I have affirmation that it is officially time to begin this adventure!

Sugar: The Bitter Truth

A much needed reminder for me....especially right after Christmas!

Heaven on a sprouted corn tortilla.

I don't eat gluten.....when I'm being a good girl that is.

The day I made these fish tacos, I was being good, and it tasted WONDERFUL!

I have found out recently that I enjoy fish tacos.

I even ventured over to Rubio's on a Tuesday night for their fish taco special and enjoyed myself thoroughly...

I thought their tacos were good.........

THEN I MADE MY OWN!

Oooh lala!!!

 

I still have fond memories days later. 

I think the main reason they were better was the quality of and freshness of ingredients of what I use compared to their packaged processed stuff. 

I will probably eat theirs again, but when I have the energy, I'll be eating mine over theirs in a heart beat!

I have no clue what the recipe is for these since I just made it up, but I just need to record what's in em' so I can duplicate heaven at some future point in time! 

Ingredients for:

Heaven on a sprouted corn tortilla.

a.k.a. gluten free fish tacos

sprouted organic corn tortillas.

fresh mayonnaise turned into tartar sauce

fresh pico de gallo

cilantro 

and.......

homemade fish sticks:

Mahi Mahi pieces from Trader Joes, dipped in egg and coated with corn masa, a bit of organic corn starch, a few dashes of Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning, Sea Salt then pan fried in coconut oil. 

Quick Dairy Free Rice Pudding......For Breakfast

When you choose to soak and ferment your grains, it really limits your fast breakfast options but I've found one!

Rice Pudding! My family and I LOVE this breakfast food. I cook it on the stove top and it can be made in under 10 minutes.

It's super easy if you have soaked, prepared rice.  All I do is dump everything into a pot and stir until it is warm!  

Since I rarely use measurements, I'm going to just share the ingredients.....to taste.

Quick Dairy Free Rice Pudding

Several cups of cooked brown rice

3 or 4 or 5 eggs cracked into the rice

some canned coconut milk

cinnamon and maybe nutmeg

rapadura or a natural sweetener

raisins

vanilla

That's it!

A yummy, protein filled, soaked grain breakfast recipe that everyone will enjoy....especially Dallin!

To eat gluten or not to eat gluten....that is the question!!!!

Several months ago, I was tested and I have a dairy allergy. It's dang hard not to eat dairy, but I feel better when I don't and I've been a fairly good girl since finding it out. Ever since then I decided not to worry about weather or not I have a gluten sensitivity because not eating dairy AND wheat is downright depressing. Only problem is that I have a feeling that gluten causes me issues. I have just been trying to ignore that idea all together. I really love bread. A LOT. We've been sprouting or fermenting all of our wheat, but I have a feeling I need to avoid it all together. :(

I sadly relate to this article in regards to brain function. My brain is so spotty at times.....especially on days like today. Dang that delicious cinnamon bread my visiting teachers gave me!!!!

What I really need to have done is a blood test so I can stop talking myself out of the fact that I probably shouldn't be consuming gluten. 

I found this article interesting and wanted to remember it!

e

David Perlmutter, M.D.

Board-Certified Neurologist and author of upcoming book, "Power Up Your Brain."

Posted: November 21, 2010 11:40 AM

Gluten Sensitivity and the Impact on the Brain

Several months ago, I was tested and I have a dairy allergy. It's dang hard not to eat it, but I feel better when I don't. Ever since then I decided not to worry about weather I have a gluten sensitivity because not eating dairy AND wheat is downright depressing. Only problem is that I have a feeling that gluten causes me issues. I have just been trying to ignore that idea. I really love bread. A LOT. We've been sprouting or fermenting all of our wheat, but I have a feeling I need to avoid it all together. :(

I sadly relate to this article in regards to brain function. My brain is so shotty at times.....especially on days like today. Dang that delicious cinnemon bread my visiting teachers gave me!!!!

What I really need to have done is a blood test so I can stop talking myself out of the fact that I probably shouldn't be consuming gluten. 

Several years ago, parents of a lovely nine-year-old girl, Karen, brought her to see me because she had poor memory. They indicated that she had difficulty in thinking and focusing, and because of these issues she was falling further and further behind in her school work. Interestingly, they stated that at times she was fine, while clearly at other times her brain function seemed to be different. They indicated that she had difficulty keeping her thoughts together and that she became profoundly frustrated when this would occur.
Because of her significant issues with academic performance, her parents elected to home school her. Her academic testing revealed that she was functioning at or below a third grade level in a variety of areas, including math skills, reading fluency, story recall and overall academic skills. Fortunately, she had no significant medical problems in her past and her overall physical, as well as neurological examinations were entirely normal. Routine, typical blood studies were unrevealing, so I was left to reconsider her history to see if there were any clues as to what might be causing this child's problems.
What caught my attention was the interesting fact that her problems were not constant, indicating that basically her brain was intact but something seemed to be detrimentally influencing her from time to time, causing her to have these significant issues with respect to how her brain functioned. In considering what factors change day to day in terms of someone's exposure, certainly diet is at the top of the list.
Recognizing that gluten sensitivity (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye) is extremely common, I decided to perform a simple blood test to determine if this child was gluten sensitive. When the laboratory studies were completed, we were surprised to learn that she was profoundly sensitive to gluten. So at that point I instructed her parents to put her on a gluten-free diet. While they considered this diet to be challenging, eliminating all wheat, barley and rye from her diet, nevertheless they complied. Over the next two weeks, her parents observed a remarkable change in her cognitive function. Karen suddenly was able to focus much more readily on her school work and indicated to her parents that she suddenly noticed she was thinking much more clearly. Her parents maintained her on a gluten-free diet and over the next several months continued to notice further improvements in her school work. At the end of the school year, she was tested and her grade level equivalent for math calculation skills was 5.1, reading fluency 5.6 and story recall 8.4, which is to say, functioning at a level considered "normal" midway through the year for an eighth grader.
A brief note from her parents reported:
"Karen is completing third grade this year. Prior to removing gluten from her diet, academics, especially math, were difficult. As you can see, she is now soaring in math. Based upon this test, entering the fourth grade next year, she would be at the top of her class. The teacher indicated that if she skipped fourth grade and went to fifth grade, she would be in the middle of her class. What an accomplishment!"
Louis Pasteur stated, "Chance favors the prepared mind." I am certainly grateful that chance favored us several years ago when Karen came to be evaluated. Because of this experience, I became deeply involved in research exploring the effects of gluten sensitivity on the brain. I learned that gluten sensitivity, known as celiac disease, is actually an extremely common human affliction. In fact, it has been described as "the most common human disease." Current studies indicate that about one percent of Americans are gluten sensitive. This is an astounding statistic when you consider that at the time of this writing, there are approximately 297,000,000 Americans. That means, about 3 million Americans are gluten sensitive. When you consider the population from birth to age five years is 23 million children, that means that approximately 230,000 of these children are gluten sensitive.
It seems astounding that a disease that is so common, is nevertheless, fairly obscure. Despite the fact that it was originally described in 1888, we still don't hear much about it. Standard medical text books typically describe celiac disease (gluten sensitivity) as being primarily a gastrointestinal problem. I recall in medical school being taught that celiac disease was characterized by abdominal pain, abdominal distention with bloating and gas, decreased appetite, diarrhea, nausea, unexplained weight loss and growth delay in children. Newer research indicates that celiac disease can have a profound effect on the nervous system.
Dr. Maios Hadjivassiliou of the United Kingdom, a recognized world authority on gluten sensitivity, has reported in the journal, The Lancet, that "gluten sensitivity can be primarily and at times, exclusively a neurological disease." That is, people can manifest gluten sensitivity by having issues with brain function without any gastrointestinal problems whatsoever. Dr. Hadjivassiliou indicates that the antibodies that a person has when they are gluten sensitive can be directly and uniquely toxic to the brain.
Since his original investigations in 1996, the recognition that gluten sensitivity can lead to disorders of brain function has led to a virtual explosion of scientific papers describing this relationship. Researchers in Israel have noted neurological problems in 51 percent of children with gluten sensitivity and further, describe a link between gluten sensitivity and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). As authors in a recent issue of the journal, Pediatrics, stated in their research, "This study suggests that the variability of neurologic disorders that occur in celiac disease is broader than previously reported and includes softer and more common neurologic disorders including chronic headache, developmental delay, hypotonia and learning disorders or ADHD."
The link between gluten sensitivity and problems with brain function, including learning disabilities, difficulty staying on task and even memory dysfunction, is actually not that difficult to understand. Gluten sensitivity is caused by elevated levels of antibodies against a component of gluten, gliadin. This antibody (anti-gliadin antibody) combines with gliadin when a person is exposed to any gluten containing food like wheat, barley or rye. Testing for the antibody can be performed in any doctor's office. When the antibody combines with this protein, specific genes are turned on in a special type of immune cell in the body.
When these genes are turned on, inflammatory chemicals are created called cytokines, which are directly detrimental to brain function. In fact, elevated cytokines are seen in such devastating conditions as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and even autism. Basically, the brain does not like inflammation and responds quite negatively to the presence of cytokines. Another problem with anti-gliadin antibody is that it can directly combine with specific proteins found in the brain. Specific brain proteins can look like the gliadin protein found in gluten-containing foods and the anti-gliadin antibody just can't tell the difference. This direct role of anti-gliadin antibody in combining with specific proteins in the brain, has been described for decades and again leads to the formation of cytokines, the chemical mediators of inflammation. This is an example of turning on genes that ultimately function in a negative way in relation to brain health and function.

Our fine flatware and a yummy eazy pizza sensation!

The Goal: To avoid eating too much starch.
The Solution: Sprouted Grain

I watch my starch intake. One way I do that is by eating things with sprouted grain. This is a pizza we made w/ Ezeikiel tortillas.

The result....the yummiest pizza ever.

Not only that, but I feel amazing after I eat eat it

I still remember how I felt after eating a store bought pizza w/ white flour rising crust. I felt YUCK. There is A BIG difference. This is how we make pizza now in our home.

All I do is rinse the frozen Ezeikiel tortilla in water, then cook it on both sides in coconut oil. When it begins to get crispy I add a good sauce and the toppings right there on the skillet. I just cook it until the tortilla is crispy and the cheese is melted.

The ingredients:

Trader Joe's Sauce
Raw cheddar
I topped it with uncooked onions, red peppers and fresh basil
I also top it with fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and basil.


WOW!  A DEFINITE QUICK FAMILY FAVORITE!!!

 See!?!?!

Homemade Mayonnaise

So.....today we tried to make homemade mayo.

YUCK.

It was eggy oil.

Next time, we're going to follow the rules.



This is the recipe I'm going to use:


I found this tutorial. I hope it works, because I'm tired of buying mayo made with sub-par ingredients at a high price!!! (That means mayo w/ soy or canola oil.)

I'll let you know how it goes after we make it following the rules. ;)