Day 1 of GAPS Diet

After more-or-less abusing my body over the holidays (and enjoying every minute of it) I'm back home and I am ready to try a new strategy, which I have been contemplating for some time. It is called the GAPS Diet. The GAPS Diet is based on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) created by Dr. Sidney Valentine Haas in America in the early 20th century. SCD was later popularized by Elaine Gottschall in her book "Breaking The Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet". Gottschall wrote the book after her success with it in curing her daughter, who had suffered from severe ulcerative colitis and neurological problems.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride, the author of the book, "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" (GAPS) has used the SCD diet coupled with other practices to help many people suffering from autism, ADD, ADHD, depression, anorexia, schizophrenia and many other health problems. She expands on the SCD in various ways, which I will describe as I write about my "plan" for the next month. The goal is to improve my immune system function so that it is no longer attacking my thyroid. I will keep a personal record of what I eat and how I feel. After 3 months I will test for antibodies against my thyroid tissue.

The Plan:

Week 1

Avoid the following items:
All industrially processed food
All sweeteners except for raw honey, eaten raw
Most dairy, except butter and ghee
All grains and starchy vegetables and seaweed
All starchy foods such as arrowroot powder, cocoa, carob, baking powder, etc
All spices except salt and pepper

Eat mostly the following items:
Stock and stock-cooked meat, fish, seafood and vegetables
Raw and undercooked eggs
Lacto-fermented vegetables
Fresh vegetable juice
Raw meat and egg yolks
Nuts and seeds
Fruit
Raw Honey
Butter and ghee

Encourage Healing With the Following Practices:
-Drink 2-3 cups of homemade water kefir daily
-Take the following supplements (which are unique for my needs): zinc and vitamin A
-Take Fermented Cod Liver Oil (www.greenpasture.org) and High Vitamin Butter Oil daily
-Take 1 probiotic capsule daily (with a total strength of 30 billion CFU of 3 different probiotics: http://store.natren.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=N&Screen=PROD&Category_Code=019&Product_Code=60090)
-Drink fresh vegetable and fruit juice daily
-Eat raw liver at least 2-3 times per week (either juiced or blended in beet kvass)
-I may take an enzyme supplement but I am still looking into that option.
-As usual, avoid, as much as possible, all toxins in my environment.
-Weekly coffee enemas (will talk more about these later....he, he, he)

Week 2-Week 4
Depending on how I feel I may introduce home-made yogurt, some cheeses and cultured cream at this point. I will also add spices and some raw veggies.

Day 1:
Breakfast:
Homemade pork sausage (seasoned only with salt and pepper) with 2 soft-boiled egg yolks. Spinach and bok-choy slowly cooked in chicken stock.

Lunch:
Rib-eye steak, celery and dino kale slow-cooked in chicken stock with salt and pepper. 1 egg and 2 tbsp. butter added to "soup" at the end. Freshly ground flax seeds and nutritional yeast added to the soup. Sauerkraut on the side. 8 oz. of fresh vegetable juice with 1 raw egg yolk.

Dinner:
Pork shoulder slow-cooked at 175 degrees with stock, salt and pepper. Broccoli soup (stock, broccoli, butter, salt and pepper), sauerkraut, sliced cucumber. Water kefir.

So far this has been easy. The meals have been very satisfying and I feel really good. But I do feel the pang of the "forbidden". I normally don't even crave things like chocolate or popcorn but the thought that I CAN'T have them makes me want them. Humans are so simple.