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The 30 Days GAPS Introduction Challenge hosted by Cara at Health, Home & Happiness ended the last of October. For the most part, Joe and I really enjoyed the challenge. It has made me very much aware of how different foods affect me both physically and emotionally. And we both lost several pounds during the month.
At this point, we are sort of, kind of, almost still on GAPS. In fact the entire family is now sort of on GAPS.
What does sort of, kind of, almost on GAPS mean? Well, I’m not really sure what it will mean for the long term. For now we are mostly not on grains and trying to follow the GAPS legal food list. We are still focusing our meals following GAPS principals outlined by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride in the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome on page 144 “If you have decided to go straight into the Full GAPS diet, keep in mind that about 85% of everything your patient eats daily should consist of meats, fish, eggs, fermented dairy and vegetable (some well cooked, some fermented and some raw). Baking and fruit should be kept out of the diet for a few weeks, and then be limited to snacks between meals and should not replace the main meals. Homemade meat stock, soups, stews and natural fats are not optional- they should be your patients staples.”
I do somewhat miss making and enjoying our various sourdough treats that we were used to but not too much. As a substitute, I really enjoy the occasional slice of coconut flour bread. One thing that I really like about the coconut flour bread is how amazingly filling it is so a small slice is all that I need to feel satisfied. Learning to cook with coconut flour has been interesting and at first I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to learn it. Coconut flour is more expensive than wheat flour (or wheat berries) but a small amount of the coconut flour is used so I don’t feel that it is totally cost prohibitive (Cara offers a great description of what coconut flour is and how to use it). I’m also learning how to use nut flours (almond and walnut) in cooking and baking which is working out pretty good. For a couple of months I subscribed to
Grain Free Menu Plans from Health, Home & Happy and I’m now working my way through the recipes Cara provided. They are spectacular (I’m not an affiliate or anything for these, I just really like them) and have been very helpful for our grain free journey.
So that’s where we are right now. I suspect we will continue in the same place for now but at some point will start adding in some of the grains and legumes that we used to eat. I really do want to try to focus on the 85% that Dr. Campbell-McBride recommends and really rely on high quality foods.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on grain free meals and how (if) it works for your family.
