This page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn on qualifying purchases. Please see our disclaimer for more information.
“All disease begins in the gut” Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine.
We are doing GAPS Introduction at my house. The GAPS diet is from the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride.
Introduction is a 6 Stage diet that starts with very limited foods and gradually adds in additional items. We’re now on Stage 2 after adding in egg yolks on Day 3 of Stage 1. You can read more about our Stage 1 plans here. Well, we are mostly on Stage 2. Christopher is slightly different from us. He has an occasional 1/2 cup of applesauce and we started him on eggs gently cooked in chicken fat. Lulu is also having whole eggs in a limited amount.
Stage 2 allows more foods than Stage 1 did. We’ll continue with broths, boiled meats and well boiled vegetables. Along with whey and pickle or kraut juice (as our probiotic) plus homemade sour cream. We chose to start with homemade sour cream from the beginning (read more about this in my stage 1 post). Our Stage 2 additions will be eggs eventually moving from just the yolk to the entire egg for all of us. We can also now enjoy our foods as casseroles or stews as opposed to only boiled. Casseroles and stews still use broth for cooking but should result in a different taste. I’m excited about this addition! We are also going to be adding homemade yogurt in this stage in addition to our whey and sour cream. Fermented fish is also a new addition to stage 2. I’m going to ferment some salmon plus add back in fermented cod liver oil (we’ve been unsuccessful with anyone else but me taking the cod liver in our house due to the taste but I’m going to try to get everyone on it during intro). And maybe the most exciting new addition is ghee. I have so missed the wonderful flavor of butter so the ghee will be most welcome! I get my ghee locally and have put in an order for it that will be ready on Thursday.
All of these new additions will not happen at once. One important thing with GAPS is to go slowly and watch your own body for signs of issues with each new food or cooking method. It is hard for me not to rush through this but to be deliberate and get as much out of it as we can.
I’m making menu plans but only a few days in advance. Trying to guess how much food we will eat has been challenging. The first three days we ate much more than I expected. I’m writing this on day 4 and at the moment I feel like we have a good amount of food on hand but that can change in an instant. Christopher (age 3) can eat all of the white meat from a chicken by himself! Granted these are free-range barn yard chickens not grocery store birds but that is still alot of meat. So far I’ve cooked 2 chickens and 1 roast plus regular planned meals. We are also going through lots of broth so I’m making broth each day. At the moment we have a small amount of antelope broth along with lamb broth and chicken broth.
I’m using the crock pots alot. I found that if I put a chicken, roast or meaty bones in the crock pot before bed our morning broth is ready and just needs salt. This is very convenient for packing Joe’s thermos of broth (in his lunch) also. After that morning broth, I do take the meat off the bones and then put the fat and soft tissues in the blender along with a small amount of broth. I whirl that up and then add it back to the broth (still in the crock pot). I leave that on all day and we take out broth as needed. By evening it is the most delicious broth ever! Joe and I usually have 2 cups of it before dinner– we like it so much. It is still a challenge to get the children to have as much broth as they should be but is a little easier each day.
We are now on Stage 2 of GAPS Intro.
Our Day 4 Menu (this day is done and our actual meals are shared)
Breakfast- still starting the day with water and a squirt of lemon. Then broth and soup. On this day it was a combination of lamb soup (last nights dinner) and chicken wing soup (yesterday’s breakfast and lunch). I remembered to add egg yolk to Joe’s breakfast soup but completely forgot to put it in the children’s and mine.
Lunch- Joe took a thermos of broth, cold antelope and a thermos of lamb soup. The children and I had assorted cold meats (choice of chicken, antelope or lamb) and cold (already cooked in broth) summer squash along with mint tea.
Dinner- SO EXCITING! We had a casserole. Last year when Joe and I did Intro I purchased this eBook. The casserole was based on a recipe from it. Butternut squash and ground beef. I added onions, garlic and green pepper to make something like a casserole/meat loaf type thing. We had it along with a combination of beet greens and mustard greens (plus onion) stewed in lamb broth and zucchini cooked in broth. Everyone also had broth with egg yolk stirred in. The casserole was good but slightly overcooked due to a delayed dinner (while Joe worked on getting parts to fix our broken kitchen sink drain).
Snacks- Cold meats, broth, ginger tea
NOTE: I had some ‘issues’ on this day. Check out this journal style post if you want the details (trust me, you probably do not).
Day 5 Menu Plan
Today we are adding yogurt!
Breakfast- broth with egg yolk stirred in, assorted leftovers or game roast and a couple of teaspoons of yogurt. (Christopher had an egg fried in chicken fat also).
Lunch- leftover soup with egg yolk stirred in.
Dinner- Something based on this delicious recipe from Starlene. I made this last time we were on GAPS and Joe and I loved it. This time I’m going to use trout (from the freezer) with hopes it will turn out just as good. I’ll also cook beets to go along with this and maybe carrots.
Snacks- – Cold meats, broth, ginger tea
Day 6 Menu Plan
We’ll add soft boiled eggs today if we are ready.
Breakfast: Soup with veggies and meatballs
Lunch: Leftover soup with eggs poached soft in the soup
Dinner: Zucchini and chicken casserole (based on a recipe from this eBook)
Snacks- – Cold meats, broth, ginger tea
Again, these menu plans are really just a guide. I will probably have to adjust things as we go along to accomodate for either eating more food than anticipated or for not being able to move forward with new food additions.
If you have done GAPS Introduction, what are your favorite Stage 2 meals?
