GAPS Diet, Pregnancy, and Adrenal Fatigue

I have received a comment on my last post and I think my response will be lengthy enough to warrant a post of its own.  So, here goes...

AnonymousJuly 16, 2013 at 8:01 PM

Hi Janice,
First, congratulations on your pregnancy! I found your blog during an Internet search on the GAPS diet and autism. I found Sam's story tremendously inspiring. I am considering doing it for my family but am a bit apprehensive, for various reasons. Something that I keep thinking about is that you mentioned your health took a downturn. Would you mind commenting on whether you think the GAPS diet may have contributed to your health challenges? I realize it helped Sam so much, but I am wondering if it could actually be harmful to some?
Many thanks to you for sharing your journey with us!

Anonymous, I cannot be absolutely certain as to what caused my health problems, but I do admit that I suspect the GAPS Diet.  My health problems are due to adrenal fatigue.  The doctor that diagnosed me suspects that the restricted diet and the stress that goes along with maintaining a restrictive diet could play a large part in wearing down my adrenals.  I think that my main problem is that I was on the GAPS Diet for two years and during that time I was pregnant with baby #4, nursing baby #4, had an early miscarriage, and was then newly pregnant with baby #5.  I think my pregnant/nursing body just needed more carbs than what I was getting on the GAPS Diet.  My body went into starvation mode and my metabolism slowed down to nothing.  The adrenal fatigue has effected my thyroid function, my hormonal balance, my energy level, my metabolism, my ability to handle stress...I can't believe how much my body has fallen apart because of this.

I haven't noticed any negative effects on the children.  Two years on the GAPS Diet seemed to be extremely beneficial to them.  However, my body needed more and I just wasn't getting it on the GAPS Diet.  I do believe that it is possible to have a larger amount of carbs and still stick to the GAPS Diet though.  However I believe that it would take a deliberate effort to increase those carbs.  I still promote the GAPS Diet because I believe that it can be tremendously healing, but I do have to throw a caution in there as well.  Looking back, I think that my body would have been better off if I had transitioned off of the GAPS Diet around the 1 year mark.

A Long Overdue Update From Us

No, I haven't died or moved or been imprisoned or anything else that dramatic.  For a couple of reasons I've just not really been too into blogging lately. 

My health took a downturn this past Fall and I still haven't fully recovered from it.  Also, with the current political environment we feel that it's best to just stay off the radar as much as possible.

Our Family
I'm pleased to announce that we are expecting our fifth child this summer.  The baby is expected to arrive sometime the end of June or beginning of July.  We're really excited.  Lord willing, we'll be able to have another successful homebirth.

Sam and the GAPS Diet
We are currently trying to transition off of the GAPS Diet.  Some has done remarkably well on it.  January 2013 marked the 2-year point for us.  He is currently able to consume non-GAPS foods like potatoes, brown rice, oats, millet, cocoa powder, maple syrup, and raw cow's milk.  We're REALLY enjoying having a wider variety of food again.  I'm currently trying to see if his body is healthy enough to handle a gluten bread made from spelt.  Of course, we're still preparing our foods using the methods found in the Nourishing Traditions book so we grind the spelt into flour ourselves and then soak it overnight in an acidic medium.

Sam still has some "quirks" that most children his age do not have.  He still struggles sometimes to control his body.  However, he is healed enough now that he can acknowledge when he's "doing" autism and he attempts to stop his body from the behavior.  He doesn't seem to struggle at all with maintaining eye contact, he is constantly asking questions, and continues to play games with his siblings.  I am so very grateful for the GAPS Diet and the healing that it has brought Sam.

Our Farm
We're still expanding our farm and, little by little, trying to become more self-sufficient.  We're currently getting 2 dozen eggs a day from our hens.  A lot of the garden is put in already.  This year we plan on growing turnips, beets, carrots, lettuce, spinach, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, corn, jalapeno and green peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, summer and winter squash, sweet potatoes, and brussels sprouts.  The peach trees are currently blossomed out in beautiful pink flowers.  Our honey bees seem very happy that Spring is here as there's a constant hum coming from the bees visiting the flowers.  All of the other fruit trees have buds swelling but none have blossomed yet like the peach trees have.  This time last year we were already harvesting asparagus but the weather this year has pushed everything back a bit.  That's ok though.  My body is dragging more this year than it did last year, so I'm thankful for the extra time this delayed Spring has given me to accomplish tasks.

Our Freedom
Those familiar with our past blog posts know that we've always been concerned with the direction our country has taken and the threats that were being made against our freedom.  Some time has passed and we're even more concerned now that those threats are turning into actions meant to take away our liberty and force us into dependency.  I urge all of you to make sure that you are informed about what is going on in our country.  Please don't bury your head in the sand or believe that "the experts" must know better than you.  You may not be all that concerned about it, but your children are going to reap what is currently being sown.  If you are unfamiliar with them, I would recommend that you take the time to read the books 1984, A Brave New World, and Atlas Shrugged.

If anyone out there is still visiting this nearly-abandoned blog...thank you.  Thank you for taking an interest in our family and caring about what happens to us.  I do miss sharing our lives with you.  It was always nice to find others that took an interest in this lifestyle that we love living.  Lord willing, I'll be able to share more of our lives here in the future.

Take care,
Janice

Update After One Year On GAPS Intro

I've been meaning to update about our GAPS progress. We began our journey on January 10, 2011. After one year we are currently on Stage 4 of the Intro diet.

For the most part, the improvements that we've seen have come about slowly. In order to really evaluate the changes I had to get out a chart that I made at the beginning of our journey to track Sam's autistic behaviors. (That chart will be my next post.)

When we began the GAPS Intro diet I made note of all of Sam's autistic behaviors that I wanted to improve upon. For Sam, those behaviors included: humming, clapping, TV/movie talk, hitting head, meltdowns, argumentative, chewing, and poor sleeping.

Here's how our lives have changed in one year:

Humming: Prior to the diet Sam would hum nonstop. He would hum while eating, in bed before going to sleep, as he was riding in the van, while watching tv..all the time. After one year on GAPS Intro Sam does still hum, but it is only occasionally. Now he might hum whenever there's a lot of noise or unusual activity around him.

Clapping: You can tell in the videos from February 2010 that Sam would clap his hands at a furious pace. I'm happy to say that I cannot remember the last time that I have witnessed Sam clapping his hands involuntarily. I don't know exactly when he regained control of his body but it has been sometime in the past year.

TV/movie talk: This is something else that he used to struggle with on a daily basis. We couldn't ask him a question without getting an answer that was simply repeated from some TV show or movie. We no longer get those kinds of answers from him. Now, when we ask a question, we get an answer that comes from Sam's own mind. You can see his improvement in that area in the video from February 2011. I will say that Sam does still struggle with "book talk." He still does get extremely immersed in certain topics that he's reading about and, if you give him free reign, he will dominate the conversation with whatever topic he is currently interested in studying. Right now he is really interested in the Presidents and the weather so he could talk to you about those things all day long if you would let him.

Hitting head: Again, this happened numerous times every single day whenever Sam got angry or overwhelmed. I cannot remember the last time that I've seen Sam hit himself in the head.

Meltdowns: Prior to the diet Sam didn't necessarily have one of these every day, but they were still often enough to be a problem. Sam's meltdowns involved him hopping from one foot to the other while he banged his ears with his hands. He would scream "NO!" or just wail while he had his meltdown. I cannot remember the last time that I've seen him have a meltdown. Now, instead of losing physical control, he will use words to express anger if he doesn't get his way. Now he would be more likely to say, "God will be angry with you!" if he's upset with you about something.

Argumentative: When I say "argumentative" I mean that Sam used to argue with you about everything under the sun. You'd say, "The sky is blue" and he's scream back at you, "NO IT'S NOT!" I'd say, "We're having eggs for breakfast." and he's scream back at me, "NO WE'RE NOT!" I'd love to say that my child never argues with me, but the reality is that now Sam saves his arguments for rare occasions. It's so nice to not be in a constant battle with my child now.

Chewing: Sam used to destroy things by chewing on them. He'd chew on forks, spoons, straws, toys, clothing, cups, etc. I cannot remember the last time I've seen him do this. It has also stopped within this past year.

Poor sleeping: I think this is the area that I've most taken for granted. I look back at my chart from the beginning of our GAPS journey and I remember how bad it really used to be. Sam used to wake up at 5am every single day. He would also get up numerous times during the night. Now, he is asleep by 9pm and usually sleeps solid through the night until around 6:30am. If he does get up in the night it is just to go potty (which he does quietly without waking up anyone else) and then he puts himself back to bed.

After one year on GAPS Intro, the areas that I would like to continue improving upon are:

Help Sam to understand when someone isn't really interested in knowing everything about the Presidents or the weather or whatever his current interest is. I'd like for him to be able to sense when he needs to change the topic.

I'd like Sam to be able to expand his interests more. I'd like him to show more interest in doing "outside" tasks instead of staying inside and reading so much. I think more of a balance between the two would be healthy for him.

We'd like to see Sam improve upon his motor skills. There are still some areas where he is physically behind where most 6 year old boys are.

After one year, the results of the GAPS Diet have been more than I even hoped for. For anyone considering this diet...it is SO worth the sacrifice! I'm anxious to see what my child is like after another year of healing.

A Lost Tooth & Another Sam Update (10 months on GAPS Intro)

Not too long ago I received a comment on another post:

Erin said...
I was wondering if you could do an update on Sam's autism. I'm assuming he's still improving. I've shown the videos to some people, and for some reason people don't want to believe it. One lady said, "Any kid will differ from day to day..."


Erin, thank you for your question. Yes..Sam continues to improve! The healing is extremely slow, but that's not surprising. Dr. McBride's book is very up-front about the fact that this is a lengthy healing process. I guess, to some extent, the comment that you overheard is true. Yes, any kid will differ from day to day and that holds true for Sam. There are still some days that he hums and claps more than others. There are still some days that he recites passages from books. HOWEVER, Sam's worst day now is so much better than his best day before the diet.

A couple weeks ago we invited our property's previous owners out to visit. Mr. G commented, "You know, you all are doing a great job with Sam. When we first met him two years ago it was obvious that something wasn't right. Now I don't know if most people would even realize that there's something different about him." Those kinds of comments just make my day!

Last night Sam lost his 3rd tooth. Here's a video of him explaining what happened. He doesn't make eye contact all the time, but he is very capable of answering my questions. He's keeping up with our conversation. He's able to tell what his FEELINGS were. That right there is huge! He used to have such a difficult time identifying people's feelings, even his own.


There are still certain times when Sam struggles to control himself. If we are away from home I can tell that he still gets a little overstimulated. Even if it's a place that he's accustomed to I will notice a slight difference in behavior compared to when we're home. Of course, if we're somewhere out of the ordinary, the difference in his behavior is even more noticeable. I've also noticed that he gets overstimulated anytime he watches electronic media. We have no TV service in our home and we've even stopped watching movies. However, we do still allow the children to watch some YouTube videos from time to time. I've noticed that Sam has more difficulty controlling himself after watching those videos.

However, having said all the above, I want to stress again that when you compare his behavior now to his behavior pre-GAPS (or even early post-GAPS) there is obvious improvement. His worst behavior now after watching a YouTube video is dramatically better than his best behavior a year ago.

I get really frustrated when people make comments like the one you overheard. In my experience, those comments are usually made by people that are looking for an excuse not to make dietary changes. They are from people that are so devoted to their processed food and fast food drive-thru convenience that they'll look for any reason to quickly dismiss the diet. I know that parent's don't actually say this, but this is what I hear when they quickly dismiss a dietary change:

"I choose Twinkies over my child's health."
"I choose birthday parties over my child's health."
"I choose convenient fast food over my child's health."
"I'm too busy to devote the time it takes to recover my child."

I cannot wrap my mind around this way of thinking. Prior to starting the GAPS diet, Sam's behavior was so out of control that I was willing to try almost anything. I was worn down and exhausted (both physically and emotionally) from constantly arguing and disciplining my son. I didn't care if a dietary change only gave us one HOUR of peace a day. Even if it gave us the most minimal improvement, then it was worth it. I actually have a lot more respect for someone that dismisses the diet by saying, "I'm glad it's working for them and I'll keep it in mind for us later, but I think we're going to try something different right now."

I don't know if what I'm about to say is right or wrong, but it's how I feel:

I don't have the time or the patience to go out and "convert" everyone. I am more than willing and happy to spend time helping someone recover their child from autism...IF they are truly interested in doing what it takes to recover their child. For all the others, I simply try to shake the dust from my feet and walk away. So Erin, based on my own experience my advice would be to: Move on and make yourself accessible to those that are interested in listening and then acting.

If there's anyone out there that I can help by sharing our family's experiences, then PLEASE don't hesitate to contact me at janicegaps@yahoo.com

Affording the GAPS Diet Grocery Bill

Today I received this comment on my post about Sam's Autism Improvement on Video:

Anonymous said...
Hi Janice.

I have just seen this link posted on a Facebook page. I'm really curious about how this works.

My son is 6 and he has Aspergers. I have tried homeopathy but it didn't work.

He has a good diet but due to his condition I am unable to work, and we live on just my partners wage, therefore don't have money to buy organic etc foods...

I'd love some advice on how to get started xx

I figured I would just put my answer in its own blog post since it's likely to get a little lengthy!

First of all, like yours, our family is a one-income family. So, I hope that our family's experience will be useful to you.

I know this is obvious, but I'm going to point it out anyway. The first thing our family did to free up funds for increased food costs was to look at other areas of our budget. We had to figure out what areas could be decreased so that our grocery budget could increase. For instance, we do not pay for any TV service whatsoever. Doing without a cable/satellite bill and other things like trash service have freed up money that can now go towards good quality foods. So, first of all I'd look to find other areas of your budget that can be reassigned.

After analyzing and making changes to the budget, we had to go through and define our priorities. While I would love to eat only all organic fruits and vegetables and only pastured meat and only grass-fed dairy and only local raw honey and..you get the idea. Realistically I purchase my fruits and vegetables SOME organic and SOME conventional. For our meat I purchase SOME pastured and SOME conventional. I have to make some concessions because we just can't afford to do everything perfect. So, I would suggest that your family decide what is your highest priority and make decisions accordingly.

Here's were I currently acquire our foods:

Meats
I purchase chicken in bulk once a year from a farm that raises pastured poultry. I buy one year's worth all at once because there's a huge cost savings by buying in bulk.

I purchase conventionally-raised local pork from a local butcher. I buy 1/2 a pig at a time, again for the cost savings. (Would love to have pastured pork, but it's very hard to find and also very expensive. Priorities..)

I purchase hormone/antibiotic free beef that is grass/hay fed (no grain) from a friend. I purchase 1/2 a cow at a time, again for the cost savings.

We raise our own rabbits and butcher them ourselves for meat.

My husband will be deer hunting this year and will (Lord willing) get one or two deer.

Fats
Whenever we purchase our beef and pork, I always ask to be given the fat from the animal. Then I render the fat myself in order to get a lot of good lard and tallow. The processors that I use don't charge any extra for providing the fat.

I purchase my pure olive oil and extra virgin olive oil from Sam's Club. It's not organic, but it's what we can afford. (Obviously, this is lower on my list of priorities.)

I bought my coconut oil in bulk from Nutiva. I think I purchased something like 10 or 12 gallons last time in order to get the best discounts and free shipping.

Finally, whenever I cook any meats, I always save the fats. We make burger patties and I save the fat to add to mashed cauliflower. We cook bacon and I save the fat to season green beans. We bake a pork loin roast and I save the fat to scramble eggs in the next morning. I roast a chicken and I save the fat to add into soups. Nothing gets wasted.

Fruits and Vegetables
Oh, there's so many sources for these foods. Of course we grow some of our own in our garden and orchard. However, we don't yet come anywhere near providing all of our own fruits and vegetables. I still purchase a lot.

I purchase non-organic avocados ($0.69 each), lemons ($0.25 each), and cauliflower ($1.99 each) from Aldi. They have great, low prices on their conventionally grown produce.

I purchase organic carrots from Kroger. I can get 5 pounds for $4.99 usually, but this week they were on sale for $3.99! I haven't found anyone else that beats their prices on organic carrots.

I purchase non-organic brussel sprouts ($4.97 for 2 pounds) and mushrooms ($3.98 for 24 ounces) from Sam's Club. I also get organic baby carrots ($3.98 for 3 pounds) and organic spinach ($3.97 for 1 pound) from Sam's Club.

Each month I place an order with Azure Standard. Having them deliver locally has been a huge blessing for our family. Every month I purchase all of my organic frozen green beans, broccoli, and peas in bulk. I also get organic onions and organic miniature pickling cucumbers for all the fermented pickles we consume. This next month they have a great deal on butternut squash. It's not perfect quality so it's sold at a discounted rate. I don't care if my squash looks pretty or not, so I'm stocking up by buying 40 pounds. Keeping an eye out on those good deals and stocking up then really does save our family quite a bit of money.

I also utilize our local Farmer's Market. This summer I was able to purchase a lot of organic green peppers. It's so difficult to find organic green peppers in stores, so I snatched up whatever I could find at the Farmer's Market. Then I dehydrated the green peppers. I now have enough organic green peppers to last our family until next year's growing season.

I know there are other foods that I haven't listed, but you get the idea. Basically, I make a point to keep track of food prices so I can recognize a good deal. Whenever I run across a good deal, I stock up. Yes, it costs more one time, but then you don't have to buy any more for quite a while. Also, our family has found that buying good quality food motivates us to learn to provide it for ourselves. I see how much money I spend each month on produce and it spurs me on to produce a larger, more successful garden.

It also takes time to research and find new sources for good quality foods. You may have to settle for conventionally-raised beef until you can find a source for good quality beef. Networking with other like-minded families can be beneficial. I've come across many resources this way that I wouldn't have discovered myself. It's great when friends contact me to let me know that they've found a good sale. Oftentimes, a group of friends can make a bulk purchase together in order to receive a discount and then divide everything up amongst themselves.

Ultimately, I think the best thing is just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Small, continuous improvements will eventually get you somewhere. At least you're moving in the right direction.

Anyway...Anonymous, I hope that helps get you started. If I can help in any way, please don't hesitate to contact me.

(This post is proud to be part of Real Food Wednesday.)
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/11/real-food-wednesday-11092011.html

The Great Sunflower Seed Incident

So...yesterday Andrew was at an event with other children. Of course I took a GAPS-friendly snack for him to eat, but the other children there had their snack of apples and sunflower seeds. Immediately after snacktime, Andrew started breaking out in a rash and his left ear started swelling up. His behavior was fine and he wasn't having any difficulty breathing..he just looked awful.







My first thought was, "Oh no, what did he eat?!?!" However, I was assured that he didn't put anything in his mouth other than the food that I had brought. So, next I started to wonder if he had possibly been stung by something on the ear. However, he was indoors the entire time and not one of the many adults there had noticed him crying out at any point as if he had been stung. I even asked him if a bug bit him and he told me no.

So, this is what we've finally decided is the most likely explanation...

Even though the other children were eating a healthy snack of apples and sunflower seeds, the sunflower seeds were store-bought and processed. This means that the ingredients included a lot more than just sunflower seeds. I found this list of common ingredients online:

SUNFLOWER KERNELS, SALT, SUGAR, CORNSTARCH, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (FLAVOR ENHANCER), DRIED YEAST, GELATIN, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, PAPRIKA, ONION AND GARLIC POWDERS, SPICES, NATURAL FLAVOR

Anyhow, the theory is that some of the artificial ingredients/oil were transferred to a toy by another child. Andrew must have somehow picked up the residue on his hands. Then he proceeded to scratch his ear, which immediately began to swell, turn red/purple, and get hot. Shortly after that exposure his face, neck, and torso began breaking out in whelps.

I took these photos about 2 hours after the exposure. The rash had actually improved a bit on his face and neck. At 5 hours after exposure his ear was still just as hot and red and swollen as before and the rash had continued to spread to his feet. He was obviously itchy, but otherwise acted normal. This morning, however, everything is fine. His ear and body look absolutely normal.

Sometimes I get so focused on making sure that the children don't consume processed foods. It's easy to forget that these foods can still harm sensitive children in other ways. I'm glad it wasn't any more serious, but it was a good reminder as to why we are doing what we are doing. There are very valid reasons why we avoid processed foods.

Cheating on GAPS

It's a bad day. A really bad, bad day.

Last night our family went to a meeting. After the meeting there were refreshments: fruit, cake, cookies, punch, water. I watched Shawn eat his little plate of goodies and I was tempted. So I told him that I would just go look at the food table. Of course I ended up coming back with some of the fruit and a few non-GAPS treats. When the meeting wrapped up, the ladies started cleaning up and asked if anyone wanted to take any of the extra refreshments home. I grabbed a small plate for Shawn to take into work with him today.

I woke up this morning after Shawn had already left for work. Do you know what he did??? He left three of the cookies sitting on the kitchen counter! He actually left some of those things home for me to eat. So I ate them...all of them. I dunked those chocolate chip cookies in my coffee this morning and I scarfed it all down eagerly. I enjoyed it. They tasted so good. I miss cookies.

Now I hurt. My head is absolutely throbbing. I have no energy. I do not want to cook. I do not want to clean. I do not want ANY noise. I have no patience. I feel like I am barely functioning through a mental fog. My vision is literally a bit foggy too. I also feel engorged today (which is not normal) and David isn't nursing well. Apparently he doesn't care for cookie-infected milk.

Was it the grain from the cookies..or the sugar...or the artificial additives? I don't have a clue what exactly in the cookies is bothering me, but it has hit me hard. What's even worse is that I KNEW that I would be paying for giving into the cookie temptation, but I did it anyway.

I don't know if this post will do any good for others on GAPS, but it is something I need to go back and read each time I'm faced with temptation. Cheating on GAPS makes me hurt. It's not worth it.

This post is linked up to Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/09/real-food-wednesday-9711.html

Amazed at the Blog Visits

I continue to be amazed at the number of people that are visiting my blog in order to see the videos of Sam's autism improvement. Just yesterday I had visitors come here from:

British Columbia, Canada
Newfoundland, Canada
Alabama, U.S.
Illinois, U.S.
Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Georgia, U.S.
Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
Virginia, U.S.
Ash Sharqiyah, Saudi Arabia
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Buskerud, Norway
Gullbringusysla, Iceland
Texas, U.S.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Wisconsin, U.S.
New Hampshire, U.S.
Budapest, Hungary

All of the above visitors looked at the posts of Sam's autism videos. In addition to that, in the past week I've had visitors from Brazil, Denmark, India, Australia, Netherlands, Poland, Philippines, Hong Kong, London, California, Washington, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio come here looking for GAPS recipes and autism resources.

It's neat to see the international autism sites that have posted Sam's videos. The only words I can read on the sites are "autism" and "SAHMville," but then I see Sam's smiling face on there as well. He doesn't realize how big of an impact he's having on people around the world.

Homemade Sausage Seasoning

Since we don't produce our own pork yet I still have to find an outside source to purchase it. Obviously, with our GAPS diet, I'm not purchasing sausage from the store. However, I'm also not even able to purchase it from our local butcher because of the seasonings that are used. I don't trust that the seasonings are GAPS-friendly, so I choose to make my own sausage seasoning. Actually, it works out better because I can get plain ground pork from our local Mennonite butcher cheaper than purchasing ready-made sausage from the same business.


Our family likes the following recipe:

6-1/2 Tbsp. sage
2 Tbsp. sea salt
5 tsp. pepper
5 tsp. red pepper flakes
5 tsp. fennel
5 tsp. marjoram
2-1/2 tsp. ground mustard
2 tsp. garlic powder

Place all ingredients in a small jar and shake until well blended. This recipe makes enough to season about 10 pounds of ground pork. For each pound of pork used, add 1-1/2 Tbsp. of sausage seasoning. It is a bit on the spicy side, so if I were going to alter the recipe I would definitely put in fewer red pepper flakes instead of more!

GAPS-Friendly Spanish Squash

I recently stumbled across a yummy recipe on allrecipes.com. Of course I changed it up a little bit to fit our diet. We really liked it so I thought I'd share it today.


My version calls for:
2 pounds of ground beef
2-3 Tbsp. of fat (tallow or lard)
3 yellow squash, sliced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced (I also added 3 small sweet peppers from our garden this time.)
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
Sea salt and pepper to taste

1. In large skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef.

2. While beef is cooking, place fat in another large skillet. When fat is melted and hot, add squash, onion, and green pepper. Saute until tender. **See note below**

3. When vegetables are tender, add them to the ground beef. Then also add tomatoes and spices to ground beef.

4. Mix together and cook for 5-10 minutes until tomatoes are soft and everything is heated through.

**This can easily be a one-pot meal. It's not really necessary to cook the vegetables separately. The first time I made this I cooked everything together in one skillet. It still tasted great. However, the squash got very "smooshy" when it cooked with the beef. By cooking the vegetables in a separate skillet, the "smooshiness" is avoided.**



Enjoy!


This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/08/real-food-wednesday-8242011.html

Blogger Problems and a Response to Pam

I have problems with Blogger. I can no longer edit previous posts. I can't even publish a post without first saving it as a draft and then publishing it from the "Saved Drafts" page. Also, I cannot respond in comments to anyone that has posted a comment to me. So...with all that said, I received an amazing comment from Pam in my previous post. Since I can't comment on my own posts for some reason I decided to make my comment to Pam its own separate post. Here's the comment from Pam:

Hi Janice,

What a fantastic coincidence. I'm visiting your blog to thank you for sharing your story and videos of your son Sam. I had learned about GAPS a few months before seeing your videos on Cheeseslave, but it wasn't until watching those videos and reading about your family's experience that I finally ordered the book.

Now we are on it as a family, and our 4 year old son, who has an autism diagnosis and seems(seemed) to share so many similarities with Sam, is emerging from the fog. He is 19 days on the diet. A month ago he wasn't conversational. Today he asked "why" questions, asked me how I was doing, shared and played with friends, told us all the things he wanted to do today, played with his younger sister, and kept us up to date on his feelings. And that was just today! We can get out of the car in a parking lot and not worry about him running off; he waits to hold our hands instead. The other day I noticed he was upset and when I told him he looked upset, he told me he was and what had upset him. He didn't tantrum. Instead, he showed self-control and expressed himself verbally. We still have a good ways to go, but my goodness, we are getting somewhere!

Even though we don't know you, we talk about you and Sam and how you have inspired us. Our family thanks you and Sam so much. Thank you for sharing your story and thank you for having the courage to never stop looking for answers.

God bless,
Pam

Pam...I am so happy that you are finally getting to know your son! Isn't this an amazing time!?! Seeing that much change in NINETEEN days! I'm so excited for your family.

Before starting GAPS I remember several times when I asked God why MY child had to be created with autistic traits. I remember having a breakdown at my friend's home because I was so overwhelmed dealing with Sam's meltdowns and antisocial behavior. I remember sobbing, "I don't even know my own son!" I couldn't understand why Shawn and I were chosen to parent this child...we were so underqualified. I never thought I would ever look back and actually be THANKFUL that Sam was created with all his difficulties. However, whenever I get comments or emails like yours, it makes me very proud. Instead of Sam's difficulties being a trial for our family, I now see them as a path to help many other families.

Thank you for your comment and thank you for sharing your son's healing with me. I would really like to keep in touch with you. Please keep me updated as your son continues to heal. I'm so excited for your family!

Take care,
Janice

Oh...on a sidenote...if anyone can tell me how to fix my Blogger issues, please let me know. I'm getting really frustrated with it!

An Awesome Email I Received

I received this in my inbox today:

Hi Janice,

I wanted to thank you SO much for posting the videos of your son Sam before and after GAPS. When I saw the before ones they were so familiar to me especially the body movements and perseveration. I had previously thought there was no way we could do GAPS due to him having food allergies to about half of the approved foods. Your videos were so amazing that I read a little more on it, realized those allergies may heal and started the next morning. I really did, :) I knew about making broth as something we had done in moderation in addition to so many other things to try and heal him. Other than that I had no idea what I was doing and stayed up late every night cooking and trying to figure it out until my book arrived. On the 2nd day, my son woke up a completely different child. No sensory issues, no hyperactivity, talking calmly and having 2 way conversation. It has been 12 weeks now and he is so much improved that nearly everyone notices the difference. We still have a long road to healing but I am so hopeful that he will fully recover.

Even better, I shared my journey on an online community called Gentle Christian Mothers and to date about 20 other families most from that board but several I knew elsewhere have started their journeys to healing on GAPS!!!!! From so many things, autism, food allergies, autoimmune disorders.... the list is just endless. So thank you from all of us for sharing your journey so that others can find healing. I often wonder how Sam is doing and hope that you post an update soon.

Amy


This message from Amy gave me happy tears. I love hearing that other parents have taken this diet seriously and seen healing in their children. Like Amy said, the GAPS diet can be helpful in resolving so many different health problems. I'm glad Sam's videos have been helpful to others. Oh...and I promise to get another Sam-post up soon. I should take some more video of him...

My Interview On Blog Talk Radio

Today I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Starlene Stewart. Starlene has an online radio program about the GAPS diet. Several weeks ago she asked me to be a guest on her show and today was the big interview day. I was so nervous at first, but Starlene is very easy to talk to, so my anxiety disappeared pretty quickly.

Here's the link to the interview. It's right at an hour long.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gapsjourney/2011/05/14/janice--son-with-autism-healing-with-gaps-diet-1

Starlene is also doing GAPS. Her blog documenting her journey can be found at:
http://gapsdietjourney.com/

More Sam Videos - 14 weeks into GAPS

I spent some time videoing Sam today while the other children were napping. I just like to do this every so often to document his progress.

In the first video Sam is playing with a gift he received for his birthday. The significance here is that Sam is playing PRETEND. Playing pretend is something that Sam didn't do before. He's making the characters speak and acting out something that he's created himself. Right before I started the video Sam was singing a song that he made up himself. The song was about indians riding in canoes. Just a few months ago Sam would've still played with the toy, but he would've simply recited the dialogue from Disney's Pocahontas movie or sung a song from the movie.


In this next video Sam reads a Bible story. Sam has been able to read for a long time, but just recently he's started taking an interest in learning about the Bible. I'll admit that, as a Christian, it's been hard hearing other moms discuss the thought-provoking questions that their 3, 4, and 5 year olds have asked concerning Jesus and God. Sam never asked "curious" type questions, so I could never participate in these conversations. Now, at 6 years old, Sam is finally asking questions like, "Why did they make Jesus die?" and "Did God make Indians?"


The final video is simply of Sam and I talking. It's obvious that he's so much more capable of participating in a two-way conversation than he was a year ago. He still thinks the videos of himself from a year ago are funny. When you ask him about those old videos he'll tell you that they're videos of him not controlling himself. In this video, the part where he talks about the red light on the camera is a reference to a video from a year ago when that's about all he repeated the entire time I asked him questions..."See the red light on the camera."


Finally, I also wanted to share that this weekend we had friends visit that we hadn't seen since late December/early January, before we started the GAPS diet. I was so excited when, within 5 minutes of being here, Tammy commented, "Sam is sure talking a lot more than I remember last time." It pleases me so much to hear when others notice a difference in Sam. The sacrifice our family is making is working!

In Case You Missed It..My Interview with Cheeseslave

Even though this happened a month ago, I never did get around to linking it up from my blog. So, in case some haven't already seen it, I wanted to post about my interview with Cheeseslave.

After seeing Sam's videos on my blog, Ann Marie from the Cheeseslave blog asked to interview me. I agreed and here is the resulting post from her blog:

http://www.cheeseslave.com/2011/02/16/autism-recovery-with-the-gaps-diet-one-mothers-story/

The response from that post was phenomenal. My little blog had visitors from all over the world. I went from averaging 20 visitors a day to over 1300 a day. Since then I've discovered Sam's story being linked up on numerous other websites, including some in other languages!

The most amazing part of the entire ordeal was reading the comments from those that found hope in seeing Sam's videos. I think it's very easy to brush off someone's claims that a dietary change can effect neurological function, but actually SEEING change on video really makes a statement that's harder to refute.

Finding the GAPS diet has been such a blessing to our family. Being able to share our experience with others only blessed our family further. Thank you to Cheeseslave for getting our story out to a wider audience and thank you to the many other bloggers/facebookers (is that a word?) that have shared Sam's story online.

Making Vanilla Extract

Today I was due to make some more vanilla extract, so I thought I would share the process with those that are unfamiliar with it. I've made vanilla extract in the past, but I needed to make a new batch that matched up with our GAPS diet.

I began making our vanilla extract back when we took corn syrup out of our diet. The vanilla extract that I had been using contained corn syrup so, instead of searching for one that was pure, I decided to just make my own. It's really a simple process that takes very little time. The lengthy part is waiting for it to be ready to use.

I started off by purchasing a 750 mL bottle of vodka and 1 oz. vanilla beans. I'm not particular about the type of vodka I purchase, but I do like to get good vanilla beans. I purchased my beans through Mountain Rose Herbs.

I opened the vodka and poured out a bit of the liquid so I would have plenty of room for the beans.


Then, using kithcen scissors, I took each of the vanilla beans and cut them in half down the length of the bean. I left about an inch or so intact at the top of the bean. Then I placed each bean in the bottle of alcohol.


After all the beans were placed in the bottle, I poured in some of the liquid that I had previously removed. Of course, not all of it would fit, but most of it did. Then I placed a label on the bottle showing the date that I started the extract and the date I expected it to be ready for use.


I like to let my extract sit for two months before using it. I just sit it up in a cabinet and give it a little shake every so often when I open up the cabinet and see it sitting there.

Here is the newly made vodka-based vanilla extract next to a rum-based vanilla extract that I made back in August. (Rum isn't allowed on GAPS..that's why I needed to make a vodka version.) The extract will take on a dark color over time, so eventually my vodka-based extract will look like what the rum-based one does now.



Anyhow, that's all it takes. It's really easy to make your own vanilla extract and then you don't have to worry about any hidden "badness" in there.

An Autism Improvement on Video

Hello strangers! Yes, our family is still in existence! Blogging has taken a back seat for a while. For the last month, our family has been strictly following the GAPS diet in an attempt to heal Sam of autism. It's very time-intensive, but very worth it in my opinion. Today I was looking back through old pictures and found some videos that I had taken a year ago. In those videos Sam had a lot of difficulty controlling his body. He couldn't focus well enough to answer simple questions. Then I took a video from today. I think the change in one year is pretty substantial.

Here are several of the videos from February 2010. In the first video, I was trying to get the kids to send a Valentine's message to Grandma Colette, but Sam was too excited to participate. When he watched the video today he just kept giggling at himself. I asked him why he was laughing and he said, "Because I'm clapping funny!" I then asked him why he was clapping funny in the video and he replied, "Because I was excited!"





And, finally, here's the one from today. There's been so much improvement in his ability to have a conversation and his ability to control his body better. He's certainly not healed of autism, but I'm so proud of how far we've come. Notice at the end of the video that he finally sends a message to Grandma Colette that I was trying to accomplish in the video from a year ago.


During the time of the videos from last year (February 2010), our diet was about 70-80% Weston Price. I was really just starting to feel comfortable soaking grains. We ate a lot of potatoes and corn and rice and oats. I baked a lot using soaked wheat for bread, pizza crusts, tortillas, muffins, pancakes, etc. The kids loved to snack on fruit and homemade yogurt with honey and berries. In April 2010 we went gluten-free. I did notice an improvement in Sam's social behavior at that time. He seemed to show more interest in playing with other children. However, he still didn't seem to understand exactly how other children played together. Unfortunately, that change didn't seem to last because I noticed a regression despite maintaining a gluten-free diet.

In October 2010 we went straight into the Full GAPS diet and stayed on it for 8 weeks. During that time I noticed a few small changes, but nothing that jumped out at me. At that time I couldn't justify limiting our diet for the miniscule changes that I saw, so in December 2010 I took us back to a gluten-free Weston Price diet. We were on that diet for almost a month and it was the most miserable month that I've had in a LONG time. Sam's behavior was awful. He lost control of his body. The humming and hand flapping and clapping escalated. He even started biting the other children, which had never happened before. Apparently Full GAPS had been helping, but I didn't realize it until we had abandoned it.

So, in desperation, our family started doing the GAPS Introduction diet on January 10, 2011. We've now been on the Intro diet for 4 weeks. You can see the improvement in the last video. Sam still has moments of humming and clapping when he gets really excited. He will occasionally have a meltdown over something insignificant but those instance have dramatically decreased. Before starting Intro, Sam would wake up at 5am every morning and lay in his bed for hours humming and clapping. I would have to get up several times and tell him to quiet down so he didn't wake the other children. Starting on Day 2 of GAPS Intro, Sam's room has been blessedly quiet in the mornings. He sleeps more soundly, often until 7am. His body is now capable of being still.

So, needless to say, I am IMMENSELY pleased with the outcome of doing the GAPS Intro diet. If, after only 4 weeks, we've seen this much change..what can we expect after four months on the diet? I am just amazed that all of this is possible simply by eating foods that God created.

This post has been linked to Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop!
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/02/real-food-wednesday-2911.html

GAPS Pumpkin Muffins and Cupcakes

We started our adventure on the GAPS diet a week and a half ago. Well, right off the bat we had a birthday party to attend, so I had to come up with a safe birthday treat for my children. Fortunately, I was able to take our GAPS pumpkin muffins and have them serve double-duty for the birthday party. Here's what I did:

Pumpkin Muffins - Makes 2 dozen

12 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 cup honey
1-1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins or use muffin papers. Whisk together first five ingredients, then add in melted coconut oil by slowly drizzling it into the bowl, whisking as you add it. (Doing it this way keeps the melted coconut oil from cooling too quickly and turning clumpy.) Add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Spoon into muffin pans and bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Hint: If you used muffin papers (which I do because I only have aluminum muffin pans) be sure to let your muffins cool for a few minutes before peeling the papers off. If you choose to eat them immediately, the papers will stick to the super-hot muffins and you'll end up having to spoon your sticky muffin mess out of the paper...I know this from experience!

So, the morning of the birthday party I made Pumpkin Muffins and we ate a dozen of them for breakfast. The kids loved them, no surprise there.

Then I took the remaining dozen and topped them with this frosting recipe:
http://www.healthhomehappy.com/2010/10/simple-meringue-frosting-refined-sugar-free.html

Finally, I sprinkled a little cinnamon on top of the frosting to make them pretty. They were a huge hit! The pumpkin keeps the muffins/cupcakes SOOO moist.

These would be perfect for all the parties that happen this time of year. If you do try the recipe, let me know what you think!

This post is proud to be part of Real Food Wednesday at
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/10/real-food-wednesday-102010.html

Fitting Two Pieces Together

Sometimes I feel like the blog is getting pulled in a multitude of directions. We discuss recipes, homesteading, autism, healthy eating, and preparedness/survival in addition to other odds and ends.

I mentioned in a previous post that we're gearing up to start the GAPS diet in October. Our primary reason for doing this is that (I pray) it will help Sam's autistic behaviors and Andrew's belly troubles. However, us doing the GAPS diet is also a preparedness measure. You see, the idea behind the GAPS diet is not that it's a permanent way of eating. The diet eliminates certain foods for a time in order to give the gut time to heal. After healing has occurred, then you can reintroduce the foods that were once offensive. Some might be saying at this point, "Okay....so what's this have to do with preparedness?"

Well, so far our family has put away some foods that we can no longer eat. Wheat and even brown rice cause negative side effects for our boys. Imagine being in an emergency situation and having food available, but knowing that if you give that food to your children, they're going to suffer. Their bellies will be full, but then you'll be left dealing with humming, hand flapping, loud repetitive talk, and diarrhea. Not fun to deal with EVER, but DEFINITELY not wanted in an emergency situation. So, while our main goal in doing the GAPS diet is to heal our sons, another goal is to make life in an emergency situation easier.

I can attest that storing away food for an emergency is very difficult to do when you have special diets to work around. It's my hope that the GAPS diet will heal our boys and therefore make emergency food preparedness an easier task.

Is there any health-related issue in your family that is a hindrance to your emergency preparedness? Is there anything you can do about it now so that it's not a huge ordeal when times are not so easy?