Our GAPS Adventure

 

Our family is about to embark on an adventure of sorts. We thought we'd share, as it will be a bit life changing for us and it will probably affect you (our friends and family) in some ways, as well. Let me first say that for the past 4 years or so, Dan and I have been learning about natural living and have gradually replaced most of our cleaning supplies, toiletries, medicine cabinet, etc. with non-toxic alternatives, whether homemade or bought. One thing at a time, it hasn't seemed like a major change, and we don't even think about these things anymore really! However, one area we have never been great about changing is food. I love to bake and cook and try new recipes. I love sweets, especially, and have a really hard time not eating an entire batch of cookies in one sitting! Food has been our comfort and something we haven't been too strict about, because it's just plain hard to change the way you eat! I guess God knew we needed a challenge and a [major] nudge in the right direction...

If you've read about Norah's health condition recently, you know she has FPIES (food protein-induced enterocolitis) due to what is called "leaky gut syndrome." We have been to three different practitioners to find out how we can help Norah and heal her. They all agree that putting her on the GAPS diet is the most important thing we can do right now to heal her gut, balance her bacteria, and help her grow. So, for the past 7 weeks or so, we have been feeding Norah according to the GAPS intro diet and she has been gaining weight much quicker than before. This article does a good job of summarizing GAPS, if you are interested in learning more. It has been a huge adjustment for us, as it is a very labor-intensive, restrictive, and expensive diet. The last doctor we saw believes that Norah's condition is most likely due to effects of the Zofran I was taking while pregnant for extreme sickness (Hyperemesis Gravidarum) as pharmaceutical drugs and antibiotics are a main cause of a "leaky gut" (which in turn causes allergies, and many other conditions). As Charlie also has some issues we are trying to get to the bottom of, we are starting to understand that they, too, stem from a "leaky gut" though affecting him in different ways (more developmentally) than Norah. We were pretty much told we need to be on the GAPS diet (Norah, Charlie, and me) to address many of our health concerns. Side note: I have the best husband in the world who has agreed to go on the diet to support us and so I don't have to make separate meals!!

Though we agreed after learning more, this basically paralyzed me with anxiety. How in the world am I supposed to buy this expensive food, make everything from scratch, and get my 3.5 year old to eat this way?? How are we going to avoid eating out indefinitely, possibly for years? How will we travel? How will we have a life outside of making food? What if we have to be on this diet forever?? What if Norah and Charlie don't get better after all this time/work we are planning? But the Lord has already been using this new information to force us to draw our strength from Him and not ourselves. It has pushed us closer to Him and to each other. It has made me realize I absolutely cannot do this on my own and need to trust God that He will be faithful to us in this process. He can heal our kids and our bodies and provide for our needs. Right now we believe this is the best path, but we are taking it a day at a time.

The first month (and possibly longer) is especially restricted and will probably be the most challenging for us, not only in time preparing food, but in possibly feeling "sick" as our bodies detoxify. We would love your prayers as we begin this life-changing process and wisdom for how to be efficient and balanced with our time and commitments. We know it will be a challenge to "do normal life" with others as most of our socializing centers around food. We also know God is bigger than any of our challenges in life and will be doing thousands of things we may never know about (and some we undoubtedly will!) through "hard" things (I realize there are much tougher things in life) he calls us to.

Thanks for your prayers and understanding! It is easy to feel isolated, and we pray we will still have many opportunities to continue building relationships with others in non-food related ways ;) (or we will just bring our own food with us, picnic style!)