I recently completed the GAPS Intro diet. I have been eating gluten free for quite a while and so I pushed and went through all the stages in 12 days. Although I did not experience any bounding leaps forward in my overall state of health or hear angels singing; I do feel, well, grounded or, more solid maybe. Better. I still have headaches nearly every day although they are drastically reduced in both severity and frequency since I began being gluten free. I was hoping for more relief in this area from this healing diet but I am willing to give the ‘regular’ GAPS diet more time. If nothing else the Intro Diet has made me very grateful for the simple pleasures of life.
In the interest of individual privacy and without going into too much gory detail, I’ll just say that my entire household committed to participate in the Intro diet. That makes seven of us ranging in ages from six to well, er, adult. (What?) As you may know, the GAPS Intro diet starts out with a menu consisting almost exclusively of boiled meat and squash. Ya, go ahead and reread that last line, I said, boiled meat and boiled squash. Oh and a little boiled onion for variety. Can you see where I’m going with the whole grateful thing?
The simple things in life, indeed. If you happen to live in the upper northwest portion of our nation, you may have heard the cheering from our dinner table when, on day four, we were “allowed” to add green beans to our boiled fare. Green beans! Yahoo. Boiled, lightly salted, not squash green beans. The neighbors probably suspected we were having a party, with grain based foods. Nope. To add some perspective here, I’d have to say that the cheering was on par with the cheer that recently erupted from this very same house when electricity was restored after FIVE DAYS of living in the dark during the worst ice storm since the invention of ice storms.
Seriously though, we all fared fairly well, (we all survived), but there were a few less than joyous moments. For example, the GAPS diet is known to cause symptoms of detox. Yes, detox. I am pleased to report, however, that not everyone threw up, not everyone got extremely cranky and irritable, not everyone loudly voiced their beliefs on alternative eating habits at the table and not everyone refused to eat for two days. The Epsom salt, vinegar and seaweed detox baths really helped keep the mood light.
By day six with the addition of roasted vegetables (carrots specifically and as opposed to the afore mentioned boiled only fare), I would say there was a distinct aura of giddiness. An uninformed guest may have well supposed that perhaps we had failed to completely cook off the wine in something. Nope.
Then, on day nine or ten, I think I saw tears in a few eyes when we made Butter Sautéed Apples for dessert, I'm just saying that’s what I think I saw. I guess the tears could be attributed to something else, but what? Seriously, have you been paying attention here? Like I said, I have a new appreciation for the uncomplicated joys in this life.
On day thirteen, the official end of the diet, there was loud cheering and high-five-ing when the first piece of toast popped up from the toaster, all brown and crispy and well, full of grain. Oh the simple things of life.
Butter Sautéed Apples
Ingredients:
· 6 tbsp. butter or ghee
· 6 delicious apples, peeled and cored and sliced into wedges (not too thin or too thick)
· ½ tsp. salt
· 1/3 c. honey
· 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
· pinch of nutmeg
Cooking Directions
Over medium low heat, melt butter, add the apples and salt. Cook over medium heat until pretty soft (rounded edges but still holding their shape). Use a large sauté pan or cook in two batches and combine to add remaining ingredients. Add cinnamon and honey and continue cooking over lower heat to thicken the juices. Serve warm in individual ramekins with a dollop of crème freche, whipped cream or ice cream.
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