New year, New hope and a totally different way of life!

As 2011 came to an end I breathed a sigh of relief. We had set goals for a least one new food for Hayleigh for 2011 and well Heath we just were going to wait...............

We are happy to say that GAPs intro is working well so far and in 2011 we aim for over six new foods for each child.

Since starting GAPs in September we have moved verrrrryyyyy slowly from a diet of mainly elecare formula (yummy genetically modified corn based amino acid formula for kids like my own who have severe illness or digestive issues with a side of chemicals in the lovely cans) to avoid "die-off" for both children.

Some may ask what on earth is "die-off" and what in heaven's name has gotten into this woman? "Die-off" from what I understand is where the bad gut bacteria is being starved off and toxins are released into the body. A person with EGID or any other PI problem most likely has a lot more bad bacteria than good in the gut. Therefore as you do GAPs introduction diet and try to restore the balance of gut flora a person can become very sick. My sister and I both experienced some horrible "die-off" and it wasn't something I wanted to subject the kids to all at once.

So besides being able to eat carrots and lamb meat along with drinking lamb, beef (with very tiny amounts of beef in it) and chicken broth (also with very tiny amounts of chicken in) we have been able to add a little treat of "jello" for Hayliegh. We buy pure bovine gelatin, juice carrots or ginger and add a few drops of honey.

They are both on a probiotic that is GAPs "legal", nystatin to control the yeast (which as Hayls tolerates more juiced carrots we will reduce) and iodine applied to the skin (people with digestive issues tend to lack iodine and the skin is the best way to absorb it) to help us move forward.

Next on our list is lamb liver and either fish or venison broth and meat. Also more supplements to help them along and varying the type of sea salts we use to maximize the trace mineral intake.

There are a lot more things to add as we go but because the children have an EGID we are going very slow. Some people can move through the intro in a few weeks. I think it will take us minimum 2 years but slow and stead wins the race so we like slow :)

The learning curve has been very steep, we are still climbing and I don't think there is a plateau. That said, I am loving and embracing the learning. I am happy to know what I have learnt about SAD (standard American diet) which most of it is quite disturbing to me, but that is for another post.

Welcome to 2012!