A day in the life of... GAPS

Before I can even talk about what my family is currently doing, I have to first say that I strongly dislike the word "diet" and all of its connotations.  To me, the word "diet" is so overused in our culture, and carries with it such negativity.  It typically implies superficiality, and the desire to lose weight without attention to health.  Especially given my years of studying eating disorders and working with individuals suffering from them, I cringe when I hear someone "on a diet," especially children.  To take it one step further, I've never believed in any of the faddish low-carb diets, as I've always known that the best path to improving one's health is through long-term, sustained lifestyle changes, and not a quick fad diet to be followed for a brief time.  So when I use the word "diet," I really mean "meal plan" or "lifestyle."

That said... my family is currently on the GAPS "diet."  It's a structured plan designed to heal  medical conditions (in our case, leaky gut) and its origin is medicinal in nature.  It's drastic, and the idea of it took some getting used to.  The concept is to remove anything harmful or inflammatory from your diet, and allow your insides to heal.  Basically, GAPS is a grain-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, whole-foods-only diet.  Lots of cooked veggies, fruits, chicken, nuts, seeds, and eggs.  And if that doesn't sound restrictive enough, we're doing a modified intro, which means you begin following the diet by eating meals consisting of only of a homemade bone broth filled with cooked meats and vegetables.  While we are not eating anything unpleasant, at all (I actually love veggies, fruits, eggs, and chicken) it's more of what we can't eat that's the adjustment.  Anything you can buy from the store that is pre-made, packaged, or comes in a sealed container of any sort is off-limits.  Shopping for GAPS means leaving the store with raw meats or poultry, a carton of eggs, and fruits and vegetables.  It's lots of cooking, making broths, and adjusting.  We've been gluten-free and quasi-dairy-free for seven months now, and that lifestyle is a walk in the park compared to this one!

The reason I share our current journey is that I could not have gotten to where we are now without the help and guidance of others who have been down this path before us.  I have one close friend w ho is my gluten-free, grain-free guru, and beyond her I have spent countless hours reading articles, books, and blogs to find our way.  The more I talk to others, the more I have find so many people who are affected by gastrointestinal upset, headaches, arthritis/inflammation, asthma, allergies, Autism/Asperger's, and so many other complaints.  Shockingly, so many of those ailments can be addressed through purposeful detox and diet (well, lifestyle change, but you know what I mean).  I've made many friends in cyberspace who have been where we are, and give a glimpse of what is to come.  It builds hope.  I welcome anyone who is not feeling quite right, or who knows someone who isn't feeling quite right, to look into the possibility that there is a bigger picture, and a possibility that changes in lifestyle could bring surprising relief.   I'd love to talk to anyone who's been down this road before, or considering it now.

All the best.

Day Four hundred and thirteen

Bread: NIRVANA!  After quite a few months of trying bread recipe after recipe, we have hit our nirvana and will stop looking.  This awesome recipe is an amaranth and brown rice flour loaf, and the recipe comes from Gluten Free Makeovers, which has a ton of great recipes.  This tasted just like a loaf of whole grain bread, and not "gluten-free" in any way.

School lunch: PB&J on tapioca bread, green beans, cucumber, apple slices, hard-boiled eggs, and cheese.

Day Four hundred and twelve

Two loaves of tapioca bread (GFG) which were then sliced and slid into the freezer.

Dinner: I am not proud of this starch-heavy dinner.  The only nice thing that I can say about it is that it included a vegetable.  Looking back a few months, I'm fairly confident my husband was heating up dinner.  We have gluten-free chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries, a potato skin, and snap peas.

Day Four hundred and eleven

Lo mein (Brown rice spaghetti; Recipe: Gluten-Free on a Shoestring).

School lunch: Yogurt, PB&J on tapioca bread, fruit salad, baby carrots.

Day Four hundred and ten

Cornmeal griddle cakes with strawberry syrup (recipe: Cooking for Isaiah).  Another awesome recipe from this cookbook.

And an extra stack of them for the freezer.

Dinner: Eggplant spinach parm, sauteed yellow squash, salad, and fruit salad.  This is one of my favorite dinners, and I realized I've never shared my recipe. Here it is:

Slice one large eggplant into one-inch slices, and bake at 450 in a single layer on a greased baking sheet, 10 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, combine 1/2 cup of part-skim ricotta, 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, one egg, a little salt and pepper, and a handful of parsley and basil in a bowl. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray, and cover the bottom with your favorite marinara sauce. On top of the sauce, layer as follows: half of the eggplant, ricotta mixture, three cups of raw baby spinach, more sauce, remainder of eggplant, and more sauce. Top with two tablespoons of Parmesan and a handful (about 1/2 cup) of part-skim mozzarella. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. To make it extra authentic, use your own homemade sauce, and don’t measure any of the ingredients as you go along. This came together quickly, my kids loved it, and I doubled the recipe and froze an extra tray of it for a future dinner. Serve with a green salad, and mangia!

School lunch: Sliced grilled chicken, crackers with a cheese stick, cucumber, and pineapple.

Day Four hundred and ten

Saturday morning breakfast: Hashbrown waffles (from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Cooking for Isaiah, which is gluten and dairy free.  By the way, these were incredible.  I highly recommend them), with scrambled spinach eggs, and fruit salad. 

Oatmeal cookies.  I didn't write the recipe source down in my notebook, but I know I printed it.  I'll update this one.

Day Four hundred and nine

Dinner: Italian minestrone (crockpot; recipe; it goes w/o saying that we used ground turkey rather than beef) with the crusty boule bread (dough from the freezer; recipe) and salad.

School lunch: Rolled deli turkey, mozzarella stick, crackers, salad, and orange slices.

Day Four hundred and eight

Dinner: Pasta pesto salad (brown rice fusilli with pesto, mozzarella, and grape tomatoes), chicken spinach sausage, fresh pineapple, and steamed veggies.

School lunch: Rolled deli turkey and cheddar, ants on a log, pretzel sticks, and an orange.

Day Four hundred and seven

Dinner: BBQ chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, steamed veggies, and an orange.

Dessert: Mini Marble Cake (recipe: Gluten Free in Five Minutes).

Day Four hundred and six

Breakfast for dinner: Blueberry pumpkin pancakes, turkey bacon, scrambled spinach eggs, and mango.

Day Four hundred and five

Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs, cinnamon raisin bread, and grapes.

Dinner: Spaghetti squash parm (recipe), salad, and brown rice penne.

Day Four hundred and four

Blueberry orange scones (recipe: Gluten free made simple).  These were SO good.

Day Four hundred and three

Lunch: Mac & cheese (brown rice pasta, cheddar cheese, pureed butternut squash).  Served w/veggies and apple.

Breakfast  for dinner: Scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, mango, and sweet potato fries. As I look at this picture, I wonder, where are our vegetables? I think spinach was supposed to go into the eggs, and we forgot.

Day Four hundred and two

Cinnamon raisin bread (as promised from yesterday's post).

Which became an awesome breakfast, with fresh strawberries.

School lunch: Rolled deli turkey, cheese and crackers, cucumbers, and grapes.

Pizza!!! That's fresh spinach and basil leaves on top.  No matter what, I'm partial to the Pat's Yeast Crust recipe from The Gluten-Free Gourmet.

Dinner: Pizza, salad, and apple.

Day Four hundred and one

Cinnamon raisin bread.  This was our first gluten-free loaf of CRB, and I LOVE the recipe.  Definitely give this one a try.  I'm not slicing it until breakfast tomorrow, so come back see how it turned out!

Two loaves of tapioca bread (recipe: The Gluten Free Gourmet).

Bread sliced.  Most into the freezer, and a few turned into...

 

Waffle sandwiches (with salad and orange slices)!  These are my younger daughter's current obsession. She goes to the cabinet and pulls out the waffle maker at lunchtime.  It's basically a grilled cheese that spends a little time in the waffle maker.