Stage 1

meal 1 – lemon water / chicken meat broth with whey / peppermint tea with honey
meal 2 – lemon water / chicken meat broth with whey and basil / dandelion tea / coconut snowball
meal 3 – chicken meat broth with whey, basil, carrot and kale / coconut snowball

WATER: (about 20 oz.) The lemon water is always filtered water with freshly squeezed lemon juice.

BROTH: (about 16 oz.) Both my 11yo and I took the sensitivity test for the whey since we were supposed to start with fermented juice. My ferments aren’t ready and why we started with the whey. Both our tests came back fine which means no red or irritated skin. Meal 1 was just broth, meat, whey and sea salt but by meal 2 we added fresh oregano which was delicious. Then by meal 3 we added boiled carrots and kale. We would have started with boiled vegetables but we didn’t have any organic veggies that morning.

TEA: (about 20 oz.) This is supposed to be weak tea (about a 5 minute steep) with just a little honey (1/4 tsp).

SNACK: (about 1 tbsp) This is a “GAPS snack.” It’s just coconut oil and honey mixed together and then frozen.

My 10yo quit GAPS by noon. 😄 As I mentioned before, I encouraged him not to join me but my 11yo is still going strong. She ate the same things I did but she added boiled broccoli. By the end of the day she had no tummy aches or withdrawal symptoms. I thought maybe she would have withdrawals because she normally eats lots of fruit and occasionally grain. As for me, I began this with already having sharp pains, nausea and a lot of stomach growling after consuming food anyway. So I was curious to see what effect it would have on me. Meal 1 went well but after drinking the first tea, I had a lot of pain. I thought maybe it was the honey. After meal 2, lots of stomach pain. I skipped the honey with the next tea but it still hurt. After the snowball, only minor pain. After meal 3, pain finally started to subside. I don’t know if it’s because I added the veggies but very glad it did. Skipped tea and just had a snowball. Again brief (couple of minutes) mild pain after snowball.

Since my stomach pain had finally subsided mostly after the last meal, I was able to prep more meat broth and whey in the evening. Then I became really thirsty. So I drank 3 glasses of water (about 48 oz. without lemon this time) within 30 minutes. I felt fine before and after drinking the water. I’ve also stopped working out for a little while as suggested in the book. (My workout is a ziplining/obstacle course 4 days a week.) Our bodies are going through detox which can cause headaches, nausea, drowsiness, etc. so it’s best to just relax during this period. The only symptom, other than stomach pain (that was technically there before I started), is a mild headache which seems to come and go.

So, for those of you on this journey as well, is there anything else you would like me to include in these updates? Just let me know! And feel free to share your journey in the comments. Because of you, I’ve already purchased another book, listened to a fantastic podcast last night and am headed to the beach today! 😘 Thank you! 🥰