Keeping up with the need for more soups, broths, and acceptable veggies (which is rather limited with stage one of the intro diet), has left me feeling pretty drained. Don't get me wrong, I have been thoroughly enjoying these dishes, which in some ways surprise me since they are just so simple (I love playing with spices), but it can be tough to get the same enjoyment at work as I do at home since the use of microwaves is prohibited on the diet.....Cold soups just don't sit with me in the same way.
So why am I doing this whole GAPS thing in the first place? Here's a bit of the backstory in a nutshell (a large nutshell):
In recent months, I've been getting into nutrition and wellness hard-core, soaking in as much information as I can get with podcasts and my own independent study. I've always been interested in health. My dream is to be this super fit, 80 year old lady who you'll still see out on the bike, trails, water, you name it! Lofty goals I know, especially when you consider the diet I've maintained until now: Low fat, high-carb. Bread was the love of my life, with fruit and veggies a necessary evil. Meat was good, but not too much for it contains far too much saturated fat. It's what I grew up with, and if a little (or more than a little) extra weight was gained, the mantra of the day was to cut calories and ramp-up the exercise to burn it off. Insert lots of jogging and weight training here, with some interesting dietary maneuvering to keep the calories down (I can swap a proper meal for some dessert right?).
Health and wellness is an ever-evolving process, and while I looked rather healthy, I didn't always feel super healthy (perhaps it was all the dessert?). I knew I had to bite the bullet and start to (gradually) introduce more of the "healthy stuff" (AKA fruits and veggies). It was definitely a process, but eventually I was able to successfully convert a larger portion of my meals to fruits and veggies. So much so in fact, that I was (and continue to be) seen as a vegetarian by certain crowds.......I also moved away from more typical white breads (minus the delicious artisanal breads) to the healthier whole grains, all while continuing to limit my saturated fat intake (gotta keep my heart healthy right?). I started consuming more milk and yogurt for calcium and vitamin D, and as for exercise, more strength training, yoga and pilates continued to play a greater role. Weekends were definitely a little more loose, and I (almost) never skipped dessert (low fat of course), but overall I felt like I had a very well-rounded diet.
Enter the podcasts.
Starting with Jillian Michaels. I love(d) listening to her show. She sounds so genuine, and I could relate to so many of the call-ins. I heard more about calories in, calories out, and started tracking my diet and calorie intake. I also started taking some of the food recommendations to heart, and began paying closer attention to organic and local foods vs. conventional. It was a fantastic start, but soon enough I caught up with the available episodes, and was hungry for more, when I stumbled across the Dude Where's My Health podcast. That's when things really started to get interesting.
Clark Danger and his guests blew my mind, so to speak. While not everything I heard was entirely new to me, the guests helped put a lot of the concepts I had heard in passing into context. From there I found Underground Wellness and the Fat Burning Man Abel James.
Exercise less and eat more, I like this concept. Remove refined grains and processed dairy. Eat good quality food. Sounds reasonable, and with my ever evolving, on-going goals to be healthy, I thought why not try implementing some of these ideas. I mean really, if this many people are in consensus about how to eat, move an be healthy, AND can speak from experience, what harm could it do? Unfortunately for me, my body was not quite ready for some of these more sweeping changes. I was not feeling all that awesome eating what is suppose to be pretty awesome food. My digestion was not right, I was feeling super fatigued though I wasn't over exerting myself, in fact I had been making efforts to simplify my life in hopes of relieving stress. I was super irritable, hangry made it's way into my vocabulary (and occurred far too often)...All this leading to my feeling more frustrated and lost with the overall wellness process.
Fortunately, as I continued to listen to Underground Wellness I eventually heard an episode with the author of the GAPS diet, and having had enough of the digestive distress, decided I'd give it a go. There seemed to be very little harm, as much of the food is good, whole, nutritious food designed to heal. Cutting out the potential irritants and giving the digestive track a break. Sounded quite brilliant to me, and with my growing frustration with my situation, decided to precede full steam ahead.
So now, after only a few days on the INTRO part of the GAPS diet, I'm feeling pretty whipped out. I've heard the detox can get pretty extreme, so this is not necessarily a surprise, but it definitely creates a challenge for keeping up with the food prep. It's amazing how much soup and broth can be gone through in a couple of days, but not especially surprising when that's the ONLY food on the menu. I know I'll get the hang of it soon enough, but until then, balance in life will be key, which I'm hoping will come sooner than later. Stay tuned for more updates!
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