GAPS Food Journal: Day Ten
ENTER TO WIN! Learn to cook healthier meals for your family! Click here to enter to win Real Food for Rookies, a new online class -- retail value $120, plus over $60 worth of discount coupons. Don't miss out! contest ends this SATURDAY Sept 4th at midnight Pacific.
I am having a very bad die-off reaction today. I am sneezing like crazy, totally congested, and I have post-nasal drip. At first I was afraid that these symptoms were caused by the smoothie I had at lunch. It was not very sweet but it did have fruit in it.
I have been doing some reading tonight and I really think it is just die-off, also known as a “healing crisis”. This is the body’s way of doing housecleaning, and ushering out all the bad bacteria, pathogens and toxins.
The following quote is from the excellent site, Healing Naturally By Bee:
The following was given to patients at the Gerson Cancer Clinic in 1982: “As a person continues on an improved diet and supplement program and gradually raises his or her food quality, interesting symptoms begin to appear. The body begins a process called retracing.
The cellular intelligence reasons something like this: `Oh, look at all these fine materials coming in. How wonderful — now we have a chance to get rid of this old garbage and build a beautiful new house. Let’s get started immediately.
“First the body begins to clean house — everywhere (this is when you are likely to have a healing reaction, sometimes called a healing crisis or a cleansing reaction). During this period, the body “removes the ashes from the furnace preparatory to getting a better fire.”
This first stage persists for a while and then the body begins to form and replace what was discarded; this is the second stage.
The third stage is a build-up period (lean muscle mass and internal organ regeneration).
“At this point, much or more of the interfering wastes have already been discarded — the tissues that have been formed since the diet was raised in quality are more durable and do not break down easily.
Also, new tissues are now being formed faster. This is due to the improved assimilation of nutrients that occurs when wastes have been removed and the necessary nutrients are available.
“Let’s return to the symptoms, which occur when a person begins a superior nutritional program. People who have had tendencies in the past to recurring skin rashes or eruptions will frequently tend to eliminate poisons and harmful drugs through the skin with new rashes or eruptions. If they go to a doctor now, who is not familiar with the aspect of nutrition, he or she will diagnose it as an allergy.
The patient asks, “Why do I have a rash? I’m eating better now and than I ever did before and taking the best supplements in the world, and instead of getting better, I’m getting worse! They don’t understand that the body is “retracing.” The body is getting more alive and active. It is throwing out poisons more rapidly now that the body has more power.
“With some, colds, which haven’t appeared for a long time, may occur or even fevers. This is nature’s way of house cleaning. Understand that these actions are constructive, even though unpleasant at the moment. Don’t — but don’t try to stop these symptoms by the use of drugs. These are not deficiency conditions or allergic manifestations — not if you are eating properly and taking your supplements.
“Headaches may occur at the beginning, there may be a short interval of bowel sluggishness, occasional diarrhea, feelings of tiredness and weakness, disinclination to exercise, nervousness, irritability, negativity or mental depression, frequent urination, etc.
However, the great majority of people find their reactions tolerable and are encouraged to bear with them because of the many improvements which have already occurred and are becoming more evident with each day. This acts as an inspirational force to them.
Maybe I caused more die-off because I took Chlorella (a natural detoxifier) and a wheat grass shot (also a detoxifier). I also took in a lot of coconut oil and coconut milk — coconut oil and coconut milk are anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, and they do cause die-off. I took an epsom salt bath in the afternoon and that helped. It felt good to sweat (sweat is another detoxification pathway).
I think I’m moving in the right direction. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully this housecleaning will be over soon!
Before Breakfast:
1 cup dandelion root tea
2 Biokult
1 glass of water with homeopathic drops (for detoxing) and herbal detox blend
10 Chlorella pills (for detoxing)
Breakfast:
2 cups caffeinated coffee, with 1 tsp coconut oil
3 pastured eggs, cooked over easy in duck fat
1/2 banana cooked in coconut oil
2 TBS Zukay naturally fermented salsa
After Breakfast:
1 wheat grass shot
Lunch:
Smoothie made with 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1 TBS coconut oil, 1/2 banana, 4 pastured egg yolks, and 5 organic strawberries
After Lunch:
2 Biokult
1 glass of water
Dinner:
1 bowl butternut squash soup (made with coconut oil, organic onions, organic butternut squash, sea salt, and homemade chicken stock) with added coconut milk
1 free-range organic antibiotic-free (not pastured; could not get to the farmer’s market) chicken breast cooked in duck fat and bacon fat
Salad made with organic greens, organic pea tendrils, organic sprouted mung beans (are these legal on GAPS?), organic sprouted lentil beans, organic cucumber, and dressed with olive oil, flax oil, and vinegar
1/2 glass Trader Joe’s sauvignon blanc
Iodoral, adrenal gland, cod liver oil and other supplements
NEVER MISS A POST! Sign Up for FREE Email Updates:
You can also Subscribe in a Reader
22/11/2008 at 1:34 pm Permalink
You are doing great- I am sitting here sipping my detox tea and enjoying reading all your info! I’m having more mucus than usual too and i’m also feeling a little off in my stomach (flu like) but i’m really happy because i feel like it’s all signs of detox! my digestive track already feels so much more calm, my hiatal hernia is not causing me any discomfort now and I’m having a regular BM first things in the morn. this is totally worth it!
22/11/2008 at 2:14 pm Permalink
Yes, those are the signs!
Hang in there — we will do this together!
I know it works because I healed myself of candida overgrowth before (in my 20s, and reversed my allergies, arthritis and chronic fatigue).
22/11/2008 at 2:33 pm Permalink
I’ve gone thru die-off many times (long history of candida getting out of control when I’m not careful enough), and I do wonder if you might be having an allergic reaction on top of the die-off. I’ve had flu-like symptoms, cold-like symptoms, rashes, fatigue, etc., but never congestive allergy symptoms from die-off.
Are you familiar with the “total load” hypothesis? I wonder if the stress on your immune system from the exposure around the factory farms triggered a cascade of symptoms, and that’s what’s triggered the allergies (on top of any candida issues). If it is, foods (besides dairy) that wouldn’t usually bother you might be because your immune system is so hypersensitive still.
If you aren’t already, I’d try writing down the time of each flare up and every bite/sip that goes into your mouth.
Also, lots of empathy heading your way. I know exactly what it’s like to have about 3 foods that I’m sure I don’t react to, and struggling to find others that are safe.
I react to canned coconut milk, but not to fresh. I don’t know if it’s the bpa or mold, but most canned foods aren’t safe for me, and I suspect it’s the tiny bits of mold, since I am mold sensitive (which also means I have to be careful of fermented foods. Some are fine, and others aren’t, and it’s a constant trial and error since it can vary from batch to batch even with freshly fermented at home foods).
Carys
22/11/2008 at 4:42 pm Permalink
Hi, Carys, yes I am familiar with the total load concept — it makes sense to me.
On Bee’s site, she says a healing crisis normally lasts a short time. I’ve gone through this before, too, and it usually lasts a few days — up to a week or two.
There are things you can do to assist the detoxification. I’m going to try juicing and the coffee enema (and later I will try the probiotic enema; she says to do the coffee enema first). I’m also going to try taking some herbs that will assist my body in detoxifying. And I’m going to take hot epsom salt baths before bed as often as I can.
If the healing crisis does not end soon, I’ll go back to the intro diet. I really don’t want to have to do that if I can avoid it since I really have a hard time eating enough. We’ll see.
Thanks for the empathy. I really do appreciate it.
Isn’t it horrifying that being exposed to fecal dust can do this to you? I’m not surprised though. I bet those bacteria are tough customers — they are resistant to most antibiotics after all!
I’m just so grateful Kate was not with me that day.
22/11/2008 at 4:44 pm Permalink
Oh, also, I meant to say, on Bee’s site, she said (trying to find the page but can’t now) that whatever symptoms you had before will become more extreme during the healing crisis.
She says that first you will feel great when you start on the diet — that will last a few days or a week or so. Then the body will start detoxifying — which is when you go through the healing crisis. This makes sense. When I first started on GAPS it was about 2 weeks ago. The healing crisis started about a week in I think — I’ll have to go back and read my log… It makes sense though.
Anyway we shall see…
23/11/2008 at 12:20 pm Permalink
Hi everyone,
I’m doing Bee’s diet and I’ve never seen my body respond like this before. I’ve tried everything in the past and this is the only thing that is working. Praise God! I read about the Herings Law of Healing (also on Bee’s site) and how our body goes to our major organs first and then moves outward. The healing also starts from the top of the body and moves downward.
AM, maybe this is what’s causing some of the congestion too?
Since I’ve started this diet in full (Nov. 1), I’ve had weird brain sensations and heart beating fast. This is with reducing my thyroid meds! My tongue has “marks” on it that indicate my heart according to my acupuncturist. This lasted a few weeks and now is passing. I figure, OK, the heart is a major organ and its in the top part of my body.. now we’re moving downward
.
We shall see. This healing path is definitely a journey with peaks and valleys but it’s great to not do it alone. I also am jones-ing (is that a word?) to get pregnant but want to give my body some time (till Spring?) to heal before I do. This is one of my greatest motivators not to mess around
.
Thanks for posting your journey!
Genevieve
23/11/2008 at 3:24 pm Permalink
wow, talk about information overload on Bee’s sight, i’m just sitting here printing out like 60 pages and i’m going to start reading and highlighting, what a great resource! I’m really thinking one of the most important things we can do in the heeling process is listen to our own bodies- yes follow a certain plan but also listen to our bods- i’m doing a GAPS like diet but i tried eating some organic ground pork yesterday for lunch and dinner and both times i could feel my hernia and had lots of burping, so that means for now i need to cut the pork out- on the other hand i am allowing myself to have some organic cocoa powder for coconut milk icecream- i never feel any affects from that. so far so good! I’m trying to be realistic, last night at a party I skipped everything except a few little pieces of chicken and I’m so happy to not wake up this morning with the food hangover!