CHEESESLAVE

I haven’t posted about the GAPS diet in a while.

We are still on it. It’s been over 3 months now.

GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome, a book by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD. She is a pediatrician in England who is reversing autism, allergies, and other disorders in children in her practice.

Three months on the diet and Seth is happier and more easygoing than I’ve ever known him to be. His anxiety is gone, his depression, his fatigue, his nightmares. His gut pain is gone, too — except for when he cheats and eats a piece of regular bread. It’s amazing how fast the gut pain and anxiety and nightmares come right back.

It’s funny because we felt so deprived when we first started the diet. No grains, no potatoes, no sugar, no starches. But we adjusted pretty quickly and honestly, we didn’t really miss any of it.

We have added dairy back into our diet. I added it after about 3 weeks — I had no issues with it. With Seth we added it back slowly over a couple of months.

Started with ghee then butter the first week (the second month on the diet) then kefir and yogurt the next week. He did fine with all of that. A week or two later we tried cheese. He did fine with it. Now he asks for milk in his coffee (he never did before — he never could digest it) and he even tolerates ice cream just fine.

That said, he still only does a small amount of dairy — he eats it pretty infrequently (just a little milk in his coffee, cheese maybe two or three time a week, and homemade ice cream once a week at most).

He has also had sprouted grains here and there and he seems to do fine with them. We limit them though. He only gets grains occasionally. Since his gut is still healing.

He’s also eaten French fries a few times.

We’re not perfect on the diet but it’s about progress, not perfection.

I wanted to share this testimonial written by a mother on the Yahoo GAPS Help group. I was so inspired and moved, I wanted to share it with my readers. Millie was kind enough to give me permission to post it.

Kevin lacked oxygen at birth, so in the first year of life, I already saw that he was not developing like my other kids (he is our 5th). His motor skills lagged and he cried a lot, didn’t sleep so well, etc.

At two, his behavior was just not right. He never responded right to correction, would throw things in anger or frustration, cried all the time, especially when waking up, basically never happy. He didn’t walk until two and then he would fall down constantly.

He also began to always be starving. When he was really hungry, his face would get distorted and frozen in a strange way. I now think he was having seizures of sorts.

We did not vaccinate at all and we figured out that if we fed him lots of protein type foods like meats, he would relax his body and face and be able to go play for a bit until it happened all over again in a short time.

I do think that because we didn’t vaccinate and figured out to keep feeding him this way, we were able to “coast along” like this for years. He had learning disabilities, lacked social skills and continued to have autistic traits like sensory issues, hiding under blankets, reacting to sounds, not liking people around, rigid in routines, and spinning and going on his head along with head banging.

Long story shorter, we did get a diagnosis of Aspergers at one point. We took him to doctor after doctor, specialist after specialist to no avail. He also strangely was NEVER once sick (we later learned that his immune system was not working a bit).

At 9 years old, he got pneumonia, followed by asthma and allergies. His eating had escalated to the point of feeding him every 20-30 minutes or he would have gigantic meltdowns. We eventually could not even have people over.

He was given an inhaler for the asthma and suddenly, without us making the connection, he began to not respond when called, became extremely hyperactive and began to run away at all hours of the day and night requiring police to find him and being very dangerous (we once lost him in the middle of downtown Chicago). He would also try to jump out of moving vehicles, out of windows and required constant restraining.

The seizures got bad, he would fall down the stairs and lose consciousness several times per day. They tried psych drugs and he almost died twice from his reaction to them (I am now grateful that we couldn’t go that route).

We became so desperate that we brought him home from hospital and got deadbolts to keep him from running, did all our own restraining and called alternative docs to help us.

We began kefir and diet from nutritionist (basically a BED/GAPS version)*, took him off inhaler. His allergies were totally out of control, he could barely open his eyes from swelling, and his chin was deformed and swollen, his belly too, his whole body. He would only eat junk food and fast foods and it was incredibly difficult to transition him to the diet.

The DAN (Defeat Autism Now) protocols we followed, made him worse in lots of ways b/c the chelation made him extremely violent, the B12 shots kept him awake for nights on end without any sleep, the antifungals and all those other interventions were nightmarish for him.

Eventually, I resolved to use only foods and do this without any kind of doctors. So for this past year, I researched and researched and was determined to bring him back from this state. We have done a combo of GAPS (and BED) very successfully along with lots of fermented foods and drinks.

The allergies and asthma are 100% gone, the seizures we have had only one in 65 days and very mild (compared to 5-10 per day). He sings every morning and has cried once in the last 2.5 months (he used to cry for 1-3 hours at a time each day) and he can go outside again without running away. He is in martial arts, acting appropriately at church, having eye contact, no autistic traits of late and learning academics after two years of not being able to open a book. He reads before bed at an 8th grade level.

It is a total absolute miracle to which I give God all the credit (there has been endless prayer at our house). I know He led us to this diet and this recovery.

I am still fearful of regression (it’s so hard to believe it’s for real, you know) and I also fully realize that it will be possibly two more years before he is fully detoxed. The rashes he has had have been monumental and scary and he would have terrible seizures when the detox and die off was going too quickly. I think we still have a lot to learn and a lot of work to do but there seems to be a light at the end of our tunnel.

I think this is a very powerful diet and detox protocol and it really does work. I feel that there is much hope and healing and we are giving our kids an opportunity at a life and future.

– Millie, Chicago, IL

Thank you so much, Millie, for sharing this testimonial. It is a total miracle.

Maybe someone out there will read this and find hope for their son or daughter who suffers from an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), allergies or food intolerances, ADD or ADHD, or other behavioral problems.

Or someone with bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety, or other psychological problems. Or digestive disorders.

It is truly miraculous what this diet can do.

Go to GAPS Diet or Gut and Psychology Syndrome for more information on GAPS.

* BED is an acronym for the Body Ecology Diet. It is very similar to the GAPS diet. For more information on the Body Ecology Diet, go here: Bedrok Community.

Note: You may want to skip this post if talk about poop bothers you. I’m not going to get graphic, but stools are discussed.
This is our fifth day on the GAPS diet. So far, it hasn’t been too bad. And some amazing things are happening!

I was listening to Konstantin Monastyrsky’s lecture on his book Fiber Menace (from the 2007 WAPF conference).He said an interesting thing. He said that stools should be no larger in diameter than a nickel. The width of a dime is ideal. This was shocking to me. A dime is tiny!

My first couple of days on GAPS I had diarrhea. But since yesterday, I have had small little blobs that are no wider in diameter than a nickel! I have never had this before in my life. It looks exactly like # 5 on the Bristol stool chart.

Seth is also doing great on the diet. The first few days were very rough. He was VERY VERY cranky. Depressed, anxious, irritable, sullen. Worse than I’d ever seen him. And complaining a lot about how he wanted dessert and fast food burgers, etc.

But yesterday we were out running some errands and I noticed that his whole demeanor has changed. He was easygoing, affable, cracking jokes, smiling a lot more, laughing. We hugged and kissed more than usual, laughed together, etc. This is rare for him. He is usually much more uptight, cranky, etc.

He told me this morning that he used to think he had occasional gut pain. Now he realizes that it was constant — constant chronic aching with surges of sharp pain occasionally. He never knew that before. I guess you just get used to it and consider it normal. He was able to realize this because for the first time since childhood, he is having times during the day where there is no pain in his gut.

I think he has had undiagnosed IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) for decades.

Also, the past two nights he has not had nightmares. Nor has he woken up stricken with anxiety — which is the normal state of affairs. I told him this morning, “This is what normal feels like.”

I’m really happy we are doing this!

It hasn’t been so hard, either. We drink 3 cups of chicken broth per day (8 ounces with each meal). For breakfast, we always have eggs cooked in coconut oil (we can’t have butter yet). Lunch is either tunafish salad or chicken salad or egg salad on lettuce — or meat in broth. Dinner is some kind of meat with broth and/or soup (made from broth). No grains, no sugar or sweeteners (only honey), no dairy, no seeds, legumes, or nuts.

Last night I made Sloppy Joes in lettuce wraps, with Deviled Eggs. I made the mayo with half coconut oil, half olive oil. Seth couldn’t even tell he was eating coconut oil. We’re supposed to eat a lot of coconut oil — but he does not like it. Using it in the mayo is a great way to hide it. (I take 4-5 TBS per day in addition to the mayo. I melt 1-2 TBS in a little bit of hot water or hot tea.

In the mornings and evenings, we drink 4-8 ounces of beet kvass. We also try to juice at least once a day (carrots, greens, celery, apple, strawberry, etc. — 50/50 ratio of green veggie and sweet fruit). We are taking BioKult (2 per day) and he is taking a couple of other supplements recommended by Dr. Cowan. I do let him have one up of weak coffee in the morning and he is allowed to have a little wine in the evening. It’s not so bad!

We will slowly start introducing dairy — maybe as early as next week. He can start with ghee, or clarified butter. We’ll see how he reacts.

I have not had any coffee in three days. No headaches, no irritability. This Dandy Blend stuff really works (and it tastes great, too).

I’m relaxing in our “outdoor living room” in the backyard with a glass of Viognier. Seth is putting the baby down. It was hot today, but now it’s pleasantly cool. I can smell someone barbecuing in the distance.

Tonight’s dinner will be easy. I got a dozen fresh scallops at the farmer’s market today. So fresh, they are still alive! They gave them to me in bags of salt water.

I’ll probably braise them in a little butter. Then we will have some kielbasa and sauerkraut, some spaghetti squash with butter, and a green salad with sliced apple.

Tomorrow night I will make pulled pork. I’ve never made it before but Rocky Canyon had a nice pork butt at the market today. I think I’ll soak it in brine overnight, then slow cook it in the crock pot all day.

Seth had his phone consultation with Dr. Cowan on Thursday (which also happened to be his birthday — Seth’s, not Dr. Cowan’s).

Dr. Cowan recommended the GAPS diet. I knew he was going to say that, but the biggest reason we did the consultation was to convince Seth. He needed to hear it from someone other than me. Better yet, a doctor. I’ve been trying to get him to do the GAPS diet for months. Of course, he just thought it was some wacky think I read on the internet.
The good news is, he’s willing to do it now.

Let me back up — the GAPS Diet was formulated by neurologist and nutritionist, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. GAPS stands for “Gut and Psychology Syndrome”. The idea is that most of the psychological disorders we have are due to digestive disorders. Click here for an overview of the book.

I’m excited because Seth has suffered from anxiety and depression for years. He has also had digestive problems since he was a kid. He said he can remember being constipated when he was a small child, and said the depression started when he was 17. And I have noticed that his anxiety/depression is always worse when he has intestinal pain. Whenever he gets really cranky or anxious, he always says his guts hurt.

Dr. Cowan mentioned a book called “The Second Brain”. Here’s an excerpt from an interview with the author that may shed some light on this for you:

Ever get a gut feeling about someone, or I anxious butterflies in your stomach? That’s because you have a second brain in your bowel, according to Michael Gershon, M.D., author of The Second Brain (HarperCollins, 1999), and a neurobiologist at New York’s Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Gershon recently explained to Psychology Today how an independent network of over 100 billion neurons in the gut not only signals our bodies to stress but causes illness.

Q Why do we need a second brain?

A Most importantly, to control digestion. It also works with the immune system to protect us from hostile bacteria.

Q Does it use neurotransmitters?

A Actually, 95% of all serotonin in the body is in the gut, where it triggers digestion. Nerve cells in the gut also use serotonin to signal back to the brain. This information can train us not to eat certain foods by communicating pain, gas and other terrible feelings.

Q Does the brain in our heads influence the “second brain”?

A Yes. Butterflies in the stomach arise when the brain sends a message of anxiety to the gut, which sends messages back to the brain that it’s unhappy. But the gut can also work in isolation.

Q How does this brain influence irritable bowel syndrome (lBS), which many believe is a psychological problem?

A Irritable bowel syndrome, whose symptoms include abdominal pain accompanied by loose stool, affects 20% of Americans. But doctors often dismiss its severity, attributing IBS to psychoneurosis because they don’t know exactly what it is. I propose that the second brain is the cause. Antidepressants like SSRIs, when used in doses too low to treat depression, are effective immediately in IBS patients. Prozac takes weeks to kick in. This suggests that the drugs work not on the brains of people with IBS, but in the bowel. Source

Anyway… the idea is if you heal the digestive tract, you will alleviate mental/emotional disorders. Dr. Campbell McBride has had much success with this program in her practice in England where she has been reversing autism, ADD, etc. in children.

So here’s the plan:

He has to drink about a quart of bone broth a day, plus 4-8 ounces freshly juiced fruits and vegetables 3-5 times a day. I’m going to give it to him mixed with beet kvass at least twice a day.

In addition to that, he can have meats, fish, non-starchy vegetables, and fruit. No grains. No dairy. He also has to take cod liver oil and a couple of other supplements (including Dr. Campbell-McBride’s probiotic, BioKult, plus plenty of fermented foods (sauerkraut, homemade pickles, kefir soda pop, etc.).

After anywhere from a few days to a few weeks (depending on how it goes), we will start to introduce dairy foods — one at a time. Starting with ghee (clarified butter), then kefir, yogurt, etc. Not sure about the exact order — I have the list Dr. Cowan sent in my purse.

In a matter of weeks or months, we can start to introduce soaked beans, soaked grains, etc. Ultimately, Dr. Cowan says, Seth should eat a “Nourishing Traditions” diet.

Dr. Cowan says he thinks Seth can heal in a couple of months. But he said the longer he stays on the diet, the better, and that it can take up to two years.

I’m going to have to have a stock pot of broth going all the time. And I’m going to have to be juicing all the damn time too. And for any of you out there who have juiced, it is messy. You have to clean that thing every time you make juice.

But it’s okay. I’m just grateful he’s finally doing this. I just know this is going to help him!

So I guess we’re starting tomorrow…