Wednesday, May 2, 2012

A GAPS for Everyone



I was introduced to GAPS by my sister, who's husband and young son were having fairly severe digestive health issues. And GAPS is for diegestive health, but it's for so much more! I personally believe that every person could benefit from GAPS. Everything stems from the gut. That's the premise behind Gut And Psychology/Physiology Syndrome. If you're gut is not healthy it cannot digest the foods you put into it properly and your body will not function optimally. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride believes that we can heal our guts and allow our bodies to function in ways they never have before, but it takes dedication, preparation, and a commitment, because it can be pretty expensive.
Due to the fact that my husband and I are on completely different pages, I have decided to put GAPS on hold for a while. But we are continuing with several of the principals and doing the best we can, because in the 3 months that we've been following this diet I have discovered some interesting and unexpected things.
I knew Wyatt was having issues with dairy, but I guess it took stepping back from it to realize how severe the symptoms were. At my husband's insistance, I allowed the boys to have the sweet potatoes and biscuits I had made for him. I wasn't thinking about the fact that there was a bit of butter on the potatoes. Before the meal was over, Wyatt was complaining of stomach pain and then he had diahrrea for 3 days. While we were on vacation Wyatt had french fries twice. I'm not sure yet whether it was the potatoes themselves, or the rancid oil they were fried in, but he had excessive, painful gas and bloating, so that he couldn't sleep afterwards. No wonder he'd been waking several times a night for well over a year!
I've also discovered that Liam loses complete control and absolutely cannot focus when he eats wheat. I've had some minor concerns about him in the past, and noticed that he had calmed down while we were on GAPS. His schooling had also started to go much better. His attitude was better and he focused on the lesson. We've made more progress in these last couple months than I had in an entire year previous! He tends toward hyperactivity by nature and is still a free spirit, but the change has been remarkable.  I wasn't sure what caused the difference until I allowed him to have crackers one day last week. OH. MY. WORD! The next day he was off the wall. He was quite literally bouncing off the walls! he wasjumping on, and otherwise abusing his brothers. He wasn't angry, in fact he was being silly, but he couldn't stop when I told him to. Even when I disciplined him he couldn't seem to control it.  Our school lesson was full of tears and took over 2 hours to complete. He just hasn't acted that way in months. It used to be a common, every day occurance.
Silas and Shamus I haven't noticed much difference in except that Shamus is not complaining of a stomach ache every night at bedtime anymore.  He did last week, though, but I didn't make a connection to anything in particular.
I have noticed a sharp decline in my severe headaches, but once again, I didn't make a distinct connection to any particular food.
So many people are so used to their symptoms that they don't even notice them, or see them as abnormal, but GAPS can identify them, and heal us so that we can go on to live normal lives. GAPS really is for everyone, or almost everyone :D