Getting Ready for GAPS
I'm not an expert on GAPS. Not by any means. I read the website, book, and several forums, and then decided to jump in.
We eliminated cow dairy and all gluten about 6 weeks prior to starting GAPS. We did see some relief from that step alone. My acne cleared up, my daily headaches disappeared almost immediately, and my oldest son's seasonal allergies became much more manageable. I wasn't thinking of doing GAPS at that time, but I see now that it really helped smooth our transition.
I attended a class about 4 weeks prior to the start where I learned how to make water kefir, sauerkraut, and bone broth. I started making those things and adding them into our diets weekly and then daily. If I could go back, I would have ordered my dairy kefir grains ahead of time and made some goat's milk yoghurt prior to starting the intro diet simply because we are ready to add those things and now we'll have to wait! Bad planning on my part.
I stocked up on veggies; lots of zucchinis and squashes, etc. Some nut butter and good eggs, too. Oh, and good grass-fed butter for ghee, and high quality coconut oil. Grabbed three whole chickens. It's normal to feel pretty cruddy initially, so you probably won't want to do any shopping right off the bat.
It's also good to have a good stock of raw apple cider vinegar for making bone broth and whatever you want to use for detox baths such as Epsom salt and baking soda. Also, if constipation is a problem, you may want to have enema supplies ready - enemas can help if your die-off symptoms are bad.
Another way to prepare is to clear your calendar a bit. I'm so glad we decided to jump in now. Our month started out really hectic and the boys and I will be starting classes the third week of August, so this worked out well sandwiched in between all of that.
In all, while the diet has been hard on us (on day two as I write this) I think it's been bearable because of the prep I did. Tonight I plan on making ghee and goat's milk yogurt so they'll be ready to go. We'll start adding in ghee tomorrow and if that goes well we'll add in the yogurt. Baby steps....
We eliminated cow dairy and all gluten about 6 weeks prior to starting GAPS. We did see some relief from that step alone. My acne cleared up, my daily headaches disappeared almost immediately, and my oldest son's seasonal allergies became much more manageable. I wasn't thinking of doing GAPS at that time, but I see now that it really helped smooth our transition.
I attended a class about 4 weeks prior to the start where I learned how to make water kefir, sauerkraut, and bone broth. I started making those things and adding them into our diets weekly and then daily. If I could go back, I would have ordered my dairy kefir grains ahead of time and made some goat's milk yoghurt prior to starting the intro diet simply because we are ready to add those things and now we'll have to wait! Bad planning on my part.
I stocked up on veggies; lots of zucchinis and squashes, etc. Some nut butter and good eggs, too. Oh, and good grass-fed butter for ghee, and high quality coconut oil. Grabbed three whole chickens. It's normal to feel pretty cruddy initially, so you probably won't want to do any shopping right off the bat.
It's also good to have a good stock of raw apple cider vinegar for making bone broth and whatever you want to use for detox baths such as Epsom salt and baking soda. Also, if constipation is a problem, you may want to have enema supplies ready - enemas can help if your die-off symptoms are bad.
Another way to prepare is to clear your calendar a bit. I'm so glad we decided to jump in now. Our month started out really hectic and the boys and I will be starting classes the third week of August, so this worked out well sandwiched in between all of that.
In all, while the diet has been hard on us (on day two as I write this) I think it's been bearable because of the prep I did. Tonight I plan on making ghee and goat's milk yogurt so they'll be ready to go. We'll start adding in ghee tomorrow and if that goes well we'll add in the yogurt. Baby steps....
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