If you follow Color Transformed Family on Instagram (which if you don’t you totally should because I post there almost daily) then you know that for the past three months my family has been following the GAPS diet.

I shared some about it in this post…

 

Our family started a new diet (way of eating) last week. It’s called the GAPS (gut and psychology syndrome) Diet. We are still in the intro stages and for the past six days we have eaten homemade soup for nearly every meal. Today we got to start eating eggs and avocado and tonight we are celebrating with omelettes sans cheese. Let’s just say we’ve all been looking forward to this. So why the diet? Mainly in hopes that improving Judah’s gut health will help his brain to function better. There’s lots out there on the gut and brain being connected. Check it out. It’s not just for him though. This diet may help with anxiety and ADD. Our children have not been diagnosed with ADD but I do have one that struggles with focus and calming down and a husband that has ADD. So needless to say we feel like the whole family might benefit from this diet. #gapsdiet #cleaneating #food #omlette

A post shared by Krystle@ColorTransformedFamily (@krystle_colortransformedfamily) on Mar 20, 2018 at 6:03pm PDT

and this post.

It’s been three months since we started the GAPS diet. How are things going? Well if you know anything about the GAPS diet you might know that sweet potatoes are not allowed. But if you know anything about feeding a family of five you know that it’s not cheap. So after two months of our grocery bill practically doubling because of the abundance of meat, fruit, and veggies in our diet this month everyone except Judah added sweet potatoes and corn back to the diet. This gives me the freedom for some extra low-cost side options. When I’m cooking I try to stick to the diet guidelines as much as possible but some times we bend the rules a little and just cover it in prayer. For instance, I am not buying organic “everything”! No telling what that would do to the budget. I am buying good quality meat and washing my fruits and veggies with my Thieves Soak. We are currently in the process of really upping Judah’s (and our) fermented food intake. For the most part that consists of pickles, saurkraut, and homemade kefer. Judah (and me) are drinking homemade bone broth to help restore the gut wall to it’s intended glory. He loves it! Which is kind of funny because he’s never cared for milk or juice. I’m trying to figure out a way to sneak that in the girls’ diet. The girls. I’ll just have to share all about them and their view of the diet in another post because I could go on and on. So are we seeing results with Judah? Honestly, we will never know because we don’t know what his progress would have been like without the diet. What I do know is that he is continuing to learn and make progress in his therapy goals. I know he grins and has much more facial expression that he did a few months ago. I know that eating well won’t hurt him. Judah has so many good things helping him. He is prayed for and loved, is eating a healthy diet, has a regimen of essential oils, vitamins, and probiotics, and is blessed with amazing therapists and teachers. And most of all I know he has an amazing God who is using all of this for His glory! #gapsdiet #overcomingobstacles #learningwithjudah #cleaneating #food #health #yleo

A post shared by Krystle@ColorTransformedFamily (@krystle_colortransformedfamily) on Jun 26, 2018 at 1:20pm PDT

What I haven’t really talked about yet is how Noah and Esther are handling it. The two siblings who have given up a whole host of foods for no other reason in their mind except to support their brother on this health journey.

So hows it going?

They Love It

These girls are champs and have completely overhauled their diet with very minimal complaining.  One of the biggest helps for them is that I bought a GAPS diet cookbook that is filled with recipes for delicious meals and treats. They enjoy flipping through it and planning when we should try new recipes out and deciding what treats we should have for special occasions. Noah even claims that she never wants the diet to end because the food is so good.

Neither of my girls have ever been extremely picky but we feel like they have become even less picky while on the diet.  I think part of is that they know they either eat what is in front of them or don’t eat at all.  And it’s not like we are forcing them to eat food they dislike nine times out of ten they end up liking whatever they were skeptical about.  Except for butternut squash and chicken broth.  They both agree that they do not like either one of those.

Stronger Than Us

Michael Luke and I are always telling people that the girls are stronger on this diet than we are.  They have turned down so much that is not allowed on the GAPS diet.  From birthday cake to fried chicken to fruit punch these girls have held strong.

So much so that when ML and I went to a wedding last month we felt guilty for even thinking about cheating on a piece of wedding cake.  We just couldn’t when our girls had gone without so much with hardly a complaint.

We try not to make it to hard on them.  Our go to treat when we are out and about around others is a Larabar.  With many of their bars containing six ingredients or less but tasting like sweet indulgence like Key Lime Pie or Apple Pie it really hits the sweet spot.

Our other favorite treat we use to compensate missing out on sweets is Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I use the recipe on the back of Bob’s Red Mills Almond Flour sack and substitute the molasses for honey to cut down on costs.  I use Lily’s Dark Chocolate Baking Chips which are sweetened with stevia instead of sugar. Not sure if that is completely legal but it’s close enough.   These cookies are so good.  On mother’s day my entire extended family was raving about them… especially after I added a few drops of Young Living Orange Essential Oil.

Counting Down

The biggest motivation for the girls is that they know this diet is only temporary.  They totally have the mindset of “I can do anything for little while.”  We have a pretty big family vacation planned in October and I have promised the girls that during the vacation the diet is off.  Every time they turn down something they do it  knowing that come October they may get another opportunity to eat it.  Donuts, ice cream, pasta, and dim sum we are coming for you!

What We’ve Learned

Before the diet I was most nervous about giving up sugar.  Mainly because I wasn’t sure what would be left to eat after removing sugar and grains from our diets.  I have a sweet tooth and while I knew sugar was affecting my kids behavior and immune systems I still struggled with completely giving it up.

We’ve learned is that we really don’t miss it and life does indeed go on when you pass up a slice of birthday cake.  So after we return from vacation in October everyone except Judah will start to add foods back into the diet but sugar is one thing we don’t plan to add back.  There will be exception like birthdays where we splurge and enjoy one of our favorite Chloe Coscarelli cakes but sugar will no longer be a permanent staple in our diet.

We’ve also learned that this diet isn’t nearly as hard or scary as we initially thought it would be. We’ve all found our groove now and still have favorite recipes and things like Taco Tuesday that we get to enjoy.

Our family has and always be a family that enjoys food and this diet enables us to discover lots of new ways to enjoy foods… and that makes us happy.

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