A Digestive Diary: GAPS Intro Diet - Stage 2

For many years, I have been struggling with allergies, asthma and various skin problems, starting with eczema as a child, progressing to psoraisis and now lichen planus.

When I was in my early thirties, I was infected with a pathogenic strain of E. coli through "dirty dining" before the introduction of the DineSafe inspection program. Although it wasn't fatal, it was definitely painful and apparently rare enough that there were only two practitioners in Canada at the time who were licensed to prescribe the antibiotic required to treat it. Fortunately one of them was right here in Toronto, so I was able to receive treatment quite quickly.

The upshot of the infection and subsequent treatment was that my digestive system was effectively wiped clean and I was told that I would experience digestive troubles for the remainder of my life. Not liking the sound of that and being used to eating and drinking whatever I liked, I chose to ignore what I was told and continue on as I was.

Over time I started experiencing periods of a sort of dreamy detachment whereby I would suddenly feel like I was in a dream instead of living in reality. I could still function and interact with the world, but none of it felt real. I don't know how to better describe these episodes. I wasn't exactly dizzy, although I would experience a bit of vertigo if I was moving during one of these episodes, however it would dissipate the moment I sat down.

As years went by, these episodes became longer in duration and more frequent and unfortunately, my doctor dismissed them for many years until she finally relented and decided that it was some sort of allergic reaction, and since my eczema had morphed into both psoriasis and lichen planus, she sent me off to both an allergist and a dermatologist. Both specialists were very good at treating the various symptoms I presented. My breathing is now under control and I have some great topical treatments for my skin as well as medication to treat my allergic reactions when they occur.

The problem is I feel that these are all just treating symptoms and not the root cause and my "brain fog" episodes are more extensive than ever! I decided to start researching on my own to see if I could find out more information about "brain fog" and what could possibly be causing it.

To make a long story shorter, everything seems to point to the digestive system, specifically something called the "Leaky Gut Syndrome". Essentially, it is the lining of the intestines becoming damaged through infection, poor diet, stress, etc., allowing food that is not completely digested and broken down into recognizable nutrients to pass through into the bloodstream, causing the immune system to attack the incompletely digested food particles as foreign objects, creating all sorts of bodily reactions (including eczema, psoriasis and brain fog).

Although the Wikipedia entry in the above link doesn't give much credence to Leaky Gut, further reading, specifically "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride and "The Heal Your Gut Cookbook: Nutrient-Dense Recipes for Intestinal Health Using the GAPS Diet" by Hilary Boynton and Mary Brackett have convinced me to try at least some of the prescribed foods.

I am convinced that after my E. coli treatment, I never gave my digestive tract time to fully heal and re-colonize with healthy bacteria and I have been slowly damaging it further ever since. It makes sense to me that the worsening symptoms I have been experiencing over the years are caused, at their root, by my immune system over-reacting and essentially attacking food as it would a disease. And since my immune system has been compromised by a damaged digestive system, why not try to fix the problem at its source and allow my intestines to heal?

I document what I am doing in my other blog, A Locavore's Life, since it is better suited to the subject matter. This blog will act solely as my diary to track my progress.

Friday, January 8, 2016

GAPS Intro Diet - Stage 2

Date	Weight	Blood Pressure		Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Comments
		Systolic	Diastolic
Jan. 9, 2016	193	118	79	Chicken broth with egg yolk & spinach	Late breakfast and early dinner, so skipped lunch	Carrot & Ginger soup, yogourt, kefir, hibiscus tea
Jan. 10, 2016	193	114	76	Butternut squash soup with 2 egg yolks & spinach, chicken broth, kefir	Chicken soup, mint tea, yogourt	Tilapia fillets in lemongrass & thyme stock, chamomile tea	I love the addition of the egg yolks. They make the soup rich and satisfying and it held me over to lunch easily!
Jan. 11, 2016	193	132	82	Carrot & ginger soup with 2 egg yolks, chicken broth	Chicken soup, mint tea	Leftover tilapia fillets, mint tea	Blood pressure's up -- can you tell I'm back at work? :-) I love the tilapia -- solid and tasty!
Jan. 12, 2016	193	118	71	Tomato & spinach soup with 2 egg yolks, chicken broth	Carrot & ginger soup, mint tea	Chicken & cabbage casserole, chamomile tea
Jan. 13, 2016	193	130	77	Tomato & spinach soup with 2 egg yolks	Chicken soup, mint tea	Chicken & cabbage casserole, chamomile tea
Jan. 14, 2016	192	118	68	Onion soup, beef broth	Butternut squash soup, fennel tea	Chicken & cabbage casserole	Lost another pound! Finally!!
Jan. 15, 2016	192	119	72	Carrot & ginger soup, beef broth, kefir	Mushroom soup, fennel tea	Onion soup, yogourt, mint tea
Jan. 16, 2016	192	120	75	Beef broth, kefir, yogourt	Onion soup, chamomile tea	I totally cheated and ordered pizza!!!
Jan. 17, 2016	194	124	78	Beef broth, kefir	Carrot & ginger soup, yogourt, chamomile tea	Salmon in lemongrass & thyme stock	Up 2 pounds! Serves me right for cheating!
Jan. 18, 2016	192	118	79	Tomato soup with egg yolk & spinach, leftover lemongrass & thyme broth, kefir	Chicken soup, mint tea	Beef stew with mashed cauliflower topping, yogourt, chamomile tea	Lost the 2 pounds again! Yesss!
Jan. 19, 2016	190	118	78	Butternut squash soup, chicken broth, kefir	Chicken & cabbage casserole, fennel tea	Beef stew with mashed cauliflower topping, yogourt, chamomile tea	Loving the solid food and I lost 2 more pounds!!!
Jan. 20, 2016	191	118	78	Tomato soup, chicken broth, kefir, yogourt	Beef stew with cauliflower mash, chamomile tea	Cabbage & sausage stew, mint tea	Only up 1 pound. This is good, all things considered. See this.
Jan. 21, 2016	190	106	70	Tomato soup with egg yolk & spinach,chicken broth	Chicken & cabbage casserole, chamomile tea	Cabbage & sausage stew, chamomile tea, kefir, yogourt
Jan. 22, 2016	190	110	76	Tomato soup, chicken broth	Chicken soup, mint tea	Scrambled eggs! Chamomile tea	Starting Stage 3 as of dinner. Limiting probiotic input. See this.

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