I was introduced to elderberries when I met the Engineer. He shared not for the benefit of my health, but to increase my repertoire of memorable quotes. The first fragment of a Monty Python movie my green ears heard was the following retort,
I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.
I’m not sure why having a father smelling of elderberries is altogether offensive, but I do know that any pathogen would turn tale and run due to the elderberry’s antiviral properties.
For this reason, the elderberry has entered our home. We have been fighting sickness since before Thanksgiving. And I want to eradicate this unwanted disruption from our immune system.
A combination of several factors allowed the germs to migrate and take up residence in our home. Factors contributing to this ambush are a combination of any one or more of the following:
irregular bedtimes
frequenting the children’s area at the gym
homeschool co-op
a greater than average usage of shopping carts
the entrance of an unwanted enemy that was difficult to defeat: white sugar
a large family
thumb suckers
skipping supplements (i.e. vitamins, cod liver oil, and probiotics)
swerving from the ways of whole food cooking-- nourishing, diverse and colorful meals
When you begin skipping protocols that aide in health, sickness is just around the corner. Once one member of the family becomes sick, it really is a matter of time before the entire house has shared germs.
We have been fighting our unseen enemy through prayer and homeopathy.
To boost our bodys’ immune response, I have added a new food based supplement . . . a new weapon.
Elderberry Syrup
(recipe is courtesy of Cara from Health Home and Happiness)
Place elderberries, rose hips, cinnamon sticks, cloves, ginger and vanilla bean, and water in a saucepan.
Bring water to a boil and then simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
You want the water to reduce by half or have the remaining liquid appear syrupy.
A word of caution, should you tarry and allow your entire house to smell of elderberries then you may find that said berries will slurp up all of your remaining liquid leaving you . . . still sick.
Moral of the story: don’t become too distracted when making this elixir.
Separate the syrup from the ingredients.
After you have allowed the contents of your pot to moderately cool, add honey.
I didn’t immediately pour honey into the hot pan because I want my honey to retain its beneficial health properties.
Eat honey, for it is good; the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste.
Proverbs 24:13
Stir and pour into a Mason Jar. Keep contents in the refrigerator.
Usage: Cara recommends that adults ingest 2 teaspoons daily and children 1 teaspoon each day. Please remember that it is not wise for children under the age of one to ingest honey.
For more great recipes from Cara, including grain free menus head on over to read about her GAPS friendly monthly menu plans. They are 30% off right now if you use the coupon code SUPERSALE (valid until the evening of January 1, 2012).
Becoming a partial GAPS family has required some experimentation. Some learning. Adjusting to new textures.
I thought I would miss bread or grains the most by being on GAPS.
Nope. (Giving up dairy for a season is proving more difficult.)
With the discovery of coconut flour . . . I get my “texture” needs met. Coconut muffins are good. Coconut cookies, though different in consistency to their counterparts, are a decent rival.
If I never had wheat again . . . I don’t think I would cry.
However, I’m hoping grain and my thyroid will one day get along.
But until then, I’m trying to substitute coconut flour for wheat flour (using drastically different recipes thanks to Cara’s Grain Free Monthly Menu plans.)
I’ve tried several different brands of coconut flour . . . but in all honesty, I prefer Tropical Traditions coconut flour. I like the texture and how it if easier to blend with other ingredients.
And you . . . you can win a bag of coconut flour. If you don’t know what to do with the coconut flour you have two options.
Would you like to win some? (I sure would. Oh yea, I already did.)
Prize:1 bag of Coconut Flour from Tropical Traditions!
RULES Please, please, please . . .do not put more than one entry per comment. I will be using www.random.org to pick the winners. So if you would like for your comments to count, leave individual comments ON THE BLOG(click on that link).
All options are worth 1 entry, unless otherwise stated. My real-life friends can enter this giveaway.
Remember, only #1 is mandatory. The rest of the entries are optional, but you MUST comment separately for each one.
The Fine Print: I will email you when you have won. I must have your email address to alert you to your prize. You can include that in your comment or email me separately at thegranolamom4god at gmail dot com. You must respond within 48 hours.
Contest ends 11/11/11 at Midnight
Author's Note: I was given this product to review from Tropical Traditions, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine unless otherwise noted. I am using affiliate links in this post.
It happened late in life for me. I didn’t see Rocky until my mid-30’s. Yes. I know. I was deprived. I think I would be content to dismiss the sequels to this somewhat infamous movie.
I’m glad I saw the movie just to add two movie lines to my mental archive. One is personal . . . since a friend of ours has this name.
“Adriannnnnnnneeeeeeeee!”
and the other I love to say to the Engineer or whenever I talk about GAPS . . . two totally non-related subjects.(But it made for a good intro . . . )
“I got GAPS you got GAPS, but together we don’t got no GAPS.”
I wrestle with this whole GAPS thing. I don’t want to have to go on a particular diet. I simply don’t want to do it. I wish with all my might that when I became a new creation in Christ, that my body got healed at the same time. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
But it didn’t. And no matter what I do, it won’t EVER be totally healed until I meet my Maker on that beautiful day of His return or my demise. (1 Corinthians 13:10)
However, I wrestle with God about this issue – food and health. I want to point the finger, figure out, or blame circumstances . . . lack of knowledge on why I have some gut issues. Thyroid failure. Blahs.
Stupid. This type of illogical and circular thinking will get me nowhere.
And when it comes down to it, what is the big deal about changing the way I eat for 30 days? I haven’t been having much grain anyway . . . what’s the big deal about eliminating milk . . . coffee . . . chocolate?
Food shouldn’t consume my thoughts. Hello idolatry.
I like to make a lot of excuses to explain what could be titled as addiction. Here are my excuses:
I’m going to the Apologia Live conference . . . . I want to purchase a Venti coffee on my drive up to Chicago
. . . or not particularly desiring to haul a crockpot up to my hotel room along with cloth diapers and a pack-n-play.
And seriously, I doubt my my roomies want me to anoint their clothes with the warm aroma of . . . chicken.
Can’t forget the fact that Relevant is at the end of the month . . . the Engineer’s birthday . . . and many other October birthdays . . . .
There will always be an excuse or a celebration. I can keep putting my health off and watch my issues grow. This will make me a FANTASTIC candidate for The Biggest Loser, of which I do plan on applying for regardless.
I have got to slay this dragon once and for all. I have told you that before. I sound like a broken record that lacks superglue.
All this to say, don’t forget to prepare. Make some stock. Cut some veggies. Toss or give away foods that might sabotage your road to healing. If you are eating bread . . . try to taper off before Saturday. Consider grabbing a copy of The Mood Cure . . . sometimes our cravings are related to things lacking in the brain . . . like aminos.
Just saying. Remember, we don’t plan to fail we fail to plan. So think ahead. Come up with solutions BEFOREHAND for those events that you will encounter the 30 days you opt in on the intro diet of the GAPS protocol.
Your belly will be glad you did.
And I ask . . . please pray for me. Pray that I would resist temptation and both start and finish this task ahead of me with determination, perseverance, and joy – always keeping the prize before my eyes.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. (1 Corinthians 9:24)
You can still get your copy of the Intro GAPS Guide! The challenge begins Saturday, October 1st!
I am often asked what the GAPS diet is. And I often come up with a rather sheepish answer . . . and finish feeling like an electrocuted chicken.
Quite stupid.
But since I have signed up to receive the Health, Home and Happiness emails prior to the GAPS intro diet challenge . . . I have been learning a lot about this boiled bird diet, even though I ate that way for a solid 6 weeks this summer.
You were supposed to laugh.
If you think you need to stop reading . . . like this doesn’t pertain to you -- think again. It never hurts to learn something new. You never know when this information might prove useful.
First, I want to talk to you about your gut. What is your gut? Your gut is essentially your 2nd brain. It does an enormous amount of work to keep your body health. Think about it . . . if you don’t poop, how do you feel?
(Did you know that you can loose up to 10 pounds of poop when you do a cleansing fast?)
Secondly, how does the gut work and how can you make it happy?(taken from two of Cara’s excellent pre-challenge newsletters).
To be healthy your “gut depends on good bacteria (flora) to plug holes, neutralize toxins and metabolize vitamins.
The intestine is naturally porous, and we depend on a symbiotic relationship with friendly bacteria to ‘plug the holes’. This prevents large proteins (like gluten and casein) from going through the gut wall and into the bloodstream, and the bacteria also provide a barrier against toxins entering our bloodstream. As the gut flora neutralize, metabolize, and further break down our food they also are transporting vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients across the gut wall.
In addition to not having enough good gut flora, the presence of bad ‘opportunistic’ flora creates problems by releasing toxins into the bloodstream, which affect the brain. We get bad flora in our system by wiping the entire system out with antibiotics, allowing the bad bacteria to establish colonies because there aren’t enough good bacteria already established to crowd them out. In the case of a baby, babies get their first dose of bacteria by coming through the birth canal, so if mom has a history of having antibiotics and has bad gut flora, the baby’s first ‘dose’ of bacteria are often bad ones.
Bad bacteria in the gut can emit toxins, which affect brain function like a drug, this is why this diet also works to help autism and mental disorders.
The gut also has our 'second brain' in it, there is actually neural tissue in the gut that helps regulate the emotions. When the gut is not healthy, anxiety, depression, and other moods aren't kept in check.
Allergies and other chronic health conditions such as inflammation and skin issues are primarily from either undigested particles going through a 'leaky gut' and then the body reacting to the 'foreign' materials, or a response the body has to the chemicals emitted by the pathogenic bacteria that have colonized in the gut.
The GAPS 'introduction' diet is an intense healing diet that consists of bone broth, as it is rich in amino acids needed to rebuild the gut wall, probiotc foods (cultured vegetables like homemade kimchi) to provide friendly bacteria, and healthy fats that so many of our modern bodies are starved of. The Intro GAPS diet is also notable for what it does NOT contain. It completely eliminates any food that may be at all difficult to digest, so the body can heal. This powerful healing (what your body has the capability of doing on its' own, without surgery, drugs, or expensive supplements) can quickly reduce or eliminate food allergies!
Pretty cool. Cara said it MUCH better than I ever could have.
(Yes, there are affiliate links in here . . . but I do tell you this information, because I care and because the GAPS diet made a difference in my second brain.)
It’s rough to try something on your own. I have good intentions each Monday morning . . . but they typically fail by 10 AM.
For example, I wanted to drink just chicken broth today. Didn’t happen. I got hungry and was trying to be a nice homeschooling mom. Didn’t work.
The end of July welcomed vacations. Glorious vacations and time off. And with vacations came poor eating habits. Enter grain.
The Engineer, Asher, and Gabe do dandy eating grain, whether it is sprouted or not. {ahem}
But Ezra and I require an almost grain free lifestyle to maintain um . . . optimum emotional control. (To put it nicely.)
And Naomi – she has yet to eat grain and I probably will restrict her diet until she is 18 months.
That’s right. My sweetie won’t have a traditional birthday cake next month.
Well, I got giddy this afternoon when I received an email from Cara, from Health, Home and Happiness, who has radically made my attempt at a grain free life relatively easy this past spring and summer.
She is having her own sort of Biggest Loser competition . . . or rather “challenge.”
The timing is good. It is being launched with cooler weather . . . the perfect time of year for chicken stock, a must when it comes to healing your gut.
I’m excited because I don’t have to do this alone . . . this intro diet thing.
Cara’s 30 Day Intro Diet Recipe book is so amazingly helpful . . . but the whole thing is a bit daunting if you are attempting to do it on your own.
But what if . . . what if you had fellowship? A community? Or someone sending you a reminder email every day for 6 weeks encouraging you?
I’d say that is perfect. Just what I need. Thanks, Cara!
Confused? Don’t know what the GAPS diet is? In short, it is a great way to rest and restore the gut lining, which can help with food allergies, skin rashes, digestive trouble, behavior issues, yeast, and more.
I have never liked pancakes. Unless they were made in Canada . . . with blueberries . . . and fried in lots of butter.
Then, a mysterious thing happened. Not really all that mysterious. My MIL gave my husband a cookbook that contained a recipe for Cabin Pancakes.
They were made with whole wheat flour, minimally soaked oats, and buttermilk.
I was happy to discover that pancakes didn’t have to resemble a white sponge that disintegrated into my mouth like cotton candy. They could be hearty . . . a meal.
Substantial.
And when I realized you can actually eat REAL maple syrup . . . well, I was hooked. Once my taste buds met Grade B maple syrup, I became its biggest fan.
However, due to making some dietary changes . . . I’ve been introduced to perhaps a pancake that rivals the infamous cabin pancake. And my tummy doesn’t rumble for hours after eating . . . bonus.
Thanks to Cara, we now eat Coconut Pancakes. I think they really should be called Egg Pancakes with a tiny bit of coconut flour. But Cara’s the boss of her menu, the grain free meal plan, that is.
I heart them in loads of coconut oil. Then they are fat and crispy.
However, if you like pancakes to resemble the nutrition-less pancakes (in looks only) . . . use minimal oil.
Now I must admit . . . I sometimes have some help. My mom often makes us a stack of coconut pancakes. It is such a blessing! So when Nana comes-a-knockin’ with some pancakes, I store them in my freezer . . . an easy place for the kids to grab them from if they want to make their own breakfast.
To store pancakes, once cooled place wax paper or parchment paper between each pancake.
I typically place 3 pancakes per person in a gallon zip lock bag . . . so for us . . . at least 12 pancakes per bag for the kids.
Coconut Pancakes
Ingredients
8 eggs
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup yogurt, apple sauce, or coconut milk
coconut oil, butter, or ghee for frying
Directions
Mix ingredients and let them sit for five minutes. I like throwing everything into my Vita Mix. This way the coconut flour gets thoroughly mixed in, eliminating those pesky lumps.
Put a glob of fat (you know . . . coconut oil or butter) into your skillet and melt over medium heat.
When surface is sufficiently hot, pour approximately a tablespoon of batter for each pancake. I think my pancakes are actually 1/4 cup of batter.
Allow it to cook until golden brown, 1-2 minutes on each side. (Normally I use stainless steel pans.)
Top with yogurt, fruit, coconut flakes, maple syrup, peanut butter . . . or any other yummy!
I never know which to say. I’m making chicken broth, I mean stock, I mean . . . I don’t know what I mean.
I’m just making something that requires a bird, some vegetables, a little apple cider vinegar, filtered water, a large pot and time.
This means that I am making chicken stock.
Just like you invest in the stock market to make more money, you invest in your health by making more chicken stock.
Chicken broth is the liquid procured after boiling chicken meat with vegetables over a minimal timeframe, whereas chicken stock incorporates boiling bones (with or without meat) over a long duration . . . yielding greater nutrition in the form of gelatin and minerals.
If you want to make your taste buds do the happy dance, and your gut say, “Thank you!” then you want to MAKE chicken stock for your soups . . . your meals . . . even your baby’s food.
It. Is. Worth. It.
You can use it as your secret ingredient.
Let’s say, Aunt Betty Sue wants your special prized Algerian Wedding Rice casserole . . . because everybody loves it.
But let’s be honest . . . you don’t want to give it to her. If you do, then not only will she bring it to every family function, but she will post it on the internet (like I’m doing).
Go ahead. Give her the recipe. Just tell her to use broth instead of stock.
Is that mean?
Chicken Stock
Ingredients
a whole bird (chicken) . . . minus the feathers (You can use a chicken frame. A chicken frame is basically the carcass – where the farmer acted like a vulcher. Sorry, but it’s true.)
3 or more peeled carrots, cut into large chunks
5 or more washed celery stalks, cut into small stumps
2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar
1 large onion hacked into 4 pieces quickly (I don’t want you to cry.)
approximately 4 quarts of filtered water
3-4 garlic cloves
parsley
a very large pot or crock pot
Directions
1. It is recommended that you cut your chicken into pieces.
Now I “might” do this if the Engineer is home. I have been known to play the “pretend pregnancy” card and say that I will puke all over our nice bird if I have to hack the neck off. I will sweetly ask said husband to lop off chicken parts, while I gag at an exaggerated rate.
Sometimes it works.
Now it won’t. The Engineer reads my blog, because I make him. (He gets quizzed each night over the previous day’s contents.)
So . . . if you are an individual with a weak stomach . . . then I certainly wouldn’t recommend you add chicken feet. Because you actually are supposed to.
Two feet.
Why? They contain gelatin.
You could try to remove the neck. If I am feeling adventurous, I will do this . . . but with my Cutco scissors.
When it comes down to it, though, I have yet to notice a difference if the neck is attached or unattached. If she were alive . . . then certainly a neck is important. But once she is dead . . . well, I have yet to find that my gelatin has increased by a neck-less bird.
Moving on.
2. Place the chicken in a stock pot with all the ingredients except the parsley.
Let stand for 30 minutes to 1 hour while the apple cider vinegar does its magic.
3. Then bring to a boil.
Remove scum that rises to the top, then reduce heat and simmer for 6 to 24 hours. The long you cook, the richer the flavor.
4. Ten minutes before you finish add the parsley. I always forget to. Sigh.
5. Now for the part that I hate: separating the bird from her broth.
It doesn’t matter how you do it. Use a spoon . . . tongs . . . two large paint stirrers (just kidding) . . . or your hands (make sure the broth isn’t hot!)
6. Take the meat off of the bone. It is great for teriyaki, chicken salad, enchiladas, baby food or curry.
7. Strain the stock into a big bowl and reserve in the fridge until the fat collects and congeals on top.
8. Store strained chicken stock in wide-mouth Mason jars, making sure to leave plenty of head room if you freeze the jars.
Other methods of freezing chicken stock include ice cube trays or quart size freezer bags, which is what I did last night!
I called a friend . . . and nearly sobbed like a baby. Cried like my sons do when scratched by Ruth.
Change is hard. Especially when it involves food.
And when said certain food creates a beneficial environment in which a body can properly detox, it ain’t purty.
But it is good for you.
I don’t want to scare you off from pursuing the GAPS Intro Protocol diet that really clenches the healing and sealing of the walls of your gut . . . but I will be honest with you.
It can get ugly. It has gotten ugly in our house.
I have read that it doesn’t have to get ugly. However, I don’t know how to do that, because, as usual, I started something before I had finished reading the entire set of instructions and book.
It said to read the book and wait a month.
As a result, we are stepping back a little bit. We will remain a grain-free family (for a season). However, the Engineer and I are reintroducing some fruit, raw veggies, eggs, and raw milk to our diet instead of serving ourselves bone broth with boiled meat and super cooked vegetables.
Let me back up a little bit, the Engineer and I have “detoxed” together without problems. We typically take a very gentle approach using a product called Perfect Cleanse, put out by Garden of Life.
This time we dove headfirst into the GAPS diet –- we alldid, sans Ruthie. (Although she has been acting officially off-the-wall.)
I don’t know that I would recommend detox-ing as a family to anyone. I suppose it was nice to get all of the grumpiness (anger, lethargy, and achiness) over together at the same time. But it has been intense.
It has been rocky. I have thought to myself. Health? Who needs it. I don’t want to be grumpy and uncomfortable . . . even if it is just for a few days.
However, to do it over again, I would opt for the adults going through the GAPS Intro Protocol diet in the fall or winter first, so that our heads are on straight when we guide our children through.
And I probably would gradually eliminate grains . . . instead of going cold turkey.
On a positive note, Gabe now likes cheese eggs!
And I have lost 6 pounds.
So, I tell you the truth because sometimes it is nice to know someone who has walked in your shoes -- ahead of you. Someone who understands and won’t think that you are weird, or diagnose you, or laugh at you.
Like I said, I called my friend, Sarah. Her family just experienced the same transformation and has lived to tell about it. She walked through a detox before me with her entire family. Sarah has been my taxi driver through the city of detox. She knows the short cuts, road blocks, and alleys.
She told me I was normal. We were normal. She told me to love on my kids even though I didn’t want to. She especially encouraged me to bathe my children in prayer and speak Scripture over them . . . because they can’t identify why they feel yucky.
My children don’t realize that the reason they are all discombobulated is because of what I have been feeding them. Or rather . . . haven’t been feeding them.
(French Onion Soup from the Grain Free Menu Plan)
My point in all of this besides being honest, is to encourage you to take a taxi ride with someone who has been down the road you are about to take.
For several years it felt like our family was in the middle of Kansas with no car in sight. I didn’t know many who were eating like us, cloth diapering, visiting Farmer’s Markets, making laundry detergent . . . or whatever else I have listed on my Frugal Organic pull down menu.
It was a lonely place filled with trial and error. Some U-turns.
That is why I started this blog. (Well, one of the reasons.)
I didn’t want you to travel alone. I wanted to to be your backseat driver . . . point out some tips along your whole foods journey.
But I realize that to utilize my blog as a map for your journey . . . is actually very difficult. I think you have to know what to look for.
There is a search button . . . but sometimes it doesn’t even give me the blog post that I am looking for . . . and I wrote it!!!
So . . . if you want to begin your whole foods journey, let me introduce you to Kelly, the Kitchen Kop. She is offering a class to teach you. . . to walk you through the steps towards Real Food. . . she will give you some tips so that you can learn how to change. It’s titled the Real Food for Rookies Class.
The cost of the class is $145 . . . but will jump up to $190 starting May 7th.
I know . . . it seems pricy. However, I bet it will save you from buying countless recipe books, self-healing books, and well . . . time. (This works out to $12 a class . . . so skip Starbucks once a month, assuming you go 3 times a week . . . not that I ever have.)
(Ahem. Cough. Sputter.)
Or you can pick which class you want to take for $20.
I will be honest with you . . . I am not going to take the class at this time. I am currently enrolled in the Reversing Food Allergies course and Get Fermented.
And I’ve taken the journey you are about to engage in. I don’t admit to know it all . . . but I am up to my eyeballs in learning right now.
But if you are JUST STARTING OUT or are CURIOUS as to how to bring real food into your home . . . then I would imagine that Kelly has some priceless information to pass on to you.
Some perks:
12 weeks of online classes with videos, downloadable audios, and written materials.
LIFETIME access! Read/listen/watch at your leisure.
Expert interviews with Sally Fallon Morell (President of the Weston Price Foundation), Dr. Kaayla Daniel (author of The Whole Soy Story), Jane Hersey (Director of the Feingold Association), Tom Naughton (Fathead filmmaker), and Jimmy Moore (Livin LaVida Low-Carb blog!)
BONUS: the price of this class will include so many generous members-only coupons and discounts that you’ll be able to recoup over half of the enrollment fee! Discounts on Green Pasture cod liver oil, U.S. Wellness Meats, Biokult probiotics, stainless steel pans, fermented food starters & supplies, and organic ghee.
Free copy of the Kitchen Kop Real Food Ingredient Guide.
Members-only discussion forum (Chat about Real Food all you want and no one will think you’re a weirdo!)
You’ll Learn How To:
Save time and money while serving Real Food
Read labels and avoid dangerous ingredients
Make nourishing “fast food” meals to avoid last-minute trips to the drive-thru
Find healthier alternatives for soda pop, refined sugars, heart-killer oils, sugar-bomb breakfast cereals, factory farmed meat and more
Serve nutrient-dense foods that are necessary for good health
Take control of your health and change your family’s future!
And so ends a long-winded post from Jodi. . . . that is what happens when you don’t have the internet for a week . . . so all your work goes into one post.
In short, if you need a hand understanding how to navigate whole foods or real foods, allow Kelly to be your GPS. Sign up, here! (And please let me know if you do so that I can encourage you in your journey!)
And why else do I like Kelly . . . she has another cool blog, Christianity 101.
Use coupon code REALFOOD to receive $25 off! Valid until Monday night!
Growing up there was a commercial on television. The entire goal, as far as I can remember, was to encourage children to read . . . or rather parents to read to their children.
Guilt them into it.
It was quite effective. (My mom always read to me . . . I just mean the jingle was effective.)
I still know it.
Perhaps, I did watch too much TV . . .
“The more you read, the more you know.
The more you know, the farther you go.”
I heart reading. Not because the TV told me to . . . it’s just that my imagination does a much better job.
Pumpkin Seed/Sesame Crackers
And reading has given me great knowledge, both spiritually and worldly.
I am also a big fan of applying what you know to your life. James 1:22-24 will forever be ingrained in my mind.
You see one of my dearest friends in college (Larra) was studying to be a physical therapist. She applied her learning a bit too literally and would stick my feet in ICE COLD water* as we tried to memorize the following verse together,
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
Though this verse applies to learning scripture and actually putting in to practice what you have learned . . . I try and apply what I learn in all areas of my life.
waffles with honey syrup
Thus far, God has yet to steer me wrong . . . with my spiritual walk and with the food that we eat. (I’m far from being perfect in any area though I have been guided well!)
I am in the process of applying what I am learning . . . so that as a family we can go farther . . . live better . . . serve with vigor . . . shout from the mountain tops (that our God not only reigns, but heals).
Which brings me to our adventure for the next couple of weeks, if not months, towards healing our guts and following the GAPS diet, which you have heard me talk about before.
turkey sandwiches with homemade mayonnaise
I’m kind of excited, and kind of nervous. By following the “protocol” it will mean that at times we will be eating differently than others . . . family functions, church meals, fellowship gatherings . . .
But there is a purpose to it. A hope. A healing.
home prepared sausage
I’ve learned so much reading the actual GAPS book by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride (from the library) that I have to act upon this knowledge (and buy the book).
I have to do what it says.
So, while we are waiting for Cara from Health, Home and Happiness to come out with her introductory meal plan for the GAPS diet, we have been munching away through her monthly meal plans in preparation.
crepes
They are great. . . . especially if you are overwhelmed by the list of what to eat and what not to eat to support a nurturing environment to heal your somewhat fragile insides. So far the kids have LOVED every meal I have cooked from Cara’s Grain Free Menu plan.
What do her meal plans contain? Pretty much everything but the grocery store!
Each month you can expect to find:
Food that can be made by busy families (you do have to plan ahead, though)
Packable lunches for busy schedules (it would behoove you to read the menu plan before your workweek starts in order to prepare certain items)
Child and husband friendly meals
Nutrient dense foods including liver and fish at least once a week as recommended by the Weston Price Foundation (I am still struggling with the liver . . . )
Simple alternatives to expensive gluten free mixes
Directions to remind you to soak, sprout, and do other preparations ahead of time (Cara’s reminders are perfectly timed and sooooooo helpful!)
Fermented foods to encourage the growth of healthy bacteria (and you know how much I love to ferment!)
Cooking tips and tricks- all recipes have been tested multiple times in Cara’s own kitchen
pancakes
I’d like to offer 3 readers a free1 month subscription to The Grain Free Meal Plan . If you have been on the fence about whether or not to
go on the diet
purchase the monthly grain free meal plan ($16/month or $130/year – only 35 cents a day!)
consider an alternative to your current daily diet . . . this is the giveaway for you.
Cara is the real deal. She’s a mom who has a beautiful daughter, who happens to have autism. She is also a mom who is proactive. And she figured if she wanted a meal plan that followed the GAPS diet . . . there must be others.
It’s for people like me and others in my family – thyroid issues, arthritis, food allergies, chemical sensitivities, eczema, psoriasis, and mood swings.
Want to win 1 month of 3 meals a day, 7 days a week?
Think of the time you will save by not planning . . .
I thought you might . . .
I’m going to make this easy.
Mandatory Entry: Why do you want to win?
Extra Entries: blog or tweet, leaving a comment and link that you did (as much as you like).
Bonus Entry: Sign up for the Reversing Food Allergies course and give yourself 10 separate entries.
Giveaway Ends: April 19, 2011
Please note, Cara has graciously given me a subscription to her Grain Free Meal Plans in exchange for an honest review of her product. I tell you . . . she has done such a great job that it caused me to think, study, and change. Thanks, Cara!
*In Larra’s defense, I think I had a genuine injury. She wasn't torturing me with the Word of God.
Much of what I write is inspired by God. He gave me the idea and allows me to be a steward of it. Please respect my authorship and stewardship of all content on this blog. Do not copy pictures for yourself without permission from me or use the written text as your own. And always . . . link back to me should you refer to an idea you saw on Granola Mom 4 God.
