I am starting my Week 4 blog on Day 26. I lost some motivation to keep up on the blog the last two weeks. Its been really up and down lately. Week 2 I thought I was over the worst of it but I have had some moments in the last two weeks where I have felt truly awful. I know this is just lingering die off symptoms and my body adjusting to ketosis still, but boy it really wears you down. Especially when I haven’t felt well in 3 years.

Some things that have happened:

1. I tried Chicken again with some Chicken wings, I felt kind of crummy afterward but I feel crummy a lot so I really am not sure if it was the Chicken. Ill try it again in a smaller dose when I stabilize a bit more.
2. I also had Avocado a few times and I dont think im ready for it. Again, really hard to tell what was actually making me feel off as I seem to feel off but better to play it safe.
3. I started making Milk Kefir again! The first two batches I ended up tossing, I bought some local A2 milk and for some reason it made my Kefir so sour and rancid tasting I couldnt tolerate it and made me worry the milk was no good. I bought an A2 milk I found at Whole Foods and have made two much better tasting batches with it. I have been having it in a glass with a tiny dash of Stevia powder and a tiny bit of Cinnamon. Cinnamon is not on the Allowed Food List for the diet I am following but it is allowed on GAPS so I am going to make an exception and so far I havent had any reaction. I am only using a tiny amount and only having the Kefir once a day. I do want to source out some local raw milk to make my Kefir with but for now this A2 milk from Whole Foods will do.
4. I made a big batch of Beef Stock and made soup with the meat I used and I have eaten it three times and I feel very nauseous after eating it. I cant quite figure out why. I didnt use anything in it that is new or different. I speculate it may be because its really high in fat, I mixed in the bone marrow in the broth and the meat was pretty fatty. I will try another batch but take some digestive enzymes with it to see if that helps to digest the fats. Jen does have a section in her diet protocol that says if you are struggling with naseau to cut back on the fat for a little while. So that is what Ill do.
5. I made Turkey Stock with some local Turkey Wings. The stock came out great but I was not able to salvage any of the meat from the Wings unfrotunately. Turkey does not boil as well as Chicken. So it sucked to have to toss some meat but the wings arent super meaty, Next time I will just make stock and cook the turkey separately in the oven and then make soup.
6. I bought a reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System! It came in the mail yesterday and I was like a gitty little kid setting it up. I am not supre thrilled with the display buttons but it really does push out some tasty clean water. I have been overwhelmingly thankful that I am in a place to be able to make these investments for my health.
7. I also bought a steam sauna and cold plunge tub! These haven’t come in the mail yet. They are just the collapsible versions that you can set up anywhere. Although they are not top of the line it will be perfect for everyday use for my partner and I. He is really more excited about the cold plunge tub, I am more excited for the sauna. I love me some heat.

Yesterday I actually took some time to thoroughly read through the GAPS book. i was really curious to see how different the Gut Reset diet I am on is VS the original GAPS. There are some very minor differences, and the GAPS Intro is much more structured. Essentially tells you what to do step by step which I could see being super helpful for people who need a lot of direction. The Gut Reset diet is a little more lax in the way that you are given a list of foods you can eat and how to make meals and then you just follow that until your ready to move on to the Keto version. One of the big diffrences I noticed was that GAPS allowed a lot more fruit and nuts and seeds after the intro phase. Now you still would introduce these in the same way but Jen’s Gut Reset seems to really emphasize on limiting these things until you have been stable and have allowed a good amount of time for healing.

Overall, the book is packed full of incredibly useful information and helped to fill in the “whys” of the diet for me. Personally I find this to be essential otherwise I will sit and wonder and stew on things that I dont have answers to. I also really appreciated the recipes provided even though I am not ready to eat some of the ingredients in most of them, I know that they will be there when I am ready.

So how am I feeling about all of this on Week 4?

Well, I am feeling pretty good. I can’t deny that I struggled on Christmas. Being surrounded by foods that I can’t have and watching everyone else enjoy them so carefree. It really makes me realize how much I took for granted the life I had before all of this. I used to be able to eat essentially anything whenever I wanted and go on with my day with no issues. When I see people treating their bodies so terribly the way I used to, I just want to shake them as hard as I can and make them feel the way I feel. Then just maybe they would understand how detrimental it is to take care of these bodies we live in. Any day, something so minor could happen and your whole life can be turned upside down.

Aside from my Christmas blues, I have been getting really used to eating this way. I’m in a really balanced groove with cooking and meal prep. I genuinely am enjoying the food I eat. I crave the red meat more than anything else. The fatigue and overall weakness definitely take’s a hold of me still, but I do feel overall my negative symptoms are stabilizing.

Some not great news is that my digestion seems to have changed in the last few days. From the start of this diet, I was able to go everyday consistently. Now something is different, and I am struggling in that department again. It may be because of too much fat and my liver struggling to keep up with its bile production. I ordered myself some more Digestive Bitters to support my liver more, and I have been taking some Magnesium Citrate to help get things moving again. Crossing my fingers this passes soon ( no pun intended ).

Another new thing has been some trouble with my sleep, I am waking up and tossing and turning more often than normal. The last week or so I have been waking up around 2-6am having to pee. Thats never really been a thing for me, but I believe that’s just a side effect of some detoxing.