One of the frustrating things about being on the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) diet is the fact that the weight loss is the only thing that matters to most people. I try to explain that I'm feeling better because my gut is being healed, I'm feeling better because my body is working better all around, it's not simply because I've lost weight! People have even suggested that my self esteem is higher because I've lost weight. Losing weight isn't a magic wand. People don't change overnight just because they weigh a few pounds less. But people can change when they clean up their diet and begin to heal their stomach. When our food isn't digesting properly, we can be malnourished, even while our body looks obese. All kinds of things go wrong when we aren't getting proper nutrition.
I initially looked into the GAPS diet in order to help my husband as he had been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis several months earlier. I initially thought the diet was for helping children with autism and healing serious digestive disorders. I didn't think I'd need to do GAPS. However, while reading, I started to wonder if I could help myself. At 47, I felt like I was eighty. Every task and chore seemed insurmountable and difficult. Even something as simple as taking a shower felt like too much work. I used to think I had a lot of endurance for being on the computer because I could sit here for hours and hours at a time while other people had to get up and move around. I try to think positively and I tried to make the best of my life. But let's face it, every day I was miserable and depressed.
I had vowed in 1995 that I would never go on another diet, and I'd kept that promise to myself for over a decade. I tried to love my body exactly as it was and fully embraced the body acceptance movement. But in spite of loving my girth, the fact of the matter was that it was becoming more and more difficult to live in my body. It was difficult to bend over and tie my shoes. Even worse was trying to cut my toenails. For a while I had to use a bath rail just to hoist myself out of the tub on the rare occasion that I'd indulge in a bath. I was beginning to have all kinds of problems; my feet hurt, my ankles and fingers would swell and I wasn't really sure why. My doctor had no solutions and told me it was just the result of growing old. And it was hard to be happy with the fact that my weight was continuing to climb every year. I still was afraid to diet because any time I even went so far as to consider going on a diet I'd start overeating.
But then I decided to give GAPS a chance. It was difficult at first, but to tell you the truth - not as hard as most diets. One important reason being that you are nourishing your body with real food, and it is so satisfying and delicious. You don't run around starving with your stomach growling all day long. And once I got over mourning about all the foods I couldn't have, it got a lot easier. While the diet does require that you stop eating all processed foods, there is huge selection of foods to eat on full GAPS diet. Full GAPS includes meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, dairy products as well as healthy fats like butter, olive oil, coconut oil and lard. A typical meal would be roast beef with steamed carrots, onions and mashed cauliflower (aka faux-tatoes). Or I might have butter fried chicken breast with eggplant and mushrooms.
When people see that I don't eat processed foods, they wonder what I can eat? When I tell them, they think that's not too bad, but when I start to list what I don't eat they understandably become uncomfortable. How can I make it without stopping at a fast food joint for a burger, or relying on frozen or boxed pre-made foods from the grocery store? It's sad that processed foods have become the norm while those eating real traditional foods are weird.
I wish I could persuade everyone to give GAPS a try for one month. But people don't want to give up their favorite foods (I understand that completely), and they don't think they are that bad off (I didn't either). I didn't even have any noticeable digestive problems and all that depression and anxiety? I didn't think it was too unbearable. It's not like I was suicidal or anything like that.
But the contrast in how I felt ten months ago, and how I feel today, the change is dramatic. I want to scream from the rooftops how much better I feel. My weight has dropped, no more ankle swelling and I can easily reach my feet! I'm really glad that I decided to give the GAPS diet a chance.
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