It has been quite a few months since I’ve posted anything. Most of 2013 was spent on me focusing on me. Not in a self centered way, but in a healing way. I started my healing journey the 1st week of January and let me tell you….it was tough….and discouraging….and I went through withdrawal from sugar and wheat and indulgence and so on and so on and so on. I was looking for quick results (that didn’t come as quick as I wanted) but I kept plugging away. I Googled other people’s journeys looking for signs that I was on the right track. The GAPS book was written for people with Autism, or ADHD or other issues in that realm. The book touched on Physical issues like Arthritis and other auto-immune disorders, but 99.9% of the book gave signs and symptoms for the mental and emotional disorder realm. So I wasn’t able to go back to the book for a reference point that I was, indeed, on the right path, so I used other people’s blogs to see how things had gone for them, to see if any of it applied to me. Sometimes I would find something that would encourage me.

But I didn’t give up. I did have a few mess-ups. Like in April when I went to St. Louis grocery shopping on an empty stomach without even a bag of trail mix to munch on. Bad idea……I went into Costco, and over to the food area where they were giving away all those tasty little samples. I had a piece of Salami on a cracker (Wheat) and then a couple of Peanut Butter Cups (sugar and who knows what all else) and then went on my way, feeling guilty but at least I wasn’t as hungry as I was earlier. Well, the next day I felt like CRAP!! I hurt all over my whole body, with nerve pain going down one leg and both of my knees screaming at me. UGH…..That was my first realization that yes, I was on the right path. I felt crummy for a couple of days more and then it went away. WOW!!!! What a wake up call that was. I saw, with my own physical body, that food was affecting me and when I made bad choices my body told me all about it. It actually screamed at me to cool it 🙂

A couple of months later we had a pot luck at our church. Greg and I had not been going because it was just too hard to find anything I could eat, but that day I planned for it by taking a desert that I had made (that was legal) and a green bean salad that I knew I could eat. But the only other item I had was a piece of fried chicken with the skin peeled off. BUT, the next day I felt bad, not as bad as the first time, but significantly more painful. That was my second test and my body told me, “Yep….you need to cool it”. At least this time it didn’t scream at me, it just grumbled a lot.

Greg and I went on vacation in September and I spent a couple of months researching what type of food I could easily take on a trip. I bought a Excalliber Dehydrator and I was dehydrating up a storm. I made Beef Jerky, Zucchini chips (that I could dip into yummy guacamole), I made crackers out of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds then baked into crispy disks…..so good. I had them with cheese. I baked a coffee cake out of almond flour and became VERY good at taking a cooler with those wonderful plastic ice packs that never melt all over your food and get everything soggy. Man, it’s easier than ever to take food with you for even a week at a time. Greg got really good at helping me everyday change out the ice packs from my big cooler (it was full of dry ice and I would change out the melted ice packs for frozen ones everyday). It worked great!! We only bought dry ice once on the road and I had my own healthy food for 2 meals a day. Then we ate out our evening meal where I had meat and veggies. I took my double fermented Kombucha, and milk kefir and fermented veggies. I made sure to have some of them every day. I was amazed at how easy it was. And it sure came in handy, because then show season started in September as well. I used the same cooler method with the ice packs and just made sure we stayed in Candlewood Suites all over the place. The ice packs would keep my food ice cold on the travels (like Wichita, and Rogers Arkansas etc.) and then Candlewood Suites have full kitchens. I would refrigerate all my food, and then with the help of a smaller cooler that I could take to the booth with all my own food, AND thermos’s for soup and coffee, I was all set. I didn’t have to buy food out one single time. Man….think of all the money I saved, and I didn’t sabotage my efforts for health one time 🙂

Then about November I started realizing that I didn’t hurt anymore. My knees weren’t complaining when I went up and down stairs. I was sleeping better at night, not tossing and turning all night long. I look back now and I would have to say I’m 85% better than I was in January of 2013. I’m actually feeling good, and it’s been a LONG time since I could say that.

I’ve got a lot more to say, but for the sake of time, (I have swaddling blankets that need to be finished up for an order), and Downton Abbey is going to be on in a little while….if you don’t watch it, check it out. You can watch the first couple of seasons on NetFlix, and then on Masterpiece Theater on PBS for the current season. It’s a good show 🙂

I’ll be posting soon about the cracker recipe and some of the other dishes I’ve made this year that I feel warrant sharing. I can honestly say I don’t feel deprived at all. I am completely content in what I’m doing…I know it must be God. I don’t have that much discipline on my own. I’m thankful that he gave me the word through a friend in the Vineyard church a few years back saying to “Make food my medicine” because that’s what this last year has been….and it’s been good.