GAPS Day 11: Happy feet

Last night I made what I call Chinese soup; after the getting so tired of eating the same soup (chicken stock, chicken, carrots) for the first two days of GAPS I realized I had to make it somewhat interesting or risk failing because I absolutely could not eat any more boring ass food. So I researched the internet for GAPS stage 1 to 3 recipes, soups and casseroles. And I made a list of 17 soups I could put together in the mornings to bring to work, everything from French Onion to Vietnamese Pho. Now my co-workers are always asking what I'm eating that smells so good, lol! The "Chinese Soup" I made was the following:

Stock (I used beef because that's what's in my crockpot)
Steam sauteed ground pork (because that's the meat I had on hand)
Mushrooms
Steam sautéed bok choy
Fish sauce
A splash of coconut aminos
Fresh green onions

Steam sautéing is something I learned from Melissa Joulwan, author of the Paleo cookbook Well Fed. Melissa's book follows the Whole30 philosophy so its actually perfect for GAPS and SCD'ers as there's little starch and no added sugars involved. The food is also amazingly delicious! Since Paleo people also often have to prep their food for the entire week, one of her secrets is "steam sautéing" or sautéing vegetables in a little oil and a little water (I use broth) to pre-cook the food so all you have to do is assemble your meals during the week. Doing this means I can just assemble and heat up my lunch and put it in my soup thermos and I'm ready to go.

I wasn't hungry at all at 10:30, which is when I normally eat my "breakfast". I'm usually not hungry until then, and I've read that your body is in detox mode until that time so it works out well. The soup turned out really well, too! It tasted a lot like real Chinese soup (although my taste buds have probably completely changed in the nearly 2 weeks I've been doing this.) I'm not sure if coconut aminos are GAPS legal - there may be some residual sugar from the fermentation process - but I know amino acids are helpful when trying to heal the gut, and they've got to be better than Braggs liquid aminos which are made from soy. The orange stuff on the side is mashed butternut squash, my go to carb. I put some extra virgin coconut oil on it this time and it smelled heavenly! Didn't really go with the soup so I had it for "dessert." It was good.  :)   Here's a picture - I almost forgot that I wanted to start taking pics of my meals so the soup is half-eaten sorry!

I was starving for dinner - ate nothing last night and the Chinese soup, although delicious, wasn't filling at all. I haven't been putting a lot of meat in my soups when getting burned putting too much food in my food and not being able to finish it. Well, it wasn't enough today so by the time I got home I could've eaten my head! I've started making "omelettes" (meats and veggies cooked in broth, chopped avocado, topped with a softly fried scrambled egg, kind of like an open omelette) and tonight I wanted a GIANT ONE! It ended up being a bit too much, though, but I managed to finish it. I felt stuffed afterwards though.

There's something else I've noticed since starting GAPS; my feet don't hurt! I used to have problems standing for long times. Commuting to and from work, which required standing for around 40 minutes each way, was a special hell. Yesterday on my way home I noticed something... my feet weren't killing me!! It's a goddam miracle!!! Usually I keep my eye out for an open seat, but last night I didn't even care because I wasn't in pain!

A couple years ago my feet and ankles started hurting. When G and I went to Seattle together I had to spend half the time resting because my feet hurt so much, even wearing Doc Martens with super fancy (and super expensive - they cost as much as the boots!) orthopedic inserts. G loves Seattle and he's been there several times. He really wanted to share the city he loved with me. We walked around, took tours, and ate delicious food that was probably contributing to my pain.

I didn't regret it and when we came back home and I went back to eating Paleo my feet got better, but never perfect. It still hurt to stand for long periods, it just didn't hurt all the time. At one point, before I'd gone back to eating paleo, even stretching my legs in the morning hurt. I had to move my feet in a certain specific direction to avoid hot shooting pains of agony. And if I ever accidentally bumped my heels on something forgetaboutit, FLAMING WHITE HOT PAIN. Thankfully that went away but I could never stand for long, even eating gluten free or Paleo. But guess what? I CAN NOW!! How amazing is that?