GAPS Day 14: Wahoo! It's been two weeks!!

I can't believe I made it! And I've had so many changes already, in what's basically just a few days. The first week was pretty bad; tired, no energy. The second week I got steadily better. Today I'm back to normal levels of energy... which kinds of disappoints me, to be honest. I had some flashes of joy and feeling totally energized but now I feel normal. Not bad, just not aMAAAAzing. I have to stop expecting things to be utterly miraculous... even though some miraculous things have actually happened, which I need to remember:

• My feet! My feet don't hurt, even on my 40 minute train commute home!!
• Speaking of feet, the gross callous-y buildup on my heels is gone!
• Not only can I walk up stairs more easily, I can walk down them, without hanging onto the railing for dear life. I actually walk down instead of stumping down like an arthritic elephant.
• My shoulder!!! After more than a year of pain post surgery, my shoulder spontaneously feels better!!
• No eczema but that's not a surprise, I get that with Paleo. And my seborrheic dermatitis and hidradenitis suppurativa are so mild that they're nearly gone. But again, this happens to me with Paleo too so I can't chalk that up to GAPS.
• Mild glue ear; I kept feeling and hearing something weird glugging in my right ear. Gone now!
• Better overall mood, including: not repelled by people; no incidents of "road rage" (becoming furious with someone when they do something rude); genuine laughter and feelings of joy; improved short term memory; mental clarity (even moreso than with Paleo); and a general, overall feeling of calm and happiness. Not perfect mood but much better than on SAD (Standard American Diet).
• And I actually do have more energy to do things. It's easy to adjust to a new normal, but three weeks ago I had no energy, I had to conserve my energy very carefully just to get anything done. And that's already really different from my SAD days!

So I'm enjoying a lazy Sunday. Didn't actually get around to eating until late afternoon ("clam chowder" made with pureed cauliflower, butter, sautéed onion, egg yolk, with a can of minced clams thrown in. Delicious!) Dinner was roasted turkey wings (holy smokes was it chewy! delicious but chewy), avocado just with a little salt (I like smearing avocado on the meat, like a spread), a beet "salad" that's just sliced beet and sauerkraut (sooo good, sweet and sour and yummy) and some buttered broccoli. I also had pumpkin pie for dessert; just pumpkin, egg, homemade coconut milk, spices, and a little honey. I used half the amount of honey that the recipe calls for to keep my sugar monster in check. After the last two weeks that meal tasted positively decadent!

BTW, the coconut milk was super-easy to make. Here's the recipe I used as a basis; I literally threw a cup of water in and 3 tablespoons of coconut butter (aka coconut manna, or coconut cream concentrate), I didn't even blend it up first, just threw everything in the food processor and gave it all a good whirl. If you're going to drink the milk you're going to need some cheesecloth or a nut milk bag to squeeze out all the solids, but since I was baking I didn't worry about it. Worked beautifully!