One of the most important things you can do while on the GAPS diet is journal your progress. I have an entire module dedicated to the importance of journaling in my DIY GAPS Course. Journaling played a significant role in helping me piece together my son, Raleigh’s, puzzle.
When you begin the GAPS diet you are likely trying to heal a mirad of ailments. We knew Raleigh had severe eczema, many food sensitivities, some food allergies, asthma and edema. It was this massive puzzle that I was desperate to solve. He wasn’t growing, he was in enormous pain and I knew we were looking down the barrel of a gun at something much bigger one day.
Side note: What I mean by that last sentence is you don’t “grow out” of things. I’ve had so many people over the years ask me if Raleigh would grow out of his eczema, or grow out of his food allergies. After years of research, listening to countless hours of health and wellness podcasts from holistic doctors, practitioners, naturopaths and the like, I came to understand that you don’t just grow out of these things. These ailments: ADHD, asthma, eczema, food sensitivities (and so on) eventually morph into something else, usually something worse. Here is a great interview where Dr. Charlie Fagenholz speaks to this very issue. I did not want cancer to be what was lurking down the road.
Raleigh’s puzzle was ominous and it often felt like I was trying to solve it in the dark. The problem was, I didn’t know what the picture even looked like! So how was I to put together a puzzle when I didn’t have any sort of image to guide me? The only way I could get the light to begin to turn on was to fumble around in the dark, trying piece after piece, until I found connections. Then the lights began to come on and I could begin to see the puzzle before me. Journaling helps you piece together the puzzle so that you can see how to keep moving ahead.
Journaling helped me take Raleigh from left to right. The picture on the left was taken about 15 months into the GAPS diet.
I left out these journals on my kitchen counter top and took time daily to write down anything and everything I felt could help me solve Raleigh’s puzzle. Items ranged from suspected food reactions to how many bowel movements he was having. Was he taking detox baths, how he looked after, how many ferments he was eating and so forth. These journals (pictured above) are some of my most prized possessions. Sometimes I flip back through them and am reminded of so many things I’ve forgotten. I’m so thankful I took the time to record all I did because I was in complete survival mode. My memory of that time in the trenches is very hazy. The journals, even today, remind me of God’s goodness and how important perseverance is.
Not only are they now a keepsake, a sacred belonging from our journey through the valleys, but they were a guidepost and they helped me in some of the most difficult times to decipher what exactly was going on.
So if you are in the midst of your own journey and haven’t begun journaling I would encourage you to start! It doesn’t have to be much, let it be as much as you feel is pertinent to the day. If you have yet to start, be sure to journal along your way.
If you need the help of a GAPS coach, please reach out. I am taking new clients. I would be honored to help you navigate your journey.
