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Seven weeks into GAPS Intro, it’s time to start tweaking.

I’ve been struggling with acne for weeks and it is SO. FRUSTRATING. My acne completely cleared up when I went on Intro, but after a few weeks it came back and I haven’t been able to shake it. Essential oils have been able to keep it down and help it heal, but I just want to be DONE with my acne. My husband suggested that I just genetically have acne and that there’s nothing I can’t do about it. No. That’s not a thing. I will cure my acne, damn it.

I think it’s dairy.

I’ve been in denial of this, but I have suspected it pretty much since I cut nuts and my acne didn’t clear up. I love dairy, and was really looking forward to reintroducing cheese soon. But fine. So this week was gearing up for that, and on day 49 I took all dairy back out of my diet. I don’t know what I want the results to be. I really want to find the cause of my acne so I can cut it out, but I also really want to keep eating dairy. Because cheese.

Oh, and I’m still minorly constipated and 38 days into my cycle (as of day 49 of GAPS) I haven’t ovulated. I have actually been dealing with a lot of emotions regarding this. I’m trying not to stress out, and just give my body time to heal and adjust to this very dramatic diet change I made. But it is so hard to continue to deal with this after so long, especially after having 3 “normal” cycles. A big part of me is hoping that it is as simple as removing dairy, but I know better than to count on that. We shall see. This is the one downside of using NFP – I can’t just forget about my cycles and let them come when they come.

Moving on…Lent began this past week. I tried to fast on Ash Wednesday. Don’t do that if you’re on Intro. I felt like I had been hit by a train. You don’t have to fast if you have a health reason not to, so just don’t. However, going meat-free on Fridays is super easy. Dairy, eggs, animal fat, bone broth, and gelatin are all allowed in addition to fish. Early on in Intro I wouldn’t do it, because there just aren’t enough other options. But there are actually quite a few Intro-friendly options! Here are some of my delicious Lent-legal meals from Instagram:

This week I also began to transition to Full GAPS. If you have been following my journey, you might say, “What? You were only on Stage 4!” At some point, you need to make GAPS your own. You need to do what is best for your body. I have no desire to eat raw vegetables. It is winter and cold and that is just not appealing to me. I also am very sensitive to sugar and baked goods, so I want to hold off on fruit and honey for a bit longer. That basically cuts out all of Stage 5 and 6. So what is left? Moving to Full GAPS!

Stage 4 of GAPS Intro is a very satisfying and well-rounded diet for me at the moment. I’ll eventually add in Stage 5 and 6 foods, but I don’t want to next. Since I am cutting out dairy and still need to retest nuts, I will not be diving head first into Full GAPS. Instead what I am doing is more branching out into different methods of cooking. I also introduced coconut this week in the form of bread. Luckily I’m not a huge fan of coconut baked goods, so I don’t have to worry about over consuming that. But besides that addition, I won’t be really adding any more ingredients. Instead I won’t worry about how a dish is prepared. If it has Stage 4 legal ingredients (or coconut), I’ll make it!

This next week coming up will mostly be keeping an eye on how I react to cutting dairy, as well as trying some delicious new recipes. If things go well I may add back nuts. Stay tuned!

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