Reflections – Lots of Them

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been. My doc helped me conquer my insomnia (thanks to employment uncertainty), my violently unbalanced mother died leaving me a huge mess to deal with, I had my first real cold in two years, my back ached worse than ever, I hadn’t worked out in two weeks, my body odor was wretched and I felt tired and achy. I was also on the GAPS Diet during this time, which contributed to my tiredness, aches and body odor, since the timing of all this craziness coincided with an expected GAPS detox. Geez!

Today is a different story. My cold has broken, my energy is improved, my body odor is gone, my back has stopped hurting almost magically and a groin injury is greatly reduced. The back and groin improved literally over night, thank goodness. Thank you Dr. Natasha and your GAPS Diet.

Now for my next conundrums. I am blocked when it comes to cooking in order to stay on GAPS. We have been on for three weeks and Colson and I have experienced improvements, with his stuffy nose diminishing and my aches and pains greatly reduced if not gone. I know that GAPS is good for us, but I don’t want to make the food. I guess I should listen to my body and make some changes.

Here is my problem. I know that grains and beans cause inflammation. Inflammation causes pain and other problems. Check out this article by Dr. Tom Cowan, MD for more information about grain and the problems it can cause: A Holistic Approach to Cancer.  

I know that wheat bothers me. It is proven each time we go on GAPS and then have pizza. Last night we had pizza thanks to my great big cooking block. It was a fairly decent pizza as pizzas go, and I had only two small/medium pieces. True to form I felt lousy. I was bloated and I had a headache for about a half hour.  Given that bread brought me extra weight and aches over the summer, I think that will stay out of the diet for now.

What am I bringing in? Rice, beans and some corn tortillas. Because I forgot to order raw milk (used for kefir smoothies) I am envisioning some oatmeal in the next two weeks too. These foods feel right. But what to do about the inflammation that I know they cause? Maybe for me it really is just the wheat. I haven’t tried avoiding just wheat when off of GAPS, but that seems to be the new experiment.

One more thing. This discussion from the Diane Rehm Show on NPR was very helpful to me: Dr. Herbert Benson: "Relaxation Revolution". I had been trying to meditate my way out of insomnia (a pattern I developed in grad school), but was failing. Thanks to my doc I now fall asleep while meditating. That still isn’t the solution, though. I heard Dr. Herbert Benson, MD on Diane Rehm, and he recommends taking meditation another step. First meditate to clear and relax the mind. Then meditate on a point in your life when you were healthy and not bothered by what is troubling you now.

Dr. Benson’s approach has been great fun and my sleep is deep and healing! I have relived my time at Lake Superior State College for ten minutes every night. It is a beautiful campus, and my room had a view of Lake Superior. Every night after studying I would go to the pool and swim a half hour, come back, read a little for leisure and fall asleep in my cozy dorm room. Every day I experienced amazing snow falls (so much snow!), amazing cold, and amazing beauty and peace. I used to go stand at the edge of the lake as it entered the Sault Locks. Sometimes the snow was waste deep and it took a bit of work to cut a path. It was incredible there at night. According to Dr. Benson, I should expect that I am rewiring my brain to get back to that healthy and peaceful state. Hopefully this approach is helpful to you too.

Comments

[Maria Droujkova]

Are you eating buckwheat? I need to cook you some - please remind me! The only thing is, you need to get the Russian variety. Luckily, there are some stores here that sell it.