I have a hard-working husband, an anxious kid, a sensitive kid and a neurotic cat (she likes being slapped on the butt, (seriously!), which makes me wonder about her past life, but more on another time). I didn’t need a leaky gut on top of all of that. It’s so broken that I am constantly fatigued and in constant pain. I needed a change. So I got a book written by a nutritionist and started to learn. Once I read the entire thing, I started the program to (hopefully) heal (or at least help) my gut.
And I started The Gut Makeover, as designed by Jeannette Hyde, and outlined in her book.
You will have to buy or borrow (yay, libraries!) the book if you want to follow it, because I am missing a lot of the very important (!!) details but the main points are:
- to eat a LOT of plants, in a lot of variety, every day (20-30 different ones a week)
- to buy the best quality protein you can afford
- avoid snacking
- avoid sugar, wheat, grains, cereals, soy, alcohol, coffee (and all sneaky forms of caffeine) and dairy
- fast every night after supper until breakfast time
Sounds insurmountable, right? Well, already being gluten-free helped a lot because I was versed in reading packaging and planning out my meals in advance to avoid being “glutened”. This was especially important at breakfast since I was already making eggs or smoothies, which are staple breakfasts here.
Lately, I have been having a smoothie for breakfast, leftovers, a salad, or scrambled eggs (made with a TON of veggies) for lunch and one of the recipes from the book for supper. The recipes are easy and so delicious!! Isabella is calling it “restaurant food”. HAHA. We all eat it slowly, savouring it, and none of us feel cranky or bloated afterward. We have had Spanish Meatballs with Almond Sauce alongside the German Potato Salad and a large spinach salad. I had my plate filled with 3/4 salad and the rest filled with the meat and potatoes (these were the smallest portion). We have also had stir-fry bok choy and prawns, roast chicken with beets and carrots and almond-crusted salmon with asparagus and cold potatoes. It has all been really pretty food with simple ingredients that leave us satisfied. In fact, most only call for a handful of ingredients. (Look on my Instagram to see photos of some of the food if you are curious! It’s all really appetizing). Josh says we are actually spending LESS on groceries. I bet me not snacking is helping the budget. I didn’t realize how much snacking I did during the day!
Giving up my coffee was extremely hard at first, given that I was up to 7 cups a day!, but rapidly has gotten easier. I still miss my first cup of the day, but the rest of the day I don’t miss caffeine at all. Physically, I still have a dull caffeine headache but it is fading fast! I’m shocked. I thought the whole 4 weeks would be torturous.
The other challenge? Not drinking tea and having a nighttime snack before bed. I feel like I NEED to but it is actually just force of habit. I never get so hungry that it keeps me awake. Now I am limited to water after supper- I try to avoid even that 2 hours before bed so I’m not up peeing all night. I have the tiniest bladder.
So far, I sleep better and wake up more easily. But we are only 5 days in, which makes me wonder what the other days will improve. Here’s hoping it is a lot. There is even a bread recipe that doesn’t use dairy or flour, so I am itching to try it! I can’t wait to bake it and smear an avocado on top then add some lettuce and brisling sardines. Yum! Oh yeah, that is another benefit. I don’t dread eating anymore. I used to kind of dread mealtimes because I felt like garbage after. Now I get excited about looking up a recipe in the book to try.
This is more informational than exciting to read but I hope it got you interested in trying it if you suspect you have a leaky gut!
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