Meal Plans Week of 10-28-12

The start of a new week...I couldn't be happier :)  Last week was brutal with the never-ending flu.  It got really bad for a bit.  I had to have Justin stay home to take care of the kids.  I could barely stand up.  I was on the verge of going in for an IV...but finally started to turn around.  It's been over a week since my flu started, and I'm still not 100% back to normal.  At least I'm getting there.

Needless to say I did not do a whole lot around the house last week.  I'm starting to dig us out of the mess that accumulated and the bathrooms have been scrubbed.  Yesterday I did finally get our craft area organized.  I'm so excited about that.  I think Rebecca is too.  We also had three days in a row of evenings out and late bed times.  So I didn't have evenings to get things done either.  We're all hoping to take it easy today and get ready for the week.

Tomorrow morning I am having a gall bladder ultrasound.  We'll see if that shows anything.  We're looking forward to trick-or-treating on Wednesday.  Thursday I have an appointment with my psychologist.  I'm anxious to report back to her our findings from the various meetings we've had lately (all positive stuff :).  This is also a Mom Break week.  Hopefully we can go this time.

My to-do list is pretty similar this week to last week since I didn't get much done.  I want to make pudding, toothpaste, deodorant, something sourdough and roast beets and squash.  And maybe, just maybe, I'll actually do some sewing this week...maybe.

With the flu my tummy was all over the place last week.  I went from one extreme to the other.  I was in a lot of pain.  My diet was poor because I was just trying to get anything down that I could stomach (like pizza, pop and powerade...eek).  I learned that I for sure can't do egg whites.  Let's just say I was not happy after breakfast on Friday.  I was tempted to have Justin come home again because I was in so much pain and couldn't stand up.  Thankfully it eased up a little by the time Abram woke up.

So for the last couple days I've been trying to give my body a little break.  I'm kind of doing a modified GAPS intro for a few days.  I've been living on chicken broth, white rice and pureed winter squash.  After the flu everything was so inflamed and unstable.  I just had to hit the reset button.  I can't say things have been perfect since then.  But they have been much calmer.  I re-read the GAPS intro diet.  I'm kind of following it except I'm also eating rice.  I need something more solid in my tummy or else it starts to get spastic.

You may wonder if I'm doing GAPS again now.  No.  I'm not.  This is not a huge change where I'm modifying my diet for the next year.  This is a very temporary thing.  I just need to give my body a break for a few days and hopefully experience some much needed healing.  I'll move through the stages over the course of a few days.  I started with just rice and broth.  Then I added squash.  Maybe today I'll add egg yolks and avocado.

I'm still reading about yeast/candida and histamines.  I've been avoiding foods with those for a few days as well.  It's been a lot easier this time around doing GAPS intro.  Knowing it's so temporary makes it so much easier mentally.  The hardest part is figuring out what to have for snacks.  I haven't been perfect.  But I still feel like I'm doing my body a favor by giving my gut a rest and some easy-to-digest nourishment.

On to the menu for this week.  The first couple days I'll be making regular meals for the family but sticking to GAPS foods myself.  Then I'll start expanding my diet.  I did try to plan more GAPS-legal meals this week to keep helping my tummy.  I'm also re-doing last week's "Take it out Tuesday" and doing grain/nut free.  We'll see how it goes.
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S (prep lunch, church, make pudding, prep smoothies, decorate pumpkins)
  B - pancakes, fruit
  L - cp beef roast w/ potatoes, carrots and onions
  D - grilled pb and honey sandwiches, beans, butterscotch pudding

M (make toothpaste, make deodorant, GB, PS, clean)
  B - smoothie, fruit
  D - loaded baked potato w/ spaghetti sauce, cheese, broccoli, home canned applesauce

Take it out Tuesday - grain/nut free (chop veggies, prep breakfast, strain kefir, skim cream, make mayo, make ice cream , KM, CCS, prep squash)
  B - baked apples w/ vanilla yogurt
  D - gf salmon cakes (w/ coconut and bacon), roasted cauliflower, home canned applesauce

W (bake/freeze squash, roast beets, cook lentils, PS, makehot fudge, T-O-T)
  B - smoothie
  D - (easy clean up) - stuffed squash w/ bacon, lentils, peas and cheese, custard

Th (bake muffins or sweet bread for MB, prep dinner, Dr. V., WT, prep breakfast)
  B - baked apples, muffins
  D - (prep ahead) - cp roast chicken (make broth), beans, scalloped potatoes

F (organize or sew, prep food for MB, MB, PS)
  B - crockpot pumpkin custard
  D - bacon cheeseburgers, sweet potato fries, broccoli

S (organize and/or sew, clean, orchard?)
  B - bacon, toast, custard
  D - chicken nuggets, peas, roasted squash