Where do I begin?

It's been 6 days since Jordan has been on the GAPS diet and plenty has been going on. This is the third post that I have worked on since Monday but just haven't had the feeling that they should be published. Not until today. While working on healing Jordan's gut to allow proper nutrients to get to where they need to throughout his body, I have been working on myself as well. And when you ask God to help you become better inside, prepare for Him to do whatever it takes. Ecclesiastes 7:14 (MSG) "On a good day, enjoy yourself; on a bad day, examine your conscience. God arranges for both kinds of days so that we won’t take anything for granted. " Needless to say things inside as well as outside of Autism, have been eye opening to say the least. I suppose I should start with the reason for it all. Sharing my journey learning and growing in Christ due to my son's challenges. The diet is coming along well. There are little bumps here and there but overall, it is going very good. Let's go back to the beginning.

I made my way up to the farm about 15 minutes away from me and purchased the bones. I got 3 soup bones and 3 marrow bones. I then had to go to the MOM store to purchase the vegetables that will go along with the soup. There I decided buy cauliflower, onions, zucchini, carrots and garlic. I got back home and started on the stock, which took about 3 hours. Once I removed the meat and marrow from the bones I started on the soup. I gave Jordan some of the stock to drink as they say it is good to give some in between meals. He did not like it. Jordan is pretty easy going about the foods he tries. Even if he is not fond of it he will continue on. But this stuff he flat out did not like. After a few sips he asked to pour it in the sink. I had to coerce him to drink it by telling him he could have his soup and water after. Now the soup he did like, but did not like that he had to drink the stock after everything was gone. But he got it done with a lot of coaching. When buying the bones, I thought that I was going to have enough to last for the entire week, but I was scrambling to extend by the time Monday came around. I remembered that I didn't put all the meat from the bones in the first batch of soup so I made more soup with that and it got him through Tuesday's lunch. 

I ended up going to the MOM store again to purchase a whole chicken to make chicken stock. They say it is good to give different kinds as they provide different things. They recommend chicken, beef, fish, pork, lamb, goose, duck and pigeon. Needless to say there are quite a few on there that he won't be getting. Chicken is cool though. As I was finishing up with it and it cooled, I saw that this stock was not as gelatinous as the beef. The chicken stock is gentler on the gut and is good to start with. The vegetables I bought to make chicken soup were squash, cabbage, onions, parsley, rainbow carrots and garlic. I decided on parsley because the store did not have carrots out of the bag with the green on top. I added the green from it in the first soup because if they are anything like their roots, the provide such nutrients as vitamins A. B6, C, K, folate, manganese, niacin, potassium and thiamin. I got the parsley to keep with the pattern. It is easier to get Jordan to drink the chicken stock than it is to drink the beef, but he still asks to put it in the sink. In addition he is still asking for chips and pretzels. Out of everything that has been taken from him, those are the only two he still asks for. He has stopped asking for pizza and sausage and only asks for foods he used to get if he sees someone in the house eating it. So the next thing will be to start him on the fermented cod liver oil today and I am in the process of making sauerkraut that he is to take before eating to help build the stomach acid that will help him break down proteins properly. It should be ready to consume in a few more days. Now let's talk about the changes I see.

For the most part he has relatively been the same. I haven't gotten a note home from school saying he has ripped his paper or gotten up to close doors or anything of that nature. But at home he has had a couple of tantrums when it came to food. His tics from being malnourished have subsided quite a bit. They still occur, but they are not hard jerks like they used to be. His vocal stimming had also decreased until I added the probiotic back in. I read up on it and it seems as if the dosage he was getting gave a die off effect from killing the bacteria. So I decreased it down to ¼ of a pill a day and will continue that for 4 days. Then I will increase it to ½ and watch for any reactions. If there is none I will keep increasing until I can get to 1 pill 2 times a day. If I do see reactions I will decrease for a little while longer. I have also noticed that his skin is starting to clear up. Before the diet, it seemed like everyday 5 bumps would show up. Now less are coming and the ones that were there are clearing up quickly. Another change I have seen is his interaction with others. While waiting to check his sister and nieces into Bible Study Tuesday, he said hi Jordan to a lady that was standing behind us. But this time he went a little further and gave her a hug. Totally unexpected. He usually does this with people he sees on a regular basis, not someone he just met. There is so much more that needs to be said, being as though I may have touched on one or two things that were in my other two posts. I'll try to come back tomorrow to share more.