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Store-bought items that meet GAPS (or close enough) & GAPS Efficiency

Posted on by Felipe (Phil) DeGuzman
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Parsely, Chives, Kale

We are a family of 5 (Mom, Dad, three kids aged 2,5,8 when we started GAPS) and we are doing the GAPS thing as a family. We were previously following much of the Nourishing Traditions and Alice Water’s recommendations. GAPS seemed like a necessary step to help with my yound son’s multiple food allergies. As our kids grow, as do their extra-curricular activities (church choir, piano lessons, sports, and hobies). There are times when GAPS feels great- we have adjusted our eating and lifestyle to focus on gut health as much as possible, we lost some weight, feel good about our dollar-votes). Even though we often times neglect  the non-food lifestyle components of the protocol, we try to remain active outdoors and sleep as well as we can. But no doubt about it, GAPS is a lot of work compared to the standard American (or other developed countries that have similar habits) diet. It is not convenient. It takes planning,  careful shopping, and quite candidly a boatload of labor per meal. But we have reached a point (3.5 years in) where we have made certain choices to simplify things and occasionally that has meant purchasing store-bought items that are GAPS-compliant (or close enough). I will share in this post (and update over time) products we’ve tried, some items we use and tips for making GAPS more convenient. Sure there are times when we probably get more Omega 6 than optimal, but hey, we take fermented Cod Liver Oil so cut us some slack! Continue reading →

US Wellness Meats (Review)

Posted on by Felipe (Phil) DeGuzman
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ImageWe are fortunate to live in a location with access to multiple local sources of grassfed/grass-finished beef, pastured pork, pasture-raised chickens/eggs, Whole Foods, Co-ops, and multiple farmer’s markets. We also are getting up to snuff on our own little farming venture with an established apple/plum/peach orchard, about a 1/4 acre vegetable garden, 2-dozen chickens, and a couple of bee hives.

However, even with all of these resources at our disposal, we do have a couple of annual family trips we like to take to destinations without access to similar resources. Continue reading →

Bulletproof Coffee!

Posted on by Felipe (Phil) DeGuzman
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GAPS and coffee have a love/ hate relationship. For many GAPS adults, coffee has a ritualistic place in our daily routines, making it one very difficult to give up piece of our previous dietary menu. I for one have enjoyed coffee since I was a young soldier on my first cold bivouac in Northern Germany. I have been something of a coffee snob (no, I do not like Starbucks…it does not qualify as quality coffee). I patronize only fresh roasted coffee from coffee shops or places that print the roast date on the bag…only buying coffee that I can consume within three weeks of said roast date. Enough coffee-geekery ( btw I am a member of CoffeeGeek.com…username WhoIsJohnGalt).
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GAPS Banana Pudding

Posted on by Felipe (Phil) DeGuzman
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This is a really simple variation on banana pudding that we use for an occasional breakfast treat.  It is a great way to use up any dodgy bananas that are past their prime. For example, as bananas start to blacken, you can peel them, cut them into chunks and freeze them. You can use up the frozen chunks in this recipe.

Recommended Equipment:

  • Vitamix blender, Pyrex bakeware

Ingredients:

  • 3-5 ripe bananas (if using frozen, set them out on a counter for 10 minutes)
  • 6 large eggs
  • 2T butter plus 2t reserved
  • 2t ground cinnamon
  • 1/2t ground nutmeg

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 350
  • Toss the bananas, eggs, spices and butter in a blender. Blend until smooth
  • Pour into greased 9×9 pyrex dish (if doubling, move to large sized dish)
  • Bake at 350 until set firm (20-30 minutes depending on the size of eggs, bananas). Test using a cake tester or toothpick- should be clean when removed from center of dish.
  • Optional: once set, brush melted butter on top and broil 3-5 minutes to create a delicious crust
  • Allow to cool 3 minutes. Cut and serve.

Alternates:

  • A splash of vanilla is good!
  • Add 1/2 C homemade yogurt to the batter for more of a custard-like consistency

 

This recipe works great for breakfast or dessert!

Super and Simple GAPS Pancakes

Posted on by Felipe (Phil) DeGuzman
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Sunday morning at our house has always meant either Pancake or Waffles for breakfast. While we have never used mixes, we have experimented with lots of recipes. Pre-GAPS I had an amazing recipe that worked flawlessly as pancake or waffle batter (using white whole-wheat flour of course). With GAPS we tried several recipes and never got good results. Either the batter gummed up the waffle iron, or the pancakes were thin as crepes, or they were dull and flavorless. As with all of our recipes, we began with basic tenets we learned from a number of different recipes and adapted our own.
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