This is not a fast. Don’t worry. I'm not starving myself or my children!

In fact, at snack time, my daughter asked if she had to keep eating, because “Soup is just so filling!” And so, she was excused to play outside and soak in some Vitamin D.

We started our day with some lemon squeezed into a glass of water (to alkalize the body). We each took a probiotic.

This morning for breakfast, we had pork soup with carrots and radishes, with fermented veggie juice and lard stirred in. (Thanks to Prairie Pride for the delicious meat!) Instead of taking my usual stomach acid/digestive enzymes, I supplemented with a “shot” of apple cider vinegar.

We sipped meat stock all morning from our thermoses, again with fermented veggie juice and lard stirred in. New (to us) thermoses were a bonus that the kids loved and helped one child in particular overcome his broth aversion. At least for today.

By late morning, I was feeling very tired. I attribute this to not taking my adrenal support supplements. During the Intro, it is recommended that most people try seeing how they do without supplements, and add them back in slowly, if needed. I also felt a headache coming on. These are very normal feelings during the Intro and signal that my body doesn't need to work hard at digestion, so it can spend its energy detoxifing my body instead.

I did take a 2 hour nap during lunch and rest time, and now feel a bit better energy-wise.

At lunch, we had leftover breakfast soup. At snack, we ate chicken stock soup with zucchini and summer squash, with more lard stirred in. Mmm. Everyone ate their fill. (While full GAPS necessarily includes much kitchen prep and cooking, the GAPS Intro reduces that workload to some extent, because there isn't the variety of side dishes to prepare. One pot meals. Fewer dishes.) 

The children seem great! They have a lot of energy and are enjoying planting our starter tomatoes and peppers outside in the garden. However, we do expect to get a bit worse as bad bacteria die off in the next few days, before we start feeling better. After going through feeling sick, when we start feeling “normal” again, it will be our signal to start Stage 2 and add in some eggs to our diet.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!