Well, that didn't work.

Diet plan update:

I've almost entirely given up pop (Pepsi, oh, how I miss you!), cut down on the acid most of the time only to find I still have bad heartburn, and have struggled to get the family to follow the diet plan.  It's a good one, but they are stubborn.  We still eat too much cheese and not enough veggies.  I've started baking my own whole wheat bread from sourdough starter, and everyone seems to like that.  I never fully implemented the Acid Watcher (AW) diet or the Gut Balance Revolution (GBR) diet, hoping the plan I came up with instead would help, but I've found that breaking bad dietary habits is a lot harder than I'd realized.

Some of my GI symptoms have gotten worse, though I'm closer to figuring out the worst triggers.  So, I've researched and found the GAPS diet.  It's a decent elimination diet, and I think it will help with getting this GI stuff under control.  I do not in any way endorse this diet as a cure for anything other than GI issues, and even then, you will have to tweak it to make it best for you.  It's a lot of work, not very fun, but I'm hopeful it will give my GI system a bit of a break, get things to calm down, and maybe even help with other issues.

Mini rant: The GAPS diet does not cure autism, and frankly, it offends me massively that anyone would think so.  Autism is a state of being, a natural way brains sometimes work, and there is no reason (or way) to "fix" or "cure" anyone who has it.  Our society is better off for having autistics in our lives, and anyone who tortures their child in order to "fix" or "cure" him or her is a disgusting abuser.  Yes, sometimes diet changes help with the sensitivity issues, and if that works for you or your loved one, that's great, but don't think it's any kind of cure.  Autistics don't need to be cured.  They are awesome the way they are.  This rant also applies to the many other mental health issues the diet proclaims to cure.  That's a bunch of bunk.

Considering this has been a rough summer for me health-wise and considering my stepson returns for the school year in three weeks, I've decided to go on the GAPS introduction diet for three weeks, and then we will all go on the Phase 1 of the Gut Balance Revolution diet right before school starts.  We still stay on that for the full first month, and then we will move to Phase 2.  It isn't optimal, but it's what we're going to have to do.  My stepson has come around to going back on the GBR diet, finally admitting that he felt better on it, and my son and daughter will have to go along, though I'm allowing them to cheat a bit, as their metabolisms are much higher, and they don't have any weight to lose.

This morning, I started with some packaged bone broth (Pacific makes a tasty one), but I cheated with 4 Ritz crackers.  That made me realize that I needed to get a pot of soup going on the stove, so I went to the garden, picked what I needed, and I have a veggie chicken soup going in the cast iron pot now.  That will be for lunch and probably dinner, too.  I also have chicken to get in the pressure cooker, but that will be in a bit.  I have to plan out the rest of the week, as I'm taking at least five days per phase in the GAPS diet to give my system the break it needs.  The kids are at their other parents' houses this week, so my husband and I are doing this hardest part this week.  He'll be eating more normally the rest of the day, just going along with the soups for dinner.

We will see how this goes, but honestly, I'm desperate to get my GI system evened out.  I'm using the Heal Your Gut Cookbook for ideas and recipes, and I'm hopeful it can help for these three weeks, and that should make the transition to the GBR Phase 1 diet much easier.