The Incredible Edible EGG

We just got Chickens! It's so exciting! On the GAPS diet, you eat a lot of eggs. We consume about 15 a day. They are a good source of natural fat and protein, and they are loaded with all the good stuff. I had no idea there was such a big difference between eggs. The egg on the left is an organic egg bought at the grocery store. The two yolks on the right are from free-ranging, organic chickens who get to eat bugs, grass, weeds, and who get plenty of sunshine in someone's own backyard. It's crazy the nutrients that are lost from the regular grocery store eggs. 

Eggs were a problem at our house. My oldest son was allergic to both the yolk and the egg white before we started the diet.  After about one month on the diet, we were successfully able to introduce the egg yolk back into his diet. Yeah! It was such an exciting day. Then, a few weeks later, we tried the egg white. Unfortunatly, he had a reaction. The egg white is typically harder to digest, because of the protein, so we took it back out. For the last 8 months, I think I tried to re-introduce it two more times. Both times, a reaction. Just last week, I slowly added a little more egg white to his morning yolks, and yesterday, he had two whole fried eggs without any reactions. I may be jumping the gun here, I will have to see how the next couple of days go, but so exciting! Eggs are really hard to substitute, and are so nourishing, so I am hoping this is a success! 

 I had thought I never had any problems with any foods prior to this diet. For 4 months after we started, I had some pretty bad die-off which included, nausea, back and neck pain, brain fog, headaches etc. I realized, that I was the sickest in the morning, and then it would go away during the day. (Yes, I even took a pregnancy test to rule that one out!) I realized all I was eating in the morning, were eggs and vegetables. Since I ate vegetables all day long, I thought, maybe it was the eggs. I took the eggs out one morning, and I was instantly better! I had energy, no pain, no headaches, I could think clearly etc. I was kind of shocked. Really? Am I sensitive to eggs? I kept them out for 3 days and felt fabulous! I then thought I would just try the yolk on the 4th morning. All the previous sickness came flooding back. Ugh! I did not want to feel that way at all, so I decided to be off of eggs for a while. I concentrated on eating a lot of fat and drinking a lot of broth, in order to heal and seal my gut lining, so I could handle eggs again. 2 months later, I gradually added the eggs back in, and viola, no more problems with eggs! Success!

When you are on this diet, your body gets a brand new clean start by eliminating foods, and slowly adding them back in. I may have been sensitive to eggs for a long time, but our bodies are so inundated with so many things (sugar, white flour, chocolate, stress, foods we are allergic to) etc., our bodies don't even know how to scream at us any more. Instead, you have headaches once in a while, you have trouble sleeping, your face breaks out, you have asthma, whatever your issues are. 

I am grateful for this mighty change with the eggs, and hope for many more successes! The chickens have been the BEST babysitters! My kids will hang out with them forever!:)

(One is named Red Rosie, and the rest are named Dinner.)

(Ye haw! Our first egg!)