Several months ago, I started the GAPS Dairy Introduction Structure. The purpose of this is to take someone who is dairy intolerant, and get them to a point where they can at least occasionally tolerate some types of dairy products. I guess the reasoning behind the structure is that dairy is a key element of the GAPS diet. So if someone needs GAPS to control another condition (common with Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Depression and others), they want to work dairy into the diet even if the person is intolerant. They basically build up the 'right' type of bacteria in the gut. It is only something to start once the gut has healed from whatever has been damaging it. And the process can take years!
We began the process in the late spring, with homemade ghee (which is clarified butter). You basically take regular organic unsalted butter, and heat it to a specific temperature, and then pour the clarified portion into a jar. My girls did not react at all to the ghee. So we moved onto organic butter. I baked, cooked, and used organic butter on popcorn for the remainder of the summer. No reaction.
With both foods (ghee and butter), I also performed a sensitivity test. Basically, you put the dairy food in liquid form on the inside of the wrist before the person goes to bed. If they wake up with no irritation there, they do not have a sensitivity to it. Both girls showed no sensitivity to organic butter. We are getting somewhere!!!
Now we are at the homemade yogurt / kefir stage. I made my first batch of homemade yogurt last week. The first jar I mixed with homemade strawberry jam (courtesy of Stephanie Johnson!) and some agave. Do you know what the most eye-opening thing about this yogurt adventure has been? How. Much. Sugar. Is. In. Our. Yogurt. HOLY. BUCKETS. I cannot believe how much agave I used and it was still WAY more tart than what you get at the store. That aside, I got it to a point where I think it tastes good, and Ullrich and Summer will both eat it (Ullrich enjoys it on his fruit - but he does not have a dairy intolerance, so he is eating it for the pure joy). Guess who doesn't care for it? Cadel Alana.
The Introduction Structure calls for the girls to get a teaspoon every other day. So we have been doing so. Cadel, I have to fight to get her to swallow hers down. Summer asks for "mo pease" most of the time.
Once we are sure that they are doing okay with it, they can have a teaspoon daily. And then a little more. And more. Until we are at a half a cup daily. I have no idea how I'm going to get there with Cadel. Hm. Might call for the straight up white sugar. Hey, where can I get some high fructose corn syrup? ONLY KIDDING. I'm trying to drag her through this part of the process to get to the homemade cottage cheese next. She LOVES cottage cheese and misses it terribly!
In bad news, Summer James has been waking in the night this week. I think it is teething, but I'm pulling back on her yogurt for now. I may try again in a week or so. No rush, I guess. Want to do this right.
Okay -now for a little something you can use. But that I don't have to any more. Now that we are back with our good friend organic butter, we will be buying a lot less of this (but maybe we will use it when the girls' immune systems are down like in the winter months?). Earth Balance brand non-butter. This stuff is the BOMB. You would not know it is not real butter. We used it for everything! Even on popcorn when it would be hard to compromise the butter flavor. It's really quite great.
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