Cruising on GAPS

We just got back from an amazing trip to the Caribbean, hence the lack of posting. This was my third cruise since starting the family on GAPS.  There is always worry over food when we leave our home.  Quality always diminishes; conventional instead of organic, feed lot instead of pastured and farm raised instead of wild caught.  Ferments and bone broths are not available. The diet was undoubtedly compromised, but for the first time, our bodies never gave us grief for it.

 In October, we went on a four day cruise as a family.  We had just started the diet a few months earlier and wanted to stay really strict.  We ordered an amazing fruit plate each evening for dessert. On the last night, I really wanted to try the chocolate cake, which meant everybody else wanted to try it too. We ordered two to share between the five of us, knowing that my husband would want a whole one.  I took a few bites and found that it wasn’t too impressive, so I stopped eating it. My two younger sons were really full from dinner and didn’t have much of an appetite or attention for the cake, which left the rest of the large slice for my eldest, who scarfed it down.  About two hours later we got a call from the kid’s camp leader that he was not feeling well.  He had a bad stomachache and diarrhea all night and part of the next day.

In November, my husband and I went on a five day cruise as a couple. I liked how I felt on the diet, so made mostly good food choices.  I took bites here and there of things like breads and desserts.  My stomach was slightly uneasy, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. A couple days in. we were in the middle of an excursion and I was hungry.  There were a few snacks laid out and I chose to have tortilla chips and guacamole with fruit.  I was intentionally dipping for bites of more guac and less chip, but I ended up feeling worse.  After we got back to the ship I thought eating a good meal would help me feel better.  Another moment of weakness with an amazing chocolate ganache brownie and I was in bed for the better part of two days with horrible stomach cramps and diarrhea.

Last week we spent seven days out to sea with the whole extended family without even a stomachache! The kids ate tons of fruit, which they thought was awesome.  I ate tons of seafood, which I thought was awesome.  We ate no bread/baked goods or grains.  Half way through the trip, our waiter offered to make some gluten free pancakes for the kids.  He didn’t know what they were made of and I was positive they would not be GAPS friendly, but eggs were getting old, so we each tried one.  All morning I kept asking them how they were feeling and they always were good, so the pancakes became our biggest compromise.  My eldest had gluten free spaghetti one night and I had a soufflé (without added sweet sauces) for dessert on two of the nights.

Here is the legal stuff we ate regularly;

Seafood (shrimp, fish , mussels, lobster, scallops, calamari)

Vegetables (peas, cucumbers, carrots, peppers, celery, asparagus, green beans, lettuce- no dressing just olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper)

Fruit (melon, grapes, pineapple, bananas)

Chicken on the bone, duck, steak, lamb, some sandwich meats, bacon and sausage

Cheese

Butter (yes, it was its own food group)

For a topping on the pancakes I would slice up some bananas and mix them with sliced almonds and drizzle with honey.

The kids were excellent with asking and most of the time knowing what was allowed.  Even my three year old would question me if he saw something on his plate he wasn’t familiar with.  Something about a three year old saying “Is this on our diet?” is extremely comical.  There were plenty of options each meal. They are getting so good at strict adherence, it is when I allow a little taste of something illegal here and there that provoke fits and other issues. One day they were having an ice cream party in the kids area, my kids had fruit.  Afterwards I asked the kids if they were sad that everyone was eating ice cream while they ate fruit and nobody was sad.

I am sure we slowed our healing down, but I can’t miss out on family reunions because our diet.  I am doing a juice fast this week to do some deep cleaning and get back on track.  Anybody have good GAPS travel advice?  Please share in the comments.