I call these foods my friends because within a year and four months, I've been able to gain healthy weight. Now, fall and winter has been enjoyable! I haven't had cold hands since I've started incorporating these foods within the GAPS diet. These foods are all natural and traditional. When combined within a whole foods diet, these foods remind me of life's simplicities.
If you are looking to gain healthy weight then try adding these foods into your diet. The idea is that they help to heal and seal the gut which helps to repair your immune and digestive systems thus enabling you to put on healthy weight.
1) Sauerkraut or any variety of homemade fermented foods
2) Lard: buy from your butcher or from the farmer's market and render yourself or buy already rendered lard or any other pure animal fat (no additives or preservatives).
3) Marrow bones: Make bone broths which are very healing and nourishing. Use the broth to make all types of soups and stews.
Take a Break from Grains---It just might help you to gain weight
I think that one of the most beneficial things that one can do to gain healthy weight is to eliminate grains from one's diet while incorporating the above foods within a whole foods diet. Once you've reached a level of health that you approve of, add grains if wanted but properly prepared grains by soaking and fermenting.
I've mentioned grains because they contain phytic acid which inhibits mineral and nutritient absorption. So, while we're enjoying a tasty chicken sandwich on a delicious bun or wholesome bread, how much of what we are eating is actually being absorbed? In my case, I believe that over consumption of wheat and lack of animal fats and fermented foods contributed to my being under weight.
I have not had any type of grains within one year and four months. The last time that I had grains, I got a severe reaction. I believe that it was my ultimate overdose of grain consumption from childhood to that very day that had built up. One day after eating a rich dark whole wheat bread toasted, I got a stye in my right eye and my mood immediately changed to grumpy, annoyed and upset. Once my boyfriend and I figured out that these symptoms were from the wheat bread, we stopped eating wheat. We started the GAPS Intro Diet where no grains are allowed. The stye took about three months to go away and has not returned.
You may or may not have a problem digesting grains but one thing is for sure, properly preparing grains will give you more of a nutritional benefit as soaking and fermenting them helps to reduce phytic acid. Throughout my lifetime, I had been consuming grains heavily and I've also been under weight.
If you must eat grains, authors Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD highlight the process of properly prepared grains in their article, Be Kind to Your Grains...And Your Grains Will Be Kind To You.
"So the well-meaning advice of many nutritionists, to consume whole grains as our ancestors did and not refined flours and polished rice, can be misleading and harmful in its consequences; for while our ancestors ate whole grains, they did not consume them as presented in our modern cookbooks in the form of quick-rise breads, granolas, bran preparations and other hastily prepared casseroles and concoctions. Our ancestors, and virtually all pre-industrialized peoples, soaked or fermented their grains before making them into porridge, breads, cakes and casseroles."
Enjoy your whole foods diet and your weight gaining journey. And by the way, I'd just like to mention that eating healthy fats for over a year has not made me fat. I'd also like to add that my cholesterol level is average. Go figure!
Resources:
GAPS Diet:
http://gapsdiet.com/INTRODUCTION_DIET.html
Try soaking and fermenting your grains:
http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/be-kind-to-your-grains
A beautiful intro about the author's memories of growing up on homemade stock: http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/articles/joys_of_stock.shtml
-Have Fun with Fashion and A Healthy Life!
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