In the back on the right: two different batches of chicken stock, in the back/left: pea soup and in the front: butternut squash soup.

As I am blessed to not have severe gut issues such as the ones that Dr Campbell McBride talks about here, I did Stage 1 for three days and (quite happily) moved on.

On the first day I found that drinking about a quart of chicken broth and another quart of mint tea as well as pretty much only eating really broth-y chicken soup led to lots of peeing. Of course this makes perfect sense, but it wasn’t what I was used to. The fact that I ate -only- chicken soup was a mistake, I think. Just because you are limited to only a few foods doesn’t mean you have to give up variety. I would highly suggest anyone doing the Stage1 Intro make at least two different soups a day for variety.

I was so very, very excited to get a little sip of sauerkraut juice to give me something tangy/different after all that broth. I came up with a soup that made me very happy: shrimp/mushroom/veggies with a few teaspoons of sauerkraut juice. It reminded me of hot and sour soup and my husband and I ate three bowls each. Please note: make sure your soup is not super hot when you add the sauerkraut juice so as to not kill the beneficial enzymes and probiotics.

Recipe for Tangy Shrimp, Mushroom and Vegetable Soup:

Ingredients:

1 quart chicken broth

2 cups cut vegetables (may include onion, carrots, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers or other vegetables that are GAPS Intro approved)

1/2 cup cut mushrooms

1/2 cup shrimp (I used frozen pre-cooked shrimp)

1 teaspoon of liquid from sauerkraut or other fermented vegetable per cup, stirred in right before eating

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions: place all of your vegetables and mushrooms into the broth in a soup pot, bring to a simmer over medium high heat until the vegetables are soft, add your shrimp (if using pre-cooked: if using raw shrimp, add them with your vegetables and mushrooms) and cook until the shrimp are heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste and put 1 teaspoon of liquid from sauerkraut into your bowl right before eating.

I highly recommend that you have more than one crock pot in your kitchen: one for perpetual chicken broth and the other for making food for the following day. As a doctor and mom of a three year old I am pretty busy most days (as most of us are) and it was great to have food just ready to eat at a moment’s notice. I also recommend you invest in at least one insulated thermos per person. Please avoid plastic thermoses as hot food may leach the chemicals out of it. I actually don’t even recommend non-BPA plastics as there are literally thousands of new chemicals released yearly and only a few of them have actually been tested for safety. Please use stainless steel, ceramic or glass.

Thermos for broth on the right, insulated Kleen Kanteen that I use for tea on the left. Also: I am a huge proponent of organic herbs and foods, especially when doing a cleanse-like diet such as this one.