The GAPS Diet is a healing protocol based on the 100 year old, scientifically backed Specific Carbohydrate Diet, also called SCD.
It was first developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD based on her clinical experience with hundreds of patients and detailed in Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS).
The GAPS book is an eye opening read about how the microbial environment within the gut can affect a person’s neurology and physiology.
This post discusses how to use the GAPS Diet to reverse conditions that are autoimmune in nature. Examples of GAPS conditions include allergies, eczema, psoriasis, ADD/ADHD, autism, celiac disease, asthma, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, IBS, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia, diabetes, cancer, and the list goes on and on.
These conditions all can be traced to unfavorable conditions within the gut that cause undigested bits of food as well as pathogens and toxins to spill into the blood causing an unpredictable mix of autoimmune symptoms within the body.
That’s right – all autoimmune disease is rooted in the gut!
The GAPS diet as recommended by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD limits food intake to those items that can be fully digested even within a compromised gut environment thereby allowing the gut wall to heal. When the gut wall is allowed to finally heal by removing foods that cannot be fully digested, the holes in the gut wall reseal and the toxins that are causing autoimmune symptoms stop spilling into the blood and wreaking havoc in the body.
What Foods Do People on GAPS Diet Need to Avoid
At first read, the GAPS diet can seem quite complicated. In actuality, it is really very simple.
There are primarily two types of food molecules that folks in the process of healing their guts need to avoid:
- Disaccharides
- Starches (including resistant starch)
Disaccharides, or double sugars, are present in many carbohydrates including ALL grains. The compromised gut is unable to digest double sugar molecules because the lack of beneficial gut flora compromises the function of the enterocytes.
The enterocytes are the cells that reside on the villi of the gut wall and produce the enzyme disaccharidase which breaks down the disaccharide molecule into easily absorbed monosaccharide molecules. When the enterocytes are not nourished and strengthened properly by adequate beneficial flora, they become weak and diseased and may even turn cancerous. They do not perform their duties of digesting and absorbing food properly.
The critical importance of the enterocytes to health cannot be overstated!
Weak and diseased enterocytes also have trouble digesting starch molecules which are very large with hundreds of monosugars connected in long branchlike strands. People with weak digestion due to an imbalance of gut flora and messed up enterocytes have a terrible time digesting these complex molecules leaving large amounts of it undigested- the perfect food for pathogenic yeasts, bacteria, fungi and other pathogens to thrive upon.
Even the starch that manages to get digested results in molecules of maltose, which is – you guessed it – a disaccharide! This maltose also goes undigested due to a lack of the enzyme disaccharidase and becomes additional food for gut pathogens.
The GAPS Diet Bottom Line
Therefore, all foods containing disaccharide and starch molecules must be removed from the diet of a GAPS child or adult in order to allow the enterocytes to strengthen and heal the gut wall.
Dr. Campbell-McBride MD writes that clinical practice has shown that given enough time, the gut usually will again be able to digest these foods without any ill effects (aka, autoimmune disease) to the person consuming them.
The GAPS Diet is not a forever thing. It is a temporary measure to heal the gut wall and restrengthen the enterocytes so normal life can be regained without the burden of autoimmune disease. These GAPS recipes can make implementing the protocol much easier.
Foods To Eliminate
The GAPS child or adult must avoid all grains and any food that contains them. This includes wheat, einkorn, rye, rice, corn, oats, amaranth, kamut, spelt, triticale, barley, buckwheat, millet, teff, bulgur wheat, quinoa and any others.
In addition, Starchy vegetables like white and sweet potatoes, tapioca, cassava, parsnip, arrowroot and taro must be eliminated from the diet for a time.
Starchy beans and peas must also be avoided which includes pretty much all of them with the exception of green peas and navy beans.
All sugars including the lactose in milk and cream must be avoided. Raw honey, date sugar and syrup, and very ripe fruit would be the only sweets allowed. Fermented dairy like yogurt and kefir as well as butter and ghee are permitted unless the GAPS condition is severe.
How Long to Healing on GAPS?
Dr. Campbell-McBride says that, on average, it takes a child 6-18 months on the GAPS diet for the gut to heal. For an adult, it may take longer.
Note that it will not necessarily take this long for symptoms to subside, however. It is possible for symptoms to be substantially gone within weeks of eliminating these foods from the diet. Subsiding of symptoms does not mean the person is ready to consume grains and starches again, though.
Every person is different and the severity of his/her gut imbalance will determine how long it takes for the enterocytes to become strong again, the gut wall to heal and seal, and the ability to digest disaccharide and starch molecules regained.
Probiotics Alone Will Not Heal Your Gut
I’ve had folks say to me that they don’t need to go on the GAPS diet as they take a probiotic on a daily basis and eat probiotic rich, whole foods.
Please be aware that changing to even a completely unprocessed, whole foods diet and taking a daily probiotic will not necessarily heal your gut!
This approach alone will not heal your enterocytes and heal/seal the gut wall from years of abuse by antibiotics, the pill, other drugs, and processed foods.
The reason is that the enterocytes reside on the gut wall and the balance of flora on the gut wall cannot be changed. A probiotic supplement is not able to re-colonize this area of the gut!
Dr. Campbell-McBride MD writes that probably the only time that in our entire lives where we can populate the gut wall with beneficial bacteria is at birth.
Therefore, the only way to heal the enterocytes and the gut wall is to take away the food of the pathogens (disaccharides and starches) so that they weaken and the beneficial flora consumed by a probiotic can take hold and re-establish dominance in the rest of the gut.
Then, when these foods are re-introduced at a later time, the enterocytes will be strong and able to digest and handle them properly. This simply will not ever happen unless a period of time to heal these important little cells occurs.
Also note that even after healing, the gut will require constant infusion of probiotics on a daily basis. You can either supplement your diet with probiotic rich foods like yogurt, kefir, homemade saurkraut, kombucha and others or you can continue taking a therapeutic strength probiotic such as Bio-kult, which is recommended by Dr. Campbell-McBride.
GAPS Conclusions
One autoimmune disease begets another, so if you or someone you love has allergies or another mild form of autoimmune disorder, more severe autoimmune disease will very likely take hold in the future unless the root of the problem (gut imbalance) is addressed.
Autoimmune disease never gets better – it only gets worse over time.
Of course, severe autoimmune disease mandates the GAPS Diet as perhaps the only viable option for reversal and healing.
For this reason, it may be worthwhile to consider the GAPS diet as a measure to fix gut dysbiosis once and for all.
More Information on the GAPS Diet
Overwhelmed by the GAPS Diet? Help Has Arrived
How to Speed Healing and Shorten Time on the GAPS Diet
The Five Most Common GAPS Diet Mistakes
Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for Autoimmune Disease
GAPS Diet Heals Ulcerative Colitis
FPIES: Resolving the “Other” Food Allergy
5 Steps to Healing IBS Naturally
Hannah’s Story: 2 Years on GAPS Diet Heals Autism
Chronic Stomach Pain and Bloating Gone!
How to Hold a GAPS Style, Grain Free Birthday Party
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Talked to my son's pediatrician this morning at our 12 month check up. While he is a conventional doc he supports using diet and lifestyle changes first. After discussing some of the ongoing issues we've been having he not only gave us his support in doing GAPS but is looking forward to monitoring it's effects on Little Man. Even his medical student was interested in it.
The diet's not complicated. It's just what all of humanity ate before agriculture was developed. Look at any nomadic or hunter/gatherer tribe today, or to any of the "primal" or "paleo" eaters. marksdailyapple.com is one of many blogs I've seen devoted to applying primal wisdom to modern living, and has lots on what is basically this same mode of eating: meat, veggies, fruit, dairy, eggs, & fermented foods.
Our family is almost GAPS by default. We just do better w/o many grains, and potatoes are one of the few tweaks we'd have to make to adapt. I think that 6mo of GAPS may be what we need to boot sugar addiction & tics here for good, returning afterward to a moderate grain intake.
Unless you attempt to make "grain-free" versions of all your favorite baked goods, this way of eating is really simple. Just let go. We have eggs for breakfast (fast! & omelets w/ leftover veggies are yummy) (ssg or bacon on the wknd), leftovers or deli meat w/ chs for lunch (rolled up or on lettuce leaves or long slices of cucumber), yogurt/nuts/cheese/fruit/etc. for snacks, & for dinner, we grill/roast/saute some meat & veggies & add a salad. Simple. Done. Don't forget plenty of butter, tallow, lard, & fermented foods to go with it!
Good reply with great foodie ideas. Thanks. I’ve been on it for 2 weeks with my Grandkids and contemplated it for over a year. I learned prior to the diet to cook with almond flour & honey for baked goods and breading while getting others ready for the diet. I personally was gluten free for a year and grain and sugar free for over 6 months. I went thru 2 detoxes (1 harsh) prior to starting intro. The salt baths always made me feel better. I would recommend to anyone with health issues. Drugs are not the answer. Dr. Campbell says it makes it harder to treat once on meds. Don’t do it!!!
I have read many reports which state that manufacturers add flour to processed deli meats. hence, I don’t think eating processed meats is 100% GAPS-diet..?
I've heard great things about Dr. Saxena. Let me know how it goes when you get in to see her!
I know this is an old blog. Sarah, Do you have experience with Dr. Saxena? I know that you cannot and will not give medical advice. I just am curious. My care has been mismanaged thus far and I am looking for a doc who can look at what is actually causing the problem and not mask it with anti-depressants, etc. I would like someone who supports and practices based on the WAP principles. The local chapter leader does not have anyone she knows in this area so looking to broaden my search now.
Yes, recipes or realistic diet suggestions would be helpful for someone weaning off grains!
Have you heard of SevaMed Institute in Lutz? They practice integrative medicine and I just heard a lecture from their MD (Dr. Saxena) about "enterocytes" and the gut walls. It was very good! From my understanding, they will work with patients to change their diets. I'm on a waiting list to be seen!
Sarah-Linear Morphea is a version of Linear Scleroderma. It's the less scary version, thankfully. Basically, my body produces too much collagen (hmm…isn't wanting extra collegen why women get botox??) on my leg and it looks like deep, tough bruises that can make the skin taut. I've been controlling it with a cream and it lessened its "tautness" but I've always wondered what else I could do. http://www.aocd.org/skin/dermatologic_diseases/morphea.html
Does this book make specific diet suggestions, like meal plans, recipes, etc.? If not, do you know a source that does to help those who may feel overwhelmed by the restrictions?
There is now a GAPS recipe book available to purchase called “Internal Bliss”. You can also Google GAPS recipes and find lots of great blogs of recipes that have been created for the diet. We have been on GAPS for 1-1/2 years and have never eaten so well.
I purchased a downloadable (adobe) 30 day meal plan for the GAPS Intro diet….was a HUGE help, and it cost $15 !!!
It is called “What Can I Eat Now – 30 Days on the GAPS Intro Diet”….I don’t think I could have started this process without it!! I think the website was healthhomehappy.com
Good luck!
Our 13yr old ds has OCD, I've been interested in this diet since last fall. The difficulty I have is getting my dh and ds on board. I brought the book to our dr visit yesterday, and was strongly advised that dietary changes were not likely to result in any changes and that meds are the best decision. I've also been to an integrative medicine specialist who is on board with the diet, but is out of plan with our insurance and had our ds on ascorbic acid 2,000mg a day in addition to amino acid supplements all of which are expensive and do not have traditional medical support. It is very difficult to be confident that the treatment is right and safe. I think with the right support we could at least try this diet for 3-6months. Will you be posting more in regards to menus and recipes? Thank you for your post.
I hope you’ve found some relief for your son by now. I just wanted to say that the only risk with the GAPS diet is aggravation and adjusting the diet is not likely to be as expensive as the supplements; and that your doctor is trained and paid to treat pathology with pharmacology. Doctors aren’t bad people – they picked their job to help people after all – but like anybody they can get into a rut in their responses. As a client, you are allowed to respectfully disagree with your physician’s recommendations if you feel they don’t fit your family, just as you would with an accountant or mechanic. A true professional in any field should be open to that challenge.
I am seriously considering buying the book on Amazon as well, for I too have an autoimmune disease called Sjogren's Syndrome. I produce too many antibodies so they attach my moisture glands-dry eyes, dry mouth, etc. I have found that the cod liver oil help relieve the dryness a little, but I would love to heal myself completely. Thanks for the info.
Hi Megan, I have never heard of Linear Morphea – what is that? Yes it is tough for the first few weeks to figure out what to eat on GAPS as grains are such a huge part of the Western diet. Fortunately, nut and coconut flours can be used to make baked goods that are delicious and a fantastic alternative.
Have you ever used or found a good breadfruit flour? I’m looking into it due to the sky high finer content. Would LOVE an article from you in this.
I have been waffling on what to do about my eczema and food allergies and sensitivities and other symptoms, knowing that untreated they are likely to get worse! I even have the GAPS book and read it all the way through, but the diet itself did seem confusing! Thank you so much for clearing this up for me!
Get on the GAPS Website FB pages and many many people will help you. I’m doing it now with 2 Grandkids. It’s hard, but we’re doing it. Cara Comini @ Health, Home, and Happiness, LLC wrote a short e-book “what can I eat now?” Good luck!
Forgot I was on her blog page. I mention her so often I forgot. 🙂
I finally ordered this book off Amazon (used). I have a mild autoimmune disorder (ever heard of Linear Morphea?) and would love to eliminate it or prevent future AIDs. This is really compelling. The diet elimination would be tough but worth it.
I have the same thing how is the Gaps Diet working for it?