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
I have rheumatoid arthritis, and I highly doubt the validity of your claims. I’ve had a couple of colonoscopies, and watched the entire procedure on the video screen. There’s nothing in my “gut”–it’s totally squeaky clean and void of any “holes” that need to “heal”, so how do you explain that I have RA?
Your theory is quackery, and it does harm to people by giving them false hope.
RA is nothing to play around with, as it can and does affect internal organs (heart, lungs, etc.) as well as cause crippling deformities if not treated. Allowing people to believe that a diet can get rid of RA, which has a genetic component, only prolongs the amount of time they go untreated and allows untold damage to be done internally.
Your blog is irresponsible at best.
SNilsen,
A scope of your gut would not show the holes that the GAPS diet adresses. They are microscopic and have to do with how the nutrients in your gut move through the gut to the bloodstream. If the “holes” (which is very much a lay term to aid in understanding for non-medical folks) are too large they allow larger molecules of nutrients through to the blood where they travel throughout the body. That activates the immune system which recognizes it as a foreign body and attacks it. This attack can also affect healthy tissue, including those that cause pain and inflammation in Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Your body is a cohesive system. Where one part is affected the rest of the body will also feel the effects.
This does not discount the aid that comes through more modern medical intervention, but a large part, if not all, of your symptoms could be alleviated through diet changes. I have found that my arthritis symptoms are significantly relieved through diet changes.
Please reconsider the possibility that what you eat could affect how you feel. Even if you have a medical diagnosis and medical doctors helping you. Diet changes are not something that they know much about nor will typically recommend because A, they haven’t spent the time to learn much about it and B, they are focused in a completely different direction of putting a bandaid on the problem rather than finding a root cause.
Oh my gosh! Diet is everything!
My doctor did a stool test and found I have leaky gut. I also have RA. Let me tell you it is what you eat! I do not take medication for it but eat low inflammation foods and exercise. I am doing the GAPS as best as I can and it makes a huge difference. My Dad has RA and has lived on Aleve for 20 years and now has leukemia. I do not want to go down that road and know diet IS the key!
Cl
Omg. Just like you I am wanting to do this. I don’t want to take medication just want to heal it by diet. Please,assist in the Gaps diet. Don’t know where to start from. I am solo desperate.
Nadia
I have RA as well, and can attest to the validity of the above claims. I’ve been on a GAPS/Paleo Diet for a year and reduced my symptoms by 90%, without the need for any steroids, immunosuppressant or biologic medication. I don’t have pain any more. What remains is a mild discomfort. The only clarification I would make is that the 6 month healing timeline is a long shot. Most people take 3 years to heal (which Natasha says in her book). However, I know why Sarah mentions the 6 month possibility. She wants people to try it, and once you see results, you’re more willing to give it the time you need.
I’m confused. Is raw milk on a GAPS diet ok? Are potatoes ok if they don’t bother you? Thank you so much for all this great info!
Hi,
U must be correct.
To say milk is not good, its incorrect
Our raw donkey milk heal people with atopic syndrom = Atopic Dermatitis, Azema and all the list u wrote.
We have near 100% recovery
We r oversea
on the land of the Holyland of Israel
4 any q. pls feel free to ask us
Genesis
(Sorry 4 my poor English, we speak the bible language)
I liked Seeds of Change
Hello Sarah
Thank you so much for this website! It is truly informative…… I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few months ago and a friend of mine introduced me to the GAPS diet and I have been on it since April. So far it has been working pretty well. I still have good and bad days but all in all the diet has been helping a great deal. The only thing that I get irritated about is when the pain gets unbearable I have to take pain medication. I try to avoid taking anything, but that doe not always work. I realize this is a long process, so each day I am hanging in there! Thank you again for this site 🙂
Important to note, in the case of Celiac Disease, the removal of gluten-containing grains must be PERMANANT, not temporary, regardless of symptom relief. Even in asymptomatic Celiac, gluten triggers a villi-damaging reaction. This disease cannot be cured, only managed by lifelong adherence to a gluten-free diet.
Have you talked to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride about this? I would think if you truly heal the lining of the intestines (villi) and repopulate/rebalance the gut flora that you would be able to reintroduce soaked grains in moderation into the diet. That would be an excellent question for her as she answers questions each month on her website.
You need to be careful when clumping all these “disorders” together. Celiac is permenant. You can heal you intestine, but ingestion of any gluten will lead to more damage. Too many people are out there saying things they know nothing about. If you have gut problems see a GI, they can actually diagnose issues and tell you the real way to deal with them.
According to Dr. McBride’s website, she considers celiac healable via GAPS. I know what mainstream medicine says about celiac and that it is not considered a possibility to ever eat gluten again. But the concept is that if you heal the leaky gut, gluten will not enter the blood stream and will not create and auto-immune response. I recognize that this is risky (if full healing has not occurred), but I believe that it is the greatest opportunity for celiacs to experience healing. My mom went 60 years before her celiac was diagnosed. She had many, many auto-immune conditions. My children and I also have issues with gluten. I do not want the health that she suffered with. I want something better and I think it is worth serious effort to change our health.
The autoimmune reaction in coeliac occurs in the villi, not in the bloodstream, so even if the gut is no longer permeable a reaction will still occur IN the gut.
With regards to the nuts allergies – you can use coconut flour to make baked goods, which would give you a bit of variety.
(We have just finished our first month on GAPS and are learning as we go. Thanks for this post!)
I’ve been wondering the same thing about nuts. my son is allergic to peanuts and due to cross-contamination risks, has to strictly avoid all nuts. how would you go about convincing a 3 year old that he can’t have anything baked anymore?
and can gaps really heal a full-out peanut allergy? or is it more for food sensitivities (rather than true allergies) and environmental allergies?
Hi Sarah, thanks so much for sharing this article. GAPS (book and diet) is wonderful and has so much healing knowledge. I am actually a testament to all of this information myself. I healed my autoimmune thyroid disease using these basic principles, although I never specifically followed the GAPS diet. I now work with people in attempt to help them do the same. There is so much power in all of these principles and I love how people are opening themselves up to the possibility of healing. Ultimately, many people do not and will never be able to get the benefits that Dr. McBride has written about. It’s all about being open to the possibility. Thank you so much again!