The GAPS Diet is the best approach for healing the gut and putting autoimmune disease of all kinds into remission that I have ever come across.
That being said, the 6 months to 3 years that folks need to be on GAPS to reverse these conditions (on average) is a huge change from the way they were eating before – even if they were eating a whole food based, traditional diet. If they were on the Standard American Diet before, forget about it! GAPS can seem flat out impossible at first glance!
This is because all grains, sugars (except honey and fruit), and starches are avoided on GAPS as these foods cannot be fully digested by a compromised gut environment and therefore need to be avoided until the gut heals and seals. What forms the fundamental basis of the American diet?  That’s right, grains, sugars and starches!
The necessary dietary changes on GAPS are so huge, in fact, that many people who really want and need to go on GAPS never even attempt it because the challenge of incorporating the necessary dietary changes to heal seems too incredibly daunting.
Help has arrived!
My friend Cara, from the blog Health, Home, and Happiness has come up with two indispensable resources in the implementation of the GAPS Diet. Cara is a GAPS expert. She has used GAPS to tackle her children’s autoimmune issues with great success. She has even successfully helped her daughter Hannah’s autism go into remission with the help of the GAPS diet! The process took 2 years and has been confirmed by medical diagnosis.
I so wish these resources had been available to me last year when my husband and I went on GAPS. It would have made the transition process so much easier and less stressful on our household!
GAPS Resources
The first resource is the helpful e-book What Can I Eat Now? A 30 Day GAPS Intro Meal Plan.
The second resource is Grain Free Meal Plans once you are off the GAPS Intro Diet and into full blown GAPS or if you just want to jump right into full blown GAPS or the very similar SCD (Specific Carbohydrate) Diet from the get go.
The Grain Free Meal Plans include the following:
- Menu plans for 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, plus snacks and sweets
- Kid-tested recipes
- Complete shopping lists
- A Members only forum for questions, problems, encouragement, and success stories
If you are even remotely considering GAPS for your family, make sure you check out these resources! Consistency is key on the GAPS Diet – falling off the wagon can really set you back.  Therefore having these resources in your back pocket as you undertake this challenge to recover the vibrant health you deserve could very well make the difference between success and failure on the GAPS Diet.
More Information on the GAPS Diet
GAPS Diet: Heal Your Autoimmune Disease Now
How to Speed Healing and Shorten Time on the GAPS Diet
The Five Most Common GAPS Diet Mistakes
GAPS Diet Heals Ulcerative Colitis
Hannah’s Story: 2 Years on GAPS Diet Heals Autism
Chronic Stomach Pain and Bloating Gone!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Bought it!! So excited about this! Currently on stage 3 of intro and my kids are so sick of the limited food options. This should really help!
Sarah – Did you mean the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) developed by Elaine Gottschall? http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/ instead of the Standard Carbohydrate Diet?
Hi Melynda, yes – sorry about that typo. Thanks for letting me know.
No worries! I thought that was what you intended, I just wanted to make sure so that others who are new to the GAPS/SCD way of life can google the correct terms.
This may seem like a dumb question, but I have been wondering how a person would know if they need to be on a GAPS type of eating plan? I read about healing the gut and auto immune issues and am a bit confused. I assume you just know if you have a bad stomach issue, but then there are so many other things that seem to be helped by GAPS ways.
I crave carbs most days and have been trying to avoid them as much as possible. I notice I gain weight when I eat breads and flours. I try to follow a traditional diet, avoid processed foods, make my own broths, eat grass fed beef etc, but I still crave breads. I don’t eat much sugar except honey or sucanat. I haven’t been able to switch to pasteured chicken or pork mainly due to cost right now.
I am trying to lose weight, I have minor arthritis and high blood pressure and wonder if this is a symptom of ‘leaky gut’ issues I keep reading about.
I appreciate any answers any of you may have would be appreciated.
Hi Terri, I went on GAPS even though I do not have any autoimmune issues. I just wanted to improve my gut function since I was not breastfed and my gut was not seeded properly to begin with anyway. I found a lot of benefits to being on it for a short healing period of time,
If your arthritis is rheumatoid, then yes it would be gut related. Weight issues may or may not be related.
Terri, you could check out the list of things addressed by GAPS here:
http://www.doctor-natasha.com/
and
http://www.gaps.me/
Hi Sarah,
How much bone broth is recommended each day? Would you say a quart?
A small cup with each meal is recommended, so a pint or so per person should do it.
I found going on a low carb paleo diet with lots of bone broths and probiotics has been the most helpful. For me, even having the GAPS legal/ Paleo legal baked goods just set me on a path to veer off. By completely cutting sugar, grains, starch and any foods seeking to duplicate those foods for a 3 months my body stopped craving them. We occasionally have some home made ice cream or coconut cream ice cream sweetened with stevia but even then I can only stand having a very small amount. I think it’s so important to wean oneself off of the desire for these foods. There are so many delicious ways to eat gaps legal that don’t include cheat foods.
I started because after a failed birth induction (don’t get me started on that…) and subsequent c-section I believe the antibiotics and pitocin completely screwed up my gut flora. I went from being perfectly regular, could eat anything without any discomfort to having debilitating heartburn about 4 times a week and became constipated and miserable. 6 Months later, thought I haven’t tried grains yet and I’m beginning to become regular again, I haven’t had a bout of heartburn in 5 months and even my baby who used to be very gassy despite being exclusively breastfed until a few weeks ago comfortable, alert, happy and no longer has tummy issues, His favorite food is a meaty lamb bone! 🙂 I also got rid of 15 years of on again off again depression and I’m starting to feel the fog of my ADHD lift. I wasn’t even expecting all of the benefits, I was just trying fix my digestive issues. GAPS is amazing.
Your site has been a huge blessing to me. I am going to check out these resources. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes on Christmas eve (merry christmas to me!) and have IBS. I live in the Willamette Valley in Oregon – grass seed capital of the world. Willamette Valley means valley of sickness. I am ALWAYS sick. I can’t get my doctor to listen to me. It’s so frustrating. So I am doing what I can on my own and learning all I can about healing my body.
Blessings,
Mel
Please feel free to stop by: Trailing After God
I ordered the GAPS intro ebook a few days ago and love it. We start the diet in august, after our family vacation and when our grassfed beef order is ready. Can’t wait to heal my family!
You won’t regret it Allie, I was shocked at how much GAPS improved my health even though I had already been eating traditionally for years. Just those few months on GAPS took my digestive function to a whole new level.
I ordered the 30 day intro meal plan and it is awesome! I’m only 5 weeks postpartum though, so I can’t use it right now. Do you think there is still healing taking place even on the full GAPS diet? My little nursling is allergic to nuts (haven’t tried coconut yet as I’m to scared) and has some other food sensitivities that I’d like to heal him from sooner rather than later.
From my reading, if you’re having some broth every day with your meals, there will be some healing taking place and having some fermented foods like saerkraut as well will help colonise your bubbi’s gut with good bacteria too thru your milk. Once bubbi is old enough to go onto other foods than breastmilk, I’ve seen a good chart somewhere on how to give bubbi broths and things to gradually heal them, and of course, they heal a lot quicker than us as they have so much less years of damage than an adult so it shouldn’t be long before your he is perfectly healthy!
Kelli, I’ve found coconut fat to be the most effective for me with sugar/carb cravings. If I use coconut milk in my tea or smoothie, I’m usually craving free and am not even tempted!
I often find myself overwhelmed with sugar/carb cravings. People I live with will bring home Belgian chocolate brownies and I can almost taste those brownies. Its so difficult. It may be because I don’t get enough healthy fats (I’ve seen you blog about that before), but I’m taking the Green Pasture cod liver oil everyday (two capsules in morning) and consuming butter. However, i still enjoy my homemade spelt bread, which I try to make the only bread I consume.
Smoothies (fruit and veggies) with raw egg yolks and plain yogurt or kefir helped me a lot with sugar cravings. It was lightly sweet, GAPS-legal, and full of enough fat and protein that I didn’t even want anything else. Baking with almond flour on occasion has also helped when I REALLY want a treat.