An increasing number of folks that I know seem to be trying out the GAPS diet in order to solve autoimmune issues. Many are unwittingly making mistakes that are making success more difficult and time on the diet more lengthy.
GAPS, as it is commonly known, is a short term protocol to rebalance and heal/seal the gut wall. This halts the flood of toxins from pathogenic strains dominating the gut environment from pouring into the bloodstream 24/7. It is this unpredictable mix that triggers autoimmune symptoms.
The diet is described in detail in Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MDs book Gut and Psychology Syndrome. It is based on the century-old Specific Carbohydrate Diet.
The autoimmune disorders significantly alleviated or healed by the GAPS Diet include the simply annoying, like seasonal allergies, to the more life-altering such as autism, fibromyalgia, MS, lupus, and the list goes on and on…
Ok, let’s get real for a minute. Does the GAPS diet as outlined in the bestselling book by Dr. Campbell-McBride MD really work for alleviating allergies and other autoimmune disorders?
Absolutely it does.
My husband used to be the poster boy for allergies. He was allergic to every single prick the allergist tried on him some years ago. Today, he is allergic to nothing. Absolutely nothing. His asthma (during respiratory illness) and eczema resolved permanently as well.
Another person I recently talked to has arrested the progression of her IBS symptoms and gotten herself off the medication using the GAPS Diet. In fact, I know many folks who have received significant relief from their autoimmune disorders from the GAPS Diet.
How empowering to know that there is an answer for autoimmune illness and that something as simple as the GAPS diet can make it happen!
The trouble is, GAPS is simple but not necessarily easy. When folks go on GAPS, a number of common mistakes seem to be made. Here is a rundown of the five most frequent mistakes I’ve encountered coaching folks at various stages in the process:
Mistake #1: Going off Grains but Not Starches
The most important premise of GAPS is to eliminate all sources of disaccharide containing foods from the diet until the gut wall can heal and reseal. Most sugars and all grains, even those not containing gluten, are disaccharides and hence must not be consumed while on GAPS as a compromised gut wall is unable to digest them. Undigested food in any form provides the perfect environment for pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and fungi to thrive.
Talking to people on GAPS, I have frequently encountered those who have eliminated all disaccharides from the diet but not all the starches in the form of potatoes, sweet potatoes, arrowroot flour, potato flour/starch, carob powder, cocoa powder, chickpea flour, all other gluten-free flours and almost all beans and legumes (navy beans and lentils are ok).
This can be confusing, as resistant starch is food for friendly gut flora and overall, good for the gut! Thus, don’t take this to mean starch is “bad”. It definitely isn’t! It just isn’t something to eat while on the GAPS Diet.
Why is this?
Starch is a very complex food molecule comprised of very long strands of hundreds of mono sugars that are very difficult for an imbalanced gut to break down. Undigested starch feeds gut pathogens. Even worse, the starch that does manage to get digested results in molecules of maltose, which is a disaccharide!
As a result, for success on GAPS to be achieved and long term results attained, grains and starches must be eliminated on a short term basis.
Mistake #2: Taking a Cheaper Probiotic or No Probiotic at All
GAPS success requires an infusion of strong, therapeutic strength probiotics to reseed the gut with dominant, beneficial flora at the same time the GAPS Diet is starving out the pathogens. Unfortunately, a number of folks I’ve talked to who claim to be on GAPS are not taking a probiotic at all.
This is a mistake. Taking a probiotic on GAPS is not an option, it is a must!
Unfortunately, a decent quality probiotic is expensive, as you may have noticed! Resist the temptation to settle for cheaper brands.
Dr. Campbell-McBride MD warns about this in her book. She writes that most brands on the market are not strong enough nor do they have the correct aggressive probiotic strains necessary to recolonize the gut. Moreover, many brands of probiotics do not contain the strains listed on the label or have the claimed bacterial strength.
In other words, you get what you pay for.
To avoid the problem of probiotic label fudging, make sure the brand selected is reputable and can deliver the results you need.
After all, you’re going to all this trouble and inconvenience to eat GAPS. Why cut corners with the probiotic and threaten the success of the process? This article explains in detail why a soil-based probiotic on GAPS is critical to the success of the protocol.
Mistake #3: Going Wild with the No Grain Flours
Our culture’s food supply is so overly dominated by grain-based foods that when a person initially decides to go on GAPS, the thought “what in the world will I eat” can be rather overwhelming.
As a result, a common mistake for people on GAPS is to make a wholesale switch from grain-based foods to those exact same foods made with no grain flour such as coconut or almond.
Eating bread, muffins, pancakes, waffles, pizza, and cookies made with coconut or almond flour at the same rate one used to eat these same foods made with wheat can cause unintended consequences.
Coconut flour is extremely high in fiber and eating too much of it can cause gastric distress. Almond flour contains a lot of omega-6 fatty acids. While essential to health, too many omega-6 fats in the diet contribute to inflammation.
As a result, eating a moderate amount of baked goods made with alternative flours such as coconut and almond is the best way to go to ensure GAPS success.
Mistake #4: Not Eating Enough Homemade Broth
A very important part of the GAPS diet is the consumption of copious amounts of homemade bone broth. A small cup (about 4 ounces) with every single meal is recommended. The reason is that broth contains so many easy to assimilate minerals, vitamins, and amino acids. It is a very soothing food to the intestinal mucosa. Physicians have known for centuries that it aids digestion due to the natural gelatin which attracts digestive juices.
Many folks I know on GAPS are not consuming nearly enough broth. Or, they are using commercial bone broth which is almost always watered down (no gelling in the fridge) and/or packaged in toxic containers like aseptic, shelf-stable cartons.
A good idea before going on GAPS is to make sure your freezer is completely loaded up with any and all forms of homemade broth that you can find quality bones for including chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, fish, etc. Note that the best and most nutritious bone broth is made from fish heads, so be sure to include that in the rotation.
Broth is inexpensive to make and is so very important to GAPS success. Be sure to include it with every meal if at all possible! Once or twice a week in soups is not often enough.
Mistake #5: Giving Up Too Soon
Success with the GAPS Diet takes time. In most cases, it took years for the gut to get in bad shape. Thus, it’s going to take months or even a year or two to get it back to normal. For a child, the average amount of time on GAPS to achieve a significant level of autoimmune remission is 18 months. For an adult, it can take longer.
I have known adults who have achieved success in only 6 months. However, these were typically people who had been eating traditionally for many years already. They simply needed to go on full GAPS for a few months to complete the healing process.
If you are coming to GAPS from the Standard American Diet, then plan on 2-3 years to success. While this may seem like a long time, it is really short considering living the rest of your life with an ever-worsening auto-immune situation.
Don’t give up too soon! Initial subsiding of symptoms within a few weeks or months on GAPS does not mean healing. Stick with it to heal and seal the gut wall for good so you can reclaim full vitality of life!
If the GAPS diet is of interest to you and you would like a complete overview of the program, please check out this article on how to heal autoimmune disease.
There are also many GAPS diet recipes on this site to help your journey.
More Information
Heal Autoimmune Disease with GAPS Diet
How to Speed Healing and Shorten Time on GAPS
GAPS and Ulcerative Colitis
GAPS vs Autism
Chronic Stomach Pain and Bloating Gone!
Coconut oil is said to be wonderful against Candida. Bicarbonate needs to be taken away from digestion time, of course. My 4 y.o. also did the entire Candida diet. Formula 1 and 2 are for adults. Formula 3 is for the kids and it’s milder. The stomach aches were simply the contractions of the intestine getting empty. While waiting for formula 3 to arrive, you could try phylum husk or prune juice, it does work. Most people don’t know what normal bowel movements are supposed to be like. Once they experience Dr S’s stuff they are amazed at the amount of stuff they deliver. 🙂 Especially animal product people. Yuk!
My site has a few recipes on candida diet. Perhaps you want to continue your conversation there to avoid flooding this one with a vegetarian attitude, LOL
http://ldsrawfood.blogspot.co.uk/
take care!
franz
Hello!
lentils, garbanzo, and black beans: excellent.
Carrots and beets are sweet vegg are they allowed? I doubt! No sugar..I think carrots are allowed raw -not cooked.
Juice fast: wow that was very long. Juices are terrible for candida (Unless they are just veggies. No fruit juices for candida)
watermelon juice: sugar!
raw milk: sugar, proteins, fat and glue, NO NO NO! LOL
watercress with lemon juice. Sounds acidic but might be a good one!
The last 3 days, I switched over to Dr. C’s 3 day cleanse with the gallons of apple juice. Pasteurised apple juice also has sugar and citric acid which is not good for candida.
My stomach ballooned after 1 day. I am convinced there is something going on with me, definitely need to avoid sugar. Please let me know what you think.
Avoid sugar – fullstop.
Only when Candida is well gone, introduce fruit slowly slowly without exceeding I think 15-20% a day.
All the best!
Franz
Here are some useful links!
Dr Schulze’s amazing blog.
http://www.herballegacy.com/
I am not confused about Dr. Campbell’s diet. I read everything she wrote, I wrote every word of her speech in London, I watched her video multiple times. I am now studying to be a nutritionist, too.
Animal products are not designed for the human body. The industry (Big Pharma) is the one that trains doctors and pharmacists and pays Governments and Media to promote processed foods so they make money and sell more medicines.
Wake up people. If we were meant to eat all that meat we would have the same short intestine of lions, the same strong acid in the stomach, their same short life span and their same teeth. But we don’t and there is a reason.
If everybody was to use the GAP diet, as the condition is widespread, we would need to kill all animals on the earth.
To answer the above question, “What about lemons, cayenne, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, sea salt and other spices? And potatoes”?
Lemons alkalise the body, it’s yes. Cayenne yes. Peppers yes. Mushrooms no, they help candida to grow. Tomatoes are sweet, not allowed. Sea salt technically yes but Dr C and Dr S teach that salt hardens the arteries and we should hardly ever add it to foods.
Potatoes are starchy, they become sugar, so it’s no.
The leaky gut diet is about changing your life style for good. Reverting back to our past diet will bring back the symptoms.
Why? Because Candida MUST live in our intestine, it’s a scavenger necessary for our digestion, as it clears the toxins by binding to them. Thus, when we fall back into our habits, Candida grows again and eventually takes over.
The best diet we can strive to follow is one that is sustainable for a lifetime and that will sustain and nourish our body.
For more info read “Eat to live” and “The transfiguration diet” on which foods build the body and which destroy it.
The China study and many others have proved beyond doubt that a diet based on animal product is a PRIMARY cause of cancer.
When we followed strictly Dr. Christopher’s protocol, my son’s behaviour improved 100%. People were coming to tell us “whatever you are giving him to eat, keep doing it”. So, it works.
All the best in your efforts to eliminate Candida overgrowth. Also, study the words of Dr. Simoncini about Candida as a cause of cancer. His videos are in English and Italian. He has eliminated Candida by simply changing the PH of the body, using bicarbonate of soda. He has given patients bicarbonate of soda and molasses in the same spoon. Candida eats the molasses and then implodes when eating the baking soda. Feels great.
Greetings!
Franz
Thank you Sarah, I’m about six weeks in and just needing some encouragement to keep going. This post, although I know it is old, helped this morning. Thank you very much.
Hello Sarah,
I have peripheral neuropathy, tough for a former Olympic distance triathlete. I can’t walk much. I also have leaky-gut. Have you heard of people with pn heal with this diet?
I started gaps yesterday. I could not tolerate squash as it made me bloat.
Should I simply cut back or skip it, if so what should I replace it with?
Also, I’m allergic to beef, therefore is chicken and fish broth enough?
Is there iron etc. in the rest of the diet?
I am liking the structure of this diet and it gives me hope. I will stick to it!
Elena, I think the best thing you can do is to start Intro. This is a great post (someone listed it above, I believe), about the differences between SCD and GAPS. I think it would do you well to look at it. http://gapsguide.com/2008/12/05/differences-between-scd-gaps/
There is also some info on the Intro diet there. It’s not just broth, but meat and veggies, too. I worked through Intro fairly quickly, but knew if I had a set back I’d go back to the beginning stages. Diarrhea should be an easy thing to measure. If you have it, move backward on the Intro diet…if you don’t, then move forward toward full GAPS. Blessings!
late post sorry- love the blog! I’ve been on GAPS for only 4 days and I am seeing some results (I have crohn’s- 3 surgeries) but I still have diarrhea 🙁 Am I being too eager for healing? I know you all comment on months but that’s without diarrhea- right? She states in her book to stay on only broths until the diarrhea subsides- how long could that be? Should I add some veggies in the soup? I’ve been doing SCD for years but I don’t think my intestine ever healed properly and I don’t know where to turn- any advice on where to get answers or own experiences to shed light would be great!
Thanks again for the post and all these wonderful people working so hard to find healing the right way
Great post! I admit I am guilty of eating too many alternative baked goods. I rely on almonds way too much. I’ve made a concious effort to only have these once or twice a week now. And I just started making more broths. I’ve always started to feel better and then I get impatient and begin eating things I shouldn’t, only to relapse with my dysbiosis. This time I want to make a full fledged effort. Does anyone here have experience with a bacteria called enterobacter cloacae? This is what I am dealing with.
Vanessa