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How to permanently heal chronic stomach pain and bloating with the GAPS Diet with suggested healing menu plan and supplements for quick results.
Editor’s Note: Juliann’s story below shows how the GAPS Diet can very quickly eliminate the symptoms of chronic stomach pain and bloating – in this case ONE WEEK!  Note that while the symptoms may have disappeared quickly, healing can take many months, so the GAPS Diet as outlined in Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s book should be followed for a minimum of 6 months (average of 18 months) before properly prepared grains and starches can begin to be reintroduced back into the diet.
Bloating and Pain GONE
My 48 year old brother, like most Americans, sought the help of his doctor when he developed chronic stomach pain, bloating, gas, burping and a feeling of being too full even after a small meal. Â
This problem occurred 24/7 each and every day. He has always been healthy and strong and I was surprised when he started having gut problems.  At the time the problems began, he was 211 lbs (he is 6’1″) which is a little heavy for him.
The first doctor he saw gave him the Zantac, which did not help the stomach pain, heartburn or bloating at all. He then saw a gastroenterologist, who prescribed him Nexium, along with various tests.
These conventional docs should be ashamed of themselves, giving out acid blocking pills to people that actually need more acid!
He remained in constant stomach pain and finally called me for help, as he knew I was very involved in nutrition and healing naturally.
Anti-Bloating Menu Plan
The first thing we did was stop all the acid blocking meds and start on the GAPS main diet.Â
Breakfast
For breakfast, he stopped eating his boxed cereal and 1% lowfat milk, and instead had either a smoothie which had 2 raw organic eggs, kefir, some raw honey and a cup of berries and on other days he would have an egg omelette with various veggies in it cooked in butter.Â
Also, some days for breakfast he had sausage and eggs.
Lunch
Lunch was more challenging because he travels a lot and would not give up eating out.Â
So, he would have some burgers without the buns and some veggies, or a big salad with his own dressing which was olive oil and vinegar and chicken and/or a fruit salad.Â
Dinner
For dinner, he had stir fried veggies in coconut oil and meat or seafood most nights.Â
When he ate out, he just ordered chicken or steak with a side of veggies. If he got hungry before bed or in between meals, he drank some homemade kefir or snacked on veggie sticks or fruit.
He also gave up beer and switched to red wine.
He did not have any trouble sticking to the diet and has said he really does not miss the bread.
So, basically, all starch and grains had to go and he was very disciplined in following the GAPS protocol.
Adding Digestive Enzymes was Key
We then added digestive enzymes and after a few days of the dietary changes, the chronic stomach pain right below his ribs became faint.Â
We also added some HCL with pepsin and a therapeutic strength probiotic.Â
The stomach pain left for good after this. He was amazed, as he had been living with this stomach pain for some time.
The stomach pain and bloating left within a week of starting the diet and the digestive enzymes.Â
He is amazed at how good he feels now and a great perk of following the GAPS diet is the weight loss – he lost 12 lbs. in a month, without any hunger or weakness.Â
He is now at a perfect weight and says he no longer feels full, is burping far less and the constant gas is gone. Best of all, he is pain free and healed so very fast!! Â
He even has stopped using eye drops morning and night for his chronic dry eye (most likely due to the addition of cod liver oil to his diet).
He is a living testimony that the GAPS diet and supplement protocol truly heal those that follow it.
The GAPS Diet works!
More Information on the GAPS Diet
GAPS Diet: Heal Your Autoimmune Disease Now
Overwhelmed by the GAPS Diet? Â Help Has Arrived
How to Speed Healing and Shorten Time on the GAPS Diet
The Five Most Common GAPS Diet Mistakes
Hi Jennifer,
My brother takes (1) capsule of Digest by Enzymedica for the digestive enzymes, right before each meal. This helps break down his food–he also takes some hydrochloric acid with pepsin (not sure which brand he bought at the health food store), and he takes (1) capsule before each meal. You could first try some apple cider vinegar in some water 15 minutes before a meal to see if that would work instead of the hydrochloric acid. Or you could try the juice of one lemon in water before your meals to see if that helps.
Biokult is the recommended therapeutic strength probiotic.
Make sure any milk you drink is cultured for 24 hours, my brother just loves kefir!
Hope this helps!!!
Felicia, you have much to be hopeful for with your children's allergies if they are on GAPS. It may take around 3 years to heal (this is the upward range – average is 18 months), but significant healing is definitely very likely.
Jennifer, HCL is hydrochloric acid – the main digestive acid of the stomach which folks with gut issues are low in. My husband never took HCL and just did GAPS and his bloating disappeared just like in this story anyway. The therapeutic strength probiotic is BioKult, which you can order at GAPSdiet.com
I have forwarded this post to my brother and father, who have both suffered from acid reflux and indigestion problems. It is so much easier to convince someone to switch to whole foods when there is a testimony invoved 😉 Thanks a lot!
Hi There,
Can you also forward them my e-mail address. I am also having lots of acid problems and am seeing a chiropractor who says I have a hiatal hernia. i would like to know what HCL is and a good probiotic that you can recommend.
Thanks.
Ooops (blush) I just now realized that this was a guest blogger. Perhaps you could forward my questions to her? Or if you know the answers, that'd be great.
Sarah, you wrote:
>>>We then added digestive enzymes<<<
Do you have a recommendation for brand or type, and quantity?
>>>We also added some HCL with pepsin and a therapeutic strength probiotic.<<<
What is HCL with pepsin? How much, how often? And the name of the therapeutic strength probiotic?
I'm at the end of my rope with ongoing (3+ years!) stomach pain that no doctor can diagnose. I am on acid reducers (Prevacid) for reflux (not the stomach pain, but…) and I've recently been eating a mostly milk, with some meat and a little fruits/veggies diet. I've been able to stop taking the Prevacid most of the time, but to be off it would be even better. I'm wondering, though, if the long-term use of the Prevacid (6 years and counting) has contributed to or even caused my mysterious stomach pain, and if some of these remedies you've used might help me as well. Thanks for the great post.
thanks for such a hopeful story! i'm wondering whether anyone has been on the GAPS diet successfully with severe (and true) food allergies. my toddler sons are anaphylactic (life-threatening) to peanuts, dairy, and allergic to eggs, fish, shellfish. my 4 y.o. is the one with the most severe and life threatening allergies with frequent complaints of stomach pains,along with asthma and eczema issues. anyone has a hopeful story to share?
This is great, I shared it on FB. So many do not get that you need good food, good gut flora and some HCI or tummies are not happy!
deb
Me too .. I love it when people recover their health and vitality! SO encouraging and these stories need to be shouted from the rooftops because most of the time when someone comes down with a chronic problem like stomach pain and bloating, it is all downhill from there if they go the conventional drug approach.
Very encouraging testimony – thanks for sharing! I love hearing about people's successes!
Cool testimony – thanks for sharing that!!!