Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that back in March 2010, I went on the GAPS diet as described in Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MDs book Gut and Psychology Syndrome. My husband went on GAPS about 6 weeks earlier than I did.
I even posted my personal food log for 4 days back in April. I did not go on strict GAPS as the only issue I was attempting to resolve was some lower back pain that kept getting worse since having my third child. I do not have any autoimmune issues that I know of, but I figured that the lower back pain must be from localized inflammation – most probably originating in the gut.
Anything gut related or autoimmune in nature can be amazingly helped by GAPS, so I went on the more lenient version which allows butter and fermented dairy.
All foods containing disaccharides were out. This includes all grains and sugars except raw honey, ripe fruit and date sugar (which is made from dehydrated dates only).
All starches were out too, which eliminated white and sweet potatoes, most beans, arrowroot, tapioca, and anything else starchy in nature.
I’ve recently been asked by a few friends about how all this is going.
Well, let me tell you …
I am very happy to report that both my husband and I are back on starches with no problem! We are eating potatoes and starchy beans once again. Arrowroot is thickening our sauces and we are not feeling any ill effects from it.
In addition, I have been back on grains on a limited basis for just a few weeks. I started trying them in small amounts (properly prepared of course which is only sprouted, sour leavened or soaked) every 3 or 4 days and have not noticed any return of the back pain!
This turn of events is just in time for the end of summer as the only craving I had during my time on GAPS was for a bowl of soaked oatmeal!
I NEVER missed bread except during the first few weeks. Thankfully, it looks like I will be able to enjoy soaked oatmeal once again when the cooler weather returns!
To tell you the truth, I don’t think I will go back to eating grains – even properly prepared – like I was before I went on GAPS. Â I definitely wasn’t eating them too much before, but I will eat them even less now. Â I was rather surprised at how much I didn’t miss carbs while on GAPS and felt great for doing so.
After a few months, though, I started to feel a bit tired. Â Perhaps it was from the 8 lbs I lost while on GAPS despite eating a lot of food and never depriving myself if I was hungry and the food was ok per GAPS.
Yes, your weight drops like a stone when you cut grains and starches out!
Dr. Cowan describes this phenomenon in folks who are off grains and other starches for an extended period of time in an article from Wise Traditions Journal a few issues back called Holistic Approach to Cancer. This article describes how some folks do better going back on grains and starches after a period of healing for the gut.
Realizing I must be one of those people, I reintroduced starches and grains a bit earlier than I had planned (I had originally planned to reintroduce these foods in the Fall 2010). Â I am so excited that I am eating these foods again and my regular energy level quickly returned. Â Â I’ve put 4 lbs back on and seem to have stabilized there for the time being.
My husband is also experiencing GAPS success.   He has been back on starches for a few weeks now with no ill effects and last night ate chicken breaded in wheat flour with no problems whatsoever. He is also eating my soaked cold breakfast cereal and feeling fine with no severe bloating like before he went on GAPS.
He had been on GAPS almost exactly 6 months which is the minimum amount of time Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride suggests for healing the gut in her book Gut and Psychology Syndrome.
I am very glad we have both been able to heal much more quickly than we had thought. Â I’m sure our many years of Traditional Diet helped tremendously in speeding up the process as our guts were probably in decent shape to begin with.
The biggest surprise I’ve had from this whole experience was the severe congestion and watery eyes I had for 3 weeks when I first went off all grains and starches. Â Then, all of a sudden, one morning it was gone!
Poof!
Obviously, there was a little pocket of gut pathogens hanging on for dear life in my gut that needed to get weeded out and the only way this was ever going to happen was to eliminate grains/starches for a time.
I hope you find this blog encouraging in your own personal wellness adventure if you are currently on GAPS or the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) or considering doing so.
The effort is worth it, so soldier on my friends!
If you have a GAPS or SCD success story, please tell us about it in the comments section!
Is Rejuvelac allowed on GAPS?
hi!, im veronica and ive started the gaps diet. i ve had a blurring of the eyes – is this normal? i also take steroids – but im also having a lot of kombucha , kefir, water and milk, beet kvass and i also have yakult. i have yakult twice daily. is this okay or do i need to make some changes? please advise.
I’d like to know what’s the next best thing to GAPS. When you don’t have easy access to good meats and they aren’t affordable for you, you eat lots of eggs. At least they’re pastured and can be prepared in a variety of ways. And vegetables are plentiful now. But when weight loss is not what you wish, rather weight gain is desired, you have to add a few things back in. I’m thinking maybe red potatos aren’t so high in starch, sweet potatos might be okay some days, and a few of the grains which are low in phytates, such as buckwheat, amaranth, and quinoa. I soak just about everything and have already been avoiding a lot of the bad guys. Have been wheat free for about a month and mostly grain-free. I also wonder how you do this when the rest of the family isn’t and they’re counting on you to cook. I’ve decided probably to keep cooking grains like rice and oatmeal for them, but not to try to make bread, which would be too tempting. Also, are small beans like adzuki low in starch? Thanks for your guidance.
Is this diet appropriate for a pregnant/breastfeeding mom? Someone recommended I try it (4 out of my 6 kids have food allergies, plus some environmental allergies), but I have a hard time believing it is ok while pregnant and nursing.
I also wonder how people deal with food that kids get from other places — like a friend’s house, at school, a goody bag etc.
IR, this diet is basically meat and vegetables, it isn’t anything weird and it isn’t calorie controlled so you and your nursing baby will only benefit from it. Your baby will get the good bacteria you are getting from your fermented foods and when bubs is ready to go onto solids, they can have what you’re eating too as it’s cooked vegies and meats and soups etc. – perfect baby foods! That being said, the intro diet does produce die-off symptoms, which is a detox, so while pregnant/breastfeeding, I would just go on the full GAPS menu until bubs is weaned. If you feel you need deeper healing after that, then you can always do the Intro diet then.
Sarah,
I was just wondering if you still used whey to ferment foods while you were on GAPS.
I know it’s not on the approved list, but I know you mentioned that you were more lenient.
Yes, I used biokult and fermented cod liver oil. I never did the intro diet .. just started GAPS from the get go.
Did you use biokult (or any other supplements)? Did you start with the intro diet? If so, how long were you on it?
matt4melis at hotmail dot com
Great, thanks for the info!
Hi Sarah, be as strict as you can but perfection is not necessary to achieve awesome results. My husband was totally strict and never went off even once, but I had a few off the wagon moments.
My family is planning to try the GAPS diet for about 6 months. I was wondering: were you absolutely strict with the diet? Obviously the more strict we can be the better, but I am wondering if we will be derailed by the occasional meal at grandma's house (which almost always includes potatoes). Also, do you know why the SCD allows baking soda but GAPS does not? Thanks for any info you can provide.
I think the most difficult part for us will be coming up with easy meals for my husband. Typically I make a huge batch of soaked waffles to freeze, and he just heats them up for breakfast. Then for lunch, he takes one of our homemade frozen meals to work. Unfortunately he's not big on cooked vegetables, so it will be an adjustment for me to learn things to cook for dinner that can freeze well that don't have any brown rice or brown rice noodles. But it sounds like it is all well worth the effort!
Thanks for providing such great info in your blog.