Healing with GAPS

Do you have the Nourishing Traditions book? It's awesome and I think it would be perfect for where you are at. All that wonderful food sounds amazing! :D

We're visiting all the different doctors and things for my older son. The little one isn't doing that badly, he's developing well but there are a lot of little things bothering me. I think he needs to be doing more serious GAPS so it's time to knuckle down with him too. I don't think he needs anything more than that at the moment as he just has to fight the candida rather than also heal a leaky gut, or restore his brain health like my older son.

Hey Meow, yes I have nourishing traditions, I purchased them both together, I love it, it's got loads of food ideas and the health information is a much easier read than the GAPS book too. I'm sure you'll get your little one back on track, you know what you need to do which is the best start! I have finally ordered the probiotic and some other stuff form the gaps website for increasing my stomach acid for digestion. I think I'll also duck into the local health food shop tomorrow and get some other fish oil, they recommend eyeQ on the website so I might get that. At the moment ds has flaxseed but it's always on my mind to grab some fish oil for him too. Plus the anti-imflamatory benefits for me will be great. It's great to hear from you Meow and thanks so much for all of your help with GAPS and for offering me so much information, it hasn't gone to waste, I've learnt so much and our health is so much better for it! dh who has been vego for around 17 years I think is even eating organic meat!!! Take care :)

That is so lovely for you to say. At least now if you want to heal your eczema or your son's dairy intolerance you know what to do! Knowledge is power :D

I agree Nourishing traditions is much better laid out and really goes into detail better than the GAPS book. GAPS could do with some good editing :lol: But the principles of how to heal through diet are all there.

I'm not so sure your son would need fish oil. Just eating good fish every week should be enough I would think. But fermented cod liver oil is good for everyone :)

We had a fellow BBer stay last weekend and I may have converted her family to Nourishing Traditions... I think we need a Nourishing Traditions thread!

We're going well. E has been going through some heavy detox and has had a rough couple of weeks. I got a bit over excited about starting him on coriander to detox mercury and upping his garlic and I clearly put too much in his soup. He broke out with a burn type rash that is apparently a detox rash and he's very tired again, doing more scripting, less keen to engage. But detoxing is a good thing so I'm happy about that. I've cut down the coriander and garlic will build them back again slowly. It's exciting to know we have more tricks up our sleeve. There is still SO much to do and he has a LOT of healing to go but I'm confident he'll get there.

We're off to our naturopath this week, then our GP for his 4 year old check up so we might order some more blood tests and test for MTHFR mutation. Then the week after we're off to a homeopath who treats children with autism so she will hopefully be able to assist his body with more healing.

On a side note, I'm feeling pretty 'flat' and have done for a long time. I'm sick of it. I bought The Mood Cure and I think it's going to be perfect to help me get my body functioning better along with GAPS. I think I'm low in endorphins so I love the way this book guides you through trouble shooting and targeting your healing. I think GAPS would get you there eventually but this should speed me along a bit.

Meow, we are total converts lol! our stay with you has changed us irrevocably. i still dream of all that delicious, wholesome food...and then cry when i look in our cupboard lol. we have determined to begin the diet when we get back home. we just find it nigh on impossible with the options here in LA.

Hi Cass :hello: Oh how lucky to be treated to yummy GAPS/Nourishing Traditions food at Meows house!!!!

Meow That's all great news hon, detoxing with side effects is better than no detoxing at all. I have to say though that when my eczema is good I am reluctant to do anything to irritate it though! For example once I posted in this thread the other day I ordered the probiotics and sure enough they flared up my hands (no surprise there). I've been into the fish oil heavily and evening primrose and they have been great! I'm also meeting lots of mums out there who have their kids/family on GAPS or are eating a Nourishing Traditions type of diet which is just fantastic! As for the rest of our diet our pantry is nearly through with all the old stuff, we've got a massive vegie garden growing which is just the best thing ever!!! Fresh leafy greens and herbs etc every day is just fantastic :D

I've started a Nourishing Traditions thread HERE

That's so exciting Cassius! I'm just excited you weren't all half-starved and wondering where the pasta was :lol: It was also a huge pleasure to have a kitchen hand and have Mr Cassius show me how to roast a chicken and actually COOK US DINNER!!! Do you realise I have not had ONE SINGLE dinner that I haven't cooked myself since we started GAPS?! It was bliss. Truly, if a lame cook like me who came from 15 years of vegetarianism can learn to cook GAPS and manage to make every single dinner with no takeaway then ANYONE can ;)

I totally get that you can't start for a while but don't feel bad because no-one can jump right in. Take some time to read the book, research local melb WAPF (Weston A Price Foundation) chapters for people you can talk to about where to buy meat, milk etc., get your wish list of appliances together... there's plenty to do in preparation :D

So awesome you are having great things happen cherished! I've heard fish oil is great for so many things- I bet your body is loving all those EFAs you're getting in :D I love hearing about your family's healthy living. So cool to see the last of your old food leaving the pantry and the garden sounds lush!!

Let's hope for some NT converts in the new thread :D And hopefully we'll get some more GAPSters in this thread one day. Plenty of people around needing healing ;)

Meow, my DD1 has nut allergies and also just been diagnosed with lentil and chickpea allergies (foods which she used to eat with no issues so they are new allergies). I have heard that there is information regarding GAPS and allergy reversal but I can't seem to find anything. Do you know of any actual cases or sites that I can go to?

Nai I was heading down the GAPS path for allergies/eczema. There is information int eh GAPS book about it.

Do you know if it is more along the intolerance allergic response or the anaphylactic allergic response lines? She doesn't have intollerances, skin issues like eczemea or asthma at all - just the full blown allergies *sigh*

Yes, the GAPS protocol heals food allergies. NCM says there are a small group of people who have "true allergies" which you most likely wont be able to heal. Your daughter's nut allergy may fit this category, but I'd be very doubtful that her lentil & chickpeas allergies do. Given that they are new I would suspect she has a leaky gut and can heal those allergies, and perhaps the nut allergy if it was caused by the leaky gut also. There is some discussion of that in the book and you can join the GAPShelp yahoo group to talk to other people who are doing the diet. There are often people on there who share success with being able to eat foods they previously couldn't.

Thanks Meow - I will go and check it out. I am really worried that her allergies are escalating as she gets older :(

Nai, I second what Meow said. You can also go and see a GAPS practitioner, they are listed on the GAPS Australia website.

Just felt inspired to do a little update.

So after all this time on GAPS I'm finally waking up to the health issues the rest of us have. I'm not really ill and I never get colds & flus but I'm realising that I do have gut dysbiosis and I want to fix it too. I'm amazed at how I'm fighting the candida and the sugar cravings are lessening and my control over what I want to eat is so much better. I always felt I was being run by little inner sugar demons... and I was! It's so nice to be taking my body back. But after about 6 months on GAPS I decided to have a couple of cheats. I had some raw milk and also some organic maple syrup. Both made me feel awful. I clearly can't actually tolerate disaccharides so it's time to heal my gut. Which leads to the fact that I'm finally drinking broth. Working on loving it. Eww.

My littlest guy also clearly has gut dysbiosis. I was hoping we would avoid it seeing he's never even had grains. Ever. But he was getting red spots on his face and it went crazy when I let him drink more lactose free yoghurt. So we cut out dairy 6 weeks ago (me too as I'm BFing him) and this weekend we'll try to add some ghee back in. My reality check on the gut healing thing means he's also now finally on broth. he seems to like it well enough but doesn't actually get that much in. We'll get there. Since starting broth about 3 days ago he's developed rough patches of skin on his elbows. I guess it's like mild eczema. Pretty amazing to see he's getting a detox/healing reaction already.

The big guy is doing awesome. He's started talking to other people in one word requests this week. He said "excuse me" to some children on the slide which is AMAZING for him. At preschool he also said "turn" to another child when he wanted to play with a marble run and "knife" to a teacher while pointing to the knives at snack time to cut up his fruit.

At home he's scripting lots because he's tired and watching the same Curious George episode over and over. But he's also being a little parrot and copying everything we say. He'll happily expand his sentences, so if he says "water" I can get him to say "Mummy, I want water please" and sometimes he'll say most of the whole sentence next time he asks. He is also answering questions!!!! This is massive. I'm coaching him a fair bit on it by asking the same question a few times and telling & showing him the answer but then sometimes he'll actually answer because he has noticed what I'm asking.

He is becoming much more controlled with his little brother and is trading toys, waiting for his brother to take the toy off him before taking the toy he wants and then managing to cope without too much stress if his brother wont trade.

He's tired though because I've been trying to increase his probiotics again. He actually had to have a nap yesterday afternoon. We've also put him on s.boulardii and a bioflavonoid. Taking it easy since I sent him into detox hell about 2 months ago now. I do want to get back into detoxing as he clearly has heavy metals to get out but we'll need to take it very slowly and perhaps have to wait longer as his gut still has a lot of healing to go and isn't perhaps ready.

Seeing him be able to do things and see how powerful and successful he feels is just amazing. He now cuts with scissors and glues and paints and draws... where as when we started GAPS he would have a major meltdown if you even vaguely suggested he use scissors and he had no idea about how to put glue on paper, then stick something to it. His motor planning and confidence are just rocketing. He's a little super hero :D

I've just decided that we're at least cutting out sugar and starting the broth this Friday. We're moving out of my parents and housesitting for 5 weeks, so it'll give us a chance to get used to buying for it and making it. Then when we move back in with Mum, hopefully the sugar and carb cravings will be gone, and we'll be able to stay away from the crap she buys.

I'm the one that cooks at home anyway, so everyone'll be eating GAPS - just gotta tell Mum what to buy.

Meow, that's freakin AWESOME :) My nephew is being tested for Autism at the moment, I was wondering if loading him up with broth on the days he's here - 3 days a week - would be helpful, or possibly harmful if he's not having it the other 4 days, thoughts?

Just quickly as I have my little one on my lap!

Meow that is AWESOME!!!!!!! So great to hear!

Keike I am of the opinion that any amount of cutting out crap will be better than not doing it at all.... However if you really want to see healing you do need to go all in 100 or at leat 99.9% iykwim.

AFM I'm having good and bad days with this darn eczema. I've cut out most carbs/grains and eating meat 2 times a day which is big seeing I was vego 6 months ago. I'm trying to have my probiotic every day but forget sometimes. Have to go ds is driving me insane :rolleyes:

Professor has had the worst night with his gut. Not sure what set it off, coz we've both eaten the same stuff. But he's been about an 8 on the pain scale, and was vomiting late last night. He's still in a fair amount of pain, but he says the pain is moving lower so he's just gotta wait for it to 'come out' IYKWIM. He can barely move, poor guy.

I spoke to the dietician I'm seeing about GAPS, and she had some concerns, so I put it off until I could read the book - my girlfriend's bought one for me coz she's awesome, I just need to pick it up. We're gonna hafta do the broth if nothing else, try and heal his gut.

Subbing to reply later. We just started this 2 weeks ago. Same stuff. Autistic son with lots of gut issues.

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Oh your poor husband :( Is he constipated? The GAPS recommendation for that is enemas. Freaked us out at first but we've ended up doing a few enemas on our son now.

What is your dietitian's concern about GAPS? Most dietitians who aren't so sure about it seem to be concerned that it's low carb. It's not, but it is *lower* carb than the standard western diet full of processed carb foods such as bread & pasta. The other concern is just that cutting out grains is somehow a bad thing. You absolutely need to read the book though- you can't start the diet unless you've read the book.

Personally, I think you should read The Mood Cure too. I'd still do GAPS, but follow the supplement suggestions in The Mood Cure to help you get onto GAPS. Julia Ross (who wrote The Mood Cure) says that most people can't get onto a healthy mental-health healing diet without slipping back to their old foods. It's okay not to be able to do it, it's very normal! But she explains why that happens and makes you not feel bad about it and realise it's not you and your lack of will power, but your body chemistry. So she gives you the supplements to take to help correct your body chemistry in the short term while the diet takes effect. I love that approach and think it's much likely to be successful, as NCM is a bit classically Russian and just says "go on GAPS" :lol:

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Subbing to reply later. We just started this 2 weeks ago. Same stuff. Autistic son with lots of gut issues.

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2 weeks!! How are you going? The early days were HARD for us. I hope all is going well. Lovely to hear from you :D

Yeah, it was the carbs thing. She basically wanted to make sure I was still eating protein, carbs and beneficial fats. She REALLY doesn't agree with the full fat meat broth though ;) I wasn't concerned that she was concerned, more that I couldn't answer her questions, and therefore I obviously don't know enough about it.

The Mood Cure sounds fascinating, I'll hafta order it from our library!

Hi Bellany great to hear from you, how is it going?

Keike I'm not surprised at all that a 'medically' trained dietitian had concerns. They are trained with what main stream medicine want's the public to believe iykwim.

I'm doing good! Haven't really had grains for a couple of months now and my eczema is about 90% cleared up. I found that even taking the probiotic 'may' have been flaring it up. I guess that is just a sign that there is a lot of healing to do! I'm enjoying a bit of a break from the irritation of it before I try to introduce it again and see if it flares the eczema up. I'm feeling great though.

How are you doing Meow?

That is awesome Cherished! We didn't put our son on probiotics for ages and we're still trying to slowly up his dose. No point pushing too hard with the die-off. Do you eat fermented foods? E started out with just sauerkraut juice and has progressed from there.

I'm going really well. I've been trying to work through The Mood Cure as I've been feeling pretty flat. I actually think it has a bit to do with the diet as I no longer have my artificial crutch for mood boosting, aka sugar! The nasty addictive drug that it is! Better off without it but I think I'll take some supplements to make me a bit more perky for a while I think. We were off dairy but I'm now eating butter again and that is SOOO good!! Butter is good for your mood and I think that, and the pieces of raw liver I've started swallowing a couple of time a week have boosted my energy and mood in the past week. I'm feeling pretty good actually :D

Keike- I wouldn't trust the dietitian at all. How anyone could think broth is a bad idea just goes to show how little she really understands. And you need good fats! You've suffered terribly with your mood & emotions, you do NOT need to go low fat and starve your brain. But they need to be good fats and you don't need the refined carbs. You still eat plenty of carbs on GAPS- you just need to eat lots of vegetables and a couple of pieces of a fruit. And some GAPS baked yummy things with almond or coconut flour and you have all the carbs you need. Please look into the supplements though because most people feel worse before they feel better and you don't need to go there. Think of it like a heroine addict withdrawing- get your methadone program set up ;)

Oh, her being concerned doesn't bother me, it's just that I didn't know what the answer was - it showed me I needed more knowledge before throwing us headlong into GAPS. My friend dropped around yesterday and gave me the book, I guess she got sick of encouraging me to get it myself :rofl:

So now I'm getting the stuff together to do my fermenting. I'm so freaking overwhelmed it's not funny. I think I just need to focus on one bit at a time, but I want to make sure I have everything before we start, because I don't wanna fall in a pile.

Have you got the ebook what can I eat now. That has a little about fermented food in there.
We are struggling.
Its so hard. I did failsafe and dairy free for 3 years but this is way harder! !

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I haven't made any of my own ferments yet! Well, I made sauerkraut once and it was yummy but I tried to make beet kvass once and it didn't ferment. I'm lucky that our local supermarket sells organic, unpasturised sauerkraut so I just buy it.

I have that e-book too, and the Internal Bliss cookbook and I found both to be handy. But there are so many blog posts about how to do all this food that you can find it all online now too.

Try not to feel rushed if you're overwhelmed. I had to totally learn how to cook so I just tried a new thing or two every week, like making broth, lard or yoghurt. And we slowly stopped eating the old foods. So it was taking a few things slowly out and adding a few things slowly in.

Now I honestly don't find this diet hard at all. I don't find the cooking too much or too hard. And the food is SO good and healthy and yummy. Tonight for dinner we had beef mince & liver burgers fried in pork lard. Served with beetroot, butternut pumpkin & cauliflower roasted in duck fat, and salad with home made mayonnaise. It was so delicious and it amazes me how far we have come. It gets easier because you end up having all the basics on hand without any thought.

Sorry you're struggling bellany :( What are you struggling with? Can we help?

How did you make your sauerkraut? I love it, I'd be willing to give making it a try!

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The biggest things is the amount of cooking and cleaning. Doing school lunches that fit and the hhuge resistance from the kids.
The middle child with autism has no concept of feeling full and also seeks oral sensory stimulation. He has limited likes. I can't fill him up at the best of times let alone with easy to digest foods. And I can't get him interested in soup or broth. He loves meat doesn't each much veg .
Also normally they make their own breakfast toast or cereal but now they can't do that they are waking me super early to make it and I'm up all night with the baby as it is! :(


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Oh and the cost too. All the meat and stuff add up :(

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Oh Bellany, that does sound hard :(

My little one was 7 months old and still waking ALL night when we started too. But I had my son at home and that helped a lot. He didn't eat for the first 2 weeks and then I was force feeding him for a while so it was good to just be in our bubble. He started preschool after that and I only had t send him a morning snack, which he didn't eat, and then I would feed him as soon as I picked him up (it was only 2.5 hours). I think what you're doing would be very hard and I hope so much it gets easier soon. I wouldn't stress about the vegetables at this stage. The lower carbs will probably help him anyway, and he'll get loads of nutrition from the meats.

I just followed a recipe for sauerkraut. Just shredded a red cabbage then added the salt, pounded it down in a glass jar and left it. You're supposed to put a weight on but I didn't and it still seemed okay? I didn't see any mould. But I was worried it may have turned funky without me realising so I've been too nervous to do it again until I get the right equipment together.

The cost can be hard too! We were doing okay but lately we've had some other expenses and I feel like we can barely keep in front with the finances! I hope things settle down and I can stop fretting over the grocery bill.

gosh an child that seeks stimulation certainly will keep you on your toes. I can see how the cooking could be a problem. perhaps a slow cooker or a rice cooker would help? some days i use both- u just gotta check the rice cooker about every 15 mins cause they keep cooking til thru liquid has gone and that sux when your making soup in it :rofl:
takes time to make the changes- don't stress yourself out.
must admit fell off the wagon a bit after i had allergy tests done- can't eat some of the stuff on the diet. but back on track tomorrow

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Thanks I have a slow cooker and tmx. I think I need to work on organisation. I'm moving right now then back on the wagon!

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Doubletrouble- allergies make things hard! Remember NCM says most people with gut dysbiosis will show up with allergies they don't really have though and they will change if you test again. So you could try small introductions and see if you tolerate the foods.

Bellany- The slow cooker and tmx should be a huge help! I can't get a tmx in the states!! I have a vitamix at least and would be lost without that.

Good luck to both of you getting back on :D

We're approaching our one year anniversary. Wow! Still a lot of healing to go, but so much has happened and improved in the past year. It's hard to believe. We're going away for a few days this weekend so I've been cooking madly to get ahead. I'll enjoy it when we're eating all this premade food but it's been busy! I've been finally getting in control of what we have in our freezer and I meal planned for the fortnight to plan ahead and it amazes me how easy that is now. I actually have an idea of what we will eat in a week. At first it was all a blur and I had no idea so I just kept filling the freezer up with whatever and some of it has been there for a while with me not knowing what to do with it :lol: I guess it's 'cause I kept buying all the odd cuts of meats the farmer's market too. I have made pork belly now though and OMG I haven't had crackling since I was about 10!! It was SO good.

Dinner tonight: chicken wraps

I just read on a FB feed a 30 day meal plan for the start of GAPS Intro. There's no way I could get DH to do it. It's a great resource though, with a meal plan and shopping list. I need to finish reading the book. I'm wondering if I can go to Full GAPS. I'm still umming and aaahing about it all.

Part of it is, how do you manage all the old fashioned type cooking, like rendering fat? I wouldn't have the foggiest. Could I actually eat offal? I don't know.

rendering fat is gross. i cheat, will buy the cheaper fatty pieces and slow fry them and use fat run off from that. it makes stir fry veg taste yummy

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I just read on a FB feed a 30 day meal plan for the start of GAPS Intro. There's no way I could get DH to do it. It's a great resource though, with a meal plan and shopping list. I need to finish reading the book. I'm wondering if I can go to Full GAPS. I'm still umming and aaahing about it all.

Part of it is, how do you manage all the old fashioned type cooking, like rendering fat? I wouldn't have the foggiest. Could I actually eat offal? I don't know.

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I wouldn't advise intro personally. There are loads of people that seem to be able to be that hardcore and do it but I think you're more likely to get diet burnout and quit. And if you're TTC or pregnant then I wouldn't advise it either as it's very detoxing.

As for the old fashioned cooking, I figure that's good to do whether you're on GAPS or not. Perhaps try and do one new thing a week (or fortnight even).

I also hate rendering lard and tallow but I think it's because I'm using the wrong equipment because when I go to pour it out of the pan I rendered it in I end up with fat everywhere and it blocks the drains and it's messy and awful and I hate it! I also find at the lowest oven temp it takes about 3 days to get through my kilo lumps of fat I have. And I've got better things to do!! I only do it very rarely and I may stop because I can buy pastured lard easily enough so I think I'll just do that. I don't use a lot of lard anyway because I mostly cook in fat saved from cooking. I cook up a bunch of chicken thighs for snacks every week and the fat from those is perfect for roasting vegetables in. I fry vegetables in left over bacon fat, fat taken off cold bone broth or stew, and butter (and sometimes lard). Frying fat like doubletrouble said is a great idea too.

I took a little while to be able to eat offal. Now it's not a big deal and I add it into our meals as often as possible (I'd say 2 to 3 times a week). Start with chicken hearts and livers- they are much less strong tasting than beef. I add ground chicken hearts to chicken burgers and you would have no idea they are there. Beef liver is best soaked in some lemon juice for at least 30mins and I add that to mince dishes like meatloaf & burgers.

I also find that calf liver is alot less strong tasting...just sayin'.

That's funny! I just saw some calf livers at the shops a few hours ago and was wondering what they are like. They look paler in colour like the chicken livers so I was thinking they wouldn't be as strong (nor as nutritious though) as the beef liver. What do you do with them? I'll have to try some :)

I read calf's liver is the best nutritionally, followed by duck, I think.

Cassius, have you checked out the Brewer pregnancy diet? It has a lot in common with GAPS.