We thought it would be fun to share how both of us are using these three elements to show how they look different for each person using GAPS. We'll start with Diet, then do posts on Supplementation and Detoxification.
None of these posts should be considered complete. Read the book for lots more relevant details!
Diet
The diet portion of the GAPS protocol is based off of the Specific-Carbohydrate Diet(SCD), with some specifications/modifications for GAPS. Not all the foods allowed on GAPS on are SCD and some on the SCD list aren't allowed on GAPS, so you need to understand the differences. For example SCD allows lactose-free dairy from the beginning, GAPS does not. SCD never allows chocolate, GAPS does later. Learn more about SCD here. Here is the GAPS legal/illegal list. It seems that for some people, especially those who have trouble digesting fats, the SCD might be a good program to start with. This site outlines more about the SCD.
On to GAPS!
Emily
What I have tried to do for the food portion of the diet is purchase the best food I can find. So if I am at the grocery store I buy all organic, if I am at the farmers market it is "spray free" or organic (though a lot of farmers don't pay for the certification), and pastured local meats if possible. The food is the foundation of the diet and I figure the better the food, the better it is for your body.
I have made a lot of shifts in what I used to eat versus what I have been eating now on the intro diet. Even though I have been on a gluten free diet for the past three years my diet was grain heavy - mostly oats, brown rice and quinoa, but I would also eat millet and buckwheat. A few weeks prior to starting Intro I eliminated grains just to see what it was like and what kind of meals I could put together, especially since my go-to breakfast was GF oatmeal with berries and dinner was usually quinoa or rice with vegetables and protein. Another change for me other than the grains is the removal of soy because I did use tofu as a meat substitute in at least one-two meals per week. I have mentioned in some of my early blog posts that I am not a big fan of meat so the increase in meat was initially a challenge because I didn't like the taste, but I have grown to like it more as I have progressed through intro.
The other big change with this diet is the encouragement to eat lots of fats - whether that be coconut oil, animal fats, or eventually olive oil. It is quite different from conventional "diets" where fats are shunned and minimized. For me, it was mentally challenging initially to add spoons of olive oil into my soup or to leave the fat that floated to the top of my broth in the broth. Prior to GAPS that fat would have been in the trash. Sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables like kimchi or pickles were not something I ever ate pre-GAPS and I now love to eat and have enjoyed making. I have done raw lacto-fermented pickles and sauerkraut so far and plan to do kimchi in the future.
I hope to be able to successfully introduce dairy which in the past causes me brain fog/dizziness and for my skin to breakout. I did successful eat goats milk kefir prior to Intro and it was delicious so I hope to start with goats milk and make my own kefir/yogurt in the food dehydrator. I would love to try raw cow milk at some point too. It was also suggested to me that perhaps the milk I was reacting to was from cows that were grain fed not grass fed and that this could have an impact on my ability to digest the milk. An interesting idea for sure, but my thought is that I am reacting to the sugar because the loopy/dizzy feeling is the same one I get when I eat sugar.
My digestion has certainly been easier on the diet and I feel, for the most part, that I am able to deal with stressful situations better that I did before. I have had sugar/food cravings but only when I have eaten honey or nuts so those items will be eliminated for now and I have found that the quantity of fat helps a lot with the body's desire to eat sugar.
Kathryn
For us, the key part of the diet element includes eating all organic, sustainable/local with organic standards, or pastured foods. I am finding the diet portion of GAPS to be similar in many ways to the foods we ate before, though we have significantly increased fermented foods, broths and animal fats. I am happy to say that mu family really enjoys most of the new foods, favoring fermented foods and fats over the broth - but I'll take what I can get.
We will not be introducing nuts, as L does have nut allergies. Perhaps someday, but not soon. She is so young and I want her to be able to communicate a reaction. Dairy has not been part of our diet, nor have eggs, for years. We look forward to hopefully adding these back in. Yolks and ghee are tolerated in our family during intro and we will do a separate intro for dairy, after we complete the GAPS Intro.
I can tell a difference in everyone's digestion when we are eating Full GAPS (as we did the month prior to intro) versus what we ate before. The foods are easier to digest, everyone is more peaceful - behavior is more even-keeled. We didn't miss many foods because there are great alternatives - like winter squash instead of sweet potato/white potato or navy beans versus garbanzo beans. If you are getting enough fats and balancing your meals with vegetables, you really won't miss sweets. I have seen a huge reduction in cravings for sweets (fruits/honey) from all of us. I have found that I can think about chocolate in a rational way, and not like an addict (one with no control) and that feels really good in my body and my head.
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