How We are Surviving GAPS Intro
If you haven’t heard of the GAPS Diet before then here’s a little summary:
It is an elimination diet in which you eat only easy-to-digest foods that are rich in the elements your gut lining needs. By eliminating trouble foods and eating lots of helpful foods the gut is able to heal and seal, treating leaky gut. It also allows you to pinpoint any foods that you might be sensitive to along the way that you didn’t even know about. And, sometimes, the healing of the gut will allow you to eat said foods, assuming they are truly nourishing.
We’ve done the Full GAPS diet in the past, or at least my version of it, but had never gone all the way back to the introductory diet. We decided to give it a shot, but it is not easy seeing as how your diet consists mainly of stock, boiled meat, boiled vegetables, and sauerkraut juice.
The first two days were really rough. No one wanted to eat because it was just soup all day every day. After nearly pulling my hair out I changed a few things that have made this diet possible.
Here’s How We’re Surviving
- Place one person on the introduction diet and the rest of the family members on the full GAPS. Right now my husband is on the intro diet. This will help your budget and your sanity as there are more food items you can eat when you are not on the full diet.
- Make massive pots of stock and meat. This has been a life-saver for me. I have a 3-4 gallon stock pot that gets filled with chicken backs and two whole chickens from a local farmer. I simmer the whole lot for a few hours, remove all of the meat and let this simmer for a couple of days. This produces two gallons of stock and a 9×13" pan full of chicken meat that will feed us for days.
- Don’t just make soup. It’s the most logical conclusion of the diet, but soup three times per day every day is enough to make most people go mad. So we do soup once per day, he eats the boiled chicken with boiled vegetables and herbs for lunch, and then boiled squash with coconut oil and egg yolk for breakfast. He has stock in a cup with meals and loves it.
- Go really, really slow. He doesn’t have any major health concerns, but he wants to be sure that his gut is in good health. So he hasn’t had major die-off or transitional symptoms. That being said, we are going really slow… doing the sensitivity test before each new food, eating a couple of spoonfuls of the food, waiting a couple of days, and then introducing more of the food to be sure of no reaction.
- Use fresh herbs and tons of fat. I think this is the only thing that makes the food interesting. The recommended diet is truly nourishing, but can get a bit tedious. Using lots of fresh herbs and animal fats makes it tasty and helps you heal faster.
- Make GAPS your main project for a while. The past couple years it seems like we’ve always got a side project going on besides our daily responsibilities. With the amount of cooking, dishes, and healing you are doing there just is no time (or energy) for much else.
My Favorite GAPS Resources
Recipes & Ideas For What to Eat on GAPS Intro :: from Keeper of the Home
GAPS Intro: For Gut Healing & Sealing :: from Health, Home, Happiness
GAPS Guide :: This book is small and expensive, but so helpful. I am currently borrowing it from a sweet friend, but because of the fact that I look at this book just about every day I may purchase it soon.
Gut and Psychology Syndrome :: This is the book by Dr. Natasha Campell-McBride that explains everything.
So, that is how we are surviving. Notice I didn’t say thriving. I am washing a ridiculous amount of dishes. I spend more time than usual preparing and planning meals. It is harder on the budget than our usual diet.
But so far, I think it is worth it.
Thank you for sharing this experience with us. I just purchased the book and am beginning to read through it. It seems overwhelming but also makes so much sense. First I’m going to introduce my body to live foods then we’ll begin the diet. I think next year sometime is going to be reasonable to us as it’ll take so much planning and preparing ourselves mentally. I’ve been doing so much reading that I haven’t blogged in almost a month!
Do your stocks congeal? We got better results, stocks that congeal really nicely, when we cut the cooking time down to several hours instead of overnight.
Darrin – Ya know it seems to be hit or miss. I find that my stocks congeal more frequently when I cook the meat in the broth with the bones before removing as opposed to roasting a chicken, removing the meat and then just cooking the bones. I also find it congeals almost always with beef rather than chicken.
Would this be close to the Candida Diet? Very limited diet to fix the good bacteria and kill the yeast overgrowth in your body. I was doing it strictly for a while but it does not promote soups only or boiled food. Also, to get chicken stock to congeal add chicken feet (cleaned well) to the stock.
Stephanie – It is similar, but the GAPS diet addresses the gut lining. The reason you start with very easy-to-digest foods and only very specific foods is because these foods provide the nutrients necessary for the gut lining to seal, thereby healing the so-called “leaky gut”. The candida diet addresses only the bacterial balance while GAPS seems to go one step further.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I first read about GAPS on your blog and read the information of person teaching the cooking class. I was intrigued as my husband has developed allergies the past 5 years, is in constant pain from arthritis, constant diahrrea (sp?), seasonal depression and daily heartburn/acid reflux issues. He takes antibiotics 3-4 times a year. I also have fought allergies, exzema, and constipation my entire life. My grown daughters have similar problems and are thinking about medication. My husband is “game” but does not truly understand the significant changes he will need to make for the long haul. He is also worried about losing too much weight as he is close to his ideal (lucky him…wish I could say the same). Is there a place where he could read a clear, concise explanation of the diet? For the last month I have read Nourishing Traditions, GAPS and numerous blogs etc and am thinking about starting the intro the next couple of weeks. Still need to get things in order–like ordering a yogurt maker (any suggestions?), fermenting some veggies, and try juicing. Please continue to share your journey as it will help others along the way.
gogardengirl – Well the two books – Gut and Psychology Syndrome and GAPS guide – are great. Also you can head to gapsdiet.com for a synopsis of the diet and various helpful articles.
Great post! I found comfort in your words and glad to know I am not alone in washing lots of dishes!
@gogardengirl,
I would start on full GAPS before going intro. Intro can be really hard, especially on those with digestive problems – you can see tons of die-off quickly with fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, etc. I think GAPS would definitely help your husband. A good place to start is gapsdiet.com and the book. I transitioned from NT/traditional food to full GAPS over 2 months and I noticed die-off just by removing grains, then starches, then sugar. It can be scary!
I’ll be doing intro in a few weeks and hopefully I can get back to full GAPS before doing intro for my toddler who has eczema. I’m blogging about on mygapsmusings.wordpress.com.
Don’t think me dense- but why is it harder on the budget? We already eat a low carb, almost grain free diet. So is it just similiar to that- or am I missing something. It seems like paring down to just meat and veggies- without all the condiments, and additional side things would actually be a little easier on the budget.
As a side note- I would love to go GAPS- just for a while to make sure we were starting from a great health standpoint. Removing most the grains and eating tons more broth already has had a marvelous effect on health in this household. Problem is I’m 12 weeks pregnant and I don’t think I’m supposed to go on gaps…..Can you when you are nursing (exclusively- or even waiting until baby is on solids and nursing?)
Nicole – I think because I am buying a bunch more bones for making stock and because at the very beginning of the intro we are eating vegetables that are out of season instead of ones we are growing ourselves or have put up last year.
I have to second the recommendation for the GAPS Guide. On my first read through the GAPS book, I was expecting a detailed step-by-step explanation of how to do the diet and I just didn’t see it. The GAPS Guide really helps to break the information down.
Something else I’m sure many people miss (since it’s only mentioned briefly in GAPS) is proper food combining. This is something that is discussed at length in the book Body Ecology Diet. I never read the book myself, but a friend gave me a photocopy of the information on food combining and if I recall correctly it is just like Dr. NCMB mentions in GAPS.
Hi Shannon! I just found your blog today and I just want to say that it’s so lovely! I also tried your coconut flour pancakes and they were delicious!~ :Dhave a blessed day
It is tough. I’m in the car with my family on the way to my BIL’s place. I have a cooler with me with jars of soup, lard, fermented salsa and homemade yogurt in it. We are headed on tomorrow to a ball game with everyone. We are arriving early to watch batting practice and may face rain delays. I sure hope I don’t get stuck there for untold hours not able to eat anything. I wanted to skip the whole trip but am going to keep the peace. The whole hassle of not being able to eat away from home is why my husband is not willing to do GAPS.
Martha – My husband was just saying that he feels like he can’t go anywhere either because of his dietary restrictions.
Please keep us informed of how you are doing. I am on the GAPS diet as well.
I did do the intro as best I as knew how. I do enjoy your posts!
I appreciate this post right now as I am currently working backwards towards the intro diet with myself and my 4 children. It is indeed so challenging but worth it as we have already witnessed some results from just eliminating wheat, lactose, and sugar and introducing fermented foods. I agree with the idea of starting with one family member at a time as it is so difficult to transition to. I am working myself up to begin the intro diet and then will progress with my autistic 4 year old daughter and my 16 year old son diagnosed with celiac. Thanks for sharing your family’s experience. It is helpful to read about others in the same boat.
Magda,
Thanks for the suggestion, the intro does seem to be pretty brutal and if my husband had some really severe die-off symptoms it may be reason to quit before he could see the benefits. We are cleaning out the pantry and freezer of our poor foods and have started filling them with GAPS foods.
I will be following your blog as you work through the intro. Giving up grains, starches and sugar should be pretty much a challenge, but the goal is health and wellness. Can’t wait to see the results.
Thanks for sharing the GAPS Resources!
My family and I have never done the GAPS diet before, but I would eventually like to. It is amazing how much better one feels when their gut is working optimally!
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
Thanks for sharing your tips about the chicken stock process you follow. I might have to try simmering my chicken stock for a couple days, instead of NT’s 24-hours.
I’ve been thinking of doing this. Wouldn’t there be less cooking if everyone does the same stage at once? Maybe I’ve missed something, though. With seven of us, I can’t imagine cooking two different meals three times a day.
Cathy – Probably less cooking, but the benefit of doing only one on the intro is that we can all eat a big pot of soup, but the boys and I can also eat raw veggies, salads, and meats and veg cooked with any method on the side. So we’re all eating mostly the same things except the boys and I are eating other things in addition.
Are you using a probiotic on GAPS Intro? If so, do you have a brand you recommend? I know Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride recommends Bio-Kult.
Kaitlyn – Right now we are using Garden of Life primal defense. From what I have read Bio-Kult or primal defense are two of the best.
Greetings Shannon
I was just looking up making stock for GAPS and came across your site. I am planning on going on the intro diet soon and after try and put the family on it as my son is autistic. thanks for sharing.
Sanrico