The GAPS Introduction Diet Stages for Faster Healing through Nutrient-Dense Food

The GAPS Introduction Diet Stages for Faster Healing through Nutrient-Dense Food

What is the GAPS Intro Diet?

The Gut and Psychology Syndrome introduction diet is a diet focused on intensive rest and healing for the gut lining, as well as slow introduction of fermented foods to repopulate it with friendly microorganisms.

Different ways to use the Intro

Some, as we did, start the ‘intro diet’ right as we are starting GAPS, others go on ‘full GAPS’ for a while and then go down to the introduction diet. If you are overwhelmed, this may be the better choice as doing full GAPS will help you see improvements without being so restrictive.

After my daughter had been on GAPS for a year, I wanted to put all three of us on the intro diet for a month before we went into warmer weather. Re-going on the intro diet after being on GAPS for a while can give you increased healing and can help get rid of any health symptoms that you didn’t get rid of the first time around. Even after going off GAPS we aim to re-do intro once a year, even if it’s just over a school holiday.

As a baby, my son had eczema, but when we went on GAPS intro when he was 11 months, it wasn’t seen again until the next winter (over a year later) when it’s starting a tiny bit again. After doing the intro the second time it hasn’t been seen since.

It’s not that eczema is a serious condition, but I know that it’s a symptoms of some underlying imbalance in his little body, and I’d like to do what I can to correct it.

Most of you know that we primarily did the GAPS diet for my little girl with autism, and we saw amazing results. GAPS by far gave her the most progress, but we did (over a 3-year period, one at a time in addition to GAPS) Traditional Chinese Medicine, Homeopathy, Supplements, reduced toxins in the home (which is part of the GAPS protocol), and mainstream therapies like Speech and Occupational therapy.

To Heal Allergies

The idea that you can heal food allergies is life-changing for people who are sensitive to different foods. You can hear how I stopped getting chronic sinus infections from dairy here, by just a few weeks on the GAPS diet.

My little one had a sensitivity to eggs, and my middle to dairy (both showing up as eczema). My little guy is just short of a year now and he no longer gets eczema flares from eggs, whether he’s eating it or I am and he’s getting it through breastfeeding. It’s too soon to tell how his gut is sealing up permanently, but my middle child is 6 has been able to eat dairy since going through intro with me at 1 year.

Help is here

• I would

  

  GAPS book

  not try to do the intro diet without first reading the GAPS book and understanding the philosophy of the diet, I know the book is expensive, but it costs less than even one doctor’s visit. You can purchase the GAPS book here.
• Learn more about the GAPS Intro Meal Plan Here- called What Do I Eat Now?
• Breastfeeding? Pregnant? Learn more about GAPS while pregnant or breastfeeding here

(the above video is from my Gut-Healing Starter Package)

GAPS Diet Intro Stages

You can eat on stage 1:

• Meat or fish stock

• Well boiled broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, leeks

• Squash, winter and summer

• Boiled meat

• Sea salt,

• 1-2 teaspoons a day of sauerkraut juice

Stage 2

You can eat on Stage 2:

• Meat or fish stock

• Well boiled GAPS-legal vegetables (no starchy root vegetables)

• Squash, winter and summer

• Boiled meat

• Sea salt

• Fresh herbs

• Fermented vegetables; sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles

• Fermented fish

• Egg yolk, organic, carefully separated from the white

• Homemade ghee

• Stews and casseroles made with meat and vegetables

Stage 3

You can eat on Stage 3:

• Meat or fish stock

• Well boiled GAPS-legal vegetables (no starchy root vegetables)

• Squash, winter and summer

• Boiled meat

• Sea salt

• Fresh herbs

• Fermented vegetables; saurkraut, kimchi, pickles

• Fermented fish

• Egg yolk, organic, carefully separated from the white

• Homemade ghee

• Stews and casseroles made with meat and vegetables

• Ripe avocado mashed into soups, starting with 1-3 teaspoons a day

• Pancakes made with nutbutter, squash, and eggs- fried in fat or ghee, start with one a day

• Scrambled eggs made with ghee and served with avocado if tolerated and cooked vegetables.

Stage 4

You can eat on Stage 4:

• Meat or fish stock

• Well boiled GAPS-legal vegetables (no starchy root vegetables)

• Squash, winter and summer

• Boiled, roasted, or grilled meat (not burned)

• Sea salt

• Fresh herbs

• Cold pressed olive oil

• Fermented vegetables; saurkraut, kimchi, pickles

• Fermented fish

• Egg yolk, organic, carefully separated from the white

• Homemade ghee

• Stews and casseroles made with meat and vegetables

• Ripe avocado mashed into soups, starting with 1-3 teaspoons a day

• Pancakes made with nutbutter, squash, and eggs- fried in fat or ghee, start with one a day

• Scrambled eggs made with ghee and served with avocado if tolerated and cooked vegetables.

• Freshly pressed juices, start with a few tablespoons of carrot juice

• Bread made with nut flour, eggs, squash, tolerated fat, salt

You can eat on Stage 5:

• Meat or fish stock

• Raw legal vegetables, peeled

• Squash, winter and summer

• Peeled, cooked apple, pureed

• Honey, up to a couple tablespoons a day

• Boiled, roasted, or grilled meat (not burned)

• Sea salt

• Fresh herbs

• Cold pressed olive oil

• Fermented vegetables; saurkraut, kimchi, pickles

• Fermented fish

• Egg yolk, organic, carefully separated from the white

• Homemade ghee

• Stews and casseroles made with meat and vegetables

• Ripe avocado mashed into soups, starting with 1-3 teaspoons a day

• Pancakes made with nutbutter, squash, and eggs- fried in fat or ghee, start with one a day

• Scrambled eggs made with ghee and served with avocado if tolerated and cooked vegetables.

• Freshly pressed juices, carrot, mint, cabbage, lettuce, apple, pineapple, mango

• Bread made with nut flour, eggs, squash, tolerated fat, salt

Stage 6

You can eat on Stage 6:

• Meat or fish stock

• Raw legal vegetables, peeled

• Squash, winter and summer

• Peeled, raw apple

• Other fruits, raw, introduce slowly

• Honey, up to a couple tablespoons a day

• Boiled, roasted, or grilled meat (not burned)

• Sea salt

• Fresh herbs

• Cold pressed olive oil

• Fermented vegetables; saurkraut, kimchi, pickles

• Fermented fish

• Egg yolk, organic, carefully separated from the white

• Homemade ghee

• Stews and casseroles made with meat and vegetables

• Ripe avocado mashed into soups, starting with 1-3 teaspoons a day

• Pancakes made with nutbutter, squash, and eggs- fried in fat or ghee, start with one a day

• Scrambled eggs made with ghee and served with avocado if tolerated and cooked vegetables.

• Freshly pressed juices, carrot, mint, cabbage, lettuce, apple, pineapple, mango

• Bread made with nut flour, eggs, squash, tolerated fat, salt- use dates and dried fruit to sweeten.

Looking for recipes? I have a bunch on my GAPS Diet Recipes Page – along with more informative articles like this one!

Original article and pictures take healthhomeandhappiness.com site