Have you heard of the GAPS Diet for Autism and other issues like ADHD, digestion problems, candida, asthma, learning or behavioral Issues and anxiety/depression?
I was very excited to hear Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride speak recently. It seems that everywhere I turn these days I hear more about her work, and it all makes so much sense.
Before we go further, were you just looking for some quick links?
- Click here for the GAPS Diet book by Natasha Campbell McBride
- What is the GAPS Diet {GAPS Diet for Rookies}, a guest post from my friend Cara, where she explains that the goal is to heal your gut and then go off the diet.
- Click here for the strong probiotics (use code KOP for a discount)
- Click here for cod liver oil (you can take the oil or the pills, use code KOP for a discount)
- Click here for Grain free meal plans
- Click here for a GAPS Starter Kit
- Click here for What Can I Eat Now? 30 Days on the GAPS Intro Diet
- What can damage our gut flora?
Some of the above resources are from my friend, Cara, here she is explaining more about what the GAPS Diet is like:
Who is Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride and what is the GAPS Diet?
Dr. Campbell-McBride is a neurologist with a son who was diagnosed with severe autism. She went back to school and got her PhD in nutrition and now runs a nutrition clinic in the UK. She completely healed her son's autism through diet. He is a teenager now and in a mainstream school and doing great, playing sports, etc.
This could be life-changing information for some family out there…
She says in the Winter 2007 Wise Traditions Journal that all of the following conditions stem from, or go along with, various digestive disorders, which she calls Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) – because children (and adults) with these conditions fall into the gap of our medical knowledge: ADD, ADHD, learning disabilities, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, asthma, bed wetting, thrush, finicky eaters, chronic ear infections, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, type-1 diabetes, chronic cystitis (bladder infection), colic & eczema.
“The trouble with our medicine is that most of our doctors are specialized…have you ever met a psychiatrist or neurologist who looked at your digestive system?”
“Fifteen or twenty years ago, the majority of doctors never saw an autistic child. It was a rare disorder that most people had never heard of, afflicting about one child in 10,000. Today, on average in this country, one child in 150 is diagnosed with autism. With a 40-fold increase in newly diagnosed cases of autism, we have an absolute epidemic. Autism is a serious disorder, yet it is perfectly curable. The younger the child when treatment begins, the better results I see. If you can catch the autistic child under the age of three, there is about a 60-70 percent chance of full recovery.”
“Vaccinations have been designed for children with healthy immune systems. We have a growing population of children who do not possess healthy immune systems. They are not fit to be vaccinated. In a child with a compromised immune system, vaccinations cause damage to that immune system, putting the child closer to disaster. In some children they provide the last straw that breaks the camel's back. In my clinic, about 15 percent of the children started their autistic symptoms after MMR vaccinations and about the same number started after DPT vaccinations. But the majority of parents see no connection… Despite having no vaccinations, some children are still autistic. So vaccinations are not the cause of autism. They just bring the child closer to the problem.”
“When children with autism and attention deficit problems grow up, unless something seriously is done to help them, they become GAPS adults – the symptoms don't go away…psychiatric conditions, such as endogenous depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, manic-depression or bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, are typically GAPS conditions. Patients with these conditions do very well on the GAPS nutritional program. These conditions can be curable; in most cases they are caused by our environment and our diet.”
This part may be controversial, especially to those who have had great success on the DAN (Defeat Autism Now) protocol, but I'm just putting it out there:
“Autistic children are often put on a gluten-free/casein-free (GFCF) diet. It is a tragedy that this diet has been pronounced as ‘the' diet for autism and schizophrenia because removing grains and dairy foods only removes two toxic substances from the body – gluteomorphins and casomorphins. The GFCF diet doesn't deal with all the other toxins, it doesn't heal the gut and it doesn't change the gut flora. In my clinic about 30 percent of children show initial improvement with a gluten- and casein-free diet. The majority do not show any improvement at all and those who show some improvement then plateau and the parents end up in a nightmare situation where if the child gets hold of even a crumb of bread or steals a cracker there is a huge regression. This happens because the gut is still damaged, the gut flora is still abnormal, the gut wall is still leaky and porous. All the toxins are still flowing into the body. The gluten-free/casein-free diet is inappropriate for GAPS patients. It is not enough.”
I'll touch on one more part of the article related to probiotics.
First and foremost, Dr. Campbell-McBride says the digestive disorder must be treated. “One absolutely paramount way to do that is taking an effective probiotic in order to introduce beneficial bacteria into the digestive systems of these children. Eating fermented foods are an excellent source of probiotic bacteria. We used to consume trillions of good bacteria on a daily basis when we fermented our foods and these beneficial organisms got built into our psychology. We need them, we cannot live without them. Since we invented refrigeration we stopped eating fermented foods so we stopped providing our bodies with something vital. HOWEVER, in GAPS children and adults, just eating fermented foods is not enough. They have to have a strong, aggressive, therapeutic-strength probiotic that eats candida and clostridia, and eats the old, compacted putrefaction in the gut and removes it.”
Do “quick fixes” really heal, or just treat the symptoms for a while?
First of all, she doesn't propose that the GAPS diet is an easy or quick fix. Real solutions rarely are. Instead she teaches how to help conditions that have stumped doctors for years, so if your child suffers with one of these: Autism, ADHD, Digestion Problems, Candida, Asthma, Learning / Behavioral Issues and Depression? Or social problems, reflux, constipation and other digestive issues, and many others – she said it sometimes takes up to two years or more on this diet. Until now, the only treatment was aimed at the symptoms, and there weren't whole body evaluations or any lasting help. The answers only involved more medications and side effects.
She said about her son, “Having looked at his profound digestive abnormalities, I found that my own profession had nothing to offer my own child. He is now fifteen years old and cured. That was a fateful event in my life and what it took to knock this doctor out of the mainstream. Every medical doctor I have met who has ‘moved to our side' has had something like this happen to a loved one.”
Here's the book by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride: Gut & Psychology Syndrome
WHAT IS “GAPS SYNDROME” and how is the GAPS Diet for Autism and other issues even helpful? (Here are some notes from the talk I went to, I apologize that it's a bit hodge-podge at times…)
- In children it can be diagnosed as: autism, ADHD/ADD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and the largest group are those with these three: learning, behavior, & social problems.
- Unless something drastic and serious is done to help the above children, they become adults with these problems: more prone to substance abuse (and higher chances of reacting adversely to drugs), depression, obsessive/ compulsive disorder, manic-depressive, and schizophrenia.
- The numbers are growing, and it can maim the lives of not only these children and adults, but of whole families for the rest of their lives. The medical community doesn't offer any cures; all that is offered is symptomatic treatments.
- In a clinical setting, one feature unites all these problems: they all have digestive problems as well.
- In chidren, digestive issues are usually the first symptom. Sometimes they are severe, but other times they're not so severe and you only find out later, after talking more about their history, that they have these problems.
- Sometimes GAPS patients have allergies, asthma & eczema (those two usually alternate), thrush, or chronic cystitis (bladder infection) – but have you ever heard of a doctor who would ask them about any digestive problems when they show up with these symptoms?
- Chronic Cystitis: through the urine is how toxins are moved out of our body. If they build up in the blood instead, it causes chronic inflammation and symptoms of cystitis. They test the urine but don't find an infection, so they don't know how to help.
- Thrush/yeast overgrowth in the vagina or any sweaty, warm places. A healthy body is populated by beneficial flora that live in harmony with us in the skin, mucus membranes, vagina, bladder, urethra, everywhere in the body. But if you've been on a lot of antibiotics, if there are environmental toxins, stress, a bad diet, or all these things, your body flora changes. Good bacteria are gone and it opens the gate for pathogens. The first thing you might see is often candida and other yeasts that cause thrush.
- If your body is well equipped, yeast can't settle in your body and cause harm. If it has already settled and started causing problems, it is an alarm bell that your immune system is not working properly. This is the time to make drastic changes.
- Some GAPS children suffer from malnutrition, but may look well nourished. When tested we find multiple nutritional deficiencies. Others look like starving children: they are too skinny, with bulging tummies.
- GAPS patients often have colic, bloating/gas (as a colicky baby grows it becomes indigestion and heartburn – in a baby it was called reflux), diarrhea, or constipation – which is more severe than diarrhea because toxins sit inside there a long time and then get into the bloodstream.
- Feeding difficulties are universally present in these patients. They are finicky eaters. (Siblings of autistic children are almost universally picky eaters, too.) Their bodies learn that food makes them ill so they limit the foods they'll eat to the very foods that harm them most – sweet, starchy foods, sweet yogurts, bananas. When the toxins absorb they give the brain a pleasure signal, so the brain wants more and they become drug addicts in a way.
- The trouble is that when you tell them about changing the diet, a lot of parents ask, “how do I change my child's eating habits, they will gag and not eat any of this!” In my GAPS book there is a whole chapter, a structured approach, on how to change a finicky child's diet gradually – you have to pull them out of the vicious cycle of cravings and dependency. They will fight you every step, but you have to help pull them out. One child lived on crackers and they took them to a dietician who said, “it's ok, at least he's eating.” He looked like he was from Ethiopia. After 2 months of following the GAPS diet he was eating everything, but the parents have to be determined and strong.
- In some patients we'll discover in an x-ray that there is a fecal compaction with over-spill and inflammation, similar to what you see with Crohns or Colitis, due to multiple nutritional deficiencies. This is when the digestive track is blocked with old compacted feces that are literally glued to the gut wall. It is not completely emptied when they go, so the passage is narrow, and then more gets compacted. It becomes so narrow, food can hardly seep through. When the child finally goes to the bathroom it is so painful, they are afraid to go again.
- In our gut (our intestinal tract), there are many beneficial microbes; they have established a symbiotic relationship with our bodies. 90% of all cells in our body are gut flora – we are a shell to hold this massive amount of bacteria – our health depends hugely on the health and status of this mixture of bacteria.
- The gut flora protects it from invaders, maintains the health and integrity of the gut, provides digestion and absorption, vitamin production, detoxification, and a healthy immune system.
- GAPS patients have what's called Gut Dysbiosis or “leaky gut”. They have reduced or absent populations of normal gut flora, or healthy bacteria.
- The digestive track all spread out would cover a tennis court, and it's the perfect place for anything harmful in the environment to settle, yet the good bacteria there chelate (remove) chemicals and toxic metals – if they can't destroy it, they grab and it take it from the body.
- Two groups of rats were given organic mercury. One group were given a powerful antibiotic, the other group were not. The mercury got into the bloodstream of only about 1% of those without the antibiotic, and 90% of those with the antibiotic. Keep gut flora healthy and strong and it can protect you. (When antibiotics are taken they wipe out bad bacteria AND beneficial bacteria.)
- The government says we should limit our fish consumption due to mercury in the ocean, but yet those who do NOT limit it are in better health (because it promotes healthy gut flora). If you have healthy solid gut flora, it will chelate the mercury and take it out.
- Apart from insuring that food is digested properly, good gut flora also takes part in synthesizing B vitamins – our main source is our gut flora. If someone is pale and pasty it usually can be due to vitamin B deficiencies – no matter how many supplements they take, they are still deficient.
- First thing that has to be done: detoxification. With beneficial gut flora, the toxins it can't change are taken out.
- Chemical Chelation can be dramatic and cause regression – it pulls mercury or lead out of storage cells (fatty tissue – the brain & nervous system are mostly fat) – she recommends no chelation because a healthy gut is the better way (chelation pulls out good stuff, too).
- If gut flora is compromised, the body tries to compensate and this results in allergies, asthma, and inappropriate reaction to environmental toxins. Even if you were never allergic before, and then allergies begin, soon they'll slide down to being allergic to everything.
- 85% of the immune system is located in the gut wall.
- GAPS Patients & Gut Dysbiosis: reduced/absent populations of normal flora, candida species overgrowth, clostridia species, sulphate reducing bacteria (most are deficient in sulfur as it's necessary to detoxify), viruses (measles, herpes, cmv, etc.)
- A study done in Britain shows clostridia in higher amounts in autistic children than the rest of the population. Antibiotics work, but you can't be on them forever. Only way to fight it is the natural way – with gut flora.
- Birth Control Pill has a devastating effect on gut health, as well as overuse of personal care products on skin & hair and in the mouth.
- Almost 100% of Moms with GAPS children have abnormal gut flora.
- Most autism begins when nursing stops.
- Vaccinations were developed for healthy children with healthy immune systems, but most are not fit to be vaccinated. She doesn't feel these are a direct cause with autism, but it seems to have become a “last straw” in these cases where the gut flora is on the tipping point.
How to help this condition:
It isn't hopeless, we've used the GAPS Diet for Autism and treated these children for years with good results.
- Diet (SCD/specific carb diet – more on this in the book) can greatly help these conditions (often misdiagnosed as gluten issues/celiac disease – only about 5% of these conditions qualify as true celiac disease – 17% of true celiacs don't do well on gluten-free diet.)
- Effective probiotics are crucial. Regular fermented foods or probiotics are good, but a stronger probiotic with more organisms may be more helpful for more serious issues. Be sure to use with care and read up on the right amounts. (A “die-off” reaction is common.) Later probiotic supplements can be gradually reduced and replaced by fermented foods. Get probiotics here. Don't forget the KOP code for a discount. (You may also want to read: Is My Probiotic Really Helping or am I Wasting Money? 5 Ways to Know For Sure and this: This Mom Will Make You Cry: How One Small Change Brought Help and Hope for Her Autistic Son.)
- Address nutritional deficiencies – Dr. Campbell-McBride is not in favor of a lot of supplements – nutrition is always best from healthy food. The diet is so nutrient dense that it removes most nutritional deficiencies quickly. She doesn't recommend a multivitamin, in late stages maybe, but not in initial stages. Cod liver oil is essential from the beginning – for fat soluble vitamins & omega 3's – more here on why cod liver oil is so beneficial or get CLO here.
- Detoxification is an important part of the treatment process – “I believe in natural detoxification, in using our own digestive system. More than 80% of anything harmful in your blood is from your own digestive system. That's why keeping it healthy is so vital to us. In GAPS patients, nutrients don't get absorbed. We all have our own detox system responsible for removing toxins that come from the outside or from the gut. The system can get overloaded, like a traffic jam.” TWO METHODS: A. The liver gets clogged, so it is recommended that parents introduce juicing – a time-proven method of removing all sorts of toxins from the body. Start gradually, 1/3 cup (kids 1 teaspoon) a day to start, in case of a severe die off. This is very effective – juicing provides substances to pull toxins out of storage, but will also provide live enzymes and fatty acids. (More on this in the book.) B. Baths with Epsom salt or Sea salt, and raw cider vinegar – alternate those two. This pulls toxins from the skin while the child is happily playing in the tub.”
- Your toxic load needs to be reduced – your exposure to man-made chemicals. Re-think everything used in the home, or for personal care. All can be toxic and are absorbed through the skin and end up at the liver.”
- Supplementation – probiotics (see above for more info) & cod liver oil (for vitamin A, D, & fatty acids), digestive enzymes (not for everyone, these are not needed for children – they can restore them on their own easier.)
That's what I got in my notes. More links are below and more info is in the GAPS book.
Share your experience with the GAPS Diet below in the comments!
Michael Fischer says
Great article on nutrition and diet for autism. I really enjoyed it! Please keep it up.
#1voice4autism
http://www.voice4autism.org
Nadia says
Does anyone know the best way to get an infant tested to know if their gut flora is unbalanced? I’ve been doing searches and not coming up with anything clear. Neither myself nor my child show signs of imbalance and we intend to breast feed until she is 18 months old; however I took antibiotics up until about 10 years ago when I learned how damaging they are and would just like to make sure she’s ok. To compound the issue I live in South America so figuring out how I’m going to communicate my concerns with my pediatrician should be interesting!
Any information would be much appreciated.
KitchenKop says
If I were you, I’d get the GAPS book and read it cover to cover…
Good luck and blessings to you!
Kelly
jessica says
may i ask you sometheing about the doctor????
Kat Parker says
Hi,
Not realizing it, my digestion has been off for years. I had surgery for an inquenal hernia (my leaky gut). I’ve tried all kinds of diets, juicing, etc. and now, the past three years has been awful. I came back from Costa Rica with parasites, no doctor told me, but I think I had or still have Candida. I’ve developed chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. Notice all of this in the lower half of my body. I have suffered with chronic depression and helped myself cure a lot of that with The Presence Process by Michael Brown. Many changes, moves, jobs, and a divorce these three years, no job right now and rent to pay, oh, my, you get the stress picture! I just had a job at a hotel and it was so physically demanding, I do believe I blew out my thyroid and adrenals which were not in good shape to begin with.
So, taking 3 days to recuperate from exhaustion and stress of 3 days of work means there is something wrong with this picture. I quit. Then, my lower back was hurting me so bad, but I knew it was not my back, it was my gut. And I felt the depression lurking, the obsessive thoughts, almost schizophrenic like (my brother is diagnosed SZ). I asked the Holy Spirit for help. While searching through the EarthClinic site (so helpful) I found someone talking about Dr. Hoffer and his cure for SZ, and then I found the GAPS diet. In March this year, I put myself on a raw food diet. No bread, no wheat, no dairy, no sugar, and believe me, I rarely cheat. But I knew this was not helping me now because I can’t poo. People do change in many ways.
I started the GAPS the best way I could, just with some homemade chicken broth made from a breast and had soup every meal for 2 days. I can’t afford the book, so here I am reading what I can. I get some recipes from the SCD book website, but I’m a good, inventive cook so that’s really no problem.
The result of now 4 days on GAPS my way? No more gut pain or lower back pain. I’m also starting to do EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) which addresses the emotions of what I’m going through. I have had healings of pain in my body just from healing my beliefs about something or someone I had not forgiven. The thought I had about that is that EFT would be an easy and fun method for those parents to do with their children who will be experiencing some grief over not having milk anymore. But really, you musn’t let that grief get in the way of the health of you and your child. They’ll get over it and so wil you.
My daughter was never immunized. She was breast fed for 2/5 years. She ate vegan until she was four and we were vegetarians after that. Before age 1 she did not have wheat. She never had meat, dairy, or sugary candy (honey, yes) until she was four when we moved to the South. But her lunches were always packed with things other kids thought weird. She would tell me this and groan, but there was a certain pride she had then about knowing that I cared enough about her health, as she did, to give her something good to eat. Being weird set her apart but in a good way. She is 20 now with perfect teeth and not one cavity – ever. Now, she eats pretty standard, but tries to be healthy, but with quite a bit of fast food. She has dark circles under her eyes and some digestive issues. What can a mama do now? Nothing. Just love her for her choices and keep healing myself, because when I heal myself, I heal the world.
KitchenKop says
Wow, already such results after only 4 days?! That must be so motivating to help you continue!
“When I heal myself, I heal the world.” YES! Because the world sees, and the truth will spread far and wide. 🙂
KitchenKop says
Becky, my best advice is to get on the Yahoo support group for GAPS (google it), that will be what gets you through!!
Kelly
Becky says
I’m doing some research and considering GAPS for our family, but I am completely overwhelmed when I consider having my school aged kids on it! How in the world would I pack their lunches and snacks for school?! Even if I could fill their bellies, I’m concerned about other kids’ reactions to what they’re eating. We already have occasional problems with kids telling them their lunch is gross, and we eat a traditional but not totally weird diet. I’m ready to completely give up before we even start! Any thoughts would be very appreciated.
Lenetta @ Nettacow says
Kel, I tried following the links (I was curious to see how much the book really costs!) and I couldn’t get anywhere – just in a big circle. Very interesting info, though!
KitchenKop says
Sorry Lenetta, I just fixed it to make it easier. Thanks for letting me know!
Go here.
Kelly
Lenetta @ Nettacow says
Ah, I was looking for it in the books section anyway. :>) But I did find it this time. Thanks!
mommagirl says
We started the Gaps Diet on September 19th. What a day. What a year- a year of miracles!
The chronic asthma coughs are gone, the sinus infections are gone, the I-don’t-feel-so-good whining is gone. Ear aches are gone, sore throats and runny noses are gone. Encopresis is gone (except when we get ahead of ourselves in the diet). Most of the stimming has disappeared. We are not nearly the burpy, gassy family that we used to be. I’ve lost 40 lbs. People who know my son think his adhd must still be medicated.(He stopped taking them the week before we started the diet.) His grades and accomplishments in the third grade just got better and better as the year wore on. He is also quicker to obey and help. I am handling stress better. We are learning to listen to our bodies and recognize when it’s die off and when it’s a food that we are not ready for. I am learning so much. I’ve made saurkraut, yogurt (which we weren’t ready for yet), ghee, liver(soaked in whey), soaked then dehydrated nuts and have cooked EVERY meal from scratch. We’ve even managed to eat out and go camping.-Yes, all of these things are miracles- even my cooking. We have done the best that we can, although not perfectly- and we are still healing and seeing improvements all the time. Even when we have a setback from adding something we weren’t ready for yet, it reinforces to me that we are on the right track, that this diet is what we are supposed to be doing. Seeing old behaviors return or sicknesses relapse just reminds me of why we started this and confirms that if we weren’t doing this, we’d still be just as sick as before. Then we take the food back out and see the symptoms vanish.
Before we started this, I studied diets A LOT. I knew that there had to be a better way than medications. I really liked that this is not a permanent diet. (People who do feingold or gf/cf/sf have to stick to it for ever.) I liked that as we heal we can start to add in all the healthy foods this world has to offer. People ask how long we plan on sticking to this- I say at least 2 years, but that we never want to go back to eating all the garbage that we used to. Who wants to invite those nasty little pathogens back into our guts again?
We are so thankful for this diet. When we thank God for our food every day, and ask Him to ‘Please bless it for our bodies, that we can be healthy and strong’, we actually know that we are doing our part to see that happen. And I thank Him for leading me to this diet and all the support that there is out there for it.
KitchenKop says
All I can say is WOW, God really is good that He would lead you to this diet that has brought your family so much healing, I looooooove it!!!!! It’s so fun when He does stuff like that. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your story with us!
Kelly
Kari says
The first question I would pose to Ann is why you are doing the gaps diet? Taking a young child off of dairy for a few weeks is not going to harm her. But the benefits would be unmeasurable. Find a Nutritional Therapist if you are in doubt, but I have found a mothers intuition and a lot of research does a child very good.
Kari
Ann says
Several reasons but mainly because she has eczema (which I feel resulted from my diet during pregnancy) and I feel that milk may be the culprit as I have removed all other known allergens from her diet as well as made other changes (laundry detergent, cleaning products, etc) with no improvement in her skin.
Cass says
My daughter also developed asthma & allergies & we have done a lot of work with NAET (Nambudripad’s allergy elimination technique) which has been amazing as it actually resolves the allergies. It is done by some accupuncturists & chiropractors. She was allergic to nearly everything & I think the work we’ve done has taken a tremendous stress load off of her body along with many other changes I’ve made to our diets, water, cleaning & personal products, etc. I do feel, though, that we have not resolved the core problem so I’m considering the GAPS diet. She is nearing 8 so I think that if I’m going to do this I’d better do it now but it is overwhelming to try & imagine what I will feed her day in & day out. She is a milk lover as well & since her allergies are resolved I am really wanting to cheat & allow the raw milk… I think I will try to put limits on it & encourage the fermented dairy. Good luck to us both!
Ann says
I would like to put my 18 month old daughter on the GAPS diet but how can I take her off dairy at this age for 4 weeks? Is there anything I can substitute for milk for her during this time that isn’t processed? She asks for milk a lot and it would be very stressful for me and her when she doesn’t get her milk.
KitchenKop says
Ann, I’ve heard that coconut milk is a great GAPS friendly milk replacement, but I’m no expert on GAPS and have never done it, I’d suggest going to this Yahoo group and they’ll help you with any question you have:
https://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GAPShelp/join
Kelly
Ann says
Thanks – I’ll check it out!
Elizabeth says
Just a little thumbs up here.
I’m trying to quickly sum up our journey: My son was born with bleeding eczema. The more the doctors “helped” the more sickly my son got. He ended up developing food allergies and asthma. By time he was 3 he was nearly always keeping a cold, which caused him to use a nebulizer at least once a month. He would have these uncontrollable tantrums, which we later linked to Singular. We looked into natural medicine when he was about 4. Today he is 5 1/2 and I am glad to say that he is asthma free! We still have a slight problem with eczema and the only food allergy that remains is peanut. Thank God we took control of our health!
cass says
Elizabeth, Are you saying the asthma resolved as a result of GAPS? My daughter has mild asthma & takes Flovent 1Xday. I want to take her off but I worry! I did order the supplements that Dr. Cowan suggests for supporting the body while removing steroids so my plan is to start those & stop the inhaler while incorporating a more GAPS-like diet. I’m just so overwhelmed at the thought of doing full GAPS. Did you find it got easier as you got used to doing it?
Kari says
My son was delivered by c-section after 4 L of antibiotics were poured into my veins for my water breaking before it was “suppose” to. (looking back my husband and I have had candida infections since we were infants also) He was colicy, severe asthma and bleeding ecema. Dr’s just want to give drugs and “help”. By God’s grace and wisdom we have carried him through w/ out drugs but it was looked so down upon. (Chest contractions were even helped w/ teas) We eat by NT and Jordan Rubin’s books. But it still has helped but he is not well. We are off of all yeast and sugar and that maintains us ok. This past week he had a type of uti that could not be well diagnosed. This so fits us. I can’t wait to get the book and devour it. Thank you for introducing my family to this. My husband read your article and was amazed at how much it fits. Thank you again!!!
KitchenKop says
Hi Rene,
Be sure to look over all my other posts on the GAPS Diet, too, as there are many good links and other info that will help you. (Including a link to a Yahoo support group that will be a much needed resource for you.)
From what I’ve heard, once your daughter’s gut is healed and her asthma is better (or gone!), you most likely will be able to SLOWLY add things back in and see how it goes. I think I read “two years” somewhere, so it may be a long haul. Others have good results much sooner, though. Just be assured that you are a GREAT Mom to be willing to do this hard work for your daughter’s health!
mill says
sounds cool i think i have so i will haft to try it out!
Rene says
My daughter was just diagnosed with asthma. We are starting this diet tomorrow. I had already used Nourishing Traditions and whole foods, but I will be starting from the introductory phase and moving forward. Thank you so much for this post! I do have one question. Is this a lifestyle change that will last forever, or are we able to introduce grains back in after several weeks/months? I do soak my grains to cook my bread, first, but I know to avoid them on this diet. Thanks again for this great post! I am so encouraged, and can’t wait to get started!
KitchenKop says
Jenna, according to Dr. McBride (in talks I’ve heard from her), it has a lot to do with the health of the mother while the baby was in-utero.
Kelly
jenna says
interesting. i’m curious though about the statement that “vaccines are made for kids with healthy immune systems” and that these illnesses occur because there are too many toxins in the body. why do very young children have too many toxins? are their guts dysfunctional at birth, or are they able to have too many toxins built up already by 1-2yrs when autistic symptoms start? i guess my question is why are some bodies able to handle grains, dairy etc. and others not??
Angie says
I know that some, if not a lot of, animals get their healthy gut flora from their mothers’ poo. I have worked in many breeding facilities and the babies will literally eat their mothers feces. Really gross, but this is how they get the bacteria. If you think about the position in which babies are normally born (head first and facing the rear), it makes sense that there would be some ‘contanimation’ of the baby at birth. Now, everything is kept clean in the labor and delivery process at the hospitals. Not claiming to be anyone of the medical profession, just a horseshoer giving her two cents!
KitchenKop says
Yes, that is gross as heck…but very interesting, too!
Candida Die Off Symptoms says
Great indeed – thanks for the nice article.
Kelly says
Lanise, I don’t know the answer to that, but I know where you can find out (and I should’ve suggested this to earlier commenters asking various questions, too): the Yahoo Gaps Support Group – https://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GAPShelp/join
Good luck, and let us know back here what you find out, if you wouldn’t mind. Thanks!
Kelly
Lanise says
I’ve just started changing our diet and lifestyle within the last couple of months. Once I get my head around all of these changes I would like to explore GAPS. My husband has ADD and is on mess and my 7 yr and 4 yr old appear to be going down the same path behavior wise. My question is should I wait until I am done breastfeeding before I start GAPS? I’ve heard that it very detoxifying and that’s not good when you are breastfeeding. Thanks so much.
Kelly says
Rachel, hopefully someone else who knows more will jump in, but if not, you’ll probably just need to start googling for info on both. I’m guessing that the GAPS diet is the anti-candida diet with more components.
Sorry I’m not any help!
Kelly
Rachel says
Would anyone be able to explain to me what the difference is between the GAPS diet and the anti-candida diet?
Rachel
Kelly says
KT, so are you thinking of doing the GAPS diet??????
Kelly
KT says
Just came across your website by googling constipation and learning problems. I wonder if they are linked. I found so much information through your post. Thank you. It’s helpful. I have a 9 year old son who has struggled with constipation from the time I stopped nursing him at 6 months. Interesting that that was mentioned. He was colicky too. That was mentioned! He’s an A & B student but in reading it’s a c-. He also got a D in Social Studies the first trimester. Then I realized 3rd grade is not easy. He requires a lot of study time and a lot of one on one time. Has trouble with vocabulary and comprehension. I have an appointment with a Doctor that does things a new way. He has seen the light, as you stated. Enough of the laxatives. Let’s work with what is really going on. I don’t know if the two things that I stated are linked. But if not, he needs to be regular. Which even I am not. And if his learning is something else, I will deal with that too, separate from the bowel issues.
Naturalhealer says
Constipation can be the cause of many ailments such as appendicitis, body odor, bad breath, coated tongue, depression, fatigue, gas, headaches etc. It’s not hard to believe that constipation could cause attention deficit disorder either. I mean when you think about it, if you are constipated and haven’t had a decent bowel movement, it’s going to be hard to focus on everyday tasks. Internally does it cause issue? It could be possible, most definitely. I would seriously advise that you jump on top of that constipation asap! Clean him out completely and then put him on a natural laxative that he can take everyday. My son dealt with constipation and it torn up his intestines, and he is now in an ostomy.
Kelly says
Hi R., thanks for the thoughtful comment. The more I learn about the GAPS diet, the more I believe it can HEAL – getting people to buy into it is tricky, though.
We’re swimming upstream for sure, but we’re making headway! 🙂
Kelly
KINDELAN says
Dear Kelly,
I have watched Dr. McBride
Cass says
You must write the books! We need strong, articulate voices! Rachel Carson didn’t want to, either…
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Debbie,
I added some good links at the end of the post above.
Kelly
Debbie H. says
Thank you Katy for the MP3 download on Dr. NCM. This article has been fantastic. Do you have Dr. NCM’s website?
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
I always appreciate links to my blog – thanks Megan!
Megan says
Thank you so much for this article. It simplifies the confusing world of GAPS. I would love to post a link to this on my blog. Is that ok?
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
I’ll bet those Yahoo groups are a HUGE support, which is probably the only way you could hang in there on a diet like this.
All of you who are fighting the fight – way to go! Even though it is not easy, you must feel good knowing you are doing something to TRULY heal. 🙂
Kelly
a kelly says
I have tried the specific carbohydrate diet…life is better when I stick to it but it is a challenge to always be prepared in every situation. Going “off” is always disaster and leads to the return of all the problems. Reading this gives me a renewed sense of encouragement! It helps to know that others are trying also.
Many thanks!
Janis says
Katey, thanks so much for posting the recording of Dr NCM. I have bought and read Gut and Psychology Syndrome, but listening to her speak clarifies so much! Thank you, thank you!
Katy says
I forgot to mention that there are two yahoogroups which support GAPS:
https://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GAPShelp/
and
https://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healingleakygut/
Katy says
I saw Dr. NCM at the Wise Traditions conference in Nov ’07 and put my then 4-year-old daughter on the diet in January of this year. She has multiple food allergies, dark circles under the eyes and a bloated tummy. Seems to be having some progress but I believe we have a long way to go. I have just started the diet myself as well as I know my gut flora is completely out of balance. We have a support group in the Triangle area of North Carolina for folks on or interested in GAPS. We also have a WAPF board member / health practitioner who recommends the GAPS diet to patients – Ken Morehead of Oriental Health Solutions. So we have a good support network here. I know of several people who are witnessing lots of detox and improvement in health from just a few weeks on this dietary protocol.
It looks like from your notes that Dr. NCM gave about the same presentation she did at Wise Traditions last year. I actually have a downloadable MP3 recording of her presentation that should go along with your notes. It is free to distribute. https://www.greekgiftsetc.com/GAPS/
I do not know how long I will be keeping this domain open as I’m closing the business that uses this domain, but you are welcome to download and listen to the 2 presentations (one about GAPS in general, one about the treatment plan), as long as I have this domain up and running.
I can’t wait to see Dr. NCM again at the Wise Traditions conference in San Francisco. She will having an entire day workshop on GAPS there. I hope to get lots of burning questions answered.
Thanks Kelly for posting her notes. I’m forwarding a link to your blog to several others.
Anonymous says
I was told last week that my son has this. We are preparing to start the GAPS diet right now. I’ll let you know how it goes. Were waiting for the probiotics and the book in the mail right now. And I’m preparing chicken stock and throwing out everything in our kitchen. The doctor I went to said the diet is basically avoiding dissacharides (double sugars) all grains, everything processed and dairy at first. There are some things on the dissacharide list you wouldn’t expect so you really need a list (potatoes, corn, garbanzo beans, soy, rice, etc)
Thanks for posting this!! Let’s get the word out there.