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GAPS diet


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DS at 16 had overgrowths of strep and staph in his gut so we all went on a gut healing diet, which I think of as a modified version of the GAPs diet - I just made it work for DS so he would stay on the diet. (It helped that he was cooperative and compliant!) We eliminated dairy and gluten and reduced grains, including corn, and reduced sugar. We avoided potato as it is said to inflame the gut too. For breakfast he would have a meat meal - homemade spag bol, lasagna (using dairy free cheese and small amounts of GF pasta, and lots of veg grated in) etc. I would make large pots of the stuff (and still do!) and freeze portions so he can just help himself, and I know he's eating ok. I think of his/our diet as consisting of lots of meat, fish and vegetables, lentils, and nuts - it's healthy.

Do I think it helped? Yes. It was part of an overall approach recommended by our Biomed dr to help get his gut, immune system and central nervous system healthy again. It took about 18 months to turn it around. DS is now happy, functional and healthy. We are still on alert with colds etc but he's well and so much nicer to live with! We're still on the diet and he's responded ok to recent challenges and testing is back in the normal range. He can actually eat out with his friends. Whoohoo!

Edited by Ozimum
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Thank you. We've had doctors tell him for years that he needs to fix his diet, but that's been the biggie. He eliminated dairy recently, because he finally recognized it was bothering him. He eats way too much sugar, but also eats a lot of meat. We were all on GF, dairy free, sugar and yeast free diet for about a year, and he was doing great. Then he started eating all the stuff again, and recently has a HUGE problem with sugar. We stopped seeing the doc who was helping him the most last year, because the doc had told him that he was wasting my money...the supplements wouldn't help if he didn't clean up his diet (the doc was right.) Anyway, my DS decided not to stop with the food, so he's really struggling. He's away at college, and even when he was at home, I couldn't force him to eat properly. I'm just hoping that while he's home for summer break, I can convince him that it's not so hard. He really does like meat, fish and nuts, and used to eat a lot of veges. I figure I can get him to eat them again, if I serve them on his plate.

 

What is "homemade spag bol" that you mentioned above?

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It's hard to give up what we crave. DS was on board with the diet because he wanted to feel well and our dr seemed to get through to him, plus he gave him a time scale of 18 months - not a quick fix. It probably helped that we found alternatives to the things he loved, such as GF pasta, GF/DF chocolate biscuits and dairy free icecream - still lots of sugar but at least he wasn't getting it from other sources, so we reduced it overall. I felt that a degree of compromise was necessary to keep him on the broad principles of the diet. His blood tests revealed sensitivity to gluten and dairy so that may also have helped convince him, and three months in he recognised that he felt better on the diet and could concentrate and focus better.

 

Being away at college must complicate things...good luck!

 

Spag bol = spaghetti bolognese. :D

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We also do a modified GAPS at home. No one has gluten issues so one compromise is organic spelt pasta sometimes when we want to vary from the brown rice pasta. I try to keep pasta down to 1x a week. I also use the Ezekiel sprouted grain/lentil bread for the kids' sandwiches as school. That's the only time they get bread though. Otherwise we're heavy into fruits and vegetables, fish and meat (pastured and organic, no feedlots, no hormones), fresh eggs, nuts/seeds, kefir. Mashed potatoes half made with cauliflower is a rare treat. I grab glutenfree mac and cheese to satisfy that craving once in a while. No hydrogenated oils, mgs, high fructose corn syrup, food coloring, preservatives. We go for the 80/20 rule and the 20 only happens when we eat out 1x a week or every two weeks. We're lucky to have a gluten free organic bakery less than a mile away and a local place with homemade icecream free of junk. My son hasn't had belly issues despite all the antibiotic, and my husband has lost 40 pounds!

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It's hard to give up what we crave. DS was on board with the diet because he wanted to feel well and our dr seemed to get through to him, plus he gave him a time scale of 18 months - not a quick fix. It probably helped that we found alternatives to the things he loved, such as GF pasta, GF/DF chocolate biscuits and dairy free icecream - still lots of sugar but at least he wasn't getting it from other sources, so we reduced it overall. I felt that a degree of compromise was necessary to keep him on the broad principles of the diet. His blood tests revealed sensitivity to gluten and dairy so that may also have helped convince him, and three months in he recognised that he felt better on the diet and could concentrate and focus better.

 

Being away at college must complicate things...good luck!

 

Spag bol = spaghetti bolognese. :D

Ummmm. I guess it's that Italian cooking I know so little about (but, boy did my son love it when we went to Rome last year (I'm GF, DF, and tomatoe free, so I couldn't eat it)

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We also do a modified GAPS at home. No one has gluten issues so one compromise is organic spelt pasta sometimes when we want to vary from the brown rice pasta. I try to keep pasta down to 1x a week. I also use the Ezekiel sprouted grain/lentil bread for the kids' sandwiches as school. That's the only time they get bread though. Otherwise we're heavy into fruits and vegetables, fish and meat (pastured and organic, no feedlots, no hormones), fresh eggs, nuts/seeds, kefir. Mashed potatoes half made with cauliflower is a rare treat. I grab glutenfree mac and cheese to satisfy that craving once in a while. No hydrogenated oils, mgs, high fructose corn syrup, food coloring, preservatives. We go for the 80/20 rule and the 20 only happens when we eat out 1x a week or every two weeks. We're lucky to have a gluten free organic bakery less than a mile away and a local place with homemade icecream free of junk. My son hasn't had belly issues despite all the antibiotic, and my husband has lost 40 pounds!

Wow. 40 lbs. That's amazing. I'm hoping that with DS home for summer vacation, I can convince him to stick with the "diet" (I'll do lots of prep at home, but he likes to take himself out to eat. But, I do think he's tired of feeling so awful all the time, and maybe I can convince him. Doesn't sound like many people do the full GAPS protocol. Personally, I think if we eliminate gluten, dairy (he's already done that, because he was able to associate it with stomach bloating), and sugar, we're going to go far. Unfortun. DS doesn't remember how badly he felt when he feels good, and v.v.

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