What is GAPS?
Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAP Syndrome or GAPS) is a condition establishing a connection between the functions of the digestive system and the brain. This term was coined by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, MMedSci (neurology), MMedSci (human nutrition) in 2004 after working with hundreds of children and adults with neurological and psychiatric conditions, such as autistic spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD/ADD), schizophrenia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression, obsessive –compulsive disorder, bi-polar disorder and other neuro-psychological and psychiatric problems.
Gut and Physiology Syndrome includes chronic physical conditions which stem from an unhealthy gut, such as all autoimmune conditions (celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes type one, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, autoimmune skin problems, Hashimoto disease and other hormonal problems, etc.), asthma, eczema, various allergies, food allergy and intolerance, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple many endocrine disorders (thyroid, adrenal and other), chronic infections, many neurological diseases and all chronic digestive disorders (such as irritable bowel syndrome, gastritis, colitis, etc).
The collective bacteria that reside along the GI tract is referred to as your gut microbiome. Clinical research continues to reveal how significant the health and function of the gut flora are to every physiological action in the body including metabolism, digestion, nutrient production and absorption, neurotransmitter production and transport, inflammation, detoxification, etc. Through dietary intervention, targeted supplementation, detoxification, and lifestyle changes, the nutritional protocol is designed to restore digestive function, brain function, and overall health.
To learn more about the GAPS Diet, please read Dr Campbell-McBride’s book Gut and Psychology Syndrome available here. To read Dr. Campbell-McBride’s new book Gut and Physiology Syndrome, order it here.
About
Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride holds a degree in Medicine and Postgraduate degrees in both Neurology and Human Nutrition. In her clinic in Cambridge she specialized in nutrition for children and adults with behavioral and learning disabilities, and adults with digestive and immune system disorders.
Dr. Campbell-McBride set up The Cambridge Nutrition Clinic in 1998. As a parent of a child diagnosed with learning disabilities, she was acutely aware of the difficulties facing other parents like her, and she has devoted much of her time to helping these families. She realized that nutrition played a critical role in helping children and adults to overcome their disabilities, and has pioneered the use of probiotics in this field.
She believes that the link between learning disabilities, the food and drink that we take, and the condition of our digestive system is absolute, and the results of her work have supported her position on this subject. In her clinic, parents discuss all aspects of their child’s condition, confident in the knowledge that they are not only talking to a professional but to a parent who has lived their experience. Her deep understanding of the challenges they face puts her advice in a class of its own.
**This site should be used as a complement to Dr. Campbell-McBride’s book Gut and Psychology Syndrome and is in no way a substitute for all the information provided within it.**
Full GAPS Diet
The Full GAPS Diet includes all the nutrient dense, healing foods included in the Introduction Diet but expands the food choices according to the allowed and non-allowed foods list (see below). If you skipped the Introduction Diet, consider familiarizing yourself with the most important elements of the nutritional protocol – meat stocks/broths, soups, and fermented foods. Delicious recipes for these healing foods can be found in books and DVDs on our online shop. The Full GAPS Diet is similar to Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), ketogenic, paleo, and primal nutritional protocols with the biggest differences in dairy and macronutrient ratios.The GAPS Diet should be tailored to support individual health and lifestyle needs. Generally, 85% of what you consume daily on the Full GAPS Diet should be made out of meats (including organ meats), fish, stocks/broths, eggs, fermented dairy (if well tolerated), and vegetables (well cooked, raw, and fermented). Baked goods made from nut and/or seed flours and fruit are allowed on Full GAPS but should be consumed in moderation.If your gallbladder has been removed or you suffer from any of the following: constipation, IBS, mild/occasional digestive discomfort, skin issues, or eating disorders, you may find starting with the Full GAPS Diet beneficial. Patients who skip the Introduction Diet are recommended to follow the Dairy Introduction Structure that can be found here.
Dr. Campbell-McBride outlines more specialized versions of the Full GAPS Diet in her recently released book Gut and Physiology Syndrome based on her years of experience to support the unique constitution and underlying health issues of patients. These protocols include No-Plant GAPS, Ketogenic GAPS, More-Plant GAPS, and GAPS Liquid Fasting.
Consider balancing all meals according to your body’s needs. We are all unique and require different portions of different foods at different times. You may find it helpful to read One Man’s Meat is Another Man’s Poison. Dr. Campbell-McBride typically recommends following the Full GAPS for a minimum of 18-24 months. More information on the Full GAPS Diet can be found here.
Please be advised that prior to beginning any diet, it’s important to speak with your doctor or other healthcare practitioner.
Full GAPS Diet Tips:
- Avoid all grains, sugar, potatoes, parsnips, yams and sweet potatoes. Athletes, avid gym-goers, and patients suffering from adrenal issues/energy dips without digestive issues may find including some of these starchier foods along with peas, lentils, and beans beneficial. Tailor the protocol to support your biochemical individuality.
- Best foods to consume on Full GAPS are eggs, meats, stock, fish, shellfish, fresh vegetables and fruit, nuts seeds, garlic, and olive oil.
- Meats should be fresh or frozen from high quality sources. Avoid smoked, canned, and processed meats.
- Fish and shellfish should be fresh or frozen from wild caught sources (avoid farmed seafood). Avoid predator fish including shark, tuna, halibut, swordfish, and mackerel.
- Combine vegetables (raw/fermented/cooked) with meats and fish at each meal to balance pH. Meats and fish accumulate as acids in the body while vegetables have a strong alkalizing affect. Too acidic or too alkalizing states are not ideal.
- Cooking should only be done with animal fats, coconut oil, or ghee.
- Plant oils should be cold pressed and organic and consumed raw. Never cook with these unstable and fragile oils.
- Baked goods and fruit should be limited to snacks between meals. Avoid or restrict nuts, seeds, fruit, and honey temporarily if candida and SIBO are present.
- Avoid all processed foods in packages and tins. These include all refined carbohydrates and foods that contain preservatives, artificial colorants and chemicals, etc.
- Do not microwave your food. Heat up on the stove or in an oven.
RECOMMENDED FOOD LIST
(For a comprehensive outline of the Full GAPS Diet, refer to the Gut and Psychology Syndrome book)
- Almonds, including almond butter and oil
- Apples
- Apricots, fresh or dried
- Artichoke, French
- Asiago cheese
- Asparagus
- Aubergine (eggplant)
- Avocados, including avocado oil
- Bananas (ripe only with brown spots on the skin)
- Beans, dried white (navy), string beans and lima beans properly prepared
- Beef, fresh or frozen
- Beets or beetroot
- Berries, all kinds
- Black, white and red pepper: ground and pepper corns
- Black radish
- Blue cheese
- Bok Choy
- Brazil nuts
- Brick cheese
- Brie cheese
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Butter
- Cabbage
- Camembert cheese
- Canned fish in oil or water only
- Capers
- Carrots
- Cashew nuts, fresh only
- Cauliflower
- Cayenne pepper
- Celeriac
- Celery
- Cellulose in supplements
- Cheddar cheese
- Cherimoya (custard apple or sharifa)
- Cherries
- Chicken, fresh or frozen
- Cinnamon
- Citric acid
- Coconut, fresh or dried (shredded) without any additives
- Coconut milk
- Coconut oil
- Coffee, weak and freshly made, not instant
- Collard greens
- Colby cheese
- Courgette (zucchini)
- Coriander, fresh or dried
- Cucumber
- Dates, fresh or dried without any additives (not soaked in syrup)
- Dill, fresh or dried
- Duck, fresh or frozen
- Edam cheese
- Eggplant (aubergine)
- Eggs, fresh filberts
- Fish, fresh or frozen, canned in its juice or oil
- Game, fresh or frozen
- Garlic
- Ghee, homemade (many store varieties contain non-allowed ingredients)
- Gin, occasionally
- Ginger root, fresh
- Goose, fresh or frozen
- Gorgonzola cheese
- Gouda cheese
- Grapefruit
- Grapes
- Haricot beans, properly prepared
- Havarti cheese
- Hazelnuts
- Herbal teas
- Herbs, fresh or dried without additives
- Honey, natural
- Juices (freshly pressed from permitted fruit and vegetables)
- Kale
- Kiwi fruit
- Kumquats
- Lamb, fresh or frozen
- Poultry, fresh or frozen
- Prunes, (dried without any additives or in their own juice)
- Pumpkin
- Quail, fresh or frozen
- Raisins
- Rhubarb
- Roquefort cheese
- Romano cheese
- Satsumas
- Scotch, occasionally
- Seaweed fresh and dried (once Introduction Diet
- has been completed)
- Shellfish, fresh or frozen
- Spices, single and pure without any additives
- Spinach
- Squash (summer and winter)
- Stilton cheese
- String beans
- Swedes
- Swiss cheese
- Tangerines
- Tea, weak, freshly made, not instant
- Tomato puree, pure without any additives apart from salt
- Tomato juice, without any additives apart from salt
- Tomatoes
- Turkey, fresh or frozen
- Turnips
- Ugly fruit
- Uncreamed cottage cheese (dry curd)
- Vinegar (cider or white); make sure there is no allergy
- Vodka, very occasionally
- Walnuts
- Watercress
- White navy beans, properly prepared
- Wine dry: red or white
- Yogurt, homemade
- Zucchini (courgette)
FOODS TO AVOID LIST
- Acesulphame
- Acidophilus milk
- Agar-agar
- Agave syrup – main carbohydrate is a complex form of fructose
- Algae – can aggravate an already disturbed immune system
- Aloe Vera (go to “FAQs” for more information on when it can be introduced)
- Amaranth – is a grain substitute, contains starches
- Apple juice (commercially prepared)
- Arrowroot (is a mucilaginous herb and loaded with starch)
- Aspartame
- Astragalus – contains polysaccharides
- Baked beans
- Baker’s yeast – contains saccharamyces cerevisae
- Baking powder and raising agents of all kind (baking soda can be used for specific medical issues, view the “FAQs” section)
- Balsamic vinegar (most found in stores have added sugar)
- Barley
- Bean flour and sprouts
- Bee pollen – irritating to a damaged gut
- Beer
- Bhindi or okra
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Bitter Gourd
- Black-eye beans
- Bologna
- Bouillon cubes or granules
- Brandy
- Buckwheat
- Bulgur
- Burdock root – contains FOS and mucilage
- Butter beans
- Buttermilk
- Canellini beans
- Canned vegetables and fruit
- Carob
- Carrageenan – is seaweed and high in
- polysaccharides
- Cellulose gum
- Cereals, including all breakfast cereals
- Cheeses, processed and cheese spreads
- Chestnuts and chestnut flour
- Chevre cheese
- Chewing gum – contain sugars or sugar substitutes
- Chick peas
- Chickory root – contains high amounts of FOS
- Chocolate
- Cocoa powder – see “FAQs” for more information
- Coffee, instant and coffee substitutes
- Cooking oils
- Cordials
- Corn
- Cornstarch
- Corn syrup
- Cottage cheese
- Cottonseed
- Cous-cous
- Cream – contains lactose
- Cream of Tartar
- Cream cheese
- Dextrose – in commercial products it is not the pure form
- Drinks, soft
- Faba beans
- Feta cheese
- Fish, preserved, smoked, salted, breaded and canned with sauces
- Flour, made out of grains
- FOS (fructooligosaccharides)
- Fructose – as an additive (naturally occurring in fruit and honey is allowed but limited)
- Fruit, canned or preserved
- Garbanzo beans
- Gjetost cheese
- Grains, all
- Gruyere cheese
- Ham
- Hot dogs
- Ice-cream, commercial
- Jams
- Jellies
- Jerusalem artichoke
- Ketchup, commercially available
- Lactose
- Liqueurs
- Margarines and butter replacements
- Meats, processed, preserved, smoked and salted
- Millet
- Milk from any animal, soy, rice, canned coconut milk
- Milk, dried
- Molasses
- Mozzarella cheese
- Mungbeans
- Neufchatel cheese
- Nutra-sweet (aspartame)
- Nuts, salted, roasted and coated
- Oats
- Okra – mucilaginous food
- Parsnips
- Pasta, of any kind
- Pectin
- Postum
- Potato white
- Potato sweet
- Primost cheese
- Quinoa – 60% starch
- Rice
- Ricotta cheese
- Rye
- Saccharin
- Sago
- Sausages, commercially available
- Semolina
- Sherry
- Soda soft drinks
- Sour cream, commercial
- Soy
- Spelt
- Starch
- Sugar or sucrose of any kind
- Tapioca – starch
- Tea, instant
- Triticale
- Turkey loaf
Vegetables, canned or preserved - Wheat
- Wheat germ
- Whey, powder or liquid
- Yams
• • Yogurt, commercial