What is the GAPS Diet?

If you’ve been in the crunchy or holistic realm for a while you may have heard of the GAPS Diet. GAPS stands for Gut And Psychology/Physiology Syndrome. The diet is for anyone and everyone who needs gut healing. Are you struggling with a non-gut related symptom, like acne, inflammation, or mental fog? GAPS could heal that because everything goes back to the gut microbiome. GAPS is an elimination diet that doesn’t allow sugars, grains, pasteurized dairy, starchy foods, etc all aimed at starving the bad bacteria in the microbiome to reset and feed the good bacteria resulting in a balanced microbiome. We now know the gut is like the second brain and it is so important in today’s world to prioritize gut health because that directly correlates with the rest of your health.

Jess’s Testimony:
In the Summer of 2024, I decided I would commit to doing the GAPS Diet for six months. I have a history of digestion issues and have been on a journey of healing through nutrition for the past two years with a lot of relief. On a regular, I still had some symptoms of dysbiosis and wanted to see if the GAPS Diet could really help me reset my microbiome and give me a new foundation in my health. 

After returning home from a trip, I made a plan, did some food prep, created a food log journal, and started the Full GAPS Diet on October 1st. The first week was hard! The effects of my sugar and gluten cravings were intense. I had a hard time initially eating enough to feel full. By the end of my second week, the cravings started to settle and I was blown away by the mental fog that was lifted. I didn’t even know it was there! Since the end of week two, I felt a slow and steady increase in genuinely feeling better, reduced inflammation, and not feeling the addictions I had related to different foods like popcorn, processed desserts, and bread. With reduced inflammation, I lost about a pound per week, and a lot of bloating was gone. 

In the second and third months, I noticed a few other symptoms I had struggled with for a long time that had started to ease and clear up. I had a dry and flaky scalp for over a year and it healed almost completely by the end of the second month. This is also when I noticed my constipation started to ease up. Due to struggling with constipation, this was why I decided to do the Full GAPS Diet instead of the Intro GAPS Diet because the Full GAPS Diet doesn’t remove all fiber and the Intro Diet does. 

As I write this I am finishing month four in two days. Two months to go! I’ve recently felt a little dizzy and am doing a bit of research on hypoglycemia with the GAPS Diet. I am not too concerned and hopefully, the next two months will be slow and steady progress towards finishing the healing and sealing of my gut! This has been a powerful journey for me; the hardest thing I’ve ever done over a long period of time. The discipline and prep have been so worth the results I am getting. I would highly recommend the GAPS Diet to anyone who has symptoms of a leaky gut. 

Conclusion & Other Resources

I highly encourage anyone with dysbiosis symptoms to consider doing the GAPS Diet even for 6 months. It could change your life and give you your health back. A resource I have found helpful during my time preparing for GAPS and while on the diet was resources and videos on the GAPS Diet by Marissa from Bumblee Apothecary. Here is her website: https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/gaps-diet/. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions on the GAPS Diet, need help figuring out where to start, or you just need support!

Written By: Jessica