GAPS Guidance: Meat Stock and Fermented Foods

Let’s begin with what Dr. Natasha says. You can find these recommendations on how much meat stock and fermented foods to consume in either copy of her book. Physiology or Psychology.

Dr. Natasha recommends a child consume 3 cups of meat stock a day and an adult consume 5 cups per day. I’ll be honest, it is a lot. Meat stock is, however, the literal glue that heals and seals the gut lining. The more you consume, the quicker you heal.

This was one of the big mistakes we made in our first year on the GAPS diet. I did not have my son, Raleigh, drink enough meat stock. I was simply cooking everything in the meat stock and then serving it to him. When I realized the mistake and went to correct it I began serving him a mug of stock with each meal. This took some getting used to but I did notice a big leap in his healing from doing this.

A note on mistakes: we all make them and that is okay. Seriously. I made two significant mistakes in the first year and I’m glad I did. They taught me invaluable lessons and help me today to be a better coach. Regardless, Raleigh’s body continued to heal. We saw huge healing in that first year on the GAPS diet despite having made these mistakes.

The second mistake was not giving him enough fermented foods. Fermented foods are necessary to change the environment of the gut. A variety of foods can cause die off but fermented foods will most certainly cause die off and die off must happen if we want the environment of the gut to change and heal.

I will often tell my clients that the only way out is through. Die off is essential and something we must just go through. Raleigh had such a violent reaction to even the smallest amounts of fermented foods that I ended up pulling them out completely. This was a mistake.

Dr. Natasha recommends working up to 1/4 -1/2 cup of lacto-fermented vegetables and/or their brines. This includes sauerkraut, beet kvass, pickled garlic, fermented vegetable medley, etc. For those tolerating fermented dairy she recommends working up to 1/2 -1 cup daily. Getting to these amounts takes time and it should. We don’t want to start by consuming 1/4 cup of sauerkraut and 1/2 cup fermented yogurt. The die off would be epic and scary!

So we start low and slow. The amount tolerated will be individual. Some people need to back up to one drop of sauerkraut juice while others may be able to start with 1/2 tsp daily. And slowly, as the body begins to heal, we increase and work up to these desired amounts.

Type of Ferment		Desired Amount
Lacto-fermented Veggies		1/4-1/2 cup daily
Dairy		1/2-1 cup daily

No one does GAPS perfectly. We all make mistakes and that is okay. There is grace for that. The body wants to heal and when you give it the tools it needs it will do just that!