I began my journey with GAPS about 10 years ago. The journey began long before I made my first batch of meat stock as I waded into the realm of more natural living and gut-related health. Back then, in 2014/15 no one was really talking about gut health. It was not all over Instagram or Facebook. There were no hashtags to help you find GAPS or gut-related anything. You had to dig into the dark corners of the internet. And as I was digging for answers I found Weston A Price, bone broth, gut health and Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.
I began learning a lot and fast. I was consuming and absorbing new information almost faster than my brain could keep up. I would wake up early in the morning, well before my young children, just to get a few chapters of a book read. My husband says I gave myself a Master’s degree in nutrition in those first few years. I just couldn’t get enough.
Much of what I learned came from books. The internet is fantastic for information, and I learned a lot there through articles and blogs, but I learned most from books. Many I refer back to often because they were pivotal in my education – specifically with understanding the gut, gut health and the GAPS diet.
I do have a tab called Recommended Reading where all of these can be found plus more amazing health related books. I’m going to link the books below that have been most influential in helping me navigate my son’s GAPS journey.
Obviously, the O.G. There are two versions: Psychology and Physiology. Psychology is the original copy and deals with more brain-related issues. Physiology, the updated version, deals with more things like eczema, food allergies, asthma and other body-related illnesses. The diet is the same in both. The book is very scientifically written but still very understandable. It is important to have a copy of this to refer back to – because you will want to refer back often.
Before we began GAPS in 2017 I knew I needed a cookbook. If I had a cookbook I could do anything. I did a Google search and found Hilary Boynton’s cookbook. It saved me in the first year. There are a couple of recipes in Stages 1&2 that no longer belong (Nightshades should be stage 5) due to the changing nature of the diet when reevaluating how people are handling certain foods. I would highly recommend this cookbook if you’re anything like me and just need to be handed a recipe.
GAPS, Stage by Stage, with Recipes
I had the utmost privilege to learn under and work with the late, wonderful Becky Plotner. Her knowledge and understanding of the GAPS diet was unparalleled in my opinion. Her book, GAPS Stage by Stage with Recipes is a treasure trove of information. I read it a few years after we had been in GAPS and it opened my eyes to new information I had never heard. I highly recommend this read. It also comes with some nice recipes which are very helpful.
Probiotic Foods vs. Commerical Probiotics
This book is also authored by Becky Plotner. It is a deep dive into the world of probiotic foods. Another absolute treasure trove of information that I return to frequently as ferments are so essential to our continued good gut health.
This is not a GAPS book, per say, but shattered the glass ceiling for me, personally, when it came to understanding so much about nutrition and gut health. It is by Catherine Shannahan. She writes well and is very easy to follow and understand. If you are new to learning about nutrition and the gut I would highly recommend this be in your lineup.
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
This is the Weston A Price book. Weston A Price was a dentist in the 1930s who was seeing concerning amounts of tooth decay, crowding of teeth, among other dental issues and traveled the world to figure out why. What he found in his travels was that cultures around the world who were eating their traditional diet (saturated fats, meat, fermented foods, etc) and not eating processed foods and vegetable oils had zero dental issues. Food is medicine. It is so significant to our overall health, including our tooth and bone formation. This is not a GAPS book but it is the nutritional protocol recommended for those when they transition off the GAPS diet.
Happy Reading!
