A few years ago I heard Dr. Natasha say that a little bit of GAPS is better than no GAPS at all. This struck a chord in me and has helped me be a better GAPS coach. For those of you who have given GAPS a go in any respect you know it is a beast! It is quite an undertaking and not for the faint of heart. Not everyone is ready to go cold turkey and begin the diet, some people need to lean into it and this idea helps with the lean.
I speak with a lot of clients and potential clients on a monthly basis. Everyone is in a different place mentally about starting the GAPS diet. I try to come alongside each client, or encourage potential clients, in the manner that helps them realize they can take this on. This idea that doing a little bit of GAPS is better than not even trying GAPS at all is huge to me.
The body wants to heal and it will take what you give it and work to heal. I even saw this in my son’s first year of healing. We made a few mistakes in the first year, significant mistakes, and yet his body continued to heal.
If you can only do a little bit of GAPS I would recommend meat stock first. Get this in as much and as often as you can. Meat stock is the glue that heals and seals the gut lining. It is significant. The second thing I would recommend is a slow weaning of anything processed, sugar and then starchy vegetables like potatoes and rice. The slow removal of these foods will make a transition into full GAPS much easier. The third thing I would add in is fermented foods. Many people are not accustomed to consuming ferments in our day and age. I would encourage you to try and make some from scratch – they are much more potent this way since there is no pasteurization to kill off beneficial microbes. Here is a great beginner recipe. Or, look in the store in the refrigerated section. Most stores carry sauerkraut and kimchi in their refrigerators.
GAPS has a unique approach to healing and it is superior to all other elimination diets, in my opinion. I just wrote a blog post on that – you can read it here. The GAPS approach removes certain things for a time but also adds in healing foods with the ultimate goal of one day coming off of the diet. So if you find yourself in the camp of I can’t do it all right now I would encourage you to do a little bit of GAPS and wade into the waters. See where it takes you. The body wants to heal and it can.