small wonders

GAPS almond "brownies"- almond butter, honey egg and baking soda. A very yummy treat for special occasions.

I've had a quite a few questions of how the GAPS diet is going for us lately, and requests to hear about our experience with GAPS cooking/eating/living, so I thought I would write an update for those of you who are interested and for friends and family who are wondering what the heck this is all about!


This has been quite a journey for us. When Ari was 2 he was having a lot of allergy symptoms and we had his allergies tested then. He was sensitive to several foods which we cut out of his diet with good results. But slowly the symptoms started coming back and new ones were showing themselves and we had him tested again to find he had developed a whole bunch of new sensitivities. At this point I started doing a ton of research. It didn't feel right that a child would be developing an allergic response to the healthy, organic, local foods he was eating. I felt heartsick that the nourishing home-made and home-grown foods we had been working so hard to feed our children were making my son sick.  I wanted to figure out why this was happening and how we could help him to get stronger. I also wanted to be sure that we could have a nourishing diet for him to grow strong on, and this was feeling increasingly difficult as the list of problem foods grew longer. And I just wanted so badly for him to feel well. I wanted him to feel happy and comfortable in his own skin. I wanted what every parent wants for their child- for him to be vibrantly healthy.

Soup, soup and more soup- on the GAPS intro diet!

After a lot of research I discovered the GAPS diet. Of all the different ideas I read about for dealing with food allergies, GAPS seemed like it would be best for our family. I felt hopeful reading other families' stories, that this might be a way for us to actually heal the sensitivities, rather than just avoiding foods and changing diets when new allergies develop.


GAPS was started by a neurologist to help treat those suffering from autism and related disorders. Ari clearly didn't fall into that category, but GAPS is also known to help many different issues, and food sensitivities is one. The theory is that many modern disorders are caused by poor gut health, and when the the gut is in poor health it "leaks" foods through the damaged gut wall into the blood stream, causing an immune reaction. So the GAPS diet follows an intense regime of gut healing- taking out all foods that are damaging to the gut or hard to digest, and consuming only foods that are healing to the gut. We followed the introduction diet for just over a month- which starts with a very simple bland diet (broth, boiled meat,veggies, fermented foods,) and slowly adds in more and more foods until you are on the full GAPS diet.  The full diet includes propertly prepared vegetables, fruits, meats, nuts and legumes (eventually,) as well as a big focus on bone broths and properly prepared probiotic-rich foods to aid in gut healing. All grains and starches are avoided as are all sugars (fruit and honey are allowed,) as well as all processed foods.  

Heaps of local cabbage at a sauerkraut making workshop I attended this fall.

I have to say it has been quite a learning experience for me. I am fairly comfortable in the kitchen having grown up in a household that was very focused on wholesome foods and from mostly cooking from scratch myself in my adult years. Ironically, I think being a vegan and vegetarion gave me a lot of knowledge that I needed to do GAPS- thinking carefully about the ingredients in food, making things from scratch, not expecting meal prep to be easy and fast- even though I have never eaten more meat in my life than on this diet, and really had to figure out fast how to cook it while doing GAPS. But, also ironically, we are all eating significantly more vegetables than we ate as vegetarians/vegans. When there are no grains or starches to fill up on, it is amazing how many veggies go down the hatch!

coconut flour cupcakes with honey frosting: our go-to recipe to bring along to birthdays/occasions

At first, cooking for my family without many of the ingredients I was accustomed to using (and that my family was accustomed to eating,) seemed almost impossible. There were some very hard days. There were tears (theirs and mine!) But slowly we have figured it out and adjusted. The food we eat is simple, tasty and nutrient dense. My kids gobble up healthy food and squeal with glee over treats like fresh pears or dried peaches. I don't have to spend every waking moment in the kitchen anymore (because, yes, it was every.waking.minute for awhile there, and that was tough,) and I really don't think much more about food than I did pre-GAPS. The trickiest times are when we are going to be sharing meals with others, or are spending a day away from the house. Restaurants are out of the question with the kids (we've managed a couple simple meals out just us adults, but it is too tough with the kids,) and appropriate snacks are hard to find, so everything has to be prepared ahead of time and brought with us. But even that has gotten easier. I know what foods I can prepare that travel well and don't take too much time to prepare. And the kids have been amazing. They self regulate incredibly. My mom told me she was at the grocery store with the boys and heard Ari say "Dori- we can't eat those so it is better to look at things we can eat." Love these kids!

Homemade yogurt. After careful introduction, dairy is allowed on the GAPS diet, but it must be carefully prepared to make it more digestable. 

And we have had amazing results so far. All of us are feeling very healthy on this diet. Nearly all of the original symptoms that we  wanted to get rid of are gone, and Ari is eating several of the foods that he was showing symptoms with in the past. Our immune systems are strong, and the kids both are eating enormous amounts of good healthy GAPS foods, growing at amazing rates, and are seeming so happy and well balanced and good. It feels very worthwhile- crazy though it seems when I try to explain it to people, or see my kids scan the snacks tables at events to discover there isn't a single thing they can eat (I have learned to travel with dried fruit in my purse for such occasions!). But we are healthy and happy and that is what matters.

holiday GAPS-friendly cookie tray

We are not sure at this point how long we will stay on this regime, but I know that when we do transition back onto a more regular diet, there are some things that we will take with us from GAPS. In some ways it feels like the ultimate Real Foods crash course- I am comfortable now fermenting vegetables, soaking and drying nuts, cooking without sugar, soaking and fermenting legumes, cooking all sorts of meat and fish, making gallons of bone broth and throwing dishes together from limited ingredients. But the main thing is, after we got over our DTs from limiting carbohydratest, we started to realize how dependant we've been on grains and starches to feel full, and how much healthier we feel without so many carbohydrates in our diet. My own low-blood-sugar issues that I have had for as long as I can remember are completely gone. We will eat grains again (Perry especially dreams of rice on the plate again!) but I don't think they will ever be so central to our diet as they were pre-GAPS. And really, a supper of salmon, kale chips and baked squash with a cup of chicken broth on the side feels like a pretty darn nice meal unto itself!

There are several culinary discoveries that have made this GAPS thing easier on us. Kitchen gadgets like a crock pot and good thermoses are very handy, but it has been figuring out what foods are hits and figuring out  substitutes for old favorites that really has made it feel like we can do this. A good muffin/cupcake recipe to bring to parties is great. Waffles and pancakes are important to our weekend routines, and having a good recipe for those is great. The ever growing list of vegetable my kids will eat is both encouraging and helps me plan meals I know they will eat. A couple good bread-ish things are good. Smoothies are good. Grain-free granola is really good. Homemade honey marshmallows on the winter solstice bonfire was grand, and I imagine they will make an appearance on the summer solstice too. And cut out cookies that really cut out and taste good has been a saviour since so many of our celebrations and traditions have involved rolling and baking cookies together. So, here is our recipe for coconut flour cookies, for any of you who might need a good wheat-free, gluten free, grain-free option.

Coconut Flour Butter cookies

1/4 lb butter softened
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
3/4 to 1 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
lemon zest from half a lemon

blend butter and honey together with a hand beater (or mix hard by hand.) Add the egg and continue beating until smooth. In a small bowl mix zest, baking soda and flour together. Slowly add flour mixture until soft and pliable. Roll out on parchment, dusting with a little flour as needed (but don't overdo it or they will be dry.) Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Transfer carefully to wire rack to cool.
Enjoy!

Happy cookie making everyone!