GAPS

[Daughteroughter]

Hi ds 8 has dyspraxia and wheat, dairy and egg intolerance. Have been reading about GAPS and wondered if anyone had any experience and success

GAPS?

DS3 is being assessed this month for Autism, has been assessed by a specialist preschool teacher as having sensory integration difficulties, and is allergic to dairy, soy & nuts.

I am starting it during the summer holidays. Will report back.

Thought of school hols start too seems like quite a challenge to start in school term

DS lives on a modified GAPS. It's essentially a pretty E.European ordinary Joe's standard diet (particularly towards the Ukrainain region). I do think it's done him good.

The reason we can't manage to do 'pure GAPS' are as follows:-
1/ DS is totally dairy protein intolerant (genetic and no he won't grow out of it!). This means substitutions have to be made to get the right fat soluble vits and pro-biotics into him.
2/SCHOOL - packed lunches have to pass the usual healthy eating police nonsense, be something he can eat within the 15 mins alloted, be non-messy. Whatever I give him must not attract any adult attention as if his lunch is ''inspected' it destroys his appetite totally. (tbh packed lunches are a total PITA - an ABA tutor is required for the adults!)

He eats more fish, a wider range of pulses and beans and more carbs than GAPS really reccomends, but giving him protein for brekkie deffo makes a difference to his concentration levels etc. Sadly he's inherited his Mum's love of baking as a form of stress relief which doesn't help either.

The GAPS book explains the link between the gut and neurowotnots better than any other volume for lay people I've come across to date. It's well worth the purchase price, even if you decide not to go all out on the diet.

Boch thanks v helpful.

We did the diet for our son for 6 months. We did get some good results in terms of behaviours and physical symptoms.

It is very hard to manage and takes a lot of planning, you can't 'grab' snacks or sort a last minute meal. And socialising goes out of the window!

Once you have changed your buying habits and don't have non GAPS foods around so much it gets easier. Its a real lifestyle change.

Its essentially a healing protocol for leaky gut and as mentioned above the book explains it well. There could be many other underlying issues and I would really recommend Dr Bocks book - Healing the 4 A's Autism ADHD Asthma and Allergies. Its worth having functional testing to find out exactly what is going on with the gut - a good nutritionist can arrange these - metametrix stool OR comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis, and an OAT Organic Acids Urine test.

Its a very healthy diet for anyone and doing it is quite educational about nutrition in general, I learnt a lot, good luck