Using the GAPS Diet: 175 Recipes for Gaining Control of Your Gut Flora

This practical debut cookbook is not the work of a nutritional expert but rather of a mother who spent four years researching and implementing a diet to help her young daughter overcome persistent abdominal pain. Gad explains that her daughter recovered after following a diet a doctor recommended for gut and psychology syndrome (GAPS), a term coined to describe a plethora of chronic intestinal ailments stemming from changes in human microbiota. This book brings together the health information and recipes Gad says she wished she had when her daughter was ill. Part I provides basic background information on how the gut works in the presence of beneficial, opportunistic, and harmful microbes. It outlines the GAPS diet, which aims to rebuild and replenish gut flora by introducing fermented foods, bone broth, and probiotics with each meal and by eliminating sugary and processed foods. Part 2 advises readers on groceries and equipment with which to stock their kitchens. Part 3 provides 175 varied recipes that adhere to the GAPS diet, including fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and kefir as well as sugar- and starch-free desserts that make following the diet easier. This book will be a useful tool for readers who want to test the health benefits of the GAPS diet. (July)