GAPS Diet Recipes

The GAPS diet protocol can seem overwhelming at first, but with help of a few GAPS diet recipes the whole family will love, meal times can be simple, easy, and more fun! Our family began the GAPS diet many years ago following our son’s anaphylactic food reaction. When we noticed warning signs of food allergies, such as eczema, we tried an elimination diet first. When this failed to fully heal the problem, we added in the nourishing, gut healing foods on GAPS and this made all the difference! Our family now eats nutrient dense foods as a way of life. Our children enjoy creating in the kitchen with so many delicious ingredient options, and we do not struggle with picky eaters.

The Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet

What is the GAPS Diet?

GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome and is a diet designed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, who originally designed the GAPS diet to help her son recover from autism. Dr. Campbell-McBride has degrees in neurology and human nutrition and discovered the connection between gut health and brain health. Dr. Natasha has helped countless people recover from allergies, auto-immune disease, asthma, eczema, feeding issues, chronic ear infections, and digestive disorders such as diarrhea, constipation, and IBS. Eating the GAPS diet also has a large impact on those with autism, ADHD, sensory disorders, depression, and more, due to the gut-brain connection. I highly recommend getting a copy of Dr. Campbell-McBride’s book Gut and Psychology Syndrome – I still reference this book regularly after many years! See this post for more details on the GAPS Diet Protocol.

Foods To Eat On The GAPS Diet

So many nutritious and yummy foods are included on the GAPS diet! With higher quality ingredients, these GAPS diet recipes truly seem like those ordered at a high-end gourmet restaurant-no cheap seed oils, skimmed milk, or corn syrup!

Meat stock, soups (this is our favorite chicken soup recipe) vegetables, eggs, fermented dairy, healthy animal fats, fruits, honey, homemade desserts, and fermented veggies comprise much of the GAPS diet. For a full list of foods allowed on the GAPS diet, see this post.

The GAPS Diet For Kids (Or Picky Eaters)

I mentioned we began the diet when our 2 year old son had an anaphylactic food reaction. We have since started all of our children with GAPS intro foods as they began to eat their first solids. We have found a few tricks to help younger children enjoy new foods and have variety by serving food in multiple forms.

GAPS Food Variation Examples

A few variations of similar foods our children have enjoyed:

1. Soup can be eaten in a bowl (like people normally do, ha!). It can also be strained; broth in a special cup with a straw and the meat and veggies served on the side. Soup can be pureed and used as a “gravy” or a dip to dunk veggie or meat sticks into.
2. High mineral herbal tea and GAPS lemonade can be sweetened with honey, enjoyed warm in a grown up coffee cup. It can be enjoyed in popsicle form, cold over ice, or ground like a slushy.
3. Root veggies, such as squash, pumpkin, and carrots can be enjoyed freshly steamed or baked with butter. Leftovers can be pureed with healthy animal fats, egg yolks, fermented kefir cream, and honey. Make creamy smoothies served warm or cold. Alternately, freeze in popsicle molds. Our nieces and nephews often ask if we have any “squash smoothie popsicles” when they come visit!
4. Serve fermented kefir with honey, as a healthy fruit smoothie, as ice cream, or as a dip, like this artichoke dip.
5. Recreate family favorites and treats using GAPS compliant ingredients. If you are not needing to start GAPS intro immediately, take time to enjoy the transition to whole foods first, adding in treats and favorites while phasing out problematic foods. Here is a list of desserts our kids love. If you are new to whole foods, check out this resource: How to Transition to a Whole Foods Diet Without Overwhelm.

GAPS Diet Recipes

We have so many new family favorite meals. Many were re-created or inspired from favorite former recipes that didn’t have the healthiest ingredients. We have found they taste better with real animal fats, honey as sweetener, and high quality meat, veggies, fruits, etc. The GAPS protocol is not meant to be a lifelong diet, rather a “reset” and “rebuilding” of our gut and immune system. Over time, we can transition to adding in non- GAPS foods again. While we have been able to successfully transition off the GAPS diet, we still eat most of our meals this way. It has also made it simple and easy to do a “quick round” of GAPS only foods when medically necessary. Examples of this are following illness. I shared more about our strep throat/antibiotic/natural remedy saga in this post.

Here are a few of our very favorite family meals, snacks, and treats:

1. Chicken Soup
2. Pumpkin Pie Smoothies
3. Baked Chicken with Homemade Mayo
4. High Mineral Herbal Tea With Honey
5. Healthy Homemade Marshmallows
6. Fermented Dilly Beans
7. Fermented Milk Kefir or Kefir Smoothies
8. Nourishing Apple Crisp
9. 3 Ingredient Chocolate
10. Intro Pumpkin Pancakes

GAPS Diet Meal Plan

Looking for a full menu of delicious meal ideas? Check out this 7 day GAPS meal plan, which includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert ideas! These meals are family favorites and picky eater approved! I also tried to focus on making this plan and meal list to be budget and large family friendly.

Resources

• Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride
• Gut and Physiology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride
• GAPS, Stage by Stage, With Recipes by Becky Plotner
• How to Transition to a Whole Foods Diet Without Overwhelm.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

I would love to hear your recipe feedback in the comments below, or nourishing meals your family enjoys.

Favorite0