How Gaps Diet Can Help One With Certain Conditions Like Dyslexia and Autism

Have you heard about the GAPS diet? According to medical news experts, this is a theory saying that disregarding certain foods like sugars and grains can help treat certain conditions that impact his brain like dyslexia and autism.

GAPS, which stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome diet was developed by a United Kingdom-based doctor, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. 

This doctor specializes in "nutrition for digestive and immune system disorders" and behavioral and learning disorders. Specifically, this diet focuses on the link between the brain and the GI tract.

According to the study, there is a mutual communication trail between an individual's gut and his brain by both a structural link known as "vagus nerve" and a wireless link transmitted through the bloodstream via hormones, according to a 2019 paper which Neuron published.

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The GAPS Diet

The GAPS Diet inventor said she believes that "poor nutrition, as well as a drippy gut or increased intestinal penetrability," is accountable for numerous behavioral, neurological, and psychological issues.

At the core of this particular diet, individuals are avoiding difficult-to-digest foods and might impair the gut lining or gut flora. They replace them with foods that are rich in nutrients that help the healing of the gut.

According to this theory, research indicates, a leaky gut emits microbes and poisons into the bloodstream, which then moves through the brain and impede with the functioning of the brain.

Furthermore, GAPS Diet specifies that disregarding foods that impair the gut could contribute to the treatment of conditions like autism spectrum disorder or ASD, dyslexia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.

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What Foods should One Eat with GAPS Diet?

The GAPS Diet has three stages: The introduction diet, the full GAPS diet, and the reintroduction diet. Dr. Campbell-McBride proposes that a lot of people should follow this stage before trying the "full GAPS diet.

While highly-limited, this stage's main objective is to heal the gut and cut the digestive symptoms quickly. It can last between a few weeks and 12 months. 

This stage comprises of six different stages. Some of the foods an individual is trying the introductory diet include homemade meat stock, boiled fish or meat, well-cooked vegetables, probiotics like vegetable juices and yogurt, chamomile tea mixed with raw honey, and purified water.

In the course of a full GAPS diet, an individual should avoid all foods, starchy vegetables, sugars, and refined carbohydrates. 

Processed foods should be avoided too. The full GAPS diet typically lasts between 18 and 24 months. However, it is customized and may need less time for some. Some of the foods included in this stage are egg, fresh or frozen meat and fish, garlic, natural fats like olive oil, and an adequate amount of nuts.

Finally, following the six-month normal digestion, one can already opt for the next stage-the reintroduction phase.

This last of the GAPS diet phases involves progressively reintroducing food products over a period of months.

GAPS diet proposes beginning with potatoes and fermented grains. More so, begin with small amounts and progressively increase the quantity of food so long as there is no digestive problem.

Experts recommend for the continuation of this process with starchy vegetables, beans, and grains. Upon completion of the GAPS diet, an individual continues avoiding highly processed foods until he gets used to it.

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