SCD/GAPS/Paleo Diets

[LoveandLight]

Ok thanks for sharing.,yes I think I maybe had dietary probs all along..

[rapunzel2]

I'm on gluten-free-casein-free diet, almost 2 years (same time I've been withdrawing). things have gotten much, much better! but I also have taken broad and high dosage vitamin-mineral complex, so I can't be sure what exactly has done what. I went on the diet after taking opioid peptides test, which had positive results.

 

the changes - I do not experience depression anymore. I have withdrawal symptoms though, these are tiredness, irritability, sleep problems - those are not taken away. but I don't actually remember being in a dark depressive hole for a long time. same with anxiety. it hasn't been my main problem, but I remember I used to be socially anxious. now I'm not, at all. It has also gotten easier to connect with people (this may be also due to lower dosages on psych drugs). 

 

the thing that amazes me most, is that my painful, disturbing, never-ending, torturing loneliness problem has dissapeared completely! it used to be so built in me for like 10 years or so, no treatment took those feelings totally away - so it kind of felt like a character trait already. so when it dissapeared, I was totally amazed, still am! it used to be so hard being alone, it was like a big hole in me, nothing filled that. now I totally enjoy being alone, and the whole basis and balance of my relationships has changed. it's totally mindblowing, comparing to the past!

 

the changes did not come quickly though. maybe at 7 months I started noticing those improvements. 

[LoveandLight]

Wow..Rapunzel..that's fantastic to hear..I also had that affect yrs ago when i did an elimination diet...but since this disaster with ads for years no diet tweaking has ever helped..but hopefully once I stabilise and am on low doses and defo cut out dairy for good this is gonna help..I'm not suicidal ATM but the thought of living with this heavy depression urgh..need to do something..

 

I also experience this..excruciating loneliness with this heaviness..I thought this was bad and it is but nothing can compare to WD depression oh no lol..

 

So pleased to hear do you manage to stick to it easily?

[LoveandLight]

You didn't notice any improvements for 7 months?

[rapunzel2]

I noticed some in 3 months already.. got a feeling that maybe it's even ok to excist (before that I was suicidally depressed). but I do attribute that to my vitamin-mineral cocktail, I don't know it it has to do with diet. they say that gluten takes a lot of time to leave the body. casein should be faster.

 

I've gotten used to the diet. it means a lot of home cooking though, which can take a lot of energy. the first 3 months were very stressful though, all I could think of was what can I eat. but when I learned and accustomed, now it's not an issue. benefits outweigh the costs

[Frances72]

Lost my typing!

I just wanted to ad that I believe the Weston A Price Foundation dietary principles (paleo has lots of similar principles but excludes grain and dairy) has helped my mum enormously. We started on GAPS then slowly introduced properly prepared grains. We use gelatine every days, especially on bad days where mum can't chew or digest solid food. We make bone broth always but also have back up processed gelatine Great Lakes for making an easy cuppa soup. Raw milk kefir or pasteurised un-homogenised kefir has helped us lots too. 

This is how we should eat all the time. I've been doing it 10 years and its fantastic. A lot more room to move with WAPF especially if you have access to raw dairy. Mildly kefired raw cream is wonderful on berries

Mum's been 13 months without any pharmaceutical medication. After almost 20 years on lexapro and zoloft. She is currently experiencing windows that last almost 3 weeks after waves of near 3 weeks. Its just unbelievable that after so long she can still experience a wave. Her weight is still low at 49kg. Mums last window was powerful, like she was totally healed, really enjoying life and food like never before! 

[Ssriwarrior]

After religiously following the paleo and candida diet for 8 months I decided it was making things worse...and then I read this:

 

http://chriskresser.com/is-a-low-carb-diet-ruining-your-health/

 

Specifically the part about Low carbs increasing cortisol and not being recommended for this with HPA dysfunction.

 

Certainly everyone's body is different but I think my diet may actually be making things worse

[Frances72]

Hi Silver Star,

interesting and I've read this before. That's why I like WAPF so much because its based on the traditional diets of 14 healthy isolated indigenous groups  studied by Dr Price in the 1920's and 30's. I've read "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration". I find it to be a powerful nutritional foundation. I think diets like GAPS and candida can work wonders for some people in the short term but not in the longer term. I don't think they're intended for long term use. Full GAPS diet, used for up to 2 years depending can be quite high in carbs if one wants it to be. Raw dairy is fairly high in carbs, kefir not so much but the banana is  

Has WAPF been mentioned here? Too much for me to read, I guess I'll slowly get around  

 

When I first picked mum up, she looked shocking. White around her eyes, thin, freezing, shocking breath from diarrhoea and not being able to eat. She peaked about 8 months after her last medication. For the next few weeks I focused on full GAPS with kefir smoothies. Her poo got better, far prom perfect but at least she was holding on to enough food/drink to stay hydrated and feel better. Once stable we introduced other properly prepared whole foods. I think bone broth based soups are crucial when very sick, they kept mum from ending up in hospital.  

[Weasel]

Has anyone found a high calorie drink they can tolerate I need to stop losing weight I eat high calorie healthy food but not a lot of it thanks

[TikkiTikki]

I've been eating a pretty clean ketogenic for about a month now, and so far I really like the results.

 

Feel much clearer in my mind, and spend so much less time thinking about and struggling with food. In the last week I've drifted into eating only two meals a day, a sort of intermittent fasting schedule, which is effortless (one less meal to think about). 

 

I've lost 3kg too which is great.

 

Results could be due to eliminating all grains, and not a ketogenic diet in itself. Also could be due to eliminating sugar and most packaged foods, and eating more veggies and whole foods. Hard to say, but being able to relax about fat (as per kept protocol) certainly makes it really easy to eat this way. I've also eaten a little red meat (3-4 times in last month), which I haven't for years. 

 

I'll keep posting in the interests of science!

[Frances72]

On 8/21/2018 at 3:28 PM, TikkiTikki said:

I've been eating a pretty clean ketogenic for about a month now, and so far I really like the results.

 

Feel much clearer in my mind, and spend so much less time thinking about and struggling with food. In the last week I've drifted into eating only two meals a day, a sort of intermittent fasting schedule, which is effortless (one less meal to think about). 

 

I've lost 3kg too which is great.

 

Results could be due to eliminating all grains, and not a ketogenic diet in itself. Also could be due to eliminating sugar and most packaged foods, and eating more veggies and whole foods. Hard to say, but being able to relax about fat (as per kept protocol) certainly makes it really easy to eat this way. I've also eaten a little red meat (3-4 times in last month), which I haven't for years. 

 

I'll keep posting in the interests of science!

This is great news! I only just saw your post. How are you going? 

 

[Frances72]

I have been re reading the book "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" and I really feel this diet is so important in healing. It talks about the gut brain connection. Check out their website and consider reading  the book.  Also, please reduce your homes radiation, particularly at bed time. Microwaves are particularly harmful so hard wire everything and get rid of the wifi. Wishing all of you suffering so much love! I hope you are all well soon! XX My mum is still doing fantastic. Its been 4 years now. 

Edited October 25, 2018 by ChessieCat
removed website addy - incorrect

[rapunzel2]

anybody on Wahl´s protocol? I started it, level 1-2 (in the middle), been eating this way for a couple of weeks. 

[Dizzy4]

ooh just found this thread. I'll go back and read. 

 

I just wanted to share this series I've been watching on Alzheimers Prevention while its still free.  It recommends keto as well. 

 

I think this below episode is about to expire unfortunately!  But there should be some more good stuff coming up I hope.

 

https://scienceofprevention.com/alz/gut-brain-connection/?inf_contact_key=a008c7f716cc3a44dca0c40dfe4a792ef651f238aa2edbb9c8b7cff03e0b16a0

[Nivsch]

On 7/19/2011 at 11:59 PM, Rhiannon said:

Gianna, who has that Beyond Meds website, has had (well, last time I talked to her about it, which has been a while) some good success with the GAPS diet.

 

And I was reading about the enteric nervous system and how many signals it is sending constantly to the brain, so I decided to try GAPS, because if my gut is going to be sending lots of signals to my poor brain these days, I want them to be happy ones. Plus, those drugs affect the neurotransmitters in the gut, if anything even more profoundly than elsewhere because they're absorbed directly without going through the liver first. (Blood from the gut goes to the liver first to be filtered, so most drugs have already undergone what's called "first pass metabolism" before they reach the brain.) And I'll still be taking neurotransmitter-affecting drugs for a while yet, because this is a long slow taper.

 

So anyway long story shorter, I've been trying the GAPS diet--the full diet, not the introductory diet--for about a month or six weeks now.

 

I'm keeping carbs low (the GAPS diet allows fruit but I'm keeping it small) because Celexa caused me so many problems with weight gain and somebody (on this board I think) said a low carb diet had helped him with that. Sure enough, I've lost five pounds without even trying, since I started the low carb and GAPS thing. That's pretty impressive, because I really struggled before and managed to lose four pounds with much suffering and effort on Weight Watchers, which came right back when I quit the Weight Watchers. This time I was totally surprised when I stepped on the scale. I hadn't even been trying to lose weight, and I'm eating a TON of butter and other fats, and I'm never hungry.

 

I think it's making a helpful difference for me. My mood swings are definitely gentler so the withdrawal feels more mellow. I have more energy. Reflux has disappeared. I wish I could say my withdrawal symptoms have disappeared, but no, they're still there, although not having the swings and extremes is nice, and I seem to be able to get away with cutting a little faster than before. (Well, I may or may not be getting away with it. We'll see. Time will tell. Those cuts can be fine at first and then come around and bite you in the butt after a couple of weeks.)

 

I'm having less physical pain, the inflammatory type symptoms are reduced dramatically.

 

I'd say the most noticeable differences are: less fatigue, less pain, less mood instability, no reflux. Plus it feels good to be losing weight. Plus I love raw goat milk kefir, yum!

 

Stress still kicks my butt though.

 

Very interesting what you said.

 

Can problems in the gut cause day to day changes in the ability to absorb the active ingredients of the drugs which affected by what I eat?

 

I am asking because I have digestive difficulty because of the drug that became worse during the years, and when I eat foods that are harder to digest that stuck in my stomach for longer time, my mood swings and anxiety get much worse.

[ChessieCat]

2 hours ago, Nivsch said:

when I eat foods that are harder to digest that stuck in my stomach for longer time, my mood swings and anxiety get much worse.

 

eating-as-an-activating-factor-increasing-anxiety-or-symptoms

 

[Nivsch]

25 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

 

eating-as-an-activating-factor-increasing-anxiety-or-symptoms

 

 

Great thread thank you very much.

 

A good reason for me to stick even more with 801010 raw diet.

[Ariel]

FLUORIDE

 

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author and developer of GAPS diet, claims in her books that fluoride is hazardous to our health. The recommendation is to eliminate it entirely, e.g. in toothpaste. I haven't managed to find sufficient corroborating evidence as to fluoride's potential harmful effects at levels equivalent to toothpaste use, i.e. feasibly brushing up to twice a day with small amount. 

 

I've looked around on SA to see if there were any posts explaining why/how fluoride could be bad for you. Haven't found anything, though I've come across scattered posts in which members mention wanting to avoid fluoride as it could be damaging to brain and nervous system. 

I am still wondering why ... Anybody have any ideas or information? 

 

Posting this inquiry here due to the GAPS connection as well as fluoride-in-diet theme, though I realize this is not strictly food-diet related. 

 

[Crochet]

Hi!  I unofficially started the GAPS diet about five weeks ago, but officially started it on 10/16/2022.  I couldn't start it correctly until then due to a family trip.  I'm currently on Stage 3 of the Introduction Stage.  I was eating strict carnivore before coming to GAPS- just steak, salt, water, and electrolytes for three weeks, and just meat and a little fruit for a while before that.  The GAPS diet feels very nourishing by comparison and I'm enjoy all the new-to-me cooking techniques that are really quite traditional.

 

I bought these books to help me:

• Gut and Physiology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride, MD
• GAPS, Stage by Stage, with Recipes by Becky Plotner

I also watch YouTube videos by Bumblebee Apothecary.  Marisa is the creator and she provides how-to videos for things like meat broth and kefir.

 

The general idea is that you eat a lot of meaty bones in the form of broth from chicken, cows, fish and others to give your body what it needs to repair and rebuild.  Then later, you use plants to cleanse and detox the body.  You can start with the Full GAPS diet or you can start with the Introduction Diet.  I chose to start on the Introduction Diet.  The Introduction Diet is broken down into stages and you slowly reintroduce certain foods over weeks or months.  Here is how the first few stages seem to flow:

 

Stage 1

• Chicken/Meat/Fish stock made with meaty bones, joints, marrow and organs
• Homemade soup made out of this stock
• Fermented sauerkraut juice
• Yogurt
• Kefir
• Warm ginger or mint tea with a little honey
• Salt and peppercorns to season

Stage 2

• Add egg yolks, then soft-boiled eggs
• Add stews/casseroles
• Add fresh herbs
• Add fermented fish
• Add clarified butter or ghee
• Increase fermented foods
• Increase fats

Stage 3

• Add avocado
• Add GAPS pancakes
• Add scrambled/fried eggs
• Add fermented vegetables

I had my withdrawal injury about 20 months ago, but am still trying to recover from a few remaining symptoms: buzzing in the body, tones in my brain, burning brain feeling, general discomfort in the body, low energy, sleep issues, rough menstrual cycles, hives.  I'm reaching for a fully recovery! 

 

When I came to the diet, I had been experiencing diarrhea for about 5 weeks and my digestion was calmed in just a few days.  It took a few weeks to even out. 

 

I still get small patches of hives every few days, but I am seeing improvement.  For example, I got poison ivy, which usually creates a fully body reaction, but that didn't happen.  It was just the localized area.  Dr. Natasha says not to worry too much about histamine issues unless they are severe, that as the gut heals, they will subside. 

 

I've had several days where I felt completely normal, with all the noise in my internal world completely quiet.  I couldn't believe it. 

 

I also have more energy and my sleep has changed.  I now sleep a solid 7 to 8 hours most nights and am ready to go in the morning.  I have more energy for physical activity, although I still have to pace myself.

 

I'll check in here periodically to post on my progress.

 

Take care all,

 

Crochet

[Crochet]

@Ariel Hi Ariel!  Part of the GAPS diet is to reduce your overall "toxic load."  We are exposed to various toxins in our lives and the idea is to try and lower the amount of toxins we are exposed to on a daily basis.  Using less toxic toiletries is one way.  Changing up dishwashing products and laundry detergents is another.  Fluoride is mentioned in Dr. Natasha's books and she says to "avoid it like the plague" but I don't know the science.  It sounds like fluorine, chlorine, and bromine are stronger than iodine and cause iodine deficiency in the body because they use the same receptors as iodine and push the iodine out of molecules.  Iodine deficiency then creates the health problems.  I wish I had more to contribute and hope you've found some more information!

[Crochet]

It's been almost three months since I started the GAPS Intro Diet and I'm still enjoying it and it seems to be treating me well!  I'm now on Stage 5, so I'm enjoying fruit again and juicing daily.

 

My histamine issues (in the form of hives and burning brain sensation) haven't cleared yet, but I am hopeful.  I've noticed some changes recently, like for my last period and ovulation, no hives.  I usually get them.  I seem to get hives when I introduce a new food or if I increase fermented foods too fast.  Then things calm down.  I believe in this GAPS protocol, so I'm hopeful that things will calm down even more over the next few months.

 

My weight is lower than I'd like it to be even though I am eating a lot!  It sounds like this is because I'm not retaining water since it is a low carb diet, but I'd still like to put on a few more pounds.  I decided to eat until I'm over-full each meal and see if that helps.  I got some light weights to see if I can build muscle.

 

I'm also taking detox baths, oil pulling, and doing hot castor oil compresses on my belly before bed.  I try to get out in the sun daily.  I've been reading about enemas, but I'm just not quite there yet and may never be.

 

Take care everyone!

[Crochet]

I'm still doing the GAPS diet. 5 months now.

 

When I started juicing daily and adding fruit on Stage 4, I began to regress. I started having nightmares where I felt physical pain in the dream, which was new for me. So I stopped juicing and the fruit and worked myself back into ketosis (I measured using a breath device). I seem to do better in ketosis.

 

I am basically eating Full GAPS now, but with certain restrictions and heavy on foods from the Intro Diet.  Meat stock, meaty bones, homemade kefir and sour cream, sauerkraut or pickles, veggies and plenty of butter each day. Sometimes organ meat. Sometimes I'll have a bit of honey, fruit, or nuts. Cheese isn't really doing it for me.

 

Mushrooms are the only food that gave me an immediate digestive reaction, so I don't really eat these. There are many types of fruit I haven't introduced yet and I'm okay with that.

 

I have gained weight finally! I have been able to do a lot of snow shoveling (we received over 12 feet of snow this winter!), so more sustained energy levels. I still have issues at night and during my period/ovulation.

[Chompoo]

On 9/26/2012 at 8:28 AM, Nadia said:

Good idea. I try to eat the least processed foods possible. Sometimes it's really deceptive. I was looking at cereal packages in the supermarket the other day, wondering if maybe I could indulge in some granola, but the ingredients were worse than Fruit Loops and some other "junk food" cereals!

 

And MSG... I was doing pretty well a couple of weeks ago, and then after going to a Japanese restaurant that clearly used MSG (from the taste), I woke up with anxiety the next day and took a turn for the worst. There was no other thing that I think could have set it off...

@Nadia Have you ever gone into a wave from taking too much MSG in your food? If so, how long did your wave last? I had some rice crackers a few days ago and only realised afterwards that they contained MSG. Since then, I have been having a lot of difficulty with insomnia. Had zero hour sleep on the first night, some sleep on the second night, and still strugglig with falling asleep on the third night. Wondering when will this end. It feels like I've been thrown way back in my recovery and starting from ground zero again.