By Marisa Tolsma, Certified GAPS Coach | Bumblebee Apothecary
Quick Answer
To start the GAPS diet, first decide between the GAPS Introduction Diet (the deepest healing path, 6 progressive stages) or the Full GAPS Diet (less restrictive, for people without severe digestive issues). Get your kitchen ready with grass fed meats, soup bones, organic vegetables, and a good probiotic, then begin with homemade meat stock and well-cooked soups. In my experience as a Certified GAPS Coach, starting tiny and going slowly is the single biggest predictor of healing success. The people who heal the deepest are the people who go the gentlest.
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How to start the GAPS diet
I get this question all the time: “Marisa, how do I actually start the GAPS diet?”
I understand why. The GAPS protocol is one of the most life-changing things I have ever done for my health, but it can feel completely overwhelming when you’re standing on the outside looking in. Six intro stages. Meat stock. Fermented foods. A book that’s hundreds of pages long. A husband or kids who might not be on board. A budget. A schedule. A real life with real responsibilities.
I started GAPS in 2011 after years of struggling with cystic acne, chronic fatigue, frequent headaches, and being underweight. I had tried elimination diets. I had tried going vegetarian (that was a disaster). Nothing really moved the needle until I committed to the GAPS protocol developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.
I did GAPS for 2 full years. My cystic acne cleared completely. The fatigue lifted. The headaches and migraines stopped. My weight stabilized. My husband did GAPS for 2 years alongside me and saw his own healing. I have now done GAPS with multiple of my children, and I’ve been coaching other families through it as a Certified GAPS Coach for years.
So when I tell you that GAPS is doable, I mean it. I have lived this. I have helped many families live it. And I am going to walk you through exactly how to start, gently, slowly, in a way that fits real life.
What Is the GAPS Diet?
The GAPS diet is a gut healing nutritional protocol developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, a medical doctor with postgraduate degrees in neurology and human nutrition. GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome (and Gut and Physiology Syndrome). The diet was originally designed to help Dr. Natasha’s own son recover from autism, and has since been used for autism, ADHD, dyslexia, depression, anxiety, eczema, food allergies, leaky gut, IBS, autoimmune conditions, chronic fatigue, and many other gut-rooted health issues.
The protocol is built on a simple but powerful idea Hippocrates taught more than 2,000 years ago: all disease begins in the gut. When the gut is damaged (leaky gut, dysbiosis, inflammation), toxins, undigested food particles, and inflammatory compounds can enter the bloodstream and affect every other system in the body, including the brain. The GAPS diet works to seal and heal the gut lining, restore the balance of beneficial gut flora, and give the body the nourishment it needs to repair itself.
If you want a deeper overview of what GAPS is and how it works, I wrote about it in detail here: The GAPS Diet Explained in a Nutshell.
Step 1: Decide Between GAPS Intro and Full GAPS
There are two main ways to start the GAPS diet: the Introduction Diet (also called GAPS Intro), or the Full GAPS Diet. The right starting point depends on you.
Start with GAPS Intro if you have:
- Digestive symptoms like diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, or food reactions
- Multiple food allergies or intolerances
- Eczema, acne, or other chronic skin conditions
- Autism, ADHD, or other neurodevelopmental conditions (yourself or your child)
- Autoimmune disease, chronic fatigue, or other systemic gut-rooted issues
- A serious leaky gut that needs deep, methodical healing
Start with Full GAPS if you have:
- Stubborn constipation (Dr. Natasha recommends Full GAPS first until this resolves)
- Significant underweight or failure to thrive (yourself or your child)
- Generally good digestion but a desire to deeply nourish and reset your body
- Limited time, energy, or kitchen support to handle Intro right now
Dr. Natasha recommends that most people start with GAPS Intro and then transition to Full GAPS, because Intro provides the deepest healing in the shortest amount of time. But the best path is the one you can actually follow. A gentle, sustainable Full GAPS approach is infinitely better than a perfect Intro you quit in week two.
If you want my full walkthrough on the introduction diet specifically, I wrote a complete guide to starting GAPS Intro here.
Step 2: Prepare Your Kitchen
Getting your kitchen ready is one of the most important things you can do before starting GAPS. The number one reason people quit GAPS in the first two weeks is not having the right foods on hand when they need them.
Foods to have on hand:
- Soup bones and meaty bones from 100% grass fed beef and pasture raised chicken (whole chickens, chicken thighs, drumsticks, wings, beef shanks, neck bones, ox tail)
- Fresh meats without additives, ideally pasture raised
- Animal fats (grass fed butter, ghee, tallow, lard, duck fat)
- Non-starchy organic vegetables (zucchini, carrots, onions, leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, squash)
- Fermented foods (homemade sauerkraut, fermented carrots, fermented pickles, or ingredients to make your own)
- Sea salt (Celtic, Baja Gold, or other mineral salt)
- Filtered or spring water (chlorine prevents fermentation)
- A high-quality therapeutic probiotic (Dr. Natasha has recommendations in her book)
- Raw, organic eggs from pasture raised hens
Equipment you’ll want:
- A large stockpot or slow cooker for making meat stock
- Glass jars for ferments and stock storage
- A good fine-mesh strainer
- A blender or food processor for soups and purees
- Glass storage containers (avoid plastic for hot foods)
Don’t worry if you don’t have everything on day one. You can start with a single batch of homemade meat stock and build from there.
“With the meat stock alone I’m feeling better, less constipation and bloating!” — Ancestral Gut Reset community member
Step 3: Master Homemade Meat Stock
If there is one skill that determines whether your GAPS journey succeeds, it is making homemade meat stock. Meat stock is the cornerstone of the entire protocol. You will drink it with every meal, between meals, in soups, in stews, and as a healing tea. It provides the building blocks for repairing the gut lining.
Important: meat stock is not bone broth.
This distinction matters a lot and it trips up many beginners.
Bone broth is made from boney bones (which may have been previously cooked) and simmered for a very long time (12 to 48 hours). It is powerful, but it is high in histamines and glutamic acid, which can make sensitive guts feel worse, especially early in healing.
Meat stock is made from raw, meaty bones (a whole chicken, chicken thighs, drumsticks, wings, beef shanks, soup bones with meat still on them, ribs, ox tail, neck bones) and cooked for a much shorter time. Chicken meat stock takes about 1.5 to 3 hours. A big pasture raised chicken can take up to 3 hours. Beef, pork, lamb, or game meat stock takes 4 to 6 hours. The result is a gentler, more easily tolerated stock that is rich in gelatin, amino acids, and minerals.
For GAPS, especially in the early stages, meat stock is what you want. Here is my full meat stock recipe.
Want the whole first month planned out for you?
Once you’ve got your kitchen stocked and your first batch of meat stock going, the next thing that trips most people up is knowing exactly what to eat day by day through all 6 Intro stages. That’s exactly what I built GAPS to Go for. It’s a complete 30-day GAPS Intro meal plan that tells you what to eat each day, how to make it, and when to move to the next stage. No guessing, no overwhelm, just a clear plan that works.
Step 4: Add Fermented Foods, Tiny by Tiny
Fermented foods are essential to GAPS. Homemade ferments contain far more beneficial bacteria than any probiotic supplement on the market, and they help restore the friendly gut flora that’s been depleted by antibiotics, processed food, and stress.
Start with the fermented vegetable juice, not the vegetables themselves. Begin with 1 teaspoon (or even much less!) per day of homemade sauerkraut juice, or fermented carrot juice, stirred into a cool bowl of soup. Work up very slowly to 1 to 4 tablespoons of fermented juice with each meal. After several days of tolerating the juice, you can begin adding small amounts of the actual fermented vegetables.
The reason for going so slowly is something I teach all my coaching clients: die-off. As pathogenic gut flora die off, they release toxins, and you can feel achy, foggy, headachy, or generally yucky for a few days. Die-off is actually a good sign, it means the protocol is working, but it can feel scary if you don’t know what it is.
If you start to feel die-off symptoms, back off, take an Epsom salt bath, drink more meat stock, and increase fermented foods even more slowly. You may even decrease the amount of fermented foods for a while, or even take a temporary break to let your body catch up. The people who heal the deepest are the people who go the gentlest.
If you’ve never fermented before, my basic sauerkraut recipe uses just cabbage, salt, and filtered water. It’s the easiest place to start.
Step 5: Go Slowly. Tinier Than You Think.
This is the part most beginners get wrong, and it’s why so many people struggle in the first few weeks. They go too fast, hit hard die-off, panic, and quit.
Here’s what I teach in my coaching practice instead:
Start tiny. Watch how you feel. Back off if needed. Rebuild slowly.
For some people, 1/4 teaspoon of ferment brine is a good place to start. For others, a drop is the best amount to begin with. Some never even less. Whoever you need to start, that’s good! It means you’ve found a place your body is weak in, and adding this food is helping to rebuild.
That rhythm is the entire game. For every new food, every new fermented item, every supplement, start with a tiny amount, pay attention to how you feel, and only increase when your body is solidly tolerating what you’ve added.
Die-off can show up as:
- Tiredness or fatigue
- Headaches
- Digestive upset (loose stools, gas, bloating)
- Skin flares
- Mood shifts or irritability
If you see these, slow down. Stay on what’s already working. Drink meat stock. Take an Epsom salt bath. Rest. Trust the process.
“I have tried GAPS a few times in the past, but for the first time ever I feel hopeful that I may be able to achieve my goals. Marisa and this group is the real deal.” — Ancestral Gut Reset community member
The GAPS Diet Food List
Here’s a high-level overview of what’s allowed and what’s avoided on the Full GAPS Diet. For the complete and definitive list, get a copy of Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, which is the foundational text for the entire protocol.
Foods to enjoy on Full GAPS:
- Meats: fresh or frozen beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, duck, game meats, all kinds of fish and shellfish, organ meats (no additives, no processed meats)
- Eggs: pastured, organic, ideally raw or soft-cooked
- Animal fats: grass fed butter, ghee, tallow, lard, duck fat, chicken fat
- Cold-pressed oils: olive oil, coconut oil (used cold)
- Non-starchy vegetables: cooked, raw, or fermented, including leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, squash, onions, garlic, peppers, asparagus, artichokes
- Fermented foods: sauerkraut, fermented pickles, fermented carrots, kimchi, raw cultured dairy if tolerated
- Fruits (in moderation): berries, apples, citrus, melons, peaches, plums, bananas, etc.
- Nuts and seeds: soaked or sprouted, used in nut flour baking
- Honey: raw, unfiltered, in moderation
- Fermented dairy (if tolerated): 24-hour homemade yogurt, kefir, sour cream, cultured butter, aged cheeses
Foods to avoid on Full GAPS:
- All grains: wheat, rice, corn, oats, barley, rye, quinoa, buckwheat, millet
- Refined sugar and artificial sweeteners: white sugar, brown sugar, agave, corn syrup, sucralose, aspartame
- Starchy vegetables: potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, yams
- Beans and legumes: with limited exceptions like properly prepared navy beans and white beans on Full GAPS
- Pasteurized dairy and processed cheeses
- Processed foods, packaged foods, canned soups, breakfast cereals
- Industrial seed oils: canola, soybean, corn, sunflower, safflower, vegetable oil
- Soy products
- Coffee (limited or avoided in early stages)
- Alcohol (in early stages)
Grab your own copy of Gut and Physiology Syndrome or Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride here.
Common Mistakes Beginners Make (And How to Avoid Them)
These are the patterns I see again and again in my coaching practice. Awareness of them ahead of time saves so much frustration.
1. Trying to be perfect
Perfectionism is the fastest way to burn out on GAPS. You will make mistakes. You will eat something accidentally. You will skip a meal. The good foods you ARE including matter way more than the imperfect ones you didn’t avoid. Keep going.
2. Going too fast
More is not better on GAPS. The protocol is designed to be slow. One new food at a time. Tiny amounts at first. Increase only when your body is solidly tolerating what you’ve added.
3. Skipping the meat stock
If you take nothing else from this post, take this: meat stock is non-negotiable. Drink it with every meal. Drink it between meals. It is the single most important food on the protocol.
4. Not having enough food prepped
When you are tired, hungry, and have no GAPS-legal food ready, you will eat something off-protocol. Always have stock in the fridge, soup ready to heat, and fermented foods on hand.
5. Doing it alone
This is the biggest one. GAPS is a deep journey, and trying to do it alone is genuinely hard. Find a community. Find a coach. Find at least one person you can text when die-off hits and you need to know if what’s happening is normal.
“Buying your GAPS academy was the best thing I ever did!! I got through the whole intro with so much ease because of your help and messages.” — Ancestral Gut Reset member
Frequently Asked Questions
Dr. Natasha recommends following the Full GAPS Diet for a minimum of 18 – 24 months. The GAPS Introduction Diet typically takes around 6 weeks, though it can take longer depending on individual healing needs. In my experience, the people who get the deepest healing are the ones who don’t rush.
Yes, especially if you have stubborn constipation, are significantly underweight, or simply don’t have severe digestive symptoms. Dr. Natasha specifically recommends Full GAPS first for people with constipation or underweight, with the option to do Intro later. That said, the deepest gut healing happens in Intro, so most people benefit from doing it at some point.
Honestly, yes. GAPS asks a lot, especially in the first few weeks. The cooking is real, the food restrictions are significant, and die-off can be uncomfortable. But it is doable, and the results are profound. The two things that make it easier: preparation before you start, and support while you’re in it.
Yes. In fact, GAPS was originally developed by Dr. Natasha for her own son with autism. Many families do GAPS with their children to help with autism, ADHD, eczema, food allergies, behavioral issues, sleep problems, and digestive symptoms. I’ve done baby GAPS, toddler GAPS, and full GAPS with several of my own children. Here’s my guide to doing GAPS with toddlers.
It varies. Your grocery budget may go up because of the focus on pasture raised meats, organic produce, and homemade ferments. But you’ll spend less on packaged foods, restaurants, and supplements. Sourcing whole chickens, soup bones, and seasonal vegetables directly from farms or buying clubs can keep costs down significantly.
Dr. Natasha recommends specific supplements as part of the full protocol, including a therapeutic probiotic, cod liver oil, and digestive enzymes for some people. Read her book for the complete supplement protocol. Most of the healing on GAPS comes from the food itself, not the supplements.
Yes, with adjustments. Dr. Natasha addresses this in her book. Generally, pregnant and breastfeeding moms benefit from staying on Full GAPS rather than Intro, and from making sure they are eating plenty of fat and calorie-dense foods. Always work with a qualified healthcare provider when making major dietary changes during pregnancy.
You will. Everyone does. Eat the off-plan food, take a breath, and get back to your next meat stock and bowl of soup. One slip will not undo your progress. Going slow and being gentle with yourself is the whole point.
Three Ways to Take the Next Step
If you’re ready to start the GAPS diet, here are three ways I can help:
🌿 Free: Gut Wellness Getting Started Guide, a simple, beginner-friendly walkthrough to start supporting your gut today.
🌿 $49: GAPS to Go, my complete 30 day GAPS Intro meal plan, done for you. Perfect if you want to jump in with a clear plan, recipes, and video guidance through intro stages.
🌿 Coaching: The Ancestral Gut Reset, my step-by-step coaching program with live calls and a supportive community of people doing this journey together.
Related Posts You’ll Love
The GAPS Diet Explained in a Nutshell
How to Start the GAPS Introduction Diet
GAPS Diet Introduction Phase Stage 1
Meat Stock Recipe for the GAPS Diet
How the GAPS Diet Changed Our Lives
Sauerkraut Recipe for the GAPS Diet
How to Get Your Kitchen Ready for the GAPS Diet
What are your GAPS diet questions?
Let me know in the comments!
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Want to work with Marisa, Certified GAPS Coach?
I offer a complete GAPS Protocol Support Coaching Package. You can learn more here.
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Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride
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Looking for a GAPS intro meal plan? GAPS to Go is a 30 day meal plan for the GAPS introduction diet that tells you what to eat each day, with complete cooking instructions, and guidance on when to move to each intro diet stage. Check out GAPS to Go here.
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GAPS™ and Gut and Psychology Syndrome™ are the trademark and copyright of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.
The information in this blog post is my personal experience and opinion. It is for general information purposes only, that may not apply to you as an individual, and is not a substitute for your own physician’s medical care or advice. Always seek advice from your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding nutrition, medical conditions, and advice. Never disregard medical advice or delay seeking medical care because of something you have read on this blog.
💛 Marisa
Hi. I’m working with my sister who has mild fatty liver, which has a lot of different symptoms from pain to memory issues. Does the diet help the liver detox? Thanks
Hi! I’m getting familiar with the GAPS diet. I grew up in Russia and this diet was a typical way to eat in my family. We were not following any special diet or anyting of this kind. Just our typical dishes that passed from generation to generation
Wow, that’s wonderful! I hope we can bring that mindset and way of eating back to being normal again here also. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hi! Can you provide a full list of GAPS legal foods grouped by Intro Stage (i.e. what is allowed in Stage 1, Stage 2, etc)? I am actually quite disappointed to see how disorganized information is in Natasha’s book, and how unclear some of her advice is! After reading the book, there are still so many questions and not enough info to clearly know what foods are allowed in each stage. I hope you can help here. Thanks!
Can a nursing mom do GAPS? My baby is 13 months and I was thinking this would be great for both of us to do together! But I’m a little worried about any die off affecting her through breastmilk. I already eat paleo/grain free but feel like doing the GAPS intro and then transitioning to full GAPS might help get to the root of my acne/digestive issues. Thanks for all of your wonderful content!
Great question! Dr. Natasha recommends full GAPS while nursing because like you said, intro can cause a lot of die off, and you don’t want those in the breastmilk. Hope that helps!