After eating bowls and bowls of soups and cooked veggies, stage four brings a welcome addition to your diet: fresh juice!
By this stage of the Introduction Diet, significant gut healing has taken place, and you are now ready to begin detoxifying your body in earnest. Juicing is one way to help you to this. Starting with carrot juice and working up, you will begin to see healthy changes taking place in your body; I never would have thought that I’d love anything as much as fresh carrot and celery juice!
Stage Four
Continue eating foods from the previous stages and add in:
- Meats cooked by roasting and grilling (baking). Introduce these meats gradually, and do not barbeque or fry your meats yet. Avoid parts that are burned or too brown. Eat meats with cooked and/or fermented vegetables.
- Cold pressed olive oil. Start adding cold pressed olive oil to your meal by drizzling it over top of your foods. Start with a few drops per meal and gradually work up to 1-2 Tbs. per meal.
- Freshly pressed juice. Start with a few spoonfuls of carrot juice, well filtered. To begin, dilute with warm water so that the juice is clear. Gradually drink the juice as is, diluted with water, or mixed with some homemade yogurt or whey. Dr. Natasha recommends drinking the juice slowly, “chewing” every mouthful. If the juice is tolerated, gradually increase to a full cup per day. When you can tolerate a full cup of carrot juice, try to add in juice from celery, cabbage, lettuce and fresh mint leaves. Drink your juice in the morning on an empty stomach and in the middle of the afternoon between meals. Do not add in juice from fruit yet.
- Bread. You can bake bread using nut flours that you’ve prepared yourself (see here for how to soak nuts). See the recipe for bread in the book “Gut and Psychology Syndrome” on page 200. The bread includes: nut flour, eggs, winter squash, and fat. Start with a small piece of bread a day and increase as tolerated.
At this stage, your diet is hopefully beginning to look more varied and you have the basics of GAPS down. Something that you can also add at this point is called a GAPS Milkshake, which is some of your freshly pressed juice, a large spoon of sour cream, and a raw egg yolk. You blend these all together for a wonderfully creamy, probiotic rich drink. The GAPS Milkshake is great for detoxing and for easing constipation. It is something that you can start once juicing is well tolerated. Some may find that adding the fat to their juice also helps to prevent spikes in blood sugar that may be associated with the juice.
You’re getting there!
~ Alicia
Information from this post was obtained from the books “Gut and Psychology Syndrome” by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride and “The Heal Your Gut Cookbook” by Hilary Boynton and Mary G. Brackett (with a foreword by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride). The information contained in this article is not a substitute for medical advice; feel free to contact your medical professional prior to beginning any new diet program. I am not a medical doctor, nutritionist or dietician and do not claim to be such. I do not diagnose, treat, or offer individualized diet treatment plans. This information is for educational purposes only and serves as a guideline according to the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet as outlined by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, MMedSci (neurology), MMedSci (nutrition).
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