For a long time, the gaps diet has been one of the healthiest ways to detoxify and stimulate the gut flora. If you consider it a lifestyle - not just a diet - you can get all the health benefits. So what are the benefits of this diet? First, it can help youlose weight faster,remove toxins from the bloodstream and improve immune health.
What the gaps plan is supposed to do
GAPS stands for "Gut And Psychology Syndrome". It was developed by Natascha Campbell-MCBride, a nutritionist physician in the United Kingdom.
This Dieteliminates grains, starches, sugar and refined carbohydrates. It is supposed to facilitate digestion and cure leaky gut syndrome. The latter means that the usually tight junctions inside the wall of the digestive tract loosen. This allows particles, including bacteria and chemicals, to pass from the gastrointestinal tract in the bloodstream.
This nutritionist claims thatthe gaps diet can prevent or cure learning disabilities, eating disorders such asanorexia, bulimia and sickness.hyperphagia. It also helps to cure bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Can the gaps diet help you lose weight?
Digestive wellnessis extremely important for weight loss and management. An unhealthy gut is a sign of many diseases such asthe diabetes, l’obesity and heart disease. It even causes unexplained weight gain that continues to grow every day.
According to many scientists, a healthy digestive tract is considered the second brain. Indeed, any type of discomfort can lead to emotional and psychological distress. That said, your gut contains all kindsof enzymes. These substances help digest food and produce healing compounds to fight infections and viruses.
If you want to lose weight, treating a bowel disease is still the best solution. You need the right kind of nutrients to fight bad bacteria, yeast or parasites. This has a direct effect on your body's internal ecosystem including your gut and the regulatory function of proper bowel movements.
To remember
The gaps plan is associated to weight loss because it promotes the growth of a healthy microbiome in the gut. It reduces inflammation, insulin resistance and unhealthy fats. It does this by replacing acidic compounds and fats with healthy fats. Thus, the consumption of fats from omega acids, present in fish, is an indispensable process to promote weight loss.
Healing the gut is very beneficial for weight loss. Studies show that the best way to promoteweight lossis to increase the production of healthy gut bacteria. The diet gaps plays a role in intestinal healing as well as fat burning for better absorption of nutrients into the bloodstream.
How to follow the diet?
The most restrictive stage of the diet, limits you to eating only homemade meat or fish. Gradually, you can add probiotic foods such as homemade sauerkraut, fermented vegetables and yogurt. Ginger, mint or chamomile tea with a little honey is also recommended between meals.
You can add more foods to your meal plan by focusing on non-starchy vegetables, eggs, healthy fats (nuts, olive oil, avocado).
You can follow this diet for at least two years. This means avoiding refined sugar and starches such as cereals, potatoes, sweet potatoes... Moderate amounts of whole fruits are allowed, as well as honey and dates made into paste.
Other benefits of this diet
It eliminates sugar addiction
The gaps diet incorporates a sugar elimination diet to treat various pathologies. These diseases include inflammatory bowel syndrome, autoimmune diseases, andautism.
One of the main goals of this diet is to reduce sugar intake to zero. You remove processed sugar and sugary preservatives from your diet.A sugar-free diet may seem impossible now. But with the help of the GAPS diet, it's much easier!
It encourages healthy intestinal bacterial growth
The GAPS diet eliminates the consumption of large quantities of canned, processed and sugary foods. Instead, it encourages a diet rich in organic produce, vegetables, fish, fresh meat without hormones and grass fed... The fundamental purpose of this diet is to introduce the internal ecosystem with good bacteria with the purpose to cleanse toxins from the body.
Filling gaps that can reverse autism
As mentioned earlier, the Diet gaps includes a balance of healthy nutrients such as probiotics to remove toxins from the gut. Evidence suggests that beneficial gut bacteria play a major role in the development of autism.
Digestive enzymes combined with dietary and lifestyle modification have a clinical effect on autism spectrum disorders. The impact of such probiotics on the gut is not clear enough on autism.
One study confirmed that digestive enzyme consumption is beneficial for managing symptoms of autism. This could therefore be a potential clinical protocol for the treatment of early signs of autism.
Sources:
https://www.lanutrition.fr/bien-dans-son-assiette/les-regimes-sante/le-regime-gaps
https://www.nutrition-holistique.ch/regime_gaps.html