THE GAPS DIET Natural Digestive Healing
By Dr. Donald Piccoli
tion, only two or three decades ago autism was a rare disorder that most doctors never saw and few people had ever heard of, affecting approximately 1 in 10,000. By 2009, there was a forty-fold increase in newly diagnosed cases with 1 child in 150 diagnosed with autism and it continues to increase. And the word on the GAPS diet has also been spreading like wildfire due to its life changing effects on the health of so many people of any age with so many health problems. The originator of the GAPS program is Dr. Natasha Campbell-
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McBride, M.D., with a post graduate degree in neurology who has practiced as a neurologist and neurosurgeon in the United Kingdom. When her son was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, she found that her profession had no solutions to offer. She decided to return to school and attain a post graduate degree in nutrition, devel- oped and applied her own program and as a result her son com- pletely recovered. In her clinic in Cambridge, England she special- izes in nutrition for children and adults with behavioral and learning disabilities, and adults with digestive and immune system disorders. She is the author of the book “Gut Psychology Syndrome” and soon to be published “Gut and Physiology Syndrome.”
All Diseases Begin in the Gut! ~ Hippocrates 460-370 B.C.
GAP syndrome establishes the connection between the state of the gut and the health of the rest of the body. According to Dr. Campbell-McBride, research in Scandinavia has demonstrated that 90% of all cells and all genetic material in the human body is in our gut flora. To understand how enormous the gut is, realize if you laid out the gut lining it would cover the surface of a tennis court!
Roles of Gut Flora
• Protection from invaders • Health of the integrity of the gut • Appropriate digestion and absorption (can’t happen without flora) • Vitamin production (main source of B vitamins in the gut) • Detoxification (heavy metal chelation) • Immune system modulation
28 Natural Nutmeg March 2013
y now, many people have heard of the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) program, especially those who are involved with autism. According to the Weston Price Founda-
What Can Damage Gut Flora?
• Antibiotics • Steroids, The Pill • Other Drugs • Stress • Poor Diet • Infections • Disease
What is GAPS?
• Abnormal gut flora is the main cause of GAPS • Abnormal digestion leads to nutritional deficiencies • Damaged gut lining leads to food allergies • Toxins produced by the pathogens in the gut absorb and are distributed around the body causing symptoms • Detoxification system collapses • Autoimmunity joins in • When brain is affected-Gut and Psychology Syndrome • When the rest of the body is affected-Gut and Physiology Syndrome
• The two GAP Syndromes always overlap!
GAPS symptoms 1. Gut and Psychology Syndrome: mood alterations, memory
and cognitive problems, behavioral and social problems, sleep problems, psychotic symptoms, panic attacks, anxiety, involuntary movements, epilepsy, tics and fits, obsessions, compulsions, eating problems, etc. 2. Gut and Physiology Syndrome: digestive problems, fatigue, muscular weakness, cramps and abnormal muscle tone, pain & ache in bones, joints, and muscles, skin problems, neurological problems, hormonal abnormalities, headaches, frequent infections, allergies, anemia, urinary problems, infertility, etc.
- In every person symptoms of both GAPS overlap
• Bottle Feeding • Old Age • Pollution • Radiation • Alcohol • Toxic Chemicals • Dental Work
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