Thinking about trying GAPS diet

I had a pretty stressful week last week, and my symptoms flared quite badly as a result. They are improving again, but still aren't back where they were beforehand - UNLESS I eat fermented cabbage. I've personally found fermented vegetables to be the single biggest contributor to symptom improvement that I have in my armoury. The more I eat (as in, the more frequent) the better I am. Almost no watery D to speak of, and the ability to pass wind without worrying about what else might come out. And yet if I stop, the symptoms will come back. The worst time for me is most definitely the mornings. My morning BMs are back to having some blood on occasion, and always start with some watery D (although nowhere near as much of either as has been the case). However, if I have some fermented cabbage with breakfast, I'll settle within a few hours, and have an almost normal remainder of the day. So I'm thinking I need to work with this.

Battling my way through the health system here takes too long. I can't just make an appointment with a GI - the referral has to come from my GP, as the GI wants to wait until March next year to see me next. To get a routine appointment with my GP will take 2 weeks. Then, if he decides to refer me to the GI, I'll be up for a further wait of a month or more. Frankly, the whole process is incredibly disempowering and actually adds to my stress levels and symptoms. I'll go down that road if I absolutely need to, but my philosophy on my health is that it's my responsibility, and I will call on the expertise of doctors when I know I need to. Given the improvement I've found just by eating fermented foods, it does make me think I need to take another look at my diet.

GAPS/SCD seems to help a lot of people, and it's also the first diet I found that spoke highly of fermented foods. But I'm curious about a few things.

First, is it a fad diet or have others here been helped by it?

Secondly, how on earth does someone who is lactose sensitive eat a GAPS diet without being constantly hungry due to a lack of carbohydrates? That's one of the biggest fears I have - going hungry. I can't function when hungry. When I do try it, I'll be introducing foods slowly, but think one of the first things I need to change is my carb intake, as I've found a direct correlation between consumption of high carbs and an increase in gas and watery D.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Post Edited (Gitch) : 6/30/2016 10:51:09 PM (GMT-6)

My suggestion is to build your diet starting with what works for you, fermented veggies. Keep a food journal and note what you eat on one side and daily symptoms on the other side. It is rarely a clear line between the two since some foods can take til the next day to show their results but after a while you can start drawing conclusions.

I looked at GAPS back when trying different "name" diets and although their no" list correlated in some ways to mine many of their "no" foods are greatly liked by my gut and some of their "OK" foods are hated. So I never gave its a try, knowing what I knew. Potatoes, for example, do so much good for me, perhaps due to resistant starch, that I can not eliminate them. You are worried about eliminating carbs and that's one of my most important.

I envy your ability to eat fermented veggies. My gut is a fiber hater and any cabbage (except juiced) gives me C and then bleeding.

Going hungry is not good so you need to get a safe list of foods you can rely on until your gut is more healed and then the list can expand, at least that's what my history is. No one can answer your GAPS question except you. Good luck.

I've finally got around to adding a signature, which has some basic info.

There's some good advice here. I do think that integrating elements of a particular diet is probably the more practical route than quitting my current diet cold turkey, and switching to a whole new one. I'm now looking at what I need to buy to upscale the production of fermented vegetables, since I've been doing it one jar at a time, which hasn't been producing enough (given I've had a few batches that had to be dumped due to mold).

I'd like to know what my 'good' carb source is, if in fact one exists. Potatoes, or at least, fried in any way, seem to be out for me at the moment. Rice can be ok, but can also be a bit hit and miss. I'm trying grains again, as I tried eliminating gluten as much as I could at the start of the year (it had no noticeable effect) but never really went back to eating what I ate previously. Looking at my daily lunch and snack diet, most of it included reasonably high levels of starch, and I generally found that after every meal, I'd need to have a BM within 30 minutes. However, when I eat while out and about, I often don't notice it so much. Not sure if that's because of the food I'm eating being different, or just the setting.

I had a self-induced fast of about 15 hours to try and give my system a bit of a break. Will see how it goes now, and also will start recording intake and resulting symptoms again.

I agree that seems quite a low dose of Mesalamine considering your continued symptoms. Is there a way to contact your G.I.'s nurse or assistant and describe your symptoms and ask if you can be prescribed a rectal enema?

I second Imagardener on the resistant starch (pre-biotic), this way you can go grain free and still bulk your stool. You can also use psyllium seed or husk powder. Start slow.

See chriskresser.com/how-resistant-starch-will-help-to-make-you-healthier-and-thinner/

As for fermented foods (probiotics) are you also using any form of probiotic as a supplement? Many find a supplements and/or home made yogurt helpful. If you're lactose intolerant, try goat milk kefir or yogurt, it's about 10% less lactose hugely probiotic....also easy to make at home.

Best.

I second going to Chris Kresser's website. I lost my colon after almost 20 yrs of UC. Then 4 yrs ago my daughter started having trouble. Had constant D and had to quit her job. After months of going to Dr's and ND Dr's she stating following the paleo diet. Learned much of her help fr Chris's website. He is a powerhouse of knowledge. She eats resistant starch (potatoes) and also many fruits and does well with them. You might also try drinking kombutcha the gt daves brand called synergy is excellent. It is a great way to get your fermented probiotics even tho it's in drink form. Early on she also was tested for food allergies and was surprised that she had several foods she can't have. Chris talks about that too. Anyway she is back to work and symptom free. The only time she has problems is if she cheats lol.

" I've taken to eating a lot of potato-based products, and yet I'm having symptoms within 30 minutes of eating them a lot of the time, particularly if I eat enough of them. "

what exactly is a "potato based product" ?

if that means there are other ingredients or "things" involved, can you be sure it's the potato ?

since i'm not a follower of paleo per se, i think potatoes are fine, especially sweet ones - but go with your gut first, regardless of someone's recommendation -

resistant starch from potatoes comes from cooked and COOLED potatoes -