GAPS for Beginners Series: Why You Might Consider GAPS

Today I’m beginning a new series here at Whole Natural Life: GAPS for Beginners. I know how overwhelming GAPS is at first glance. Like me, you may wonder whether GAPS might be the answer to your health struggles but initially rule it out because GAPS seems too intimidating. I thought it would be helpful to do a series of posts on the various elements of GAPS. If you think you might need GAPS, I hope this series inspires you to give it a try.…

Italian-Seasoned Ground Beef

I’ve had a hard time finding GAPS-legal Italian sausage that is both grass-fed/pastured and also within my price range. Since we still wanted to use Italian-flavored meat for pasta sauce and pizza, we came up with this recipe, which we call “Italian beef.”  I use beef because I’m always looking for more ways to eat grass-fed beef, but I’m sure that the recipe would also be very tasty with ground pork.

This recipe can easily be doubled (or tripled or quadrupled) to make a large amount of Italian beef for future meals. I usually cook a lot at once and then freeze it using my special method for freezing ground meat.…

Reflections After 15 Months on GAPS: Part 5 – Thoughts from a Non-GAPS Person

This is a guest post from my husband Jesse. He joined me on GAPS in July 2011. I hope you enjoy hearing his perspective.

First I should explain that I am not a GAPS person, which means that I do not have digestive, physiological, or psychological problems that can only be healed by eating a GAPS diet. However, I hope to convince you that even non-GAPS people can greatly benefit from eating a GAPS diet.

While I did not have the same incentive to change my diet that Meghan did, I joined her in every change as she transitioned our diet to traditional foods.…

Reflections After 15 Months on GAPS: Part 4 – Lessons Learned on GAPS

In part 1, part 2 and part 3 I talked about what led me to GAPS and the progress I’ve seen so far. Now I want to share a few of the lessons I’ve learned during my 15 months on GAPS.

Lesson #1: Try not to stress about the day to day

I fall into a certain trap a lot when it comes to my acne. One day my skin will be looking really clear and the next day I’ll suddenly have several nasty breakouts. My instinct is to start freaking out: “What’s going on? Did I eat something that I’m reacting to?…

Reflections After 15 Months on GAPS: Part 3 – My GAPS Healing So Far

In part 1 and part 2 I discussed how trying to fix my acne led me to GAPS. In part 3 I’ll share the progress that I’ve experienced on GAPS so far. I’ve seen a lot of healing but I’m hoping for even more.

Acne:

I am so happy to say that GAPS has made a huge difference in my acne. Before GAPS I literally had dozens of breakouts on my face all the time. These days I rarely have more than four or five “active” blemishes. Some days I have none. Now honestly four breakouts is four more than I want, but I think that healing my skin (and gut) is just a really slow process.…