Clostridium tetani, which lives in the gut, is normally controlled by the beneficial bacteria and does us no harm, because its toxin cannot get through the healthy gut wall. According to a review study, recent clinical studies have suggested that microbes in the gut can significantly affect brain function.

As a result, the dairy-based foods allowed on the GAPS diet are almost all homemade fermented foods: yogurt, kefir, ghee, and whey. At the core of the GAPS diet, people avoid foods that are difficult to digest and might damage the gut flora or gut lining.Many people have to go through the GAPS Introduction Diet, which is more difficult to follow, but it achieves deeper healing of the gut and the rest of the body. William Shaw at Great Plains Laboratories describes in detail number of autistic children, who showed serious improvements in their development and biochemical tests while on anti-Clostridia medication.

The GAPS diet is a very restrictive protocol that requires you to cut out many nutritious foods for long periods of time. Remember, following a long-term or short-term diet may not be necessary for you and many diets out there simply don’t work, especially long-term. Apart from taking a direct part in nourishing the body, beneficial bacteria in the gut act as the housekeepers for the digestive tract.

However, apart of genetics there is something very important the parents, mother in particular, pass to their child: their unique gut micro-flora. Many GAPS people have inflammation and ulcerations in their gut lining, which they may not be aware of. Gut and Psychology Syndrome™ (GAP Syndrome or GAPS) is a condition which establishes a connection between the functions of the digestive system and the brain. These techniques are also described in detail in The Complete Cooking Techniques for the GAPS Diet by Monica Corrado, which I warmly recommend. Interestingly enough, I didn't know if I wanted to be a GAPS Practitioner after becoming an NTP, until my mom had become certified and the first few sentences of what it did for her had me hooked and I thought why stop here?

To learn about Gut and Psychology Syndrome, how it develops, and how to treat it effectively with a sound nutritional protocol, please read the article What is Gaps by Dr Campbell–McBride, in addition to her book “Gut and Psychology Syndrome – Natural treatment for Autism, ADHD⁄ADD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Depression and Schizophrenia”. I have always had a passion for nutrition, but it wasn’t until I was 20 when my mom applied the GAPS Diet into our family that I had decided that I wanted to study nutrition. Even once you’re off the diet, you’re advised to continue avoiding all highly processed and refined high-sugar foods, retaining the whole-foods principles of the protocol. The GAPS diet encourages home-cooked meals made from fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, poultry, and fish. Large amounts of nourishing substances for the gut lining: amino acids, gelatine, glucosamine, collagen, fats, vitamins, minerals, etc.

Fermented foods are natural probiotics, bringing you alive and active beneficial microbes with all their healing abilities. Once the person can eat all of those items without digestive symptoms, then they're ready for the full GAPS protocol. Fermented foods are much less expensive than commercial probiotics, particularly when they are homemade, and can be quite effective as probiotic ‘supplements’, particularly in the maintenance stages of the programme. Long before him Hippocrates (460-370 BC), the father of modern medicine has said: “All diseases begin in the gut! Gut And Psychology Syndrome (GAP Syndrome or GAPS) establishes the connection between the state of the patient’s gut and the functioning of the brain.