Hello, this is Monica Reinagle, and you're listening to the Nutrition Diva

podcast, welcome.

Today we're going to take a look at the claims and the evidence for something called the Gaps Diet.

Gaps stands for gut and psychology syndrome.

And it was proposed by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride.

She's a medical doctor with a specialty in neurology.

And she believes that many neurological and psychological conditions,

including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder,

and many others are actually due to problems in the gut.

Broadly speaking, McBride's theory is that intestinal permeability allows toxins to escape

through the lining of the intestinal tract and into the bloodstream where they travel to the brain and impair function.

McBride has developed a dietary protocol which

is intended to heal the gut, thereby clearing the toxins from the brain

and restoring normal function.

And she claims to have cured her own child of autism using this protocol.

The Gaps Diet Protocol begins with an elimination phase that can last up to a year.

It's very restrictive and it starts out with bone broth, fermented vegetable juice and

herbal tea and then very gradually you introduce small amounts of other foods including egg yolks, meat, cooked vegetables,

eventually small amounts of fruit and some nutflowers, but your diet consists primarily of bone broth, meat, and vegetables.

When you complete the elimination phase, you are considered to be in the maintenance phase, and

your diet consists of the Gaps Protocol protocol approved foods that you introduced in phase

one and you continue to avoid refined carbohydrates, preservatives, and artificial colorings.

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